Into the Woods Revival? Anytime Soon?- Page 9

[Kad]

Posted: 1/10/12 at 1:40pm

I actually still have not revealed what Meryl is supposedly doing in the park.

[Michael Bennett]

Posted: 1/10/12 at 1:50pm

I'm hoping its a one man show about Joe Papp with her playing all the roles (including Colleen Dewhust and LuEsther Mertz)

[Kad]

Posted: 1/10/12 at 1:56pm

...that would actually be incredible. They could easily adapt Free For All into a show like that.

[henrikegerman]

Posted: 1/10/12 at 1:57pm

"Since it's a recording and they could pretty much get anybody, I'd go for Streep and see if she'd do the Giant's Wife voice."

I'm all for this, as long as she can use the Thatcher voice!

AC, love the idea of Meryl as Jacques! Brilliant!

[Gaveston2]

Posted: 1/10/12 at 2:08pm

"They never use big stars. Meryl Streep, Kevin Kline, Anne Hathaway, Al Pacino, Denzel Washington, Natlaie Portman, Philip Seymour Hoffman, Christopher Walken, Kevin Spacey Morgan Freeman and Michelle Pfieiffer are a bunch of no-names"

And not one of those names has ever completed a "sold-out" run at Shakespeare in the Park. Even the starry Seagull with half the names mentioned above had seats available most nights.

Okay, it's been awhile, but the OP did say "ever".

Meryl Streep and Raul Julia's TAMING OF THE SHREW had people camping out over night and arriving at breakfast time just for a chance at a ticket. The three times I saw it, there were still lines after the curtain went up, because Leach's staging of the play-within-a-play involved moving people from the back row to seats on stage; there were always yet more people waiting to refill the back row.

I don't believe they had many empty seats for Ronstadt, Lansbury and Kline in PIRATES OF PENZANCE either.

If THE SEA GULL didn't sell out, it may have been the venue. No disrespect intended toward Chekhov; my point is that sitting on asphalt in the heat all day doesn't really put me in the mind for his full-length plays. I love THE SEA GULL, but I'd rather see it indoors.

[somethingwicked]

Posted: 1/10/12 at 2:09pm

For the record, Judi Dench re-recorded The Giant for this production when it played at Regent's Park.

In terms of Cinderella, I was also thinking (depending on what her shooting schedule for her new series is like) that Kristen Bell could be a very interesting option. She certainly has both the national exposure and the theatrical chops, and I've heard she's been wanting to do a musical in recent years but hasn't been able to because of her film work. She also has a history with Sondheim, since she played Fredrika in the LA Opera production of A LITTLE NIGHT MUSIC.

Is Meryl doing her one woman show, MERYL-Y WE ROLL ALONG?

Updated On: 1/10/12 at 02:09 PM

[Michael Bennett]

Posted: 1/10/12 at 2:11pm

I seem to remember pandemonium for SEAGULL tickets with people lining up at 6:00 pm the evening before.

[Kad]

Posted: 1/10/12 at 2:12pm

Kristin Bell would be a nice choice.

I did think that the Cinderella in the London production was the weakest link in the cast. Which is a shame.

[Gothampc]

Posted: 1/10/12 at 2:57pm

"I seem to remember pandemonium for SEAGULL tickets with people lining up at 6:00 pm the evening before."

I camped out overnight in Central Park to see The Seagull. I saw the show three times, but only camped out once. The reason is that tickets were available each night. The publicity arm of The Public whipped that show into a frenzy making people think it was a hard ticket to get, but you could go and get on the cancellation line and get in. Also remember they extended the show a week, minus Marcia Gay Harden, and there were empty seats during the performance I was at the week of extension.

[jewishboy]

Posted: 1/10/12 at 3:26pm

Do we think there is a prescribed age range for the Witch? I've always felt it should be someone relatively young for the second act. However, I would love to see women such as Patti LuPone, Elaine Paige, Marin Mazzie, Christine Ebersole, or Donna Murphy play this role. Also, for what it's worth, Hannah Waddington was shockingly good as the Witch in the Regents Park production...

[Michael Bennett]

Posted: 1/10/12 at 3:33pm

The script has a line about the Witch being restored to her previous 'youth and beauty' but I think age is less important than the character having a certain cold authoritative glamour.

