Broadway Abridged: Rock n' Roll

[BroadwayAbridged]

Posted: 10/25/07 at 11:57am

Did you do what I did last night? Did you go to another Tom Stoppard Show? Just so you can remind yourself that you're not a member of Mensa?

Good, I'm glad you didn't, because I did it for you.
Rock n Roll Abridged Script

[Yankeefan007]

Posted: 10/25/07 at 12:04pm

That was fun. And I'm sure it was better than the show.

[jaystarr]

Posted: 10/25/07 at 12:08pm

This is soo funny ! This is one class here at BWW University that I am having problem with.. the Tom Stoppard's class. Yes.. I will shamefully admit to it .


J*



Updated On: 10/25/07 at 12:08 PM

[BustopherPhantom]

Posted: 10/25/07 at 12:08pm

Favorite part:

PLAYWRIGHT TOM STOPPARD
(gloating)
Who said I couldn't make you feel as guilty about your lack of knowledge of Rock and Roll as I did with your lack of
knowledge of Russian Philosophy?

Mr. Abridged, you are my third God (after the actual God and Raul Esparza).

[Roninjoey]

Posted: 10/25/07 at 12:11pm

i haven't seen it yet but I'm anticipating Rock 'n' Roll. That said, just because you don't get it... :P Maybe 12 hours worth of theater about Russian history'll, I dunno, teach you something about it?

BustopherPhantom, that quote is awesome.

[jaystarr]

Posted: 10/25/07 at 12:11pm

Who said I couldn't make you feel as guilty about your lack
of knowledge of Rock and Roll as I did with your lack of
knowledge of Russian Philosophy?


and

Why do I keep subjecting myself to feeling so intellectually
inferior?

^^^^

Disco Music & Roller Skates, anyone?

J*


Updated On: 10/25/07 at 12:11 PM

[Ed_Mottershead]

Posted: 10/25/07 at 12:23pm

I'm seeing it on November 17th and I'm already regretting the waste of money. I've just finished reading Act One and am as befuddled as I was by Coast of Utopia. It seems to me that Tom Stoppard takes smug pleasure in his ability to baffle most of the theatre-going public. I love Shakespeare, O'Neill, Albee, Pinter, August Wilson, Tennessee Williams and many others and don't think I'm totally stupid about these matters, but Stoppard really stops me. Besides their obtuseness, they can be down and out boring, too. I'm being punished, I guess.

[Esparzafan]

Posted: 10/25/07 at 12:27pm

I was toying with the idea of buying tickets...am I ever glad I read this first!

Thanks for the great laugh!

[GladysBumps]

Posted: 10/25/07 at 12:28pm

Lovely artwork, BA!

At the risk of setting myself up, I remained completely unhooked emotionally throughout the almost hour and a half first act. I ran like a thief at intermission.

Okay, so maybe I'm a dumbbell, but I've got to give a s---t about at least one character on stage in order to be force fed a history lesson.

And all that British technical "achting" in lieu of anyone having what would even approach moment of truth!

Sinead Cusak needs a reality check. Maybe catch a Kathleen Chalfant performance of "Wit." That's what cancer looks like, cookie. All that bellowing, jeeze!

[mallardo]

Posted: 10/25/07 at 12:43pm

Wow... When I saw it in London I was told that this play would never go to Broadway because Americans "just wouldn't get it". I begged to differ. I said Americans know what's going on in the world. We're not all idiots, just because we have an idiot for a president.

But when I read threads like this I wonder... Can you people really not look beyond your own borders and feel some empathy for the spiritual and political journies of other peoples? I am amazed and disappointed.

[BroadwayAbridged]

Posted: 10/25/07 at 12:57pm

First off, the abridges never really reflect my true opinion. I didn't all out-and-out hate it. My actual opinions on this play are more mixed than that.

But secondly, it was more about the construction of this particular play than the spiritual/political journeys of others. The same sorts of journeys exist in the Utopia trilogy, and I connected to those much more strongly. Whereas this play made it much more difficult to connect to the story.

I don't think it's really about the Americans vs. the British... Wasn't Utopia was more critically acclaimed and successful here than in the UK?

