DEBRA MESSING in THE PHILADELPHIA STORY?

[Marquise]

Posted: 1/31/05 at 2:13pm

i think she would be wonderful in this. anyone else?
DEBRA MESSING Tapped for Old Vic's 'The Philadelphia Story'. Updated On: 1/31/05 at 02:13 PM

[Rathnait62]

Posted: 1/31/05 at 2:14pm

I don't get her. Never have.

[popcultureboy]

Posted: 1/31/05 at 2:15pm

Nope. I think this is by far the worst name I have heard bandied around for the role. Last week Laura Linney was in talks. I would much rather it had been her.

[Marquise]

Posted: 1/31/05 at 2:17pm

i meant to post this on the main message board...oops.

[popcultureboy]

Posted: 1/31/05 at 2:20pm

We'll forgive you, Marquise. But only if you change your freaking font.

[Marquise]

Posted: 1/31/05 at 2:24pm

i'm all about self expression and individuality so the answer to your font change request is a very loud and resounding: NO. Updated On: 1/31/05 at 02:24 PM

[popcultureboy]

Posted: 1/31/05 at 2:29pm

Then I just have to block you as it hurts my eyes. Sorry.

[Marquise]

Posted: 1/31/05 at 2:37pm

LOL, do what you must. . .

[popcultureboy]

Posted: 1/31/05 at 2:38pm

Now see that's better. But then bigger is always better....

[Marquise]

Posted: 1/31/05 at 2:39pm

[redhotinnyc2]

Posted: 1/31/05 at 4:20pm

I'm with you, Rath - what IS the appeal? of course, I might be a bit prejudiced because I think her character on Will and Grace is one of the worst written female roles of all times. I've only seen her in one other thing - Mothman Prophesies (oy - don't waste your money)...and she was just ok in that. I cannot even begin to imagine her in a role made famous by Katherine Hepburn, and which I think may be a performance very difficult to top.

[Rathnait62]

Posted: 1/31/05 at 4:22pm

I know you don't like Will and Grace, while I love it. I find Messing the weak link in that production.

I'm also not a huge fan of Hepburn, so it's not that I'm offended by this casting - I just don't get Messing and never have.

[Jwei123]

Posted: 1/31/05 at 4:45pm

I love her, and think she is great in will and grace, imo...

[midtowngym]

Posted: 1/31/05 at 5:08pm

I think she has terrific comic timing. Almost like Brooke Shields--underrated, but find the right vehicle for her and...

[TxTwoStep]

Posted: 1/31/05 at 5:50pm

i used to like her in NED & STACEY as well. i think she has some comic timing if directed correctly. She was also pretty funny in a small role in that Stiller/Aniston vehicle last year...can't recall the title of it. She has a new romantic comedy movie out, let's see how she fares there.

i love PHILADELPHIA STORY as well as the Porter musical made from it, HIGH SOCIETY. It's interesting that MidTown brought up Shields, because i could actually see either of them in that Tracy Lord role. For pete's sake, Spacey is going to be in it too, and he's no Cary Grant or even Jimmy Stewart.

[MargoChanning]

Posted: 1/31/05 at 5:53pm

The Hepburn film is one of my all-time favorites and I cannot imagine Messing being a good fit for Tracy Lord. Lord IS Hepburn at her haughty best (Barry wrote the play with her in mind) and nothing I've ever seen Messing do indicates that she has the proper attitude or a mastery over the drawing room comedy style the role requires (Will & Grace is much, much broader). We'll see.

What I don't get is with literally dozens of actresses in London who could nail that role (the Brits are steeped in that older formalized style, between their plays, films and tv shows and at this point do it better than anyone else) why would Spacey grab a Hollywood sitcom star for the part, no matter how famous she is?

[TxTwoStep]

Posted: 1/31/05 at 6:02pm

my bet is that W&G is very popular on Brit TV. The West End seems to eat up screen stars (small and large) in their shows. Plus don't forget how "American" the Barry plays are---we have great American actors over here who can play British, but we flock to see the real item in an import as well.

It's true Barry wrote both HOLIDAY and HIGH SOCIETY with Hepburn in mind, but none of us know the actors Shakespeare wrote his plays for, or know intimately the performing styles that Coward had in mind for his actor friends that inspired his characterizations, and they still hold up very well. For a lot of younger people, Hepburn might seem mannered---think of how many people do imitations of her. A new take might re-introduce them to a wonderfully comic play. Let's not turn this into another "should anyone but Merman play GYPSY" inconclusive discussion.

