ENRON the Play Starring Norbert Leo Butz, Stephen Kunken and Marin Mazzie

[KanderEbb]

Posted: 6/24/14 at 4:24pm

I accidentally watched some clips of ENRON the play on YouTube and was immediately blown away. It seemed pretty intriguing and, which is the most important, brought a quite different view on the Enron bankruptcy case. However, I heard it was a huge flop, and I couldn't find anything else, e.g., videos, audio recordings, scripts of the play.
Any one knows how could I watch the show now? Or does any recording exist? I don't care whether it's by Broadway cast or London cast. If not, is it possible for me to get the script? I'd be very much appreciated if anyone could offer me a clue. Thanks a lot!



Updated On: 6/24/14 at 04:24 PM

[Kad]

Posted: 6/24/14 at 4:33pm

http://www.amazon.com/s/ref=nb_sb_noss_1?url=search-alias%3Daps&field-keywords=lucy%20prebble&sprefix=lucy+pr%2Caps

[neonlightsxo]

Posted: 6/24/14 at 4:44pm

Yep, the script is available in print as posted. Also, I remember there being pro-shot press reel video clips on either this site or Playbill, as is the standard these days for Broadway openings. I bet if you poke around you can find them. It wasn't that long ago.

Eta: https://www.broadwayworld.com/article/BWW-TV-ENRON-Preview-Opens-Tonight-on-Broadway-20100427 Updated On: 6/24/14 at 04:44 PM

[Mr Roxy]

Posted: 6/24/14 at 9:50pm

It deserved a better fate. Butz has no luck. First this than Catch Me and than Big Fish.

[jnb9872]

Posted: 6/24/14 at 9:54pm

Yeah, that Tony for Best Actor for Catch Me was just rotten luck...

ENRON is one of a few multimedia-embracing plays that have been in London lately that greatly interest me. The upcoming CURIOUS INCIDENT is one I'm very excited to get to see, and A DISAPPEARING NUMBER is one I am sorry to have missed. I love the mini-trend of using all available technologies and artistic mediums to tell a story. I wish I could have seen ENRON but unfortunately it came and went too quickly for me over here.

[Mr Roxy]

Posted: 6/24/14 at 10:00pm

Has no luck re a show he is in being a hit and not closing prematurely.

[Jarethan]

Posted: 6/24/14 at 10:13pm

I think it would be hard to appreciate the play on the page. The Broadway production -- which I really enjoyed -- was over the top, but actually made the script clearer to me

Re Norbert, I like a lot, but he is VERY LUCKY to have won Tonys in 2 weak years for male musical performances. His role in Catch Me was a supporting one, let's face it. I still liked him best in Thou Shalt Not

[perfectlymarvelous]

Posted: 6/25/14 at 1:31am

I saw it as well and it's probably one of the weirdest and most interesting things I've ever seen.

[perfectlymarvelous]

Posted: 6/25/14 at 1:31am

I saw it as well and it's probably one of the weirdest and most interesting things I've ever seen.

[vegas2]

Posted: 6/25/14 at 12:08pm

Opinion on the U.S. production was very mixed. With the exception of a few inspired moments, I thought it was dreadful, and the audience at my performance seemed to have a similar reaction. Of course, it's possible the London production was better. Or maybe London audiences brought a different sensibility.

[Roscoe]

Posted: 6/25/14 at 12:30pm

One of the very worst plays I've yet had the bad luck to endure -- overproduced, over-written, overdone and just vile from start to finish. The actors did the best they could, but a play about Enron that comes to a screeching halt for a Light Sabre Ballet isn't about anything as base as actors acting. And those poor poor folks having to wear those velociraptor masks, oh God...

[WhizzerMarvin]

Posted: 6/25/14 at 12:32pm

I saw it and mostly hated it. It was weird in a bad way. Just a big mess thrown up on stage.

I remember:

Norbert running on a treadmill

Marin simulating giving a blow job and then grabbing a kleenex to wipe around her mouth

Stephen Kunken hanging with velociraptors

The ensemble singing a song about the stock exchange (maybe some lyrics about the price of gold?)

A projection of the plane and Twin Towers falling, accompanied with plaster and debris falling on the cast from above the stage till it was filled with dust and rubble. (This seemed to make some in the audience very uncomfortable.)

I felt a sense of British arrogance that possibly made it go over better in London.

What I remember most was that there was a group of four people in the back of the orchestra who, it was later learned, had a rotten dinner and had food poisoning. They were throwing up and the start of the show was delayed for a long time. It was then a running joke with my friends for a while that Enron would make you sick to your stomach.

The only positive thing I can say about the show was that it was ambitious, but it completely missed the mark for me.

The score was nominated in the Best Score category, along with Fences; the only two musicals with original scores were Memphis and Fences.

Edit: Roscoe, How could I forget that lightsaber ballet!!

Updated On: 6/25/14 at 12:32 PM

[Roscoe]

Posted: 6/25/14 at 1:46pm

Whizzer - you're on to something about the British arrogance element. The sense that the Brits were Explaining American Corruption To The Hapless New Yorkers Who Might Not Have Gotten It On Their Own, Poor Ignorant Darlings was really prevalent, a deeply condescending show. I was reminded of that other Brit Import FESTEN, which was advertised as having SHOCKED WEST END AUDIENCES, and which only left the impression that the West End Audiences are terribly easily shocked.

[SFFrontRow]

Posted: 6/25/14 at 2:05pm

Mr Roxy...

"Has no luck re a show he is in being a hit and not closing prematurely."

Because Dirty Rotten Scoundrels (also Best Actor in Musical) only lasted a few years on Broadway.

Updated On: 6/25/14 at 02:05 PM

[AC126748]

Posted: 6/25/14 at 2:33pm

Re Norbert, I like a lot, but he is VERY LUCKY to have won Tonys in 2 weak years for male musical performances.

In 2005, Butz won the Drama League Award for best individual performance of the entire season and went on to beat John Lithgow and two of the stars of the hottest musical of that season. And in 2011, he beat two of the stars of the hottest musical in about a decade, THE BOOK OF MORMON. I don't think you can say that he benefitted from just luck and weak competition.

[quitetheatrical23]

Posted: 6/25/14 at 2:41pm

I saw it as well and thought it was quite fantastic. But it was very experimental, I think one of the more experimental things I've seen on Broadway in recent years, I think if it had been off-Broadway at a place like the Public or NYTW it would have sold out and would have been very buzzy...But, they needed a big house for the scope of the production design and set, it wouldn't have worked well without such boldness in that area. Butz was great and so was Kunken, but the biggest standout for me was Greg Itzin as Lay...wish he'd do theater more often.

[ljay889]

Posted: 6/25/14 at 3:47pm

Such a strange play. I remember being quite impressed with Kunken who was rightfully nominated for a Tony.

[ljay889]

Posted: 6/25/14 at 3:47pm

Such a strange play. I remember being quite impressed with Kunken who was rightfully nominated for a Tony.

[neonlightsxo]

Posted: 6/25/14 at 4:06pm

I thoroughly enjoyed Enron, especially Norbert and Stephen Kunken's performances. Yes, it's a little weird and a little too British but I found it illuminating.

[songanddanceman2]

Posted: 6/25/14 at 4:47pm

Yes god forbid us Brits talk about an American subject. I don't think the piece had any arrogance about it all other than the arrogance of the heads of Enron themselves.