John Doyle to Do the Instrument Thing AGAIN--This Time to MERRILY!
John Doyle to Do the Instrument Thing AGAIN--This Time to MERRILY!
#1John Doyle to Do the Instrument Thing AGAIN--This Time to MERRILY!
Posted: 6/11/07 at 2:23pm
Oh, no! Didn't he promise he'd STOP after Company?!?
===
Doyle Merrily Brings Sondheim Company to UK???
Date: 7th June 2007
[whatsonstage Gossip] If on Sunday John Doyle wins the Tony Award for Best Direction of a Musical for a second year in a row, it should increase the West End transfer potential of Company, the Stephen Sondheim classic for which he’s nominated this time around (See News, 15 May 2007). Last year, he scooped the prize for his revival of Sondheim’s Sweeney Todd, which landed on Broadway via Newbury’s Watermill Theatre and the West End. His Company revival – also up for Best Revival of a Musical and Best Performance by a Leading Actor in a Musical for American Raul Esparza - originated on Broadway but employs the same small-scale, actor-musician technique that has become Doyle’s trademark. It’s also produced there by Brits at the Ambassador Theatre Group who, as West End theatre owners as well as producers, are clearly well placed to make things happen for a transatlantic trip.
Meanwhile, back at the Watermill, where Doyle perfected that trademark actor-musician technique over many years and many productions, the director is due to return in spring 2008 to tackle yet another Sondheim classic in a similar way - Merrily We Roll Along, the maestro’s famously backward-moving 1981 musical.
Doyle Merrily Brings Sondheim Company to UK???
#2re: John Doyle to Do the Instrument Thing AGAIN--This Time to MERRILY!
Posted: 6/11/07 at 2:28pmOH NO!!! Mr. Doyle...please....just....stop
Jack: For your information, most people who meet me do not know that I am gay.
Will: Jack, blind and deaf people know you're gay. Dead people know you're gay.
Jack: Grace, when you first met me, did you know I was gay?
Grace: My dog knew.
#2re: John Doyle to Do the Instrument Thing AGAIN--This Time to MERRILY!
Posted: 6/11/07 at 2:31pmThey should just revive Michael Grandage's 2001 Donmar production of MERRILY... THAT was brilliant.
Cheyenne Jackson tickled me. AFTER ordering SoMMS a drink but NOT tickling him, and hanging out with Girly in his dressing room (where he DIDN'T tickle her) but BEFORE we got married. To others. And then he tweeted Boobs. He also tweeted he's good friends with some chick on "The Voice" who just happens to be good friends with Tink's ex. And I'm still married. Oh, and this just in: "Pettiness, spite, malice ....Such ugly emotions... So sad." - After Eight, talking about MEEEEEEEE!!! I'm so honored! :-)
#3re: John Doyle to Do the Instrument Thing AGAIN--This Time to MERRILY!
Posted: 6/11/07 at 2:32pm
Can you people look past your "oh crap, not more instruments!" reactions for a second, and remember that Doyle actually does really good work? Try not blinding yourselves. :P
I saw 'Company' in NY, and would love a West End transfer. I'm a little doubtful it'll happen (I woke up this morning convinced they'll be posting their closing notice by the end of the week), but I can pray, right? ^_^
BrodyFosse123
Broadway Legend Joined: 2/27/06
#4re: John Doyle to Do the Instrument Thing AGAIN--This Time to MERRILY!
Posted: 6/11/07 at 2:33pm
Previous thread from May 18, 2007:
https://forum.broadwayworld.com/readmessage.cfm?boardname=bway&thread=935612#3023825
#5re: John Doyle to Do the Instrument Thing AGAIN--This Time to MERRILY!
Posted: 6/11/07 at 2:34pmYawn! Can't he do anything but Sondheim? Borrrinnnnggggg!
NYC Visitor and Broadway Fan
morosco
Broadway Legend Joined: 7/10/04
#6re: John Doyle to Do the Instrument Thing AGAIN--This Time to MERRILY!
