4,596 posts
|
Post by Someone in a tree on Feb 3, 2018 10:23:17 GMT
I forgot another Sweeney - the Jonathan Kent / Michael Ball / Imelda Staunton one which updated the setting to the 1930s.
I'm afraid I really didn't see the point of updating the setting to the 1930s. It is the Victorian Gothic element that I particularly love about Sweeney.
Also did nothing for me
|
|
869 posts
|
Post by karloscar on Feb 3, 2018 11:15:16 GMT
The National's revival of Carousel by Nicholas Hytner made people think about that show very differently. The choreography by Kenneth McMillan was just breathtaking, and Michael Hayden's vulnerable take on Billy Bigelow changed an old fashioned problematic show into something quite modern and relevant.
|
|
|
Post by profquatermass on Feb 3, 2018 11:20:17 GMT
Has any production repeated the original concept of having very young people play the roles, wearing t-shirts describing who they are as costumes? Yes, the first European production (Library Theatre, Manchester in the mid 80s with Tracie Bennett as Mary) did. It's a small theatre though so everyone could see the t-shirts. It also had an older actor playing Frank at the graduation at the start ('Hills of Tomorrow')
|
|
|
Post by nick on Feb 4, 2018 14:26:07 GMT
Pippin? The original Broadway production ran for almost 2000 performances in the 70s, and it was definitely a huge success. The recent circus-themed revival with a gender-swap for the Leading Player didn't run for as long as the original, but it was still quite successful, running for almost a couple of years and winning the Tony for Best Revival. I was also going to suggest Pippin for the Menier Chocolate Factory revival set in a computer game, which I absolutely loved. I also caught the Broadway revival which was phenomenal, not least for 66 year old Andrea Martin's turn on the trapeze but thought the Chocolate Factory beat it hands down if we're talking reimagining. Glad it's not just me. But not a huge success. I saw it twice with half price tickets and it didn't transfer.
|
|
1,089 posts
|
Post by tonyloco on Feb 4, 2018 20:11:57 GMT
The National's revival of Carousel by Nicholas Hytner made people think about that show very differently. The choreography by Kenneth McMillan was just breathtaking, and Michael Hayden's vulnerable take on Billy Bigelow changed an old fashioned problematic show into something quite modern and relevant. In my 70 years of theatregoing (yes, we all know how old you are TL) I was never more moved by any musical or play than by Hytner's production of 'Carousel' at the NT. But surely this was not a re-imagining of the piece: the settings were not changed and the characters were not changed – it was just an honest and realistic production of what Hammerstein and Rodgers wrote (based on Molnar's original play 'Liliom') with perfect casting and sympathetic direction that got to the heart of the piece, which perhaps had not actually been achieved before. That's all I want in any revival (or even first production) of any musical, thank you very much.
|
|
869 posts
|
Post by karloscar on Feb 4, 2018 22:39:29 GMT
Well Mary Rodgers thought it was a pretty radical rethink, and was thrilled with some of Hytner's ideas. He had real trouble getting his casting of a black Mr Snow (Clive Rowe) past Dorothy Rodgers (Richard's widow) according to his biography. He didn't solve all the problems with wife-beating Billy, but he was played very differently from any previous production. You don't have to rewrite to change the mood of a piece, just edit a bit and change the tone a bit.
|
|
Xanderl
Member
Not always very high value in terms of ticket yield or donations
|
Post by Xanderl on Feb 24, 2018 10:01:00 GMT
Has any production repeated the original concept of having very young people play the roles, wearing t-shirts describing who they are as costumes? “Lady Bird” has a lengthy sequence revolving around a high school production of Merrily. Sadly they don’t do the T-shirt thing
|
|
357 posts
|
Post by JJShaw on Feb 24, 2018 10:07:19 GMT
I'm afraid I really didn't see the point of updating the setting to the 1930s. It is the Victorian Gothic element that I particularly love about Sweeney.
Also did nothing for me Honestly, I didn't really notice the updating of it. It didn't offend me or contribute something new!
|
|
2,706 posts
|
Post by Cardinal Pirelli on Feb 24, 2018 11:55:37 GMT
On another thread a poster (for whom I have the utmost respect) said "If it ain't broke, don't fix it" is his motto for productions. ........ Opera fans are mostly in agreement with him and those of you who don’t follow Opera cannot believe how stupid some of the current ‘reimagining’s’ currently are. Who knew Wagner’s imagination could be improved by having plastic crocodiles protecting the gold in the Rhine? There’s even a derogatory name for this Regietheatre. But clearly some have been a real success e.g. ENO’s Mafia Rigoletto. ......... What am I missing? Regietheater being a negative term for a start. That’s like those who use liberal or conservative as though it was inherently a bad thing. It’s just a descriptive, neutral word. Also, reinterpretations that make a production live for the time it is being produced in are key, rather than imagining that all you have to do is plonk aomething that was for a different era back onstage. Many of the best ideas are the most radical - A View From the Bridge, Brook’s MND, Ostermeier’s Enemy of the People (for musicals a long, long list has already been started here). The idea that being a bit different is okay but there is a limit on reinterpretation is wrong, that way lies obsolescence.
|
|
81 posts
|
Post by jasper on Feb 24, 2018 13:28:25 GMT
What about The Boys From Syracuse at the Open Air Theatre in 91, directed by Judi Dench. It was strangely costumed more restoration than Roman. I think she was harping back to the original play The Comedy Of Errors which she appeared with her husband directed by Nunn. It had songs added and I remember some critics thought he had turned it into a musical. That was very hippy like with bright colours and the twins had red hair. The Boys was refracted through this into a hippy restoration world. If I remember rightly most of the costumes were balck and white. Not a toga in sight.
|
|