John C. Reilly to do 'Streetcar!'- Page 2
John C. Reilly to do 'Streetcar!'
magruder
Broadway Legend Joined: 5/15/03
#25re: john c. reilly to do 'nat the cat onstage 8 times a week', liam ponders
Posted: 11/16/04 at 10:44am
But the burning question is...will Roundabout keep the musical numbers?
MargoChanning
Broadway Legend Joined: 4/5/04
#26re: john c. reilly to do 'nat the cat onstage 8 times a week', liam ponders
Posted: 11/16/04 at 11:05amI would never impugn Quinn's "potency" which was legendary (I think he fathered a child on his deathbed). It's just that, well, he had a face like a basset hound. Great powerhouse of an actor? Without question. Sex symbol? Not so much....
EffieWhite
Stand-by Joined: 10/8/03
#27re: john c. reilly to do 'nat the cat onstage 8 times a week', liam ponders
Posted: 11/16/04 at 12:36pmHear me now and believe me later--this production of STREETCAR will open and the reviews will rave over her and say how depressing it is that she wasn't given a proper Stanley to act opposite. John C. Reilly would be the perfect Mitch and, no matter how great an actor he is, will be completely unable to pull off Stanley. Just as Aidan Quinn was unable opposite Blythe Danner. It doesn't matter how talented you are--this is a role that has very specific requirements and he just doesn't have them. This is the worst casting decision since...since...Harvey as Tevye.
SueleenGay
Broadway Legend Joined: 6/9/03
#28re: john c. reilly to do 'nat the cat onstage 8 times a week', liam ponders
Posted: 11/16/04 at 12:51pm
I totally agree with Robbiej and Margo. Nowhere does it say that Stanley is sexy. One of the problems of casting such a hot Stanley is that the rape scene takes on a "oh, that lucky girl" timbre. I don't mean to make light of it, but it should be brutal, and becomes more so if Stanley is even more repugnant. It also adds to the disbelief that Blanche has to her little Stella for Star ending up with the jerk. In the film with Brando, it's hard to imagine anyone objecting to anyone shacking up with Brando!
I had the chance to see Rielly in Streetcar at Steppenwoolf, he was a stunning, loveable and extreemly moving Mitch. The best thing about a production that had Gary Senise as Stanley. Wanna talk about miscasting?
#29re: john c. reilly to do 'nat the cat onstage 8 times a week', liam ponders
Posted: 11/16/04 at 12:54pm
What a great actor this man is. I do agree with the whole Mitch thing, but perhaps there is going to be a different approach to the material so they need a less sexy Stanley.
Who knows? Cant wait!
MargoChanning
Broadway Legend Joined: 4/5/04
#30re: john c. reilly to do 'nat the cat onstage 8 times a week', liam ponders
Posted: 11/16/04 at 1:11pm
Exactly Sueleen. People have gotten caught up in the notion that Stanley is supposed to be some kind of sex symbol, just because Brando was one. But Brando and other successful Stanleys weren't effective because of their sexiness, they were effective because they were dangerous, animalistic brutes, wound so tight that they were seemingly capable of real explosive violence at any second. Stanley has to possess a raw savage physicality and prowl the stage like an ape -- you have to believe that he just might suddenly decide to slap around Stella or Blanche or destroy all the furniture in the house at slightest whim. The audience should be at least a little afraid of him (but also inexplicably drawn to him at the same time).
This is why Aiden Quinn and Alec Baldwin never really worked as Stanley -- there was nothing dangerous or physically imposing about them (though Baldwin had a few good moments). After seeing Brian O'Byrne in "Frozen" earlier this year, I thought that he might make for a good Stanley -- he was positively frightening to watch. Reilly should be outstanding as well, because in addition to having a first rate technique, he has a lumpish physicality, a mesmerizing intensity and a certain quality of spontaneity on stage that suits the role to a tee. I think he'll be great.
