John Doyle to direct Amadeus

[Caroline-Q-or-TBoo]

Posted: 5/17/06 at 7:08pm

http://www.playbill.com/news/article/99734.html

discuss.

[MargoChanning]

Posted: 5/17/06 at 7:11pm

Sounds goofy.

[Caroline-Q-or-TBoo]

Posted: 5/17/06 at 7:12pm

I wish i could go see The Rise and Fall of the City of Mahagonny with AUDRA!!!

[morosco]

Posted: 5/17/06 at 7:15pm

"...a production of Amadeus where the whole cast will also play the Mozart."

Huh? Someone explain. I don't understand what that means.

[bare_nakedlady]

Posted: 5/17/06 at 7:16pm

I guess there really is nothing like beating a dead horse!!!!

[frogs_fan85]

Posted: 5/17/06 at 7:18pm

"play the Mozart" means they will be playing Mozart's music.

[MargoChanning]

Posted: 5/17/06 at 7:18pm

That's what confused me too, Morosco.

[luvtheEmcee]

Posted: 5/17/06 at 7:20pm

Bring on the director flogging.

[Caroline-Q-or-TBoo]

Posted: 5/17/06 at 7:20pm

i'm a fan of his....

[morosco]

Posted: 5/17/06 at 7:20pm

Thanks folks. For a moment I thought that the entire cast was going to play the role of Mozart (wouldn't put it past Doyle) or that was a reference to a keyboard.

[luvtheEmcee]

Posted: 5/17/06 at 7:21pm

Ah, no, I'm just waiting for the "John Doyle is ruining musical theatre!! I miss the full orchestra! Who misses the old days?! He's going to do this to EVERY show! The world is coming to an end!!" camp to chime in.

Updated On: 5/17/06 at 07:21 PM

[MargoChanning]

Posted: 5/17/06 at 7:25pm

Not sure why they would considering Amadeus is a nonmusical play with no (or little) live music. Though I will say that doing the Mozart Requiem -- a recording of which is used in Act Two -- with a dozen players rather than a recording with full orchestra and chorus can't help but sound a bit anemic and have less impact. If, that is, what Doyle is planning on doing.

Updated On: 5/17/06 at 07:25 PM

[maybethistime]

Posted: 5/17/06 at 7:28pm

While I feel nowhere near that extreme, Emcee, I do think that 2 productions with the same concept by the same person is more than enough. Now were talking about one (or possibly many) more?!?! Updated On: 5/17/06 at 07:28 PM

[luvtheEmcee]

Posted: 5/17/06 at 7:31pm

I'm being fairly facetious; I mean, you KNOW someone's going to say it.

... I don't think he'll have two shows simultaneously on Broadway for long, if at all. And, they're different enough; he's not taking over the world, and other directors aren't emulating the concept, so it's not like a huge debacle.

[Caroline-Q-or-TBoo]

Posted: 5/17/06 at 7:32pm

Amadeus will be in London

[best12bars]

Posted: 5/17/06 at 7:37pm

I'm hoping they all play the character of Mozart, and it would be something along the lines of "Sybil" with Sally Field.

maybethistime --- Your av photo of Beth says it all.

[maybethistime]

Posted: 5/17/06 at 7:39pm

hahaha. RIGHT. Missed that detail, I guess!

However, I do feel he's stretching his concept a little thin, especially when it might risk the validity of the piece should he choose to have performers do "reduced" orchestrations (ala "Sweeney") of Mozart's work (I doubt he'd have an entire acting-orchestra onstage to give the effect the piece calls for...)

[kristin3]

Posted: 5/17/06 at 7:46pm

After having worked with this man, and seeing what an artist he is...not a 'commercial' man by any means, I can tell you that I would follow him to the end of the earth to work with him again.
Company is very different from Sweeney even though there are instrument playing actors involved. If you ever have a chance to hear John Doyle speak....go. His idea of theatre is that it is about the story telling of a piece. ANY piece. The instrument playing is just because early on it saved money for the theatres that couldn't afford to do good shows. Now 15 years later it has evolved into a way to tell the story that actually extends the characters. My flute, or sax or whatever helps me say things that my character can't say. It is even more obvious in Company than in Sweeney that our instruments are a part of our character developement. That is why Bobby can't even sit down to play the piano until Being Alive.

John really is the most brilliant person I have ever worked with in theatre, and I wish more people stuck to their artistic ideas and didn't sell out to commercial pressures. Case in point...he has kept allll of us in Company and not sold out to pressure from the FOUR producers who bid on our show. Who has FOUR producers come out to Cincinnati and bid on his shows? And how do you get FOUR producers to bid on the show anyway? You do good work. Good Artistic work...and they you...don't care what the public thinks. You tell the story.
You use very little in the way of distracting props or sets...or flying cars or chandeliers dropping....and you actually see the instruments disappear at some point about 10 min. into the show. Of course not all shows are meant to be done this way...and they won't. But the 5 week reh process we had with him was so collaborative and enlightning...and it made us all remember why we got into theatre in the first place.

OH...and none of us were cast out of Ohio. One lived there for a bit...me....but we all live out here now.

Do go see anything you can find that has john doyle talking about his technique and his ideas. I am actually publishing a behind the scenes book about it with pix and stories.

John Doyle is not afraid of shaking things up a bit to get at the truth and the story of a show.

[Dollypop]

Posted: 5/17/06 at 8:20pm

Enough already! Doyle sucked all the passion out of SWEENEY TODD. Please don't let him do the same for my beloved AMADEUS!

[BroadwayBaby6]

Posted: 5/17/06 at 8:34pm

It was interesting and revoluationary the first couple of times. Now it's becoming an over-used gimmick. Doyle needs to move on to a new gimmick because the critics (if not audiences) will get tired of these musician-actor productions at some point.

[Marguerite Chauvelin]

Posted: 5/17/06 at 8:37pm

I saw Sweeney and Company and I have to agree with Kristin3. They were staged very differently and were both brilliant in their own ways. In Company, the characters actually talk to each other instead of looking into the audience the whole time (although there was still audience interaction). By the way, Kristin, the show rocked, I loved it, and the cast was very nice during "meet the artists" :)

[Isabella2]

Posted: 5/17/06 at 10:10pm

sucked all the life out? gimme a break, the man is a genius. I just wish i could travel to the U.K. to see this. I'm very disappointed that it won't be on broadway. Amadeus is responsible for who I am today and I would kill just to see it.

[RentBoy86]

Posted: 5/17/06 at 10:15pm

I'm interested enough. Not sure I understand what he's going for though.

[sondwisenheimer]

Posted: 5/17/06 at 10:56pm

I could see this possibly being the best use of his cast/musician concept yet, since the music is used more to punctuate and underscore rather than express dramatic throughline.

[bare_nakedlady]

Posted: 5/18/06 at 12:02am

Sweeney, Company, Amadeus... Why is no one talking about his same attempt with Mack and Mabel?? All I'm saying is he may be brilliant, but how long can ONE idea be bankable? This man is laughing all the way to the bank!