[Mamamia Sammy2]

Posted: 1/31/05 at 6:18pm

Thanks for "laying down the law" you little cowboy. Now everyone, listen up to TwoStep!

[papalovesmambo]

Posted: 1/31/05 at 6:34pm

once they dumb it down and turn tracy into a ditz, she'll be masterful. she's funny, but she's not yar.

[MargoChanning]

Posted: 1/31/05 at 6:48pm

While we don't have film versions of the original Shakespeare productions or of Ethel Merman in Gypsy, we do have a classic film with Hepburn repeating her stage performance. Tracy Lord was constructed around Hepburn's vocal mannerisms and physical style so it's very difficult to stray too far from her performance and still be effective -- Lord IS Hepburn. Hepburn was mannered and almost a cartoon of rarified dignity and that was written into the role as well (look at the way Dexter continually takes the wind out of her sails and takes her down a peg whenever she's gets too full of herself). The Lord character actually makes fun of the Hepburn persona and one of the chief reasons it was so successful (and helped her get rid of the "box office" poison label) was that it showed that she had the ability to laugh at herself and even make fun of herself. Being willing to play an overblown Hepburn caricature, humanzed her a bit and made her more popular with audiences than ever before and saved her career.

Others have successfully played Tracy Lord in the 60 years since it premiered and been able to do so without doing a Hepburn impression. However, Hepburn's successors in the role, notably Blythe Danner in the last Broadway revival, still possessed a similarly effortless air of sophistication, haughty carriage and
mastery over drawing room comedy technique.

The humor in Barry's plays (as well as Coward's plays) is very specific and understated and while one doesn't have to do an exact imitation of the 20s/30s acting style to make it work, doing too contemporary a take on the material undermines the comedy. I've seen less-stylized "21st century" updates of comedies by Wilde and Coward with companies of first rate actors and while they were certainly interesting, they nevertheless managed to lose about half of the laughs in the script. If you punch the "jokes" and play it broad, you miss most of what's funny in the first place. These plays were deftly and delicately constructed and half of the laughs come from nuanced and subtle readings of the lines (lines that on the page don't appear funny). If the actor doesn't know how to emphasize to proper word within a given line and how to time the line reading with an appropriate bit of stage business, then the laugh will disappear.

I remember sitting through a contemporary re-thinking of "The Importance of Being Earnest" a couple of seasons go and cringing as I saw the actors lose laugh after laugh after laugh because they didn't have the technique to read the lines properly. I went home and popped in the DVD of the '52 film version with Dame Edith Evans and Michael Regrave and Jane Greenwood and watched them nail every single laugh in the text -- they literally got four or five laughs for every one that had happened in the production I'd seen that night.

I wish Spacey and Messing the best with this production at the Old Vic. Perhaps, it'll be terrific. We shall see.

Updated On: 1/31/05 at 06:48 PM

[TxTwoStep]

Posted: 1/31/05 at 6:49pm

perhaps we've yet to see her yar. Hardee har har.

[papalovesmambo]

Posted: 1/31/05 at 6:57pm

if she's showing her yar, i might be tempted to see the production. we could work it into the return from the late night swim, couldn't we? a sort of "costume malfunction."

[midtowngym]

Posted: 1/31/05 at 7:06pm

I'll never forget a Boston production last year of Entertaining Mr. Sloane. The very specific British nuance and style needed to carry off Joe Orton's humor was missing, even with a talented group of actors. It was unfunny, embarrassing, and felt much longer than two hours.

[Mister Matt]

Posted: 1/31/05 at 7:14pm

In ten more years, I could see Reese Witherspoon in the role. As for now, I can picture Minnie Driver as a possibility. And though it's a non-singing role, Ruthie Henshall could pull it off as well. She doesn't have a Hollywood name, but she sure is well-known in London. If she could just be a bit more bombastic in her personality, Gwyneth Paltrow could probably handle it, but her acting so far has been too subtle and reserved even for the camera. If she could just let go, I think she'd be quite impressive.

Updated On: 1/31/05 at 07:14 PM

[MargoChanning]

Posted: 1/31/05 at 7:14pm

Orton's another one who has a very specific style that everybody seems to think they can do, but few can. I've seen more bad productions of Sloane, Loot, and Butler than care to remember and, again, it's because so many directors and actors don't truly understand how the comedy works in those pieces and without the technique, attention to detail, and mastery over the style, you lose the humor. And as Midtowngym says, it becomes a VERY LONG evening in the theatre.