Posted: 6/11/07 at 2:36pm
BLAIR: George. Chromolume Number Seven? I was hoping it would be a series of three, four at the most. I have touted your work from the beginning, you were really on to something with these light machines...once. Now they're just becoming more and more about less and less. Don't get me wrong. You're a talented guy. If you weren't, I wouldn't waste our time with my opinions. I think you're capable of far more. Not that you couldn't succeed by doing Chromolume after Chromolume...but there are new discoveries to be made, George.
#7re: John Doyle to Do the Instrument Thing AGAIN--This Time to MERRILY!
Posted: 6/11/07 at 2:39pm
That thread said nothing about his inflicting instruments on another Sondheim musical.
Weez--TELL HIM TO STOP!!!!!!!
#8re: John Doyle to Do the Instrument Thing AGAIN--This Time to MERRILY!
Posted: 6/11/07 at 2:40pmPlease just let the performers perform the material. PLEASE.
Have I ever shown you my Shattered Dreams box? It's in my Disappointment Closet. - Marge Simpson
#9re: John Doyle to Do the Instrument Thing AGAIN--This Time to MERRILY!
Posted: 6/11/07 at 2:42pmI would love to see Doyle direct Merrily on Broadway, but would prefer if it was done without the instruments.
Broadway Legend Joined: 12/31/69
#10re: John Doyle to Do the Instrument Thing AGAIN--This Time to MERRILY!
Posted: 6/11/07 at 2:42pmI keep hoping he'll bring his "Everyone plays an instrument" vision to the one show it works on: The Music Man.
Kringas
Broadway Legend Joined: 5/27/05
#11re: John Doyle to Do the Instrument Thing AGAIN--This Time to MERRILY!
Posted: 6/11/07 at 2:42pmAs much as I'd like this to not happen, Merrily with actor-musicians might net it a successful run, simply on the strength of the Doyle brand.
"How do you like THAT 'misanthropic panache,' Mr. Goldstone?" - PalJoey
gustof777
Broadway Legend Joined: 6/8/04
#12re: John Doyle to Do the Instrument Thing AGAIN--This Time to MERRILY!
Posted: 6/11/07 at 2:43pmok wtf this isn't even going to be on Broadway so why are your panties in a twist??
RIP Natasha Richardson. ~You were a light on this earth ~
vmlinnie
Broadway Legend Joined: 6/19/06
#13re: John Doyle to Do the Instrument Thing AGAIN--This Time to MERRILY!
Posted: 6/11/07 at 2:44pmI gather from your username that you're a fan, kringas.
The rain we knew is a thing of the past -
deep-delving, dark, deliberate you would say
browsing on spire and bogland; but today
our sky-blue slates are steaming in the sun,
our yachts tinkling and dancing in the bay
like racehorses. We contemplate at last
shining windows, a future forbidden to no one.
Derek Mahon
"Maybe all one can do is hope to end up with the right regrets."
Arthur Miller
deep-delving, dark, deliberate you would say
browsing on spire and bogland; but today
our sky-blue slates are steaming in the sun,
our yachts tinkling and dancing in the bay
like racehorses. We contemplate at last
shining windows, a future forbidden to no one.
Derek Mahon
"Maybe all one can do is hope to end up with the right regrets."
Arthur Miller
#14re: John Doyle to Do the Instrument Thing AGAIN--This Time to MERRILY!
Posted: 6/11/07 at 2:45pm
Srsly, the show will not automatically suck because the actors are playing instruments! I remember the 'Sweeney' lovin'. I saw 'Company'. Behind those clarinets and violins and tubas (possibly rhe sexiest musical instrument on God's green earth), Doyle is doing some excellent directing of amazing cast members and turning out phenomenal shows. Sure, using the gimmick hurts him when it comes to people who are apparently too short-sighted to look past it (*koffTonynominatingpeoplesahem*), but LEARN TO LOOK PAST IT! Yikes, no one gets so uppity at "oh NO, not ANOTHER show where the actors sing and dance!"...
PalJoey: sure, next time I see him, I'll let him know. :P
Updated On: 6/11/07 at 02:45 PM
#15re: John Doyle to Do the Instrument Thing AGAIN--This Time to MERRILY!