Thus, I could see someone like Meryl Streep or Glenn Close conceivably pulling the role off even though they are arguably too old. I personally don't think LuPone is right for the Witch but think she'd be an amazing Jack's Mother.

Murphy would probably be sensational as the Witch, but doubt she'll do this production.



Updated On: 1/10/12 at 03:33 PM

[SonofRobbieJ]

Posted: 1/10/12 at 3:47pm

What if they went completely out of the box with a recording star...like Jennifer Hudson or Beyonce?

[Kad]

Posted: 1/10/12 at 3:49pm

This interpretation of the Witch is much more physical during the first act, as well.

[SondheimFan5]

Posted: 1/10/12 at 4:01pm

I would kill to see a great production of SITPWG at SITP!

Would be great if they could get Jenna Russell back for the Baker's Wife. American theatergoers are familiar with her work from her Sunday in the Park Tony nomination.

I would love to see Sondheim as the Narrator and/or Mysterious Man, but I know the narrator is a little kid in this production.

[husk_charmer]

Posted: 1/10/12 at 5:34pm

Honestly, I wish they wouldn't record the voice of the Giant's Wife. I think one of the weakest aspects of that production was the fact that you had pauses between the cast and the recording, and Dench's line readings were AWFUL.

[ljay889]

Posted: 1/10/12 at 5:53pm

LuPone would have been an amazing Witch when she was first approached for it in the 80s. I'd still LOVE to hear her sing it though.

[AC126748]

Posted: 1/10/12 at 5:55pm

I'm surprised Ravinia never did it in a concert version for her. Maybe they still will. (Audra could play The Baker's Wife--she did recently add "Moments in the Woods" to her concert repertoire) But having her play The Witch now would be akin to a drag act.

[ljay889]

Posted: 1/10/12 at 5:59pm

Yeah, When used to have Q&A on her website, a fan asked once if she'd ever play The Witch. Her response was - "Maybe at Ravinia." Too bad it never happened.

[random person 112]

Posted: 1/10/12 at 6:43pm

I don't know i could still see them going after Audra for the wife or the witch. Didn't someone mention her run in P&B ends around the time this starts. I mean rehersals would be a great squeeze but still. She also has done work with the Delacorte in the past.

As for fay as the witch from what i've heard she's done some singing in her past though it's just high school choir stuff. Though with some help, i think she'd be a big enough name. Updated On: 1/10/12 at 06:43 PM

[sondheimonmymind]

Posted: 1/10/12 at 11:03pm

Not endorsing the idea (though I'm not against it, either), but what about Jennifer Hudson for The Witch? It seems risky for the Public to throw out an unknown-to-questionable acting 'talent' in such a role, but she'd sing the hell out of the music.

As for Streep doing a Shakespeare, with the exception of Lady M., I can't think of any play worth her time unless she is cross-casting in a traditionally male role. Am I forgetting any traditionally female roles that are still viable for her?

[sondheimonmymind]

Posted: 1/10/12 at 11:07pm

Also, I very quickly thought of Anne Hathaway for this production, but isn't she still vocally and physically prime for Cinderella? As Laura Benanti showed in the last revival, it is no throwaway supporting part, and I could imagine Anne going even further to bring Cinderella stage center if given the chance. I'm not sure she's at the age/life experience to be playing a woman so desperate for a child.

Let's throw her on there, and get Toni Collette or a similar early 40s/late 30s actress in the Baker's Wife part.

[nasty_khakis]

Posted: 1/10/12 at 11:17pm

Debra Messing Baker's Wife please?

[Gothampc]

Posted: 1/10/12 at 11:46pm

Well Helen Mirren did Prospero. And I remember a production where an actress did King Lear.

Also, would Streep do Gertrude in Hamlet? Would her son play Hamlet?

[theaterkid1015]

Posted: 1/11/12 at 12:07am

"I actually still have not revealed what Meryl is supposedly doing in the park."

I just hope it's not something in the Ramble. She's better than that.

And, if the Shakespeare is As You Like It, may the gods get Nina Arianda up in at least one of those roles PLEASE.

[sondheimonmymind]

Posted: 1/11/12 at 12:30am

Gothampc, I specifically mentioned that, excepting traditionally male-cast roles, which some of our greatest classical actresses have taken on, there are few if any roles for a woman of Streep's talents and star power throughout Shakespeare. Perhaps Cleopatra, though that seems far outside her purview or interest, and, of course, Lady M.