Profile for Michael Bennett

For the sake of discussion, I put diverse casting in revivals and long running musicals under a microscope because I think it's where we, mostly white, creatives in the theatre most often stamp 'progress' and pat ourselves on the back. And if its been a positive to create more opportunities for POC (mostly as performers) it's also taken the impetus away from the need to champion ethnic voices in the theatre in other ways. Part of the self congratulatory dialogue I often hear from well meaning...

I'm reminded of the controversy Barnes and Noble faced this past February when for Black History Month they announced a series of classic literature titles to be released with central characters redrawn on the cover as people of color. What was surely a well meaning gesture of "inclusion and diversity" by a presumably mostly white Executive and Leadership board of B&N was understandably met with dismay (and foreshadowing our current moment) incredible frustration by minority communities. As i...

MikeInTheDistrict said: "Michael Bennett said: "As a theatre director, I'd like to add thatthere is a lot of kumbaya going on right now about raising the profile of diversity and anti-racism in the theatre, but scarcely no talk about the role of the audience, and what efforts are going to be made to inspire audiences that stories of POC are universal and worth their continued interest.The commercial theatre exists principally to make money. It isalways going to be geared towards what is perce...

VintageSnarker said: "Michael Bennett said: "As a theatre director, I'd like to add thatthere is a lot of kumbaya going on right now about raising the profile of diversity and anti-racism in the theatre, but scarcely no talk about the role of the audience, and what efforts are going to be made to inspire audiences that stories of POC are universal and worth their continued interest."I think part of the problem is that audiences don't always trust that colorblind or color conscious casting is ...

As a theatre director, I'd like to add that there is a lot of kumbaya going on right now about raising the profile of diversity and anti-racism in the theatre, but scarcely no talk about the role of the audience, and what efforts are going to be made to inspire audiences that stories of POC are universal and worth their continued interest. The commercial theatre exists principally to make money. It is always going to be geared towards what is perceived to be what audiences are willing to pay ...

An excellent point; ljay and I think relative to a point made earlier -- some have always wanted eleventh hour vocal pyrotechnics from any actor playing Bobby/Bobbie as sort of compensation for what they sense is (really) a rather unsatisfying character arc and journey for the main character of a Broadway musical.

Joanna Riding has given some of the greatest female musical theatre performances of the past couple of decades - and they've all been in the UK. She is way overdue to make a Broadway appearance. Think what you will of the staging, but the vocal and acting skills on display in this clip are nothing short of remarkable.

Craig's portrayal in London was also divisive. Let's not rewrite the narrative with Lenk's polarizing performance that Craig was universally loved in the part, and that because of that she was robbed of the chance to come to the states with it. There was also a very mixed opinion of Craig's understudy in London. People have complained about all three women who have played the role now (West End and Broadway) and I maintain some of this is because these people - despite their joy at this reviv...

Metcalf wears a wig in the actual production; very flattering and somewhat in the Elizabeth Taylor mode of the role.The show is firmly set in the 1960s. George and Martha's house looks to be more of a contemporary design than the usual shoddy, college-cottage aesthetic most productions go for. The living room has floor to ceiling shelves covered in books, but the furniture (and windows) make the house design seem more mid-century modern.

I think Patsy Ferran is also pretty darn terrific as Honey. She is ideal for this role.

Hot Pants said: "Sounds like Metcalf has a strong shot of winning, what about Everett? The role of George has already won three Tonys, so we think it could get a fourth?"I kind of doubt it. Everett is doing very good work, but seems less revelatory in the role than Tracey Letts and Bill Irwin did.

I saw the second preview last night. It's a stellar revival. When originally announced, I feared Metcalf, who has made a career of playing rather matronly archetypes might not have sufficient blousy sexuality to pull off Martha, but she's terrific. Strident, but also intelligent and extremely sexually confident. Martha's seduction of Nick, in particular, here, actually plays as more believable than it often does. Rupert Everett is a George very much in the Richard Burton mode (and he uses his...

Michael Bennett said: "Lenk almost ---almost -- even makes the now extremelybizarre marriage proposal to her (gay) best friend work after "Not Getting Married.""I don’t see how this is bizarre. I find it very common that females and gay men make a pact to get married by a certain age if they are both single. It’s usually half joking but still lol. My point exactly. In COMPANY in 1970 when Bobby suggests to Amy they get married, the audience gasps because in that moment - he is serious. It cou...

“Lenk almost ---almost -- even makes the now extremelybizarre marriage proposal to her (gay) best friend work”I had wondered how the show tackled this moment. Yeah, that sounds a bit clumsy, but we can always assume that Jamie is bisexual. Or maybe, since the show already hints at Bobbi being bi, she’s just much more fluid when it comes to gender and sexuality. It’s worth noting, her proposing to a gay man could simply drive home the line “You have to love somebody, not just some body.No, in ...

At the moment, Lenk is singing the score in the same keys that Craig did. I'd guess, if the team feels that she is having difficulty sustaining that, they might put her songs in a different key. But the songs in these keys also sat right at the top of Craig's break, so there is something not arbitrary about why they have placed them where they have.At any rate: those who attend future performances, be sure to report if you think they've changed the keys to Bobbie's songs.

I really didn't perceive the issues with Lenk's singing that you did last night. The character's three big songs "Someone Is Waiting," "Marry Me a Little," and "Being Alive," as staged in this production are all rather tentative character moments and delivered vocally as such. These songs were directed this way in the West End as well. Clearly, this is partly how Elliott is perceiving the character, because on Broadway and in London, she obviously could have gone with a musical theatre actres...

Isn't the rule, once a year, though? Not once in perpetuity.

Lenk almost ---almost -- even makes the now extremely bizarre marriage proposal to her (gay) best friend work after "Not Getting Married."

Having seen the production in London, and again at the first Broadway preview last night, I suspect I will rather be in the minority opinion that notwithstanding some fun performances and some clever (and insightful) staging flourishes by Marianne Elliott - and despite the whole fascinating laboratory exercise of the entire project - that, for me, this gender swapped modern day COMPANY still doesn’t ultimately work, at least not with so much of George Furth’s original book in tact. While more...

Lincoln Center has the script in their archives and it's hilariously awful- the best part is when the 11 year old girl comes out in a sexy peignoir and tries to seduce the frumpy babysitter. Gwen's character spends the rest of the time answering obscene phone calls and trying to rescue a wet cat she finds on the street- popping pill after pill in the process. I wouldn't have begrudged Ms. Version for doing the same thing to make it through the run of this show.Now I suppose to be fair, the sc...