With all due respect to Nicole Kidman, Gerry Page and everyone who has posted, put a picture of Gerry Page at 35 next to a current shot of Nicole Kidman. Gerry was never a traditional beauty. She was testament to the saying that talent is beauty. Nicole, even when she plays down her looks, still looks like a million bucks. Part of that is that we look better than the previous generation did at the same age.
To be fair, Irene Worth was 60-62 when she played the Princess and got away with it on sheer willpower. I know. I worked there. I was backstage every night.
Bacall was in her 50s and that production was going to come into NY and didn't for several reasons, some artistic and some were the result of Bacall's behavior backstage especially towards producers and local presenters. This was when her agent fired her. Yes, fired her.
Joanne Woodward did a production in Toronto 20 years or so back that apparently was well-received. Hers' was a gentler Princess; less of a Gorgon.
But in Act Three the Princess reveals that she is no pushover and that she became and then stayed a star for years because she is as ruthless as Boss Finley.
Take a look at Sandra Bullock in that 'other Capote movie' -- I can't remember the title. She is without make-up and not in flattering light. To me that is the Princess in Act One. In her brief appearance in Act two she is loaded, half-dressed and her make-up is askew. Only in Act Three is she sober, dressed and made up, thinking clearly and the true "star" that Alexandra del Lago is.
For Chance, think Tom Cruise 20-25 years ago and six inches taller. Chance needs that kind of wattage of sex and star power that Cruise had for about 5 years after Top Gun.
I just raised another point; Nicole Kidman is nearly six feet tall. This is going to be tough.
Picky though I may be, I think New York is long overdue a production of Sweet Bird.
"If my life weren't funny, it would just be true. And that would be unacceptable."
--Carrie Fisher
Updated On: 9/17/10 at 03:03 PM