[Ed_Mottershead]

Posted: 10/25/07 at 1:03pm

I have great sympathy for other peoples journeys and problems. The point I was making that it's difficult to understand; also, I agree with the comment that Stoppard's plays tend to lack emotional involvement with the characters therein.

[mallardo]

Posted: 10/25/07 at 1:09pm

Perhaps I was more exercised than I should have been by some of the comments. I seem to have an emotional investment in this piece that others do not share. But, personally, I found it incredibly moving - not at all intellectualism for its own sake, as some above have implied. I especially connected with the Rufus Sewell character and thought his performance one of the most nuanced and utterly perfect I have ever seen.

[MargoChanning]

Posted: 10/25/07 at 1:10pm

"Wasn't Utopia was more critically acclaimed and successful here than in the UK?"

Well, yes and no. The critical reception in London was somewhat mixed, but part of the reason for its improved reception here was that Stoppard spent two years rewriting and editing the plays, largely in response to the London critical reception. And to be fair, what went on stage at the National was far from a final draft anyway -- the ink wasn't dry on several scenes from Parts Two and Three when the actors finally got their hands on it (and he was rewriting those scenes at the same time they were rehearsing them). That's why Lincoln Center's staging of the trilogy was postposned almost two years from the time it was originally announced -- Jack O'Brien wanted to give Stoppard all the time he needed to revise and edit the plays as he saw fit (and O'Brien worked hand in hand with him clarifying the play moment to moment). There's a reason the overal trilogy ended up running a good deal shorter by the time Lincoln center staged it. Stoppard realized he'd overwritten several sections, had too much extraneous material and hadn't been clear enough throughout, so he did a lot of cutting and editing to improve the play.

So, yes, it was better received here, but a lot of that has do to two years of rewrites, tweaks and improvements to the original manuscript.

Updated On: 10/25/07 at 01:10 PM

[Roninjoey]

Posted: 10/25/07 at 1:23pm

I suppose when a play has been out there for a few years and people have had a bit more time to digest it they can come at it from a different public perspective. I like to think of it as theatrical karma (it applies to Sondheim's musicals too).

Mallardo, sometimes I think intellectualism is pretty much dead in the English speaking world. Mr. Stoppard may be one of the last of his kind.

I don't REALLY believe that though. I think there are plenty of smart people in different mediums saying smart things. No need to be suspicious of them.

Now I'm actively curious, I'll have to see this really soon.

[InfiniteTheaterFrenzy]

Posted: 10/25/07 at 2:37pm

"But secondly, it was more about the construction of this particular play than the spiritual/political journeys of others. The same sorts of journeys exist in the Utopia trilogy, and I connected to those much more strongly. Whereas this play made it much more difficult to connect to the story."

I definitely agree. I saw Rock n Roll twice in London. I found it intriguing, but was unable to connect to it on the same forceful emotional level that I connected to Coast of Utopia. That said, I love Stoppard and I discovered many new thoughts and ideas the SECOND time I saw Rock 'n' Roll. (Especially after learning some more about the ties between politics and music in Czechoslovakia.) I'm seeing the Broadway production in mid- November, and I am looking forward to it. I think it's interesting to see how Nunn and O'Brien take completely different approaches to staging Stoppard.

Also, I love Broadway Abridged, but I don't understand why people think that he who parodies definitely dislikes what they are making fun of. That's like saying that Gerard Alessandrini must hate all musicals that have opened since 1981, when Forbidden Broadway began. No; in fact, a more pointed parody may just mean that the person had more details to work with, or that they know and like the work well enough to understand how to lampoon it clearly and skillfully.

[MargoChanning]

Posted: 10/25/07 at 2:45pm

You do realize that the Broadway production is being re-staged by Nunn, right (and O'Brien is not involved here -- he'll be busy re-staging THE GRINCH)?

But, you're right that O'Brien did a great job staging COAST and INVENTION OF LOVE.

