A DOLL'S LIFE to return to NYC- Page 3

[Gaveston2]

Posted: 9/19/11 at 5:32pm

I'm even less convinced that the viewer of 1879 thought Nora's fate remained in doubt. But such is Ibsen's brilliance that he does indeed find the universal question: what is a "true" marriage? That every era answers the question somewhat differently makes it no less profound.

As for the musical, yikes, indeed! And the thing is, after all that meandering, the musical tries to end with a sense of ambiguity similar to that of the play. So one is left with a feeling akin to that old lost-in-the-desert melodrama cliche: that one has traveled for hours only to accidentally end up back where one began.

Of course, the intention is that Torvald's "Nora, we need to talk" is actually a very different place than the ending of Ibsen's play, but after 3 hours, it's difficult to notice the distinction. (But that, I believe, is why Prince & Co. had the same actor play Torvald and Nora's primary love interest in the musical, Johan--so that the audience would feel Torvald had, in a sense, taken the journey with his wife.)

[egghumor]

Posted: 9/25/11 at 2:25pm

Window card for the pre-Broadway Los Angeles engagement.

[Gaveston2]

Posted: 9/25/11 at 5:35pm

Thank you, egghumor. That's just as horrifying as I remember it, but in a different way.

It's possible I've invented my own poster out of my imagination over 30 years, but I would swear the first version I saw was similar, but had an antique (probably Victorian) doll in place of the woman's figure. (The legs and feet were roughly the same, but I recall the doll being a photo rather than a drawing.)

This version looks like Nora was raped by Torvald and tossed near the door, an event I do not remember from Ibsen's play.

ADL seems to have been a "What were they thinking?" project at every step of the way.

[egghumor]

Posted: 9/25/11 at 5:47pm

You're welcome! Talk about wrongheaded! This first poster is indicative of a lost show that continued to bump into walls all the way to its Broadway opening.

[iluvtheatertrash]

Posted: 9/26/11 at 9:14am

Sorry to have gone MIA on you all, but so grateful for the continued conversation happening here! So much information - and so many great discussions.

We'll actually be starting with the door slam, which I think will help everything. And the audience that gets there early, will be able to watch a quiet, realistic look at the final scene of A DOLL'S HOUSE that will lead directly into the slam and the start of the musical.

I'm getting very excited! Yesterday, I got to meet a few of you at the Flea Market - four different people in fact! I'm so glad there are some of you who plan on coming to see the show.

We are thinking about starting a video, photo and written blog. Maybe a tumblr or something like that. We could document the whole process, if people are interested!

And we're still raising funds for the production on IndieGogo -- if any of you want to take a dollar or five or twenty and support the production, we'd be so grateful!

Thanks again to all and keep the discussion going!

Here is our IndieGoGo campaign: http://www.indiegogo.com/nora-in-rep

[newintown]

Posted: 9/26/11 at 9:28am

I always thought that A Doll's Life was something of an unfunny joke - I always like a Larry Grossman tune, but for Comden and Green to think they could, in all seriousness, write a sequel to Ibsen?!? It's like a bad skit from Saturday Night Live.

And that's exactly how the book comes off to me - one ridiculous 80's-cpontemporary idea after another, none of which has anything to do with Ibsen's play, real people, or 19th century Norway. Hackneyed, trite, clichéd, shallow.

They would have been much better off writing a spoof, I think. They certainly weren't the kind of artists to attempt this kind of work.

[Gaveston2]

Posted: 9/26/11 at 2:32pm

^^^^

Well, that's the part that DID work for me: the spoof of 19th century opera.

[Gaveston2]

Posted: 9/27/11 at 11:32pm

egghumour, that is the version of the poster that my husband (assistant casting director) remembers from the show, even as it left town for L.A.

He (my husband) says even George Abbott (who kept an office in Hal Prince's suite) was shaking his head as if to say, "WTF?"

I thought there was a real photo of a doll, but my husband says, "No." It was always "Nora as rape victim" as the logo for the show.

What a shocking confluence of extraordinarily talented people coming together to make such a disaster!

Updated On: 10/31/11 at 11:32 PM

[iluvtheatertrash]

Posted: 10/31/11 at 2:52pm

For those of you hoping to keep up, I thought I'd post an update!

Our cast was announced exclusively on Playbill a few weeks ago, and you can find all those details here: http://www.playbill.com/news/article/155358-Beautiful-Soup-Will-Present-A-Dolls-House-and-A-Dolls-Life-in-Rep-Casting-Announced

Additionally, we've created a Facebook page and are starting to fill it with videos, our Tumblr feed about the process of reviving the musical and lots of other stuff too! 'Like' it and stay up-to-date here: http://www.facebook.com/NoraInRep

The cast has started to rehearse the musical, which has undergone quite a few changes since it was last on Broadway. There is a beautiful new duet for Johan and Nora. The new ending, while not so spectacular, will take some fine-tuning from a director's glance, but there is a lot of good! The entire "within-a-rehearsal" premise has been cut and the musical now begins with Nora already gone.

There's so much excitement brewing about the production, especially the fact that we are running Ibsen's play in rep with it! We hope a lot of you will come out to see it!

[Gaveston2]

Posted: 10/31/11 at 3:50pm

Break a leg, iluvtheatertrash!

