Marshall on her GREASE concept

[Yankeefan007]

Posted: 8/11/07 at 12:27am

http://www.mlive.com/newsflash/michigan/index.ssf?/base/news-46/118665606981250.xml&storylist=newsmichigan

[Wanna Be A Foster]

Posted: 8/11/07 at 12:43am

"Kathleen has let us develop what we need to develop as characters," Binder adds. "I used to think that `Grease' was very campy and over the top. But she's encouraged us and helped us find the truths and the dynamic layers of these people, particularly how these characters act in different situations or with other characters."

Good luck finding those layers, kids.

[wonderfulwizard11]

Posted: 8/11/07 at 12:45am

Um, there are as many layers in Grease as there are in XANADU.

[CurtainPullDowner]

Posted: 8/11/07 at 12:47am

sounds like
yadda yadda yadda
they paid me a lot of money to do this
and I will never get to direct a new original musical
so why the Hell not?

[BSoBW2]

Posted: 8/11/07 at 12:48am

Concept?

Gospel BEAUTY SCHOOL DROPOUT is a concept! Rosie O'Donnell is a concept!

[Boq101]

Posted: 8/11/07 at 12:52am

I feel like not only is Marshall doing the show like this, she's using it as some sort of selling point for those of us who know better.

[SueleenGay]

Posted: 8/11/07 at 1:24am

Wow! What a CONCEPT!

"let's get to know the story and these characters and figure out who they are."

Directing 101, Kathleen.

"with a meticulous attention to period detail and to the actors she has chosen to inhabit a very specific era.
she did a lot of research"

You mean she studied? Like from books and things? Oh, wait...She

created a library of DVDs for the new cast to watch. Classic '50s-early-1960s-teen-flavored flicks... There were CDs, too... There was a great Time-Life book called `Rock & Roll Generation: Teen Life in the '50s,

Wow! ONE book? Your research consisted of listing to Elvis and watching Blackboard Jungle...AND READING ONE BOOK?

However,

"it's the characters and actors portraying them who really count...The balance you want to find is a performer who is believable... who doesn't seem like a caricature."...
(She) helped(the cast) find the truths and the dynamic layers of these people, particularly how these characters act in different situations or with other characters.

Yes, Kathleen, after YEARS in this business you finally figured out what every directing student learns on her first day of class.

Welcome to the big league. Perhaps you are ready for something with a little more depth? Say, No, No Nanette?

[Boq101]

Posted: 8/11/07 at 2:52am

I worry for her, I mean big bro is busy busy making great movies and she's stuck with so-so revivals...

I mean even Robbie's choreography in Spider Woman and in Cabaret told us more about the story than her recycled stuff from a few revivals ago.

[NathanLaneStalker]

Posted: 8/11/07 at 4:11am

I've always been a big fan of her's...but this looks dreadful. She can do SO much better than this...

[jv92]

Posted: 8/11/07 at 10:55am

"Maybe they will experiment and see a show they haven't heard of before."

Yeah Kathleen. We all know how much tourists love to do that.

The woman cannot direct. She's a good choreographer, but she can't direct. Everything she puts up onstage feels like an overblown cartoon. Wonderful Town felt like that. The only time Pajama Game didn't feel like that was when O'Hara and Connick were onstage together.
Hopefully she'll get out of cartoonland after this one.
Updated On: 8/11/07 at 10:55 AM

[morosco]

Posted: 8/11/07 at 11:01am

No mention of a concept behind a teeny-tiny orchestra?

[ahmelie]

Posted: 8/11/07 at 11:38am

She really is a talented choreographer, the only reason I ever even watched that show on TV was because she was involved.

Too bad.

[fengshuihellnyc]

Posted: 8/11/07 at 11:53pm

which by the way she had nothing to do with the choreography on the the TV show by the way!

[wonderfulwizard11]

Posted: 8/11/07 at 11:54pm

^ Huh?

[B3TA07]

Posted: 8/11/07 at 11:57pm

[SueleenGay's post]






owned.

Updated On: 8/12/07 at 11:57 PM

[ray-andallthatjazz86]

Posted: 8/12/07 at 12:00am

By the way, really, by the way???
Marshall has her hit and miss moments but from this interview I wonder if she ever actually, you know, listened to the score or read the script.
What kind of emotional deep layers are there behind "Freddy, My Love?" or "Look At Me, I'm Sandra Dee" or really any show where the girl has to dress up to make the asshole of the gang pay attention to her.
I would've loved to see a GREASE that wasn't afraid to embrace the camp, cartoonish nature of the show like the '94 revival did (Billy Porter and Jennifer Holliday singing "Beauty School Drop Out"!). Marshall is just...blah.

[BrianIdol]

Posted: 8/12/07 at 12:09am

I'm SO never seeing this show...or at least not this revival of it.

[ThankstoPhantom]

Posted: 8/12/07 at 12:15am

When talking about how the producers of the TV show wanted it to be combative and tough, Marshall says...

But we said, `That's not the way theater works.' We were the people making the decisions anyway: the Broadway producer, the author and the director.

Nor does theatre usually have middle America choosing leads, Ms Marshall.

I will say this: At least she believes in nurturing talent. She showed 'em who the boss is!

Updated On: 8/12/07 at 12:15 AM

[BobbyBubby]

Posted: 8/12/07 at 12:26am

I've never been a Marshall fan, and don't understand how she keeps getting work. I enjoyed her opening number to Wonderful Town, but that is the only work I've seen of hers that wasn't basic and boring. Good for her for trying to do un un-cardboard Grease, but after the nearly perfect movie, I can't imagine a Broadway production of Grese saying anything new.

Once I see her direct/choreo a new musical from scratch, with originality, I'll have fairth in her as an artist.

Thos who love Pajama Game, love the chemistry between Harry and Ohara. I thought her work was Fosse lite. Her Wonderful Town work got worse and lazier with each number. Her Little Shop work and various other projects isn't even worth mentioning.

She's living off her brother's name. Watch "Once Upon a Mattress" for proof that she's a dancer who lucked out.

[best12bars]

Posted: 8/12/07 at 12:32am

Ugh.

It's "Dawson's Grease" now.

[Wanna Be A Foster]

Posted: 8/12/07 at 12:45am

Both seasons in which she won Tonys were very weak for choreography. The year that she won for PAJAMA GAME, I would at the very least have given it to Casey Nicholaw, as a nod to his achievements in making DROWSY such an artistic success.

[ray-andallthatjazz86]

Posted: 8/12/07 at 12:55am

Best12, "Dawson's Grease" made me laugh out loud, literally.

Seriously, apart from WONDERFUL TOWN and THE PAJAMA GAME, she has been connected with the embarrassing productions of FOLLIES and LITTLE SHOP OF HORRORS. I wonder when we'll be getting a season without yet another mediocre Kathleen Marshall revival.