Does anyone like Elaine May's work?

[BeeBee]

Posted: 4/1/05 at 5:43pm

Trying to decide if I should buy tickets to this new play. Is she hokey?

[melissa errico fan]

Posted: 4/1/05 at 5:44pm

She's very funny. I can see why some people might consider her an acquired taste.

[Ellie3]

Posted: 4/1/05 at 5:45pm

I loved her in 'Small Time Crooks'!

[redhotinnyc2]

Posted: 4/1/05 at 5:51pm

back in the 60s (I believe) she did a comedy album with Mike Nichols - it was one of the funniest things I had and have ever heard - their routiness were hilarous and smart - and I like smart comedy.

[BeeBee]

Posted: 4/1/05 at 5:51pm

I mean as a writer not as an actress. Thanks.

[redhotinnyc2]

Posted: 4/1/05 at 5:54pm

well - she and Mike Nichols WROTE those sketches together - so I was talking about her writing also.

[pinspot]

Posted: 4/1/05 at 6:04pm

What is her new play about?

[sabrelady]

Posted: 4/1/05 at 6:07pm

Ishtar aside- She is considered one of the great script doctors- up there ( in some opinions) w Neil Simon.

[pinspot]

Posted: 4/1/05 at 6:19pm

I didn't know that!

[MargoChanning]

Posted: 4/1/05 at 6:49pm

I was hugely disappointed with her "Taller Than a Dwarf" which had a brief run on Broadway a few seasons ago, despite a cast that included Matthew Broderick and Parker Posey. It just wasn't funny and was almost painful to sit through (it apparently was recycled from an earlier unsuccessful comedy she'd written a couple of decades before -- it should have stayed in the drawer).

I also wasn't crazy about her recent "Adult Entertainment."

"An Evening With Nichols and May" is a classic of sketch comedy and a huge long-running Broadway hit with both of them proving to be clever and talented writers and actors. Nichols, of course went on to be one of the great stage and film directors afterwards. May has mostly struggled as a writer and director in the past 40 years, helming several unsuccessful projects for stage and screen. And her script doctoring reputation is based on work she did behind the scenes a couple of decades ago. Not sure what happened to her, but she seems to have lost whatever "inspiration" she apparently possessed in the early 60s.

Not sure how good this new play will be, but based on her recent track record, I'm not very optimistic.

[Thesbijean]

Posted: 4/1/05 at 6:55pm

Her screenplay for THE BIRDCAGE is amazing though...

[Yorkie1276]

Posted: 4/1/05 at 10:56pm

Adult Entertainment was a great show.

I had tickets to Taller Than A Dwarf, but the show cut its run short before I could see it.

I subscribe to MTC, so I have tickets for her new show for mid-June.

[justme2]

Posted: 4/2/05 at 12:32am

I love Nicohls and May!!! Get an old LP of their "An evening with Mike Nichols and Elaine May" (never found it on CD) if you want a sampling of her type of humor.

Their rendition of "Telephone" -a desperate man with one dime and Elaine May as three different information operators messing with him, is hysterical!!! The "Mother and Son" routine is just as great....They were hysterical and sold out on Broadway in Nov 1960.

Her work seperate from Nichols has not had as high a profile as his (film version of Whose Afraid of Virginia Woolf, The Graduate, Silkwood, Working Girl, Regarding Henry,etc). But..she is a well respected script doctor in Hollywood and on Broadway.

[ChrisLovesShows]

Posted: 4/2/05 at 12:54am

I thought the script for Adult Entertainment was pretty bad. So much of it was variations on a dumb blond (or, in this case, dumb porn star) joke. It was about the quality of the dialogue written for Chrissy on "Three's Company."

[OtherDaryl]

Posted: 4/2/05 at 7:58am

An Elaine May-written anything appeals to me.

Sometimes her neurosis overshadow the humor of the pieces. Years ago she did a one-act with Peter Falk at The Goodman called Hot Line - a comedy about a suicide prevention hot line. He couldn't remember the lines (I understand they were changing daily and Warren Beatty even dropped in to help out) and it wasn't particulary funny, either, especially on a triple bill with a hysterical Shel Silverstein piece, Gorilla, and a Mamet piece, Disappearance of the Jews.

I recently watched her film, A New Leaf, with Walter Matthau and it really stands up well, despite being a collosal failure at the time of its release - comparable in scope to Heaven's Gate.

[Glebb]

Posted: 4/2/05 at 8:21am

Haven't seen it in so many years but I remember loving "A New Leaf". Did she write any Anne Bancroft specials for TV?

[wildcat]

Posted: 4/2/05 at 9:24am

I think Martin Charnin wrote "Annie-the Women in the Life of a Man", which is the only Bancroft special I know.

[Corine2]

Posted: 4/2/05 at 9:26am

Adult Entertainment made my worst show list.
AGONY.

[melissa errico fan]

Posted: 4/2/05 at 9:27am

Really, Corine? I really enjoyed "Adult Entertainment". Other than "Taller Than a Dwarf," I have enjoyed pretty much all of her work.

[Corine2]

Posted: 4/2/05 at 9:40am

It was painful. I mean it is better then many on my worst list:
Fire In A Dead Man's Eye- Worst show I have ever seen. Ever.
Prymate
Bklyn

Jane Alexanders new show-
Jackie Mason's Musical
Adult Entertainment
Vincent The Musical
My horror list.


Updated On: 4/2/05 at 09:40 AM

[melissa errico fan]

Posted: 4/2/05 at 9:44am

Well, I agree with pretty much your entire worst list, except "Adult Entertainment". And I haven't seen "What of the Night?"-Jane Alexander's show-yet, so I really can't judge it.

But BKLYN, PRYMATE, and LAUGHING ROOM ONLY definitely occupy a place on my worst list!

[Corine2]

Posted: 4/2/05 at 9:46am

What if is really on the top.
My best friend turned to me in the middle and said" Can we sneak out"
I was really upset as Jane is one of the greatest female actressess of all time. It was beyond painful.
Do yourself a big favor and miss it.

[Glebb]

Posted: 4/2/05 at 9:48am

Was there an AB special called "Annie and the Seven Hoods?"

[melissa errico fan]

Posted: 4/2/05 at 10:03am

I think I will miss it. I've heard from a lot of people that it is terrible.

[Corine2]

Posted: 4/2/05 at 10:47am

Terrible is being kind.
If your idea of fun is watching an old lady rant and dance around an apartment in the dark ranting and raving then this show is for you.
It was worse then Prymate.
Really tedious. I can't believe Jane did this show.
She is a brilliant performer and deserves better material.