MIRACLE WORKER already drawing protests- Page 2

[givesmevoice]

Posted: 10/29/09 at 12:01pm

I've honestly sat through Kit Kittredge several times because she's a really good, honest young actress. I think she's also really smart about what she chooses to do, and I imagine this will be a really good move for her.

[LizzieCurry]

Posted: 10/29/09 at 12:09pm

Has there ever been a production of CHILDREN OF A LESSER GOD with a hearing actress?

I'm sure there have been a few regional productions which did.

I bet they could have found a name and Box Office draw for Anne and then cast Helen from the deaf community. And that alone could be a draw if advertised well.

Same here!

[Jon]

Posted: 10/29/09 at 12:15pm

Hell, actresses with perfect sight have been known to fall off the stage while playing Helen - just check YouTube!

By the way, there's a whole generation who know Allison Pill as Lindsay Lohan's BFF from "Confessions of a Teenage Drama Queen".

[givesmevoice]

Posted: 10/29/09 at 12:23pm

I know Alison Pill best as the Amish girl in Plain Truth. I've unfortunately never seen her in any of the shows she's done.

I must admit I'm having trouble thinking of well-known actresses her age who I think would be good in the role. Did any of you have specific actresses in mind?

[best12bars]

Posted: 10/29/09 at 1:04pm

The names everyone seems to throw around here ... for everything from Wicked, to Promises, Promises, to Ben Franklin in 1776!

Scarlett Johansen or Anne Hathaway.

[Michael Bennett]

Posted: 10/29/09 at 1:09pm

I think Breslin is cute and charming but checking out some pictures at Getty Images yesterday she is growing up super fast. Little Miss Bustline!

Pill is actually closer to the age of the actual Sullivan than anyone I've ever heard of playing the role in a major professional production. Of course having an Annie who is actually close to 20 makes more sense of if you have a Helen who is actually close to 6...


Other actors 2-3 years of the age of Alison Pill who might have been able to pull it off: Jena Malone, Kate Bosworth, the ever popular on this site, Emily Blunt, Abbie Cornish, Anna Paquin, Amber Tamblyn, Anne Hathaway, Keira Knightly, Evan Rachel Wood, Bryce Dallas Howard

[givesmevoice]

Posted: 10/29/09 at 1:11pm

Good suggestions, MB! I actually really like the suggestion of Amber Tamblyn.

[Unknown User]

Posted: 10/29/09 at 1:18pm

I hope the Wiccans get after Joe Mantello for not casting an actual Witch in Wicked.

[best12bars]

Posted: 10/29/09 at 1:21pm

Breslin is 13. Patty Duke was 11 when the show opened and turned 12 two months later. She played the part for almost 2 years.

She was 15 when the movie opened (winning the Oscar at 16, when the awards were given out).

Anne Bancroft was 27 when the play opened (turning 28 a month later). 31 when the film opened.

[Michael Bennett]

Posted: 10/29/09 at 1:27pm

Patty Duke was really really tiny though. You can see from the pictures in the Life archives. Bancroft was also a pretty tall sturdy woman. I do fear Breslin is going to look like she can knock that waifish Alison Pill have way to Arkansas in those fight scenes.

[Mister Matt]

Posted: 10/29/09 at 1:33pm

Gee, where were all the animal rights activists when Lion King opened? They really missed the boat on that one.

[Gothampc]

Posted: 10/29/09 at 2:01pm

The Breslin casting makes perfect sense. If you can get the Kit Kittredge crowd coming, then you are generating profit. Those little girls will pester their mothers to death until they can see the Kit Kittredge girl live. Plus they'll probably do a cute marketing ploy like they did with Little Women where if a little girl brings her mother, then it's two for the price of one.

I hate to be a cynic, but I bet this is being done to put the squeeze on the producers to make a donation.

[CurtainPullDowner]

Posted: 10/29/09 at 2:08pm

"I hope the Wiccans get after Joe Mantello for not casting an actual witch in WICKED"

Who says he hasn't?

