Leveaux to Direct Broadway Revival of ARCADIA

[Jordan Catalano]

Posted: 10/19/10 at 5:00pm

Very excited to see Billy Crudup back onstage! :)

https://www.broadwayworld.com/article/Leveaux_to_Direct_Broadway_Revival_of_ARCADIA_20101019

[Dollypop]

Posted: 10/19/10 at 5:16pm

Leveaux directing? That means lots of pretty images but nothing substantial underneath.

Both the play and Crudup deserve better.

[chrisampm2]

Posted: 10/19/10 at 6:43pm

Says you. Leveaux' stagings of Moon for the Misbegotten, Anna Christie, and Strange Interlude have stayed with me for decades. Real Thing and Jumpers pleased me less but still had much to recommend them.

[MariusPontmercy]

Posted: 10/19/10 at 7:08pm

If Leveaux does half as good a job as he did with the West End production I can't imagine you'll be disappointed. Plenty of substance in this one - admittedly mostly thanks to the play itself, but it came across perfectly in this staging.

[After Eight]

Posted: 10/19/10 at 7:29pm

Why are they reviving this ghastly bore at all? At the elaborate production at Lincoln Center, audiences were fleeing for the exits in droves at intermission. The remaining patrons were too deep in sleep to budge.

Among the unclothed emporers of the theatre world, Stoppard is truly the king.

[bjh2114]

Posted: 10/19/10 at 10:51pm

I generally like Stoppard, but Arcadia is a bore. I will say, I think Leveaux is an excellent director. I thought his recent production of Cyrano was stunning.

[Jordan Catalano]

Posted: 10/19/10 at 11:02pm

I dont know this show at all but find Stoppard to be the most overrated playwright ever. His plays have provided me te most expensive naps I've ever taken. I will however see this because of Crudup.

[iluvtheatertrash]

Posted: 10/19/10 at 11:22pm

Stoppard's an acquired taste and not for everyone. It's certainly not "commercial" theater. I personally find THE REAL THING to be one of his more accessible plays. Though the little-known ENTER A FREE MAN is stunning.

I, for one, really admire Leveaux. I'm in the minority, but I found his FIDDLER... revival to be gorgeous.

However, Crudup bores me to tears.

[bwaylvsong]

Posted: 10/19/10 at 11:50pm

I adored his Fiddler revival, too!

[iluvtheatertrash]

Posted: 10/20/10 at 12:31am

That's good to hear, bwaylvong. I re-visited it many times and with many cast changes. I found it lovely and quite the beautiful stage picture. (I'm also in the party that believed Molina was phenomenal... shoot me.)

[mallardo]

Posted: 10/20/10 at 3:48am

Arcadia is a masterpiece. Sorry if you don't get it.

[alawhat]

Posted: 10/20/10 at 3:55am

^ That.
Though Stoppard definitely has some duds.

[bwaylvsong]

Posted: 10/20/10 at 7:48am

Yeah, I saw it 4 times (a tied record for the most times I've seen a single production) and got pretty much every major replacement other than Rosie O'Donnell. Everyone was fantastic, but I found Molina especially moving. When I sat in the second row, I appreciated his performance much more than when I sat in the last row. What seemed slightly understated from afar was absolutely magnificent from up close.

[After Eight]

Posted: 10/20/10 at 8:41am

"Arcadia is a masterpiece. Sorry if you don't get it."

Well, it didn't take long for that old line to pop up. Actually, I'm surprised it didn't turn up sooner. I always love when two people disagree about a play, one of them will inevitably fall back on the snooty, "you just didn't get it." It never dawns on that person that maybe, yes, one did get it, and got it entirely, and yet still thought the play stunk to high heaven.

[D2]

Posted: 10/20/10 at 9:06am

Some fine cheeses stink to high heaven too, After Eight. That doesn't stop some people from enjoying them very much. As a "gourmand" you should realize this. You don't like ARCADIA, Mallardo does. So what?

[Smaxie]

Posted: 10/20/10 at 9:09am

Regarding that Lincoln Center production, reviews at the time acknowledged that Trevor Nunn's production was inferior to the one he had staged in London. So, New York really hasn't seen a top-notch Arcadia - reason enough for Leveaux's production to come over.

For the hell of it, here are the opening two paragraphs of Vincent Canby's NY Times review of the Beaumont production:

THERE'S no doubt about it. "Arcadia" is Tom Stoppard's richest, most ravishing comedy to date, a play of wit, intellect, language, brio and, new for him, emotion. It's like a dream of levitation: you're instantaneously aloft, soaring, banking, doing loop-the-loops and then, when you think you're about to plummet to earth, swooping to a gentle touchdown of not easily described sweetness and sorrow.

That's the play.

Trevor Nunn's Lincoln Center Theater production, which opened last night in the Beaumont, is a reasonable American facsimile of those he staged in London, first at the Royal National in 1993, then at the Haymarket in the West End transfer last year. The Beaumont production looks gorgeous and is true to the letter and spirit of the Stoppard words, but it should be better.

[After Eight]

Posted: 10/20/10 at 9:23am

"Some fine cheeses stink to high heaven too, After Eight. That doesn't stop some people from enjoying them very much."

That's true. And I do enjoy cheeses that stink to high heaven if they taste delicious. Unfortunately, I've found that the plays that stink to high heaven aren't delicious. They just stink.

"As a "gourmand" you should realize this."

I hope you mean "gourmet." "Gourmand" is not a compliment. Though I probably am one! :)


" You don't like ARCADIA, Mallardo does. So what?"

I really don't care if he likes it, or if anyone does. I simply find the use of the expression "you don't get it" for whatever situation condescending and insulting. I'd say it's best to refrain from using it--- unless one enjoys insulting people.


"THERE'S no doubt about it. "Arcadia" is Tom Stoppard's richest, most ravishing comedy to date, a play of wit, intellect, language, brio and, new for him, emotion. It's like a dream of levitation: you're instantaneously aloft, soaring, banking, doing loop-the-loops and then, when you think you're about to plummet to earth, swooping to a gentle touchdown of not easily described sweetness and sorrow.

That's the play."


That's one person's assessment of the play. (And in my opinion, so much hogwash.)

[Roscoe]

Posted: 10/20/10 at 9:50am

I'd love to see a good production of this play, but after suffering through his horrific productions of GLASS MENAGERIE, JUMPERS, and that unspeakably stupid revival of NINE, there's just no way I'm going to see anything directed by David Leveaux.

[Mister Matt]

Posted: 10/20/10 at 10:36am

I love to mention Arcadia around my parents. They saw the original production in London and launch into a tirade about how much they HATED it whenever the title is brought up. My mother was a big Stoppard fan until that play. I had to drag her to Rock and Roll in Chicago, but we really enjoyed it.

[mallardo]

Posted: 10/20/10 at 10:52am

After Eight, apologies for the condescending tone. Didn't mean to insult. I'm just a very big fan of the play (and, incidentally, this production) and was genuinely baffled that someone not only disliked it but hated it!

[Roscoe]

Posted: 10/20/10 at 11:17am

I swore off Stoppard after the excruciating ROCK AND ROLL, among the most criminal wastes of my time since, well, the final installment of the equally agonizing COAST OF UTOPIA.

Notwithstanding those two horrors, I'd be interested in seeing ARCADIA, as it seems to be highly regarded, and hey why not, but only if an intelligent and capable director like David Esbjornsen or Bartlett Sher or Jack O'Brien was directing it. I'll never subject myself to Leveaux's bullsh*t again.