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John Doyle to Helm PASSION at Classic Stage Company in 2013 — Page 2

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#26

John Doyle to Helm PASSION at Classic Stage Company in 2013

Posted: 1/19/12 at 10:52am

Melissa Errico would be a gorgeous Clara, I think. I'm a *huge* Julia Murney fan, but somehow, I'm having a hard time picturing her as Fosca. Not that she probably wouldn't be fabulous.
"You travel alone because other people are only there to remind you how much that hook hurts that we all bit down on. Wait for that one day we can bite free and get back out there in space where we belong, sail back over water, over skies, into space, the hook finally out of our mouths and we wander back out there in space spawning to other planets never to return hurrah to earth and we'll look back and can't even see these lives here anymore. Only the taste of blood to remind us we ever existed. The earth is small. We're gone. We're dead. We're safe." -John Guare, Landscape of the Body
#27

John Doyle to Helm PASSION at Classic Stage Company in 2013

Posted: 1/19/12 at 11:14am

O'hara is 36. Marin Mazzie was only a year younger than that when she played it.
This I did not realize. I thought Marin was so much younger when she did it. I guess not.

Right, Clara's supposed to be older, I always assumed she was in her 30s.
This is true. OK then, I retract my statement! Bring on Kelli!
#28

John Doyle to Helm PASSION at Classic Stage Company in 2013

Posted: 1/19/12 at 11:56am

I think Kelli would be perfect for Clara because some people complain that she comes across as cold onstage (I heard that during LitP's run, anyway). To me Clara needs to come across as slightly cold because if she's super warm like Audra's was you don't want Giorgio to leave her for Fosca.

Of course, you may disagree. Btw, love the idea of Leslie Kritzer as Fosca.
Jimmy, what are you doing here in the middle of the night? It's almost 9 PM!
#29

John Doyle to Helm PASSION at Classic Stage Company in 2013

Posted: 1/19/12 at 12:11pm

In the Donmar version, Clara was certainly not played older - and indeed Scarlett Strallen was the same age as David Thaxton as Giorgio - 28. Elena Roger was certainly the older woman. I'm not sure that that the relative ages has a great deal of bearing on the story.



Updated On: 1/19/12 at 12:11 PM

#30

John Doyle to Helm PASSION at Classic Stage Company in 2013

Posted: 1/19/12 at 12:32pm

I'm pretty sure she doesn't sing but I think Rachel Griffiths would make a wonderful Fosca, otherwise. Her MURIEL'S WEDDING co-star Toni Collette, who does have a brilliant singing voice, would be my other choice.
"Some people can thrive and bloom living life in a living room, that's perfect for some people of one hundred and five. But I at least gotta try, when I think of all the sights that I gotta see, all the places I gotta play, all the things that I gotta be at"
#31

John Doyle to Helm PASSION at Classic Stage Company in 2013

Posted: 1/19/12 at 12:34pm

The age differences I think while not completely pivotal to the story certainly make it more compelling. I can't imagine a 22 year old Clara singing with any conviction the passages about Clara's concern over aging (the grey hair, etc.)



#32

John Doyle to Helm PASSION at Classic Stage Company in 2013

Posted: 1/19/12 at 12:35pm

The CSC space is going to be a good one for this.
"Impossible is just a big word thrown around by small men who find it easier to live in the world they've been given than to explore the power they have to change it. Impossible is not a fact. It's an opinion. Impossible is not a declaration. It's a dare. Impossible is potential. Impossible is temporary. Impossible is nothing.” ~ Muhammad Ali
#33

John Doyle to Helm PASSION at Classic Stage Company in 2013

Posted: 1/19/12 at 12:45pm

If I recall correctly, Fosca is mentioned as being in her late twenties, but appears severely aged and haggard due to illness. I wouldn't be surprised if Giorgio (a career soldier by this point) and Clara are in the same age range. Clara is concerned over aging, but she also has a young son (young enough to not yet be in school), and the play is set in the 1850s--so what we consider young now wouldn't have exactly been young then.

