How many Tennessee Williams plays have you seen? — Page 2

This is anal of me, but of course One Arm was adapted from the short story by Kaufman--Williams never wrote a play from his short story (although I believe he considered adapting it into a screenplay which, given the times, seems like a very unrealistic plan.)

AJH, I'd love to hear more about which of those many UK productions of each show you preferred. I'm also surprised you dislike Suddenly Last Summer so much--as I said, I saw the Diana Rigg production in London and loved it (though admittedly, aside from Rigg, perhaps the most striking thing about the production was the set which kinda opened up like a huge Faberge egg.) The BBC filmed did a TV adaptation of the Richard Eyre directed London production with Maggie Smith and Natasha Richardson which is well worth seeking out (I believe it's part of a DVD set of Smith TV performances)--the Liz Taylor film which was adapted by Gore Vidal (who also adapted the interesting, and pretty obscure Last of the Mobile Hot Shots, the film version of Kingdom of Earth/Seven Descents of Myrtle) is more faithful in tone than many of the censored Williams' film adaptations but, like many of them, is frustrating due to having such iconic performances, but having to have been so censored and re-written for the screen, although I still think Brooks' adaptations of Cat on a Hot Tin Roof and Sweet Bird of Youth are the biggest examples of this.

It's interesting that it seems like in the past couple of decades, the recent Glass Menagerie being an exception (as well as the BAM Streetcar, though that was an import, I believe,) London has had more success with Williams' revivals than Broadway where many of the revivals of his big plays seem to have had major issues with them. I did like what I heard and read of the recent Chicago Sweet Bird of Youth with Diane Lane and Finn Whitrock and hoped there might have been a chance for it to have a limited run on Broadway.

Curtain PullDowner, your post got me interesting in reading more about Mme. Lemonde. You may have seen these, but there's an interesting article from a Williams magazine about the play here http://www.tennesseewilliamsstudies.org/archives/2001/3kolin.pdf and a review of that production the youtube clip advertises here http://artsfuse.org/2493/theater-review-the-remarkable-rooming-house-of-tennessee-williams/

Updated On: 7/21/14 at 03:09 PM

"while it could be seen as Williams' attempting Neil Simon style comedy."

Period of Adjustment Broadway premiere: November, 1960.

Neil Simon's first Broadway play: Come Blow Your Horn. Broadway premiere: February, 1961.

Has Judy Parfitt ever done a Williams play? I think she would be brilliant. Maybe as Violet Venable or Alexandra Del Lago?

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"but I stand by many seeming to think it belongs more in the Neil Simon style of comedy play--"

Then many are as wrong as you.

One could say it was written in the mode of the lighthearted comedies of the day, with more serious underpinnings.

Neil Simon is not part of the equation.

"However I assume most people on here knew what my implication was..."

Don't imply. Articulate. Accurately.

Moreover, you shouldn't assume what "most people on here" made of your statement. Nor should you expect that others will fill in for you what you yourself failed to express. Do your own homework.

For all you know, most people could have been as befuddled as I by your statement.

Anyway...... to get back on topic, there was an off-off-Broadway staging of Period of Adjustment not too long ago. There were some interesting things in it, but it struck me as minor fare.

Ericmontreal22, thanks for pointing out my error! The play I dislike is SUMMER AND SMOKE -I've now changed my earlier post. Not sure what I was thinking there.
Suddenly Last Summer I really like. I agree re the amazing set for the Diana Rigg production, although overall I much preferred the other earlier staging. Rachel Weisz and the late great Sheila Gish were both stunning.

I've always been curious about the Summer and Smoke opera (though I prefer Eccentricities of a Nightingale, I think...) Lanford Wilson, another fave playwright and obviously someone quite indebted to Williams', did the libretto which always interested me.

Clayton would have been wonderful in Menagerie!

Didn't Mary Beth Peil originate Alma in the SUMMER AND SMOKE opera? I believe it was recorded or filmed at one point, though I don't know if it's available at all.

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Updated On: 7/21/14 at 09:21 PM

"Scripps2, how did you like the RSC Camino Real?"

I think Someone in a Tree 2 summed up Camino Real very well. It's not typical Williams and if you go in expecting melodrama and heightened emotions you'll be disappointed. The RSC production had a great cast but I think they too may have been expecting it to be typical Williams and not sure what to do having discovered it wasn't.

I've only seen two of his plays so far, a production of Streetcar, and a production of his one-act "The Dog Enchanted by the Divine View," both as part of the Tennessee Williams Tribute in Columbus, MS. Having only seen the movie of Streetcar before, I found the play so much better onstage, if only because I've never been a fan of the changes made to the story for film thanks to the Hollywood censors.

I've also heard Olympia Dukakis perform a monologue from "The Rose Tattoo" live, also at the TWT, so that counts for something correct?

To the original poster: have you read the collection "The Magic Tower and Other One-Act Plays"? It contains a one act version of Menagerie entitled 'The Pretty Trap' and the changes fascinate me. And then there's his brilliant short story collection, simply titled "Collected Stories." Both are must-reads.

"The RSC production had a great cast but I think they too may have been expecting it to be typical Williams and not sure what to do having discovered it wasn't."

It sounds like even Elia Kazan, who worked so closely with Williams' on their plays, had that problem with the original production. It wasn't until José Quintero's production a bit later that Williams' felt it was staged well (and it was at least a minor success--Quintero was also responsible for turning Summer and Smoke into a success and casting Geraldine Page in it as the original 1949 production was seen as too melodramatic and a pale imitation of Streetcar.)

I love the play--on the page, anyway. I've heard some say the one act, less busy earlier draft, Ten Blocks on the Camino Real is stronger, and there is a good B&W public tv version of it with Martin Sheen and Lotte Lenya as the Gypsy that's on DVD and worth tracking down.) In many ways it foreshadows the experiments Williams would start doing in the late 60s.

OperaBwayLover, I agree completely with your recommendations.

I second that we need a revival of Sweet Bird of Youth. I would love to see it live!

Many, but not enough.

The Glass Menagerie (Jessica Tandy, Jessica Lange and Cherry Jones)
A Streetcar Named Desire (Baldwin/Lange and Richardson/Reilly)
Cat On A Hot Tin Roof (Turner)
Suddenly, Last Summer (Roundabout w/Blythe Danner and Carla Gugino)
Orpheus Descending (Redgrave on Broadway and at the Fountain Theater in LA, mid-90s)
The Night of The Iquana (Roundabout with Peterson, Jones and Mason)
Not About Nightingales (Circle In The Square)
Something Cloudy, Something Clear (and Tennessee was in the audience)
The Milk Train Doesn't Stop Here Anymore (Ashley & Plummer)
Small Craft Warnings (directed by Austin Pendelton)

The productions varied, of course, as Williams is a difficult playwright to do justice to. "Nightingales" was a wonderful discovery of early Williams in Odets mode, and it was given an outstanding production. The much-maligned Roundabout "Streetcar" attempted to remove the play from the stigma of Brando and, I thought, it did so effectively. "Milk Train" made a successful case for a seemingly lesser Williams work thanks to its terrific cast. Lange was a better Amanda than given credit for but she was in an otherwise awkward production, at least here in NY. Celia Keenan-Bolger and Amanda Plummer were particularly haunting Lauras in their respective productions of "The Glass Menagerie."