John Doyle Is At It Again — Page 2

Maybe he should stick with the instrument theme. I saw his "Peter Grimes" at the Met which didn't have the singers playing instruments. It was one of the worst things I have ever seen, especially compared with the amazing production it replaced. On second thought, maybe he should just give up directing.

Or if Fosse had his dancers wear black and move in stylistically slinky and sensual choreography in more than one show.

Or if Hal Prince used large, spectacular metaphors on more than one show.

---

I think Eric makes a good point that the high concept of ALLEGRO already tends to overwhelm the thin story. It remains to be seen if the imbalance can be rectified by making the concept even more complicated, but it does seem counterintuitive.

I have to laugh. I saw the casting notice for this the other day and it said
actor should play one of the following intruments FOR EVERY ROLE! I said to myself
is it John Doyle directing? And sure enough it was. And I laughed.

Perhaps the man is not able to stage anything without actors hiding behind instruments. His work on Irma La Douce was substandard and there were no instruments to hide behind. Catered Affair (although I didn't see it) was reportedly a big turkey.
Too bad.. the cast could have played a Klezmer Band.



Every time Mr Doyle doesn't use actors playing with instruments...his shows are dull and flop. Catered Affair, Irma La Douce,

Doesn't Mr Doyle realize that this is becoming " a joke" "a cliche" " a one trick pony"

Please. Give me choreography and let the musicians play the music.

Personally I thought he did great work with A Catered Affair. It was an underrated show and has a lovely score (and cast recording).

---

I am a huge fan of Mr. Doyle's staging. His Sweeney Todd was pretty revolutionary, how he managed to take a massive show and scale it down and giving us what I believe to be the scariest sweeney in recent memory. I enjoyed his version of company as well. I was even lucky to see his Color Purple in London. That production felt more authentic to the time period with just a wooden stage and some chairs then either the original broadway production, or the film. And Cytnthea's Ervico "I'm Here" was one of the most heartbreaking numbers I have witnessed in all my 23 years of theater going.

The producers may save money but they still have to pay the equivalent of double dues for the actors/musicians to both Equity and the orchestral equivalent.

I suspect it did play better live. It was such a small, sparse, intimate staging, that the filmed clips just kinda look like people walking around each other. http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=vmrKH_V6fkc

Updated On: 5/25/14 at 07:42 PM

Anyone who thinks Doyle is a one-trick pony is being willfully ignorant at this point. You don't have to like the things he's done, but the instrument jokes are like hearing geezers making "Woah-ho-ho...you're on Twitter? What, are you posting about what you ate for lunch?" jokes. I can't roll my eyes far enough into the back of my skull.