"You travel alone because other people are only there to remind you how much that hook hurts that we all bit down on. Wait for that one day we can bite free and get back out there in space where we belong, sail back over water, over skies, into space, the hook finally out of our mouths and we wander back out there in space spawning to other planets never to return hurrah to earth and we'll look back and can't even see these lives here anymore. Only the taste of blood to remind us we ever existed. The earth is small. We're gone. We're dead. We're safe." -John Guare, Landscape of the Body

Updated On: 1/19/12 at 12:45 PM

#35

John Doyle to Helm PASSION at Classic Stage Company in 2013

Posted: 1/19/12 at 1:02pm

That makes sense--Mazzie was 34 and Rebecca Luker 40 when they played the roles.
"You travel alone because other people are only there to remind you how much that hook hurts that we all bit down on. Wait for that one day we can bite free and get back out there in space where we belong, sail back over water, over skies, into space, the hook finally out of our mouths and we wander back out there in space spawning to other planets never to return hurrah to earth and we'll look back and can't even see these lives here anymore. Only the taste of blood to remind us we ever existed. The earth is small. We're gone. We're dead. We're safe." -John Guare, Landscape of the Body
#36

John Doyle to Helm PASSION at Classic Stage Company in 2013

Posted: 1/19/12 at 1:05pm

'I can't imagine a 22 year old Clara singing with any conviction the passages about Clara's concern over aging (the grey hair, etc.)'

I'd agree, but it's only one hair - there's a degree of self-dramatization there that gets underlined by the rhymes in the lyric wear/stare/hair/unaware/bear - as a rather vain creature, she's probably looking for attention at this point, rather than worrying about the onslaught of old age.

Both the film and novel have her as older - although Laura Antonelli, is certainly youthful looking - but I can't remember a great deal of direction in the libretto, and it plays well with Clara in the same age bracket, as Giorgio.

Updated On: 1/19/12 at 01:05 PM

#37

John Doyle to Helm PASSION at Classic Stage Company in 2013

Posted: 1/19/12 at 1:10pm

Possibly, but I think the character is more compelling if she's not that superficial, which a 22 year old would be singing it.

It's a real fine line with this material; Clara represents on some levels a more conventional kind of love and at the end she is not willing to sacrifice all for love, but I don't think that should render her petty,unsympathetic or the villain of the piece.

The story and emotional complexities of the characters in the musical are far deeper than that.

#41

John Doyle to Helm PASSION at Classic Stage Company in 2013

Posted: 1/20/12 at 2:47am

Leslie Kritzer would indeed be a knockout Fosca, and she's worked with John Doyle multiple times.
Tonya Pinkins: Then we had a "Lot's Wife" last June that was my personal favorite. I'm still trying to get them to let me sing it at some performance where we get to sing an excerpt that's gone.
Tony Kushner: You can sing it at my funeral.
#43

John Doyle to Helm PASSION at Classic Stage Company in 2013

Posted: 4/19/12 at 11:55am

Great casting!

This time, the concept will be arts and crafts instead of instruments.

Fosca weaves on a loom. Clara spins pots and makes those cute little bean dolls. And Gorgio does metal work.
"Jaws is the Citizen Kane of movies."
blocked: logan2, Diamonds3, Hamilton22
#47

John Doyle to Helm PASSION at Classic Stage Company in 2013

Posted: 4/19/12 at 12:15pm

I've always wanted to see Kuhn perform. I hope I can make it up to NYC for this show.

Didn't Ana Gasteyer play Fosca in Chicago?

I did see Gasteyer in Wicked and Passion and she was...okay. Kathy Voytko's Clara actually outshone Gasteyer's Fosca. It was the first time I truly saw Clara as a complex character on an even level with Giorgio and Fosca, truly completing the love triangle. The show is far more interesting when Clara is a bit more sympathetic and the audience shares in Giorgio's emotional struggle. Otherwise, Giorgio comes across less interesting as either shallow or naive for allowing Clara to string him along for so long.
"What can you expect from a bunch of seitan worshippers?" - Reginald Tresilian
#48

John Doyle to Helm PASSION at Classic Stage Company in 2013

Posted: 4/19/12 at 12:45pm

She has played it before and was brilliant; what's to yawn about? I swear sometimes posters on this board seem to just live for the excitement of an unexpected news announcement without thought as to the actual production. Kuhn is great casting. And I was just thinking the other day that Errco is perfect for Clara. I'm thrilled with this announcement.

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