Updated On: 10/25/07 at 02:45 PM

[InfiniteTheaterFrenzy]

Posted: 10/25/07 at 2:55pm

"You do realize that the Broadway production is being re-staged by Nunn, right (and O'Brien is not involved here -- he'll be busy re-staging THE GRINCH)? "

Yes, I just meant to compare the direction of Coast with the direction of Rock 'n' Roll, although I know it can't be a direct comparison. I should've worded that more clearly. Also, while I didn't see Nunn's Coast of Utopia, I've read a lot of reviews, and it seems like a completely different vision than O'Brien's version.

Concerning all of the Broadway/ West End productions of Stoppard I HAVE seen (and some, admittedly, were at the Lincoln Center library), I just feel that O'Brien brings a level of emotional attachment to the characters that no other director puts forth.

[MargoChanning]

Posted: 10/25/07 at 3:12pm

I also like O'Brien's work with Stoppard, but I think David Leveaux's productions of Stoppard's THE REAL THING and JUMPERS were at least equal to O'Brien's. There was a level of emotional engagment I felt towards Simon Russel Beale and Essie Davis in JUMPERS and Stephen Dillane and Jennifer Ehle (who both won Tonys) in THE REAL THING that was simply remarkable and I think gave lie to the old saw about Stoppard being too coldly intellectually and devoid of real human feeling.

As I stated above its probably not fair to blame Nunn too much about some of the weakenesses of that COAST had at The National -- the trilogy simply wasn't finished and needed another draft or two (which Stoppard had time to complete by the time the LCT production rolled around). Nunn did do a phenomenal job with Stoppard's ARCADIA after all.

Also, I suppose we shouldn't forget the great job that Mike Nichols did with the original Broadway production of THE REAL THING that won Tonys for his direction, Jeremy Irons, Glenn Close, Christine Baranski and for Stoppard for Best Play.

[sanda]

Posted: 10/25/07 at 3:28pm

This is hilarious.

I am planning to see Rock n' Roll mainly because I love Trevor Nunn and want to see his new work. However, I just start to appreciate straight play and did not see as many plays as musicals. I know little about Stoppard. I enjoyed "Doubt", "Frost/Nixon", and hated "History boys".

Your words kind scared me a little. I wonder whether my inferior intellect can swarllow this piece.

[Ed_Mottershead]

Posted: 10/25/07 at 3:37pm

Don't feel scared, Sanda. Practically NO ONE understands Stoppard and many of those who say they do, don't. I suggest you wait until it opens and then decide. WARNING: It's long, requires familiarity with late 70s and 80s Czechoslovakian political history. Stoppard can also be longwinded.

Updated On: 10/25/07 at 03:37 PM

[LimelightMike]

Posted: 10/25/07 at 3:38pm

I enjoyed the read, I did...

I am GREATLY looking forward to seeing the show on 11.24.

Best,
- Mike

[jaystarr]

Posted: 10/25/07 at 4:19pm

I dont understand Tom Stoppard's plays and I am proud of it !
(****standing while raising my hand*****)

I tried my best but I am just not feeling it..

J*






Updated On: 10/25/07 at 04:19 PM

[Roninjoey]

Posted: 10/25/07 at 5:01pm

I know he doesn't ACTUALLY feel that way about the shows he lampoons (otherwise he'd hate everything). I was just lampooning him! Gotta expect it when you put yourself out there.

[mallardo]

Posted: 10/26/07 at 4:45am

To me Jumpers is a far more obscure piece than Rock n' Roll.

Rock n'Roll is a debate between an academic proponent of the theory of communism and a younger man who has actually lived under that theory as practised in eastern Europe, in Prague. Both men are well meaning and both make their points - there is nothing difficult or abstruse about the arguments. The play's metaphor is rock music, which was sporadically suppressed by the Czech regime when, in fact, there was no need for it to do so. People who loved western rock music did not necessarily disagree with the regime - but the regime, suspicious and insecure, took it that way and clamped down in a manner that was ultimately self-defeating and self-destructive.

Obviously this is a simplistic rendering and takes no account of the personal dramas of the characters who age and die and change, for better or worse. But it's a play that's deeply felt by the author. It's closer to Stoppard's own life than anything else he has written. He is a Czech who went to England. He lived through this. If he has been accused in the past of being too cool and remote, he is not so here. Hence my bafflement at some of the criticism I'm reading. Just my two cents....