Leveaux - Riedel flap

[LaurenB]

Posted: 6/18/04 at 11:51am

Unfortunately, I don't get "Theater Talk" and will miss this:

"McIndoe will also reveal publicly for the first time his take on the now-famed argument between Fiddler on the Roof director David Leveaux and theatre writer/host Michael Riedel."

Can somebody give me a background on this feud?

[magruder]

Posted: 6/18/04 at 12:53pm

Riedel, in an inebriated state as he himself has admitted, went up to David Leveaux at Angus McIndoe at the opening night of Fiddler on the Roof, and said that British directors can't direct American musicals, and that Leveaux should go back to Oxford. Leveaux, it's reported, pushed him over. There's no "feud," which implies an ongoing argument, just an incident that has been milked to death.

[DAME]

Posted: 6/18/04 at 12:56pm

I have been liking Riedel. As mean spirited as his colunms have been... has anyone noticed he is more often right than wrong?

[EddieVarley]

Posted: 6/18/04 at 1:19pm

I enjoy his take on everything, and find myself shaking my head in agreement nearly all the time.

[Glebb]

Posted: 6/18/04 at 1:23pm

What did he (Riedel) and you (Mr. Varley and Dame) think about Hytner's CAROUSEL?

Updated On: 6/18/04 at 01:23 PM

[magruder]

Posted: 6/18/04 at 1:33pm

Or the Mendes Cabaret? Or Leveaux's Nine, which Riedel himself admired? Please, it's a total generalization on Riedel's part. And given that the Robbins estate has a stranglehold over Fiddler and Gypsy (not to mention the living authors of the latter), Leveaux and Mendes had very little freedom with both of those shows, respectively.

[Glebb]

Posted: 6/18/04 at 1:43pm

Carousel - Hytner, Cabaret - Mendes, and NINE - Leveaux are three of my favorites of the past decade. There are more of course Urinetown, Follies, Hairspray and on.

Wonder if my July 4th weekend of Boy From Oz, Avenue Q and Wicked will change anything.

[EddieVarley]

Posted: 6/18/04 at 1:45pm

Well I enjoyed the Hytner Carousel, I thought it was a powerful production of the musical, much more successful than the current mounting of FOTR.

Audra McDonald was heavenly and she had wonderful chemistry with Eddie Korbich. I also saw one of the final London casts and found them to be great, the Billy was the best I've ever seen, but his name escapes me...I think he went on to play the Phantom of the Opera, I might be wrong.

[Glebb]

Posted: 6/18/04 at 1:47pm

I went to Lincoln Center not liking Carousel and came out of the theatre a changed man! :)

[robbiej]

Posted: 6/18/04 at 1:48pm

I don't think the issue is British directors can't direct American shows...but I do think that sometimes not enough research is done...or some things may get disregarded. The revival of CAT ON A... failed for me because there was no heat...literally or figuratively.

I admired Leveaux's direction of NINE because of its European sensibility (although some of his staging suggested he wasn't particularly comfortable creating musical pictures...I hope you all know what I mean by that because I fear I might not be able to explain it.)

Mendes' Cabaret was triumphant (w/ no small amount of help from Rob Marshall) and I, for one, adored his Gypsy because he stayed out of the way. Instead of giving us a revolutionary staging (which I don't believe was needed), he took us deeper into the psychological morass of these characters than I had seen before.

Updated On: 6/18/04 at 01:48 PM

[Glebb]

Posted: 6/18/04 at 1:52pm

LOVED his work on GYPSY. Had only seen the Roz, Tyne and Bette versions before. Wish I had seen Angela.

[MargoChanning]

Posted: 6/18/04 at 2:50pm

Riedel's argument (and he's certainly not alone in this opinion) is that when British directors take on classic American musical comedies, they tend to emphasize the darker, heavier aspects of these works and play down the pizzazz and "show biz" elements, thus distorting the original intent of the show's creators. This works very well for shows that have a serious subject matter and were supposed to be dark to begin with (i.e. Cabaret), but, to some audience members and critics, is a less succesful approach to works that were much lighter entertainment in their original productions (the Leveaux Nine vs. the Tune original, which was all style and pizzazz, though the more serious elements were certainly there subtextually).

I've also heard criticism that these directors all seem to have too strong a preference for naturalism and impose it to the detriment of many aspects of shows, especially the score -- they want to create a "Play with music" rather than a "Musical" with a capital M, which is how these shows were conceived. British directors often seem to prefer actors who sing a little bit over great singers who may not always be the best actors (which would be who would have been cast in the original productions of these shows). I can remember several people being horrified at Michael Hayden's underpowered Billy Bigelow, longing for the sound of a John Raitt or Alfred Drake (both of whom were fine actors incidentally) in the role. And Molina, great actor that he is, won't erase anyone's memories of Mostel, Topol or Bernardi, largely because Leveaux has intentionally undercut the aspects of the role that have made it into a real star turn for previous actors and emphasized realism. Is Molina or the show overall better for Leveaux's downplaying of the "showbizzy" elements of this musical? -- LOTS of people would loudly say "NO" but I don't doubt that there are lots of folks who share Leveaux's sensibility.

