John Doyle to Do the Instrument Thing AGAIN--This Time to MERRILY!

[PalJoey]

Posted: 6/11/07 at 2:23pm

Oh, no! Didn't he promise he'd STOP after Company?!?

===

Doyle Merrily Brings Sondheim Company to UK???
Date: 7th June 2007

[whatsonstage Gossip] If on Sunday John Doyle wins the Tony Award for Best Direction of a Musical for a second year in a row, it should increase the West End transfer potential of Company, the Stephen Sondheim classic for which he’s nominated this time around (See News, 15 May 2007). Last year, he scooped the prize for his revival of Sondheim’s Sweeney Todd, which landed on Broadway via Newbury’s Watermill Theatre and the West End. His Company revival – also up for Best Revival of a Musical and Best Performance by a Leading Actor in a Musical for American Raul Esparza - originated on Broadway but employs the same small-scale, actor-musician technique that has become Doyle’s trademark. It’s also produced there by Brits at the Ambassador Theatre Group who, as West End theatre owners as well as producers, are clearly well placed to make things happen for a transatlantic trip.

Meanwhile, back at the Watermill, where Doyle perfected that trademark actor-musician technique over many years and many productions, the director is due to return in spring 2008 to tackle yet another Sondheim classic in a similar way - Merrily We Roll Along, the maestro’s famously backward-moving 1981 musical.

Doyle Merrily Brings Sondheim Company to UK???

Updated On: 6/11/07 at 02:23 PM

[mortgageguy79]

Posted: 6/11/07 at 2:28pm

OH NO!!! Mr. Doyle...please....just....stop

[D2]

Posted: 6/11/07 at 2:31pm

They should just revive Michael Grandage's 2001 Donmar production of MERRILY... THAT was brilliant.

[Weez]

Posted: 6/11/07 at 2:32pm

Can you people look past your "oh crap, not more instruments!" reactions for a second, and remember that Doyle actually does really good work? Try not blinding yourselves. :P

I saw 'Company' in NY, and would love a West End transfer. I'm a little doubtful it'll happen (I woke up this morning convinced they'll be posting their closing notice by the end of the week), but I can pray, right? ^_^

[BrodyFosse123]

Posted: 6/11/07 at 2:33pm

Previous thread from May 18, 2007:

https://forum.broadwayworld.com/readmessage.cfm?boardname=bway&thread=935612#3023825

[Piercemn]

Posted: 6/11/07 at 2:34pm

Yawn! Can't he do anything but Sondheim? Borrrinnnnggggg!

[morosco]

Posted: 6/11/07 at 2:36pm

BLAIR: George. Chromolume Number Seven? I was hoping it would be a series of three, four at the most. I have touted your work from the beginning, you were really on to something with these light machines...once. Now they're just becoming more and more about less and less. Don't get me wrong. You're a talented guy. If you weren't, I wouldn't waste our time with my opinions. I think you're capable of far more. Not that you couldn't succeed by doing Chromolume after Chromolume...but there are new discoveries to be made, George.

[PalJoey]

Posted: 6/11/07 at 2:39pm

That thread said nothing about his inflicting instruments on another Sondheim musical.

Weez--TELL HIM TO STOP!!!!!!!

[Rathnait62]

Posted: 6/11/07 at 2:40pm

Please just let the performers perform the material. PLEASE.

[jewishboy]

Posted: 6/11/07 at 2:42pm

I would love to see Doyle direct Merrily on Broadway, but would prefer if it was done without the instruments.

[Unknown User]

Posted: 6/11/07 at 2:42pm

I keep hoping he'll bring his "Everyone plays an instrument" vision to the one show it works on: The Music Man.

[Kringas]

Posted: 6/11/07 at 2:42pm

As much as I'd like this to not happen, Merrily with actor-musicians might net it a successful run, simply on the strength of the Doyle brand.

[gustof777]

Posted: 6/11/07 at 2:43pm

ok wtf this isn't even going to be on Broadway so why are your panties in a twist??

[vmlinnie]

Posted: 6/11/07 at 2:44pm

I gather from your username that you're a fan, kringas.

[Weez]

Posted: 6/11/07 at 2:45pm

Srsly, the show will not automatically suck because the actors are playing instruments! I remember the 'Sweeney' lovin'. I saw 'Company'. Behind those clarinets and violins and tubas (possibly rhe sexiest musical instrument on God's green earth), Doyle is doing some excellent directing of amazing cast members and turning out phenomenal shows. Sure, using the gimmick hurts him when it comes to people who are apparently too short-sighted to look past it (*koffTonynominatingpeoplesahem*), but LEARN TO LOOK PAST IT! Yikes, no one gets so uppity at "oh NO, not ANOTHER show where the actors sing and dance!"...

PalJoey: sure, next time I see him, I'll let him know. :P

Updated On: 6/11/07 at 02:45 PM

[VonTussleGirl]

Posted: 6/11/07 at 2:46pm

Am I in the minority in thinking that this could be really brilliant?

[Weez]

Posted: 6/11/07 at 2:49pm

VonTussleGirl: I think we are.

[PalJoey]

Posted: 6/11/07 at 2:52pm

"LEARN TO LOOK PAST IT!"

Um...no.

[Patti LuPone FANatic]

Posted: 6/11/07 at 2:53pm

One time... brilliant with "Sweeney Todd"... the sight of Miss Patti and her tuba (priceless).
Second time... uh..okay... kind of pushing it... but with Raul Esparza...who wouldn't want to look at those puppy dog eyes...
Third time.... hold on buckaroo....John Doyle...you're pushing it gf...Whether it's on Broadway or across the pond in merry ole England... let the actors do what they do best... and let the audience listen to the magic of an authentic orchestra. STOP!

from RC in Austin, Texas

[jv92]

Posted: 6/11/07 at 2:54pm

He's doing a non actor-musician thing next season with A Catered Affair, so I'm not going to criticize him. Besides, I like his work and I like Merrily.

[WOSQ]

Posted: 6/11/07 at 3:08pm

I am in the minority about Mr. Doyle it seems. Sweeney was an idea that went wrong. It removed all the terror from a penny dreadful.

Company to me is flat-out bad direction. Raul Esparza is a multi-talented man, but he is shown to no advantage in Company. It isn't the actor. It is what the actor was told to do.

Robert, who needs to be charming with many other positive attributes, is conceived and played as a depressive, self-hating alcoholic and I find his epiphany of Being Alive merely a little jolt before he takes the next drink.

No one has yet to tell me why Robert in this production is the best friend of these 5 couples. What do these 10 people see in him? I think Robert has to be desired by all the women and all the men want to be him. Who wants to be a moody drunk? This question is Theatre 101.

I think Raul didn't 'lose' the Tony. I think John Doyle lost the Tony for him.

John Doyle looks like a one trick pony and the trick doesn't work.

But like I say, I am in the minority.

[PalJoey]

Posted: 6/11/07 at 3:16pm

Even more so than the instruments, I never again want to see a production where the actors walk around in robotic patterns, never looking at each other or interacting.

Who ever said THAT was a good enough idea to do over and over and over and over?

[Rathnait62]

Posted: 6/11/07 at 3:18pm

Doyle's way of direction is not a style, it's a novelty device, and it's done now.

[WOSQ]

Posted: 6/11/07 at 3:22pm

The emperor is naked.

[PalJoey]

Posted: 6/11/07 at 3:28pm

If he has them walk around in MERRILY in robotic patterns, will he have them walk backwards?