Is The Glass Menagerie All its Really Cracked Up To Be ?- Page 2
Is The Glass Menagerie All its Really Cracked Up To Be ?
camerangel
Broadway Legend Joined: 10/30/04
#25Re: Is the Glass Menagerie all it's really cracked up to be?
Posted: 1/12/05 at 2:23am
Jrb~ your snarky attitude is quite unecessary.. you say you are up for discussion yet you have nothing but assumptions to back your comments up. What one person evivsions is not going to be what another person does. You keep saying things like "Well, as long as the production avoids certain cliches and wrongful choices*, it should be stunning." well that is a very big if.. Yet it is not ok for others to make comments based on their ideals and opinions, sounds a bit hypocritical to me.
Look forward to hearing about it BlueWizard..
"Someday I'm going to have a baby and I'm gonna name her L'il Mimi Marquez and I and will sing to her every day and when she's a toddler I will say "L'il Mimi Marquez, clad only in a bubble diaper, will perform her famous play pen handcuff dance to the sounds of breast milk being pumped!" ~Kringas
Type_A_Tiff
Broadway Legend Joined: 2/25/04
#26Re: Is the Glass Menagerie all it's really cracked up to be?
Posted: 1/12/05 at 2:23am
Oh, you meant a stage production of a Williams play. I thought you meant a stage production in general, and I was going to backhand you because THAT would be a stupid question. And no, I haven't seen a Williams production before, although if I could sit through Waiting For Godot without falling asleep, I know subtext is able to be shown effectively on stage once in a while.
Oops, I think the rolling eyes just got stuck at the back of my head. 
Blue Wizard, who's in the Toronto cast?
"Good luck returning my ass!" - Wilhemina Slater
"This is my breakfast, lunch and f***ing dinner right here. I'm not even f***in' joking." - Colin Farrell
#27Re: Is the Glass Menagerie all it's really cracked up to be?
Posted: 1/12/05 at 2:24am
I understand that Ned Beatty was a revelation. The supporting cast was said to be very good.
The thing is--and maybe this is where my grit came off in the first couple of posts here--is that in the cannon of great theatre, there is no debating the inclusion of Cat, Streetcar, or Menagerie--to just name 3 of his plays. Sure, you can personally dislike it. But, I would always make sure that I gave something in the cannon the chance. That I try to discover why a certain work is considered unquestionably great.
I realize that's what you guys are doing here--and that is so awesome!
Too many people on this board have no respect for ANYTHING written before 1990. And I need to set my color coded alert on that down a notch. 
#28Re: Is the Glass Menagerie all it's really cracked up to be?
Posted: 1/12/05 at 2:26amCamerangel--you can gladly kiss my glass menagerie. I'm not here to please you.
#29Re: Is the Glass Menagerie all it's really cracked up to be?
Posted: 1/12/05 at 2:27amOH yes, i have great respect for the classics , for they are what make up what has come recently. I appreciate you realizing your "grit" as well. just because i am an english fanatic, a body of literature is actually a "canon", not cannon . for cannon = BOOM!.
#30Re: Is the Glass Menagerie all it's really cracked up to be?
Posted: 1/12/05 at 2:28amI'm bright red! Of course! lol Canon Canon Canon got it. I see "Canon" and think of the camera. Cannon is more fun--more explosive!
Type_A_Tiff
Broadway Legend Joined: 2/25/04
#31Re: Is the Glass Menagerie all it's really cracked up to be?
Posted: 1/12/05 at 2:28am
That's the ass-kissing I was expecting, jrb. You're forgiven for previous grittiness then. 
And nuh-uh i soooo have respekt for stuff written before 1990. i mean jon larson (aka GOD) was totally outlining the beginnings of rent in the 80s rite??????
ETA: Your glass menagerie, huh? Is it that fragile and a container for animals?
"Good luck returning my ass!" - Wilhemina Slater
"This is my breakfast, lunch and f***ing dinner right here. I'm not even f***in' joking." - Colin Farrell
#32Re: Is the Glass Menagerie all it's really cracked up to be?
