John Doyle to Do the Instrument Thing AGAIN--This Time to MERRILY! — Page 2

MERRILY!!!!!!!!!!!!!! MERRILY MERRILY MERRILYYYYYYYYYYY

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Seriously!
And while we are at it somebody tell the Michael Bennett guy to stop making the dancers sing, and the singers act, and the actors sing and dance. I mean, seriously!

kmc

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

He directed Mack and Mabel last season at Watermill using the same concept.

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He's doing Harvey Fierstein's new show, no instruments.

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If he does this in New York, I will no doubt see it because I enjoy Doyle's work, I love Sondheim, and I think Merrily has some excellent songs. However, I would like to say that if Doyle (or anyone) should use this style again, he ought to try it on Man of La Mancha. The prisoners perform the story anyway, so why not have them play instruments as well?

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wow, I'm surprised you think Sondheim is boring.

He's also doing making his Met debut with Peter Grimes in the fall
*jumps for joy*

I understand why audiences might be distracted by the actors-playing-instruments technique, but I mean how many times are we subjected to painfully unoriginal dance numbers and staging on Broadway? Not that there's anything wrong with being traditional, but I'm happy to see something new.

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What's the emperor is naked?

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I love the comment about "another chromolune John Doyle"

Absolutely hysterical and brilliant. Thank you.

Don't you people know how to Google? From wikipedia:

===

Many years ago, there lived an emperor who was quite an average fairy tale ruler, with one exception: he cared much about his clothes. One day he heard from two swindlers named Guido and Luigi Farabutto that they could make the finest suit of clothes from the most beautiful cloth. This cloth, they said, also had the special capability that it was invisible to anyone who was either stupid or not fit for his position.

Being a bit nervous about whether he himself would be able to see the cloth, the emperor first sent two of his trusted men to see it. Of course, neither would admit that they could not see the cloth and so praised it. All the townspeople had also heard of the cloth and were interested to learn how stupid their neighbors were.

The emperor then allowed himself to be dressed in the clothes for a procession through town, never admitting that he was too unfit and stupid to see what he was wearing. He was afraid that the other people would think that he was stupid.

Of course, all the townspeople wildly praised the magnificent clothes of the emperor, afraid to admit that they could not see them, until a small child said:

"But he has nothing on!"

This was whispered from person to person until everyone in the crowd was shouting that the emperor had nothing on. The emperor heard it and felt that they were correct, but held his head high and finished the procession.

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Loved them both BUT clearly some of the performers in Company were chosen because they play instruments, not because they can act (a number of performances were barely adequate). That's the drawback here.

Keeping with the Sunday theme... "Art isn't easy."

John Doyle's a super, creative and inspiring director. Can't wait to see this production!

Artistically, John Doyle should probably stop (I loved Company, but I can't imagine this same formula work ad infinitum). Selfishly, bring it on. Requiring actors to be instrumentalists brings down the talent pool and ups my chances to get cast.

Leaves to practice vocals and piano for "Our Time"