EffieWhite
Stand-by Joined: 10/8/03
#31re: john c. reilly to do 'nat the cat onstage 8 times a week', liam ponders
Posted: 11/16/04 at 1:49pm
When Blanche and Stanley have their first scene together Stanley asks, "mind if I get comfortable?" and takes off his shirt at which point Blanche has to be deeply effected by the power of his sexual presence. Yes he is a brute and potentially violent--but he HAS to have a dangerous, palpable sexuality. Without it there ain't no play.
And no matter how sexy the Stanley is--the rape scene is, of course, repugnant and brutal. The man is raping his wife's sister while the wife is in the hospital having his baby! NOBODY looks at this scene and thinks "how lucky".
robbiej
Broadway Legend Joined: 5/20/03
#32re: john c. reilly to do 'nat the cat onstage 8 times a week', liam ponders
Posted: 11/16/04 at 1:54pm
So if someone doesn't have ripped abs, they can't have a sexual presence??
I mean...really. Come on.
What this board is teaching me today (and has been teaching me for quite some time) is that if a lot of the members of this board were to run the industry, it would be a sh*ittier industry than it already is.
EffieWhite
Stand-by Joined: 10/8/03
#33re: john c. reilly to do 'nat the cat onstage 8 times a week', liam ponders
Posted: 11/16/04 at 3:05pm
WHO SAID HE HAS TO HAVE RIPPED ABS??? Nowhere in my post did I say that Stanley has to have ripped abs. BUT HE HAS TO HAVE A PHYSICAL, SEXUAL PRESENCE.
Uch--why am I bothering?????
#34re: john c. reilly to do 'nat the cat onstage 8 times a week', liam ponders
Posted: 11/16/04 at 3:06pm
effie would this qualify?
...global warming can manifest itself as heat, cool, precipitation, storms, drought, wind, or any other phenomenon, much like a shapeshifter. -- jim geraghty
pray to st. jude
i'm a sonic reducer
he was the gimmicky sort
fenchurch=mejusthavingfun=magwildwood=mmousefan=bkcollector=bradmajors=somethingtotalkabout: the fenchurch mpd collective
robbiej
Broadway Legend Joined: 5/20/03
#35re: john c. reilly to do 'nat the cat onstage 8 times a week', liam ponders
Posted: 11/16/04 at 3:11pm
Then why mention the whole removal of the shirt sequence?
SueleenGay
Broadway Legend Joined: 6/9/03
#36re: john c. reilly to do 'nat the cat onstage 8 times a week', liam ponders
Posted: 11/16/04 at 3:18pmOh, dear lordy, Papa. It's enough to give a girl a heart attack!
Auggie27
Broadway Legend Joined: 10/13/03
#37re: john c. reilly to do 'nat the cat onstage 8 times a week', liam ponders
Posted: 11/16/04 at 6:25pm
No one has picked up on what I imagined -- that Reilly just might opt to work out a bit, not to remotely approximate Brando (or even Baldwin), but to merely turn himself into more viable a leading man. That's not me putting down a chubby fella who has every right to be a zhlub, it's suggesting that a good actor prepares for a good role--extensively.
It might end up being the balance between the two extremes posted here -- that Stanley must be ripped or Stanley will end up being a puddle of pudding. I'm sure Reilly sees this opportunity for what it is, and will begin preparing for the role immediately. That includes physical and mental work.
Curiously, if this were a case of a women, we'd all quickly say "Oh, she'll go to a spa! She'll get a trainer!" We all assume women will opt for everything from breast augmentation to starvation for their art, whereas men are considered 'what you see is what you get.' I respect Reilly, and see him seizing this day in the sun that looms for him.
MaTakeALookAtMe
Broadway Legend Joined: 9/13/04
#38re: john c. reilly to do 'nat the cat onstage 8 times a week', liam ponders
Posted: 11/16/04 at 6:53pmThe sexuality and animal desire that Stan stirs up in Blanche has less to do with his physical appearance than his demeanor. She resents him because he is so base and vulgar, yetr she desires him because he is so base and vlgar..he is a man..not a pretty boy...he is the opposite orf the man she had loved
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