[goldenboy]

Posted: 11/5/11 at 1:20pm

Isn't the fun in a Doll's House NOT knowing what happens to Nora after she leaves?
Leaving it to the theatre goers imagination is what made it work.



Pedestrian thinkers can say.. oh she comes back a month later.
Freethinkers can say she went off to find her self and became her own person.

The fact is in 2011....
who gives a damn what happened to Nora after she left.

Perhaps she created the women's movement, stood on her own two feet, 111 years go by, took jobs from men and know lives happily ever after with her cat.

[TimesSquared]

Posted: 11/5/11 at 2:18pm

I KNEW the poster for "The Pirate Queen" looked strangely familiar to me!
It's very similar to the poster for "A Doll's Life".

[South Fl Marc]

Posted: 11/5/11 at 3:33pm

Some shows don't need sequels .... "A Doll's House"

Some shows don't need revivals .... "A Doll's Life"

[iluvtheatertrash]

Posted: 11/7/11 at 3:05pm

The cast is learning the music and pretty soon we'll be stepping foot into the rehearsal room! Due to a lengthy run at the SoHo Playhouse, the performance has been moved to the New Ohio Theatre on Christopher Street.

We're still keeping up-to-date on our Facebook fan page, so please click 'like'! http://www.facebook.com/#!/NoraInRep

Pretty soon we'll be posting video clips from rehearsals, but right now there's a blog full of cast and crew interviews as the process gets underway: http://nora-in-rep.blogspot.com/

Tickets for the production, via SmartTix, go on sale on November 15th. I'm so excited to meet some of you and hope that you can come out and give this musical a second chance!

[iluvtheatertrash]

Posted: 11/7/11 at 3:40pm

We like to think our artwork (though this is an early mark-up of where we're going with it) isn't as terrifying as the original windowcard...

Updated On: 11/7/11 at 03:40 PM

[Gaveston2]

Posted: 11/7/11 at 5:05pm

Steven (your name is in the on-line articles so I don't see any point in pretending we don't know it), I realize the artwork is preliminary, but it's already a great improvement. Your Nora seems to be going somewhere; the Nora of the original Broadway poster appears to have been used and discarded (not a very promising premise for drama, musical or otherwise).

I'm sorry I won't be able to see the show, but please note I am following your updates here.

[iluvtheatertrash]

Posted: 11/7/11 at 5:41pm

By all means, feel free to call me that. This username is so out of date -- I was going through a Michael Riedel phase in my life. Loved theater gossip -- still do, I guess.

Thanks for the kind words. Right now -- this is the overall image. The suitcase, the lower half of Nora, etc. We're doing this classic Americana. 30's/40's/50's -- it will keep the production costs low since we are doing two productions -- and we can afford more rehearsal time, better lighting, more instruments, etc.

Right now, we need to fine-tune the coloring, the text, etc. But I think this really suits Nora -- and since this is, in the end, a study of Nora Helmer, I thought the artwork really suited her.

[goldenboy]

Posted: 11/8/11 at 9:42am

With regards to the new poster...
So when Nora slams the door on Torvald in a Doll's Life,
she now goes to her podiatrist??

[iluvtheatertrash]

Posted: 11/8/11 at 1:14pm

I mean -- if you have a foot fetish and the only thing you notice are the feet, sure. But my eyes go to the suitcase.

It's an early draft, but this is the main image.

[iluvtheatertrash]

Posted: 11/10/11 at 8:21pm

Hey, all! I've got a big update for those of you interested.

Turns out we will be working a NEWLY revised libretto. I've received permission to make edits, and the libretto we're working with is a MIXTURE of the York and the Original Broadway production.

We are restoring the cut "Can You Hear Me Now?" but using the final scene from the York version. This cuts the ambiguity, but leaves Nora powerful and larger than life.

More updates to come! And in the mean-time, like the Facebook page: www.facebook.com/norainrep to stay updated!

[goldenboy]

Posted: 11/14/11 at 1:50am

So she brings her suitcase to the podiatrist?
Is that what happened to Nora??
What's in the suitcase.. Dr. Scholl's?

sorry I am being a smart ass LOL>

[iluvtheatertrash]

Posted: 11/21/11 at 9:47pm

For those of you planning on coming to the show, tickets went on sale this week at SmartTix!

They're $20 for students/seniors and $25 general admission, but we're doing an $8 Early Bird discount for people who buy before Sunday, November 27th at midnight! The code is "EarlyB27".

If you're afraid to commit early, we ALWAYS honor patrons who need to make a ticket-change up to 24 hours in advance of the performance you wish to attend.

And remember - if you want to do a marathon day, tickets are $45 [a $5.00 discount].

Tickets: http://tix.smarttix.com/Modules/Bundles/BundleMainTabsPage.aspx?ControlState=1&DateSelected=&DiscountCode=&BundleId=55

[iluvtheatertrash]

Posted: 11/25/11 at 5:24pm

Bump!

[iluvtheatertrash]

Posted: 12/13/11 at 12:14pm

Bumping!

Hope some of you have gotten your tickets! Sales are starting to pick up, so we recommend securing seats early if you plan on seeing the show!

Just look us up as "Nora in Rep" on SmartTix.com!

[newintown]

Posted: 12/13/11 at 12:19pm

I thought this would be done by now.