Hello, Apocalypse: Trevor Nunn directing West End FOLLIES- Page 2

[PalJoey]

Posted: 1/3/10 at 7:06pm

Dear Sir Trevor,

I adore Follies. F*ck this up and we're rescinding your knightship.

Your Queen,
Elizabeth II

[fflagg]

Posted: 1/3/10 at 7:22pm

Nunn makes John Doyle look like Michael Bennett. This is a disgrace and it all revolves around money, madness, and music.

Money, no one wants to spend it
Madness, all of the talented musical theatre directors are dead
Music, Sondheim wants a check to pay his rent boyz and exposure of his work and will settle for hack directors and their socalled "vision"

[nomdeplume]

Posted: 1/3/10 at 11:34pm

Trevor Nunn's direction of Tennessee Williams' Not About Nightingales on Broadway in 1999 was brilliantly directed and acted and remains the scariest thriller I have ever seen on stage. If you did not get to see it, you really missed something like panic on the edge of your seat. It should have won the Tony that year as a new play since it was the Broadway debut for the play, and almost did, but the Tony was awarded to Side Man because Nightingales had already closed. It got six nominations including director yet won only scenic design.

I'd watch anything Nunn directs.

[wickedfan]

Posted: 1/3/10 at 11:42pm

To answer one posters question, yes Night Music has pacing issues. It clocks in JUST under 3 hours, which seems to be Trevor Nunn's target time for most of his shows.

[givesmevoice]

Posted: 1/3/10 at 11:45pm

Jordan, if we had Follies Babies, would Nanny play Weisman?

[PalJoey]

Posted: 1/4/10 at 12:33am

Once upon a time Trevor Nunn was the absolute brightest of bright young lights among young directors.

There may never be a staging of Shakespeare in our lifetimes as exciting as his 1978 bare-stage Macbeth with Ian McKellan and Judi Dench.





Banquet Scene:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=wu-rE6Nc0QI

Judi Dench Sleepwalking Scene:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=IOkyZWQ2bmQ





But that was then.

Now he is a bloated, pretentious shell of his former self, repeating the same ideas over and over again, thinking he's being innovative when he's only being imitative.

[Jordan Catalano]

Posted: 1/4/10 at 12:38am

PJ, I'd never seen that production of Macbeth w/ Dench. That scene is AMAZING! Thank you for that!

[FindingNamo]

Posted: 1/4/10 at 12:45am

PGenre: All you have to do is move your little finger.

[ghostlight2]

Posted: 1/4/10 at 11:01am

All this drama! You'd think we were discussing the third world war. If Aaron Sorkin is writing it, I will see it.

"Trevor Nunn's direction of Tennessee Williams' Not About Nightingales on Broadway in 1999 was brilliantly directed and acted and remains the scariest thriller I have ever seen on stage".

Truly was one of the most terrifying pieces of theater I have ever seen.

[Phyllis Rogers Stone]

Posted: 1/4/10 at 11:29am

Aaron Sorkin was purported to be writing the screenplay for the movie version. I don't think he'd be connected to this.

[philcrosby]

Posted: 1/4/10 at 12:02pm

Wasn't FOLLIES already done in a little tiny theater in London? Seated about 80 IIRC ... Claire Moore was in it ... and it used film projections for the ghosts. Am I dreaming this?

[devonian.t]

Posted: 1/4/10 at 12:04pm

Look at the wonders Nunn did for Chess when he took over from Michael Bennett... (heavy irony intended!)

I wonder what a Follies without dance would be like, (I don't want to find out!)

[Phyllis Rogers Stone]

Posted: 1/4/10 at 12:08pm

Wasn't FOLLIES already done in a little tiny theater in London? Seated about 80 IIRC ... Claire Moore was in it ... and it used film projections for the ghosts. Am I dreaming this?

No, you're not dreaming it. It worked until until Loveland, when it all kind of fell apart.

[Brick]

Posted: 1/4/10 at 12:15pm

Yes, PalJoey, that production was stunning. It was also a very long time ago, sadly ...

Another recent production of his that was neither bloated and indulgent, or tinny and tiny was ROCK N ROLL. Fantastic production, though few gave him much credit.

[best12bars]

Posted: 1/4/10 at 12:25pm

I can't wait to see darker version of FOLLIES with an accordion and kazoo as the pit!

Lea Michelle will make a great Phyllis alongside Zac Efron as Ben in this "younger, sexier" version. Look for Taylor Lautner making his much-heralded Broadway debut as Buddy and some gal nobody's heard of from the British revival as Sally.

And special appearance by Dakota Fanning (with a box around her name), who's seen it all, and, my dear, she's still here.

Oh! And Dick Van Dyke as Weissman!

Can't wait.

[Mattbrain]

Posted: 1/4/10 at 12:47pm

I just watched King Lear w/Ian McKellen on DVD and I have to say, I really enjoyed it.

[Pgenre]

Posted: 1/4/10 at 2:13pm

PJ is right, that production of MACBETH is electrifying. The DVD version is... chilling. I can't imagine it was any better on stage. I love how the DVD version exists in that black void of a soundstage. To say the performances were awesome or legendary would be doing a disservice to the work done by Dame Dench and Sir McKellan. Unforgettable.

P

[mywonderwa11]

Posted: 1/4/10 at 2:34pm

Nunn directing FOLLIES = me no likey!

[Jordan Catalano]

Posted: 1/4/10 at 2:37pm

ROCK N ROLL was one of only two shows I've ever walked out on. I don't think it had anything to do with the direction but more with Stoppard's astoundingly boring dialogue and a plot that I'm guessing 2% of the audience got.