Posted: 1/12/05 at 2:32am
very dirty! only if you consider folks like phantom2 and others to be ANIMALS!
And, I'm VERY fragile. So be gentle.
camerangel
Broadway Legend Joined: 10/30/04
#33Re: Is the Glass Menagerie all it's really cracked up to be?
Posted: 1/12/05 at 2:35am
Oh JRB~ if only.. haha.. you couldn't handle me kissing your glass menagerie.. 
"Someday I'm going to have a baby and I'm gonna name her L'il Mimi Marquez and I and will sing to her every day and when she's a toddler I will say "L'il Mimi Marquez, clad only in a bubble diaper, will perform her famous play pen handcuff dance to the sounds of breast milk being pumped!" ~Kringas
#35Re: Is the Glass Menagerie all it's really cracked up to be?
Posted: 1/12/05 at 2:36am
Aww, don't pick on jrb, he's one of my favourite people on BWW.
Again, I actually find this thread a bit ironic for me because I understand the impetus behind MENAGERIE and what makes it good drama, but I'm clueless about STREETCAR, arguably Williams' greatest play. Maybe it's because I saw countless parodies before I saw the classic film (and I have yet to see a stage production of STREETCAR), but I feel like I'm missing the magic.
Blue Wizard, who's in the Toronto cast?
I can't find the cast list anywhere; I'm assuming it's nowhere famous. The logo is rather strange (I'm hoping it's not some conceptual rethinking of the play):
Toronto actually receiving a lot of Williams this year: besides MENAGERIE, there will also be productions of CAT and ORPHEUS DESCENDING at the nearby Stratford Festival.
(OT: I'm seeing the Canstage production of TAKE ME OUT next week -- I have press tickets to opening night. Can't wait! Gotta catch me some naked man action onstage! )
MargoChanning
Broadway Legend Joined: 4/5/04
#36Re: Is the Glass Menagerie all it's really cracked up to be?
Posted: 1/12/05 at 2:36am
I've seen several productions of Glass Menagerie over the years and in some ways, I think it is Williams' best play. Perhaps, it doesn't translate well on to some on the page (I always thought it did), but in performance it can be funny, heartbreaking, profound, wistful and incredibly tragic. It's the play that gets the closest to Williams' poetic soul and is most reflective of himself as a writer and a person. You must see it performed to understand this. When well cast and directed, the many layers of subtext -- the longing, the pain, the hope -- get under your skin and can shake you to the core.
None of the roles, including Jim the Gentleman Caller is thankless in any way (his scene with Laura is one of the greatest ever written by an American playwright). These are fully fleshed out beings on stage and on the page. I don't know. This sounds like the reaction I've heard some people having to Chekhov sometimes ..... "what's the big deal?" "Nothing happens." See a first rate production of this play (and I've seen a few) and the potent eloquence and humanity of each of these characters becomes eminently transparent.
#37Re: Is the Glass Menagerie all it's really cracked up to be?
Posted: 1/12/05 at 2:39am
Exactly! One of the greatest things I learned from Uta Hagen was that Chekov is FUNNY. You have to find the humor. If the play SEEMS boring, an actor has to find the action.
That scene with Jim and Laura devastates me.
Blue--have you seen the film of Streetcar? I suspect (hope) the revival will be stunning.
camerangel
Broadway Legend Joined: 10/30/04
#38Re: Is the Glass Menagerie all it's really cracked up to be?
Posted: 1/12/05 at 2:40am
Me a tease?? NO NO NO.
but alas you are not here to please me and I am not here to "please" you.. heheheheheheh
**smiles sweetly**
"Someday I'm going to have a baby and I'm gonna name her L'il Mimi Marquez and I and will sing to her every day and when she's a toddler I will say "L'il Mimi Marquez, clad only in a bubble diaper, will perform her famous play pen handcuff dance to the sounds of breast milk being pumped!" ~Kringas
Type_A_Tiff
Broadway Legend Joined: 2/25/04
#39Re: Is the Glass Menagerie all it's really cracked up to be?
