August Wilson's FENCES Planned for Fall '08

#1

August Wilson's FENCES Planned for Fall '08

Posted: 3/18/08 at 6:01pm

http://www.nytimes.com/2008/03/19/theater/19wils.html?_r=1&oref=slogin

A revival of August Wilson's Fences is being planned for Fall 2008, the "first revival of a Wilson play on Broadway." Apparently, Ma Rainey's Black Bottom never happened.

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"Y'know, I think Bertolt Brecht was rolling in his grave."
-Nellie McKay on the 2006 Broadway production of The Threepenny Opera, in which she played Polly Peachum

Updated On: 3/18/08 at 06:01 PM

#2

re: August Wilson's FENCES Planned for Fall '08

Posted: 3/18/08 at 6:05pm

Directed by Suzan-Lori Parks. Interesting.

#3

re: August Wilson's FENCES Planned for Fall '08

Posted: 3/18/08 at 6:16pm

"Apparently, Ma Rainey's Black Bottom never happened."

That production only happened in Whoopi Goldberg's mind.

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If anyone ever tells you that you put too much Parmesan cheese on your pasta, stop talking to them. You don't need that kind of negativity in your life.

#4

re: August Wilson's FENCES Planned for Fall '08

Posted: 3/18/08 at 6:25pm

That's great news. I just hope they don't cast Sean Combs or someone like that.
Is Forest Whitaker too old for this role? I find him to be incredibly commanding and talented.

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"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"

#5

re: August Wilson's FENCES Planned for Fall '08

Posted: 3/18/08 at 7:05pm

Forest Whitaker would be ten years younger than James Earl Jones was during the original production.

#6

re: August Wilson's FENCES Planned for Fall '08

Posted: 3/18/08 at 7:09pm

So I guess he's too young.

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"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"

#7

re: August Wilson's FENCES Planned for Fall '08

Posted: 3/18/08 at 7:13pm

Not necessarily, Troy and Rose have been married for 18 years, so theoretically as long as the actor looks late 30s or older it shouldn't really matter.

#8

re: August Wilson's FENCES Planned for Fall '08

Posted: 3/18/08 at 7:42pm

Except Troy has a son in his mid-20's from his previous wife.

Too bad Charles Dutton said he'd never do Broadway again after Ma Rainey.

#9

re: August Wilson's FENCES Planned for Fall '08

Posted: 3/18/08 at 7:46pm

Good point. Whitaker is going to be 47, so it's conceivable that he could have a son in his mid 20s.

#10

re: August Wilson's FENCES Planned for Fall '08

Posted: 3/18/08 at 8:01pm

Laurence Fishburne and Angela Bassett received rave reviews when they did a production together in Pasadena several years ago. They seem like natural choices for the revival. Suzan-Lori Parks is an interesting choice...as far as I can tell, this will be her first directorial credit. Quite ambitious.

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"You travel alone because other people are only there to remind you how much that hook hurts that we all bit down on. Wait for that one day we can bite free and get back out there in space where we belong, sail back over water, over skies, into space, the hook finally out of our mouths and we wander back out there in space spawning to other planets never to return hurrah to earth and we'll look back and can't even see these lives here anymore. Only the taste of blood to remind us we ever existed. The earth is small. We're gone. We're dead. We're safe." -John Guare, Landscape of the Body

#11

re: August Wilson's FENCES Planned for Fall '08

Posted: 3/18/08 at 8:39pm

SO excited for this !!! One of my faves that Wilson wrote.

Please let Chisholm play Troy !!!

#12

re: August Wilson's FENCES Planned for Fall '08

Posted: 3/21/08 at 1:56pm

http://www.nypost.com/seven/03212008/entertainment/theater/fences_cant_hold_o_102794.htm

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Just give the world Love. - S. Wonder

#13

re: August Wilson's FENCES Planned for Fall '08

Posted: 3/21/08 at 2:03pm

A GREAT play...