[workmanarts]

Posted: 10/29/09 at 2:09pm

This is literally one of the dumbest things I've heard...it would be near impossible to do this show with a deaf Helen. Her physical work is huge in the production and something that, dare I say, couldn't be done by a hearing impaired artist.

I for one think its pretty inspired casting, will sit GREAT in the round and excited to see/here about the touch Kate puts on it. She could be one of the next great American Theatre Directors....

[LizzieCurry]

Posted: 10/29/09 at 2:26pm

This is literally one of the dumbest things I've heard...it would be near impossible to do this show with a deaf Helen. Her physical work is huge in the production and something that, dare I say, couldn't be done by a hearing impaired artist.

WTF?

[AC126748]

Posted: 10/29/09 at 4:56pm

For a bunch of deaf people, these advocacy groups are making a whole lot of noise lately--most of it hot air. When are they going to shut up and realize that not everything is an affront to them?

[Shakespearean]

Posted: 10/29/09 at 4:59pm

The whole argument is academic. Half of them won't listen and the other half will never see your point.

OK, there, the floodgates are open. Who didn't want to work in a Helen Keller joke somewhere?

And for what it's worth, Miracle Worker was the first show I did in college and our (sighted) Helen still managed to take a header into the pit...

[ghostlight2]

Posted: 10/29/09 at 5:13pm

"For a bunch of deaf people, these advocacy groups are making a whole lot of noise lately"

They're deaf, not mute.

[AC126748]

Posted: 10/29/09 at 5:20pm

Well, by their logic, they'd want someone deaf, mute, and blind who only learns to speak one word during the rehearsal process...

Logistical question, though--when did these groups start to become so vocal and adamant? I don't remember any controversy surrounding the Swank revival of The Miracle Worker, which had a hearing actress as Helen. Nobody is up in arms about the fact that the kid in a wheelchair from Glee is played by a non-paralyzed actor.

[ghostlight2]

Posted: 10/29/09 at 5:31pm

As someone else pointed out, these things take time.

[workmanarts]

Posted: 10/29/09 at 5:34pm

Lizzie Curry- Was meant in reference to cues Helen has to be able to "hear" during the show given by the actors. It would be near impossible to give visual cues to all of the dialogue she needs to hear and react to.

DeafWest incorporated a variety of visual cues to assist their hard of hearing actors in Big River and Pippin that can only be duplicated in specific shows...namely musicals.

[Gothampc]

Posted: 10/29/09 at 6:16pm

"And for what it's worth, Miracle Worker was the first show I did in college and our (sighted) Helen still managed to take a header into the pit..."

Doesn't anyone put netting over their pit anymore?

[dramamama611]

Posted: 10/29/09 at 6:22pm

It is written into the rights and royalties for Children of a Lesser God that the lead role MUST be played by a hearing impaired actress. I do not know if you can get that requirement dropped. It use to be pretty steadfast....but lots of time has elapsed.

[givesmevoice]

Posted: 10/29/09 at 6:22pm

Well, by their logic, they'd want someone deaf, mute, and blind who only learns to speak one word during the rehearsal process...

No, they're upset and opposing that no hard-of-hearing or deaf or visually impaired or blind actresses were auditioned. No one is saying only a blind or deaf or deafblind actress could play Helen Keller. Helen Keller was not, by the way, a mute. She was beginning to speak when she became ill and lost her sight and hearing, but she did manage to hold onto a few words.

I think there'd be a definite challenge having a blind or deaf actress in the role. The more I think about it, though, the more I realize that it's not an insurmountable issue. I think Abigail Breslin will be wonderful, I'd love if her understudy was deaf or blind, but I have to agree that it's a little upsetting that no blind or deaf actresses were even auditioned.

[LizzieCurry]

Posted: 10/29/09 at 6:32pm

DeafWest incorporated a variety of visual cues to assist their hard of hearing actors in Big River and Pippin that can only be duplicated in specific shows...namely musicals.

I know; I saw Big River 5 times and Pippin once. But I also don't doubt the ingenuity of the Deaf community.