Posted: 1/12/05 at 2:44am
Oh, we're taking sides now, are we, Wiz? *throws down gauntlet*
Are you going to Stratford this year? Any major headliners? (I'd love to see Colm Feore back in theatre action - something apart from Chronicles of Riddick, ideally.)
I'm not familiar with most of Chekhov's work, to be honest (so feel free to discredit me ), so I can't comment on any parallels there, but your post is duly noted, and I'll bone up on this play and Chekhov so I can add more to that discussion.
"Good luck returning my ass!" - Wilhemina Slater
"This is my breakfast, lunch and f***ing dinner right here. I'm not even f***in' joking." - Colin Farrell
#40Re: Is the Glass Menagerie all it's really cracked up to be?
Posted: 1/12/05 at 2:45amI don't think many of us are as read up on Chekhov as we'd like to be!!
MargoChanning
Broadway Legend Joined: 4/5/04
#41Re: Is the Glass Menagerie all it's really cracked up to be?
Posted: 1/12/05 at 2:47amI am.
#42Re: Is the Glass Menagerie all it's really cracked up to be?
Posted: 1/12/05 at 2:48amThat's cuz you are a nerd! :P
#43Re: Is the Glass Menagerie all it's really cracked up to be?
Posted: 1/12/05 at 2:48am
Yes, the scene between Jim and Laura really is the highlight for me in MENAGERIE.
I have seen the film version of STREETCAR twice, but on both occasions I felt emotionally detached from it. Blanche didn't particularly appeal to me -- why should I care about a pretentious waif who lives in her head and who has a thing for younger men? I thought Marlon Brando was phenomenal, but I don't understand the hoopla over STREETCAR -- is it the dreamy, almost sweaty atmosphere that the play creates? Is it the tragedy of a brute destroying a flower?
Type_A_Tiff
Broadway Legend Joined: 2/25/04
#44Re: Is the Glass Menagerie all it's really cracked up to be?
Posted: 1/12/05 at 2:48am
It just occurred to me while reading this thread how much I abuse the privilege to use emoticons. So now it's going to stop.
MargoC, what would you recommend I read to get my feet wet?
"Good luck returning my ass!" - Wilhemina Slater
"This is my breakfast, lunch and f***ing dinner right here. I'm not even f***in' joking." - Colin Farrell
#45Re: Is the Glass Menagerie all it's really cracked up to be?
Posted: 1/12/05 at 2:49am
Hmmmm, I want to think it's all of the above, blue!
#46Re: Is the Glass Menagerie all it's really cracked up to be?
Posted: 1/12/05 at 2:50amHoney, that catwoman face is all the emoticon you need!
#47Re: Is the Glass Menagerie all it's really cracked up to be?
Posted: 1/12/05 at 2:51am
Well, I hope someone explains it to me, because I feel like I've missed the boat on this one. Or, did I miss the streetcar? Heh, heh?
OK, I've been awake for too long. Off to bed.
camerangel
Broadway Legend Joined: 10/30/04
#48Re: Is the Glass Menagerie all it's really cracked up to be?
Posted: 1/12/05 at 2:54amare we getting the claws out again?? I can think of good use for claws..
"Someday I'm going to have a baby and I'm gonna name her L'il Mimi Marquez and I and will sing to her every day and when she's a toddler I will say "L'il Mimi Marquez, clad only in a bubble diaper, will perform her famous play pen handcuff dance to the sounds of breast milk being pumped!" ~Kringas
Type_A_Tiff
Broadway Legend Joined: 2/25/04
#49Re: Is the Glass Menagerie all it's really cracked up to be?
Posted: 1/12/05 at 2:55am
jrb, and by that comment, you mean it's dead sexy, am I right?
<-- My ideal.
"Good luck returning my ass!" - Wilhemina Slater
"This is my breakfast, lunch and f***ing dinner right here. I'm not even f***in' joking." - Colin Farrell
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