You think Danny Glover and Alfre are too old?

#14

re: August Wilson's FENCES Planned for Fall '08

Posted: 3/21/08 at 2:05pm

Please, gods of theatre, keep Danny Glover and Mos Def far far far away from this production, except as audience members, pleasepleaseplease...

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"If they can get you asking the wrong questions, they don't have to worry about the answers." Thomas Pynchon, GRAVITY'S RAINBOW "Reality is that which, when you stop believing in it, doesn't go away." Philip K. Dick My blog: http://www.roscoewrites.blogspot.com/

#15

re: August Wilson's FENCES Planned for Fall '08

Posted: 3/21/08 at 2:07pm

Pretty sure that James Earl Jones wasnt a spring chicken when he played Troy in 1985.

#16

re: August Wilson's FENCES Planned for Fall '08

Posted: 3/21/08 at 2:16pm

You don't like Danny Glover, Roscoe? He's no good on stage?

#17

re: August Wilson's FENCES Planned for Fall '08

Posted: 3/21/08 at 2:37pm

Of course, Angela Bassett is married to Courtney Vance, who played the younger son in the original.

#18

re: August Wilson's FENCES Planned for Fall '08

Posted: 3/21/08 at 2:42pm

That's a sexy pair--Miss Bassett just got her Hollywood satr and she LOOKED AMAZING! Flawless appearance and her pose was perfect in the pic I saw--reminded me of when Jane and Marilyn put their hands in cement at Grauman's.

#19

re: August Wilson's FENCES Planned for Fall '08

Posted: 3/21/08 at 2:46pm

I saw Glover in the original production of MASTER HAROLD AND THE BOYS, he played Willie and overdid the character to the point of seeming retarded. Then I saw Glover in the revival, and he played the lead role with such overdone Virtuous Purity and Nobility that I wondered what he was doing working in a tea room, he should have been out restoring eyesight to the blind and walking on water. And he did the same thing in the film of DREAMGIRLS, he just radiates this smug positive vibe that really makes me wonder if he doesn't have a sideline running a pre-schooler prostitute ring or something.

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"If they can get you asking the wrong questions, they don't have to worry about the answers." Thomas Pynchon, GRAVITY'S RAINBOW "Reality is that which, when you stop believing in it, doesn't go away." Philip K. Dick My blog: http://www.roscoewrites.blogspot.com/

#20

re: August Wilson's FENCES Planned for Fall '08

Posted: 3/21/08 at 3:30pm

Alrighty.

#21

re: August Wilson's FENCES Planned for Fall '08

Posted: 3/21/08 at 3:40pm

In the script, Tory is 53. His oldest son, Lyons is 34.n In 1985, James Earl Jones was 54.

#22

re: August Wilson's FENCES Planned for Fall '08

Posted: 3/21/08 at 4:43pm

I'm all sorts of rooting for Angela Basset to star in this production. She is one of my favorite actresses ever and I would love, love, love to see her on Broadway.

#23

re: August Wilson's FENCES Planned for Fall '08

Posted: 3/21/08 at 5:10pm

Riedel reported that they're trying to get Lawrence Fishburne, Mos Def, and Anthony Mackie in on this one.

He also said they were trying to get Oprah for it, but under another director and producer who got shut out.

I imagine Fishburne might not want to stay in New York too long, but if he does, that cast sounds excellent.
Love Mos Def and Anthony Mackie.
I though this was a strange choice for a revival, but with the stars they're courting, I'm excited!


Look here.

#24

re: August Wilson's FENCES Planned for Fall '08

Posted: 3/21/08 at 5:15pm

I wouldn't mind seeing Oprah on Broadway. Too bad.

#25

re: August Wilson's FENCES Planned for Fall '08

Posted: 3/21/08 at 5:17pm

The link in my above post is to that Reidel article.

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Just give the world Love. - S. Wonder