According to this NY Times article, Deana Dunagan would have extended if she were allowed to sit out matinees

[adamgreer]

According to this NY Times article, Deana Dunagan would have extended if she were allowed to sit out matinees#1

Posted: 6/22/08 at 3:18pm

But the producers wouldn't allow it.

Interesting.

“They began asking us several months ago if we would stay,” Ms. Dunagan, who spends most of the three-hour play screaming at everybody, said in the pressroom after the Tony broadcast. “I said I would stay if I could do no two-show days, and they couldn’t live with that. I really can’t, for right now, I can’t do eight a week. I’m just, I’m, my voice and my stamina are just kind of shot.”

I think I'd have preferred if she had stayed, even if it meant doing only 6 shows a week.
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[inlovewithjerryherman]

re: According to this NY Times article, Deana Dunagan would have extended if she were allowed to sit out matinees#2

Posted: 6/22/08 at 3:41pm

The prodcuers know that the star truly is the play itself, not so much the people in it. And i think they're right - whoever the actress is in the part, as long as they are well-directed and well-cast, the material will carry her to a great performance.

Also, to be honest, I would be more likely to go back if Amy Morton stayed in the production rather than Dunagan. Dunagan has a flashier role, but it's Morton, I think, that compels most of the action throughout the play - she's on stage for all of the big, dramatic, turnaround moments and I honestly think that a lot of the reasons so many of the scenes are so staggering is because she's a really generous actor that plays world-class actions that are really easy for the others to react to. (LuPone, Murphy, and McDonald are like that as well - which is why it's so awesome when they get actors that react and reciprocate double, like Gaines opposite LuPone now, or Kazee opposite McDonald in "110 in the Shade".)

Not to say that Dunagan is a lesser actress than Morton, that's just my take on it. Regardless, the material is strong anough to carry whomever is in the show.
Updated On: 6/22/08 at 03:41 PM

[being.jeremiah]

re: According to this NY Times article, Deana Dunagan would have extended i#2

Posted: 6/22/08 at 3:43pm

Amy Morton is still in the show, right?

[MungoGypsy8232]

re: According to this NY Times article, Deana Dunagan would have extended if she were allowed to sit out matinees#3

Posted: 6/22/08 at 3:44pm

I'm happy that Estelle Parsons is part of the production!

[inlovewithjerryherman]

re: According to this NY Times article, Deana Dunagan would have extended if she were allowed to sit out matinees#4

Posted: 6/22/08 at 4:18pm

She is, but I thought she was leaving really soon due to another engagement at Steppenwolf? Maybe I got confused and it was actually Dunagan.

[Unknown User]

re: According to this NY Times article, Deana Dunagan would have extended if she were allowed to sit out matinees#5

Posted: 6/22/08 at 4:31pm

They'll all be gone soon and then will reunite to do the show in London in a few months. I think they all just want some time away. It must be exhausting.

[ray-andallthatjazz86]

re: According to this NY Times article, Deanna Dunagan would have extended#6

Posted: 6/22/08 at 4:36pm

I completely understand her, to do a 3-hour show must be difficult, but to do a 3-hour show twice in the same day must be quite exhausting.
I wish the producers had granted her her wish, that way I could have seen her play Violet. Oh well.

"Some people can thrive and bloom living life in a living room, that's perfect for some people of one hundred and five. But I at least gotta try, when I think of all the sights that I gotta see, all the places I gotta play, all the things that I gotta be at"

[theaterdude87]

re: According to this NY Times article, Deanna Dunagan would have extended#7

Posted: 6/22/08 at 5:21pm

I think Amy was supposed to be apart of Superior Doughnuts, Lett's new play but I think when August extended she stayed with that.

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[BobbyBubby]

re: According to this NY Times article, Deanna Dunagan would have extended#8

Posted: 6/22/08 at 5:34pm

I have no idea, at 80, how Parsons is going to manage an 8 show week.

[Just_John]

re: According to this NY Times article, Deanna Dunagan would have extended#9

Posted: 6/22/08 at 8:48pm

Did Dunagan already leave? If so, I'd be quite upset as I never got her autograph.

[Wanna Be A Foster]

re: According to this NY Times article, Deanna Dunagan would have extended#10

Posted: 6/22/08 at 8:51pm

Her final performance, along with four of the other original cast members', was the day of the Tonys.

"Winning a Tony this year is like winning Best Attendance in third grade: no one will care but the winner and their mom."
-Kad

"I have also met him in person, and I find him to be quite funny actually. Arrogant and often misinformed, but still funny."
-bjh2114 (on Michael Riedel)