Posted: 6/11/07 at 2:46pmAm I in the minority in thinking that this could be really brilliant?
#16re: John Doyle to Do the Instrument Thing AGAIN--This Time to MERRILY!
Posted: 6/11/07 at 2:49pm
VonTussleGirl: I think we are. 
#17re: John Doyle to Do the Instrument Thing AGAIN--This Time to MERRILY!
Posted: 6/11/07 at 2:52pm
"LEARN TO LOOK PAST IT!"
Um...no.
#18re: John Doyle to Do the Instrument Thing AGAIN--This Time to MERRILY!
Posted: 6/11/07 at 2:53pm
One time... brilliant with "Sweeney Todd"... the sight of Miss Patti and her tuba (priceless).
Second time... uh..okay... kind of pushing it... but with Raul Esparza...who wouldn't want to look at those puppy dog eyes...
Third time.... hold on buckaroo....John Doyle...you're pushing it gf...Whether it's on Broadway or across the pond in merry ole England... let the actors do what they do best... and let the audience listen to the magic of an authentic orchestra. STOP!
from RC in Austin, Texas
"Noel [Coward] and I were in Paris once. Adjoining rooms, of course. One night, I felt mischievous, so I knocked on Noel's door, and he asked, 'Who is it?' I lowered my voice and said 'Hotel detective. Have you got a gentleman in your room?' He answered, 'Just a minute, I'll ask him.'" (Beatrice Lillie)
#19re: John Doyle to Do the Instrument Thing AGAIN--This Time to MERRILY!
Posted: 6/11/07 at 2:54pmHe's doing a non actor-musician thing next season with A Catered Affair, so I'm not going to criticize him. Besides, I like his work and I like Merrily.
WOSQ
Broadway Legend Joined: 7/18/03
#20re: John Doyle to Do the Instrument Thing AGAIN--This Time to MERRILY!
Posted: 6/11/07 at 3:08pm
I am in the minority about Mr. Doyle it seems. Sweeney was an idea that went wrong. It removed all the terror from a penny dreadful.
Company to me is flat-out bad direction. Raul Esparza is a multi-talented man, but he is shown to no advantage in Company. It isn't the actor. It is what the actor was told to do.
Robert, who needs to be charming with many other positive attributes, is conceived and played as a depressive, self-hating alcoholic and I find his epiphany of Being Alive merely a little jolt before he takes the next drink.
No one has yet to tell me why Robert in this production is the best friend of these 5 couples. What do these 10 people see in him? I think Robert has to be desired by all the women and all the men want to be him. Who wants to be a moody drunk? This question is Theatre 101.
I think Raul didn't 'lose' the Tony. I think John Doyle lost the Tony for him.
John Doyle looks like a one trick pony and the trick doesn't work.
But like I say, I am in the minority.
"If my life weren't funny, it would just be true. And that would be unacceptable."
--Carrie Fisher
#21re: John Doyle to Do the Instrument Thing AGAIN--This Time to MERRILY!
Posted: 6/11/07 at 3:16pm
Even more so than the instruments, I never again want to see a production where the actors walk around in robotic patterns, never looking at each other or interacting.
Who ever said THAT was a good enough idea to do over and over and over and over?
#22re: John Doyle to Do the Instrument Thing AGAIN--This Time to MERRILY!
Posted: 6/11/07 at 3:18pmDoyle's way of direction is not a style, it's a novelty device, and it's done now.
Have I ever shown you my Shattered Dreams box? It's in my Disappointment Closet. - Marge Simpson
WOSQ
Broadway Legend Joined: 7/18/03
#23re: John Doyle to Do the Instrument Thing AGAIN--This Time to MERRILY!
Posted: 6/11/07 at 3:22pmThe emperor is naked.
"If my life weren't funny, it would just be true. And that would be unacceptable."
--Carrie Fisher
#24re: John Doyle to Do the Instrument Thing AGAIN--This Time to MERRILY!
Posted: 6/11/07 at 3:28pmIf he has them walk around in MERRILY in robotic patterns, will he have them walk backwards?
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