Updated On: 8/4/04 at 02:50 PM

[Corine2]

Posted: 6/18/04 at 2:50pm

Reidel has the nickname Butcher of Broadway for a reason.
I would not want to be his enemy.
Updated On: 6/18/04 at 02:50 PM

[mamamia sammy]

Posted: 6/18/04 at 3:03pm

You have the nickname "Blackwidow of Broadway" for a reason as well.

Updated On: 6/18/04 at 03:03 PM

[Corine2]

Posted: 6/18/04 at 3:35pm

I hated one show so that makes me the Black Widow of Broadway.
I don't think many people liked PRYMATE.
The Broadway Black Widow has spoken.
Updated On: 6/18/04 at 03:35 PM

[mamamia sammy]

Posted: 6/18/04 at 3:45pm

Hopefully for the last time.

[JohnPopa]

Posted: 6/18/04 at 3:57pm

Who calls Riedel the Butcher of Broadway?

I thought that was Frank Rich's name? Did he pass on the title in a ceremony I missed?

[DAME]

Posted: 6/18/04 at 4:02pm

Loved Carousel, Cabaret, and didn't see Nine. Hated Fiddler. I thought the last production of Gypsy was horrendous.
Every Wednesday and Friday I always look forward to reidels colunm. It is as close to a insiders view as one can get without being there. And I think it is wonderful that theatre is being written about in this way twice a week. His articles on the tony voting, gypsy, and fiddler have been dead on in my opinion. And I am so glad that someone is reporting on missed performances and so on.

Updated On: 6/18/04 at 04:02 PM

[Corine2]

Posted: 6/18/04 at 5:26pm

There was actually a play off Broadway called the Butcher of Broadway. Susan Haskins played it on Theater Talk last year.
(It was a video tape of part of it)

[Glebb]

Posted: 6/18/04 at 5:34pm

Bernadette And The Butcher of Broadway?

[nystateomind04]

Posted: 6/18/04 at 5:48pm

Margo, don't you think that shows like "Nine", when revivied, should be looked at in a different light? Now that I've seen the revival, I couldn't imagine that show without the dark psychological aspects. It seemed to me that that is how it should be done.

I'm just asking...

[MargoChanning]

Posted: 6/18/04 at 7:23pm

Oh, absolutely. These shows should be re-interpreted for contemporary sensibilities and staged not as museum pieces, but as if they are brand new shows that speak to the current generation of theatre-goers. The issue is whether every re-interpretation must be through a dark, "psychologically complex" prism and whether such a persepctive is ideally suited for every show of the past. Tommy Tune took the exact same book and exact same score, with all of those complexities and made it into a breathlessly exciting and endlessly imaginative production -- you completely felt and understood Guido's torment and confusion (Raul Julia was amazing), but Tune managed to mask the book's tendency to occasionally bog down with underdeveloped neo-Freudian psycho-drivel, which I think Leveaux unfortunately emphasized to the show's detriment. A decent revival overall, though, especially for the performances.

[Glebb]

Posted: 6/18/04 at 7:57pm

MargoChanning, your knowledge of Broadway history is amazing. I love reading everything you write. You're not only the greatest star, but you know your Broadway! I agree about NINE. Tommy Tune's work was brilliant. I've loved so many plays but none ever seemed to brighten my thoughts more than my memories of Tommy Tune's NINE, until the new NINE. Lightening struck twice!

I have wondered if today's audiences would find Tune's version too light weight or even silly. I'm not sure, but I know that I was very glad that the recent NINE was exactly as it was.

I just love them both.

[nystateomind04]

Posted: 6/18/04 at 8:24pm

i see what you are saying now, margo, and i agree with gleeb about you informative posts

[LaurenB]

Posted: 6/19/04 at 1:58pm

Hi - thanks everyone for the background. It's very interesting and illuminating. I have never seen one of Leveaux's musicals, unfortunately, only a couple of his plays - "The Real Thing" and "Betrayal". I caught a snippet of an interview that he had done for American Theatre Wing, one of those panel discussion things, and I was fascinated.

I loved his interpretation of The Real Thing (but I suspect it was Stephen Dillane's performance that was the ultimate clincher for me).

Anyhooo, did anyone see Theater Talk, and can relay what McIndoe said about the incident? Inquiring minds want to know.