Most Misguided Interpretation You've Seen? — Page 2

At the same summer stock theater I was in a production of "Bells Are Ringing" that was badly updated from the 1950s to the 1990s. Those not familiar with the show wondered why no one had an answering machine, and the lead's phone number was still 'PLaza 0-4433'.
And yes, a production of G&S' "Patience" set in a 1950s diner.

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The most misguided productions I've seen have been in opera houses. Madama Butterfly set in a Nagasaki whorehouse and ending with the atomic bomb going off, anyone?

In the 1970's Laurence Olivier directed a production of Cat on a Hot Tin Roof for American television. Despite a good cast -- Natalie Wood and Robert Wagner as Maggie and Brick, Maureen Stapleton and Olivier himself as Big Mama and Big Daddy -- the whole thing was so misconceived from the first glimpse as to be ludicrous. Big Daddy's house looked like Twelve Oaks from GWTW. Olivier made his entrance as Big Daddy dressed as a clone of Colonel Sanders and spoke with an exaggerated Southern patrician elegance. These characters are not Old South aristocracy. It was just all so wrong.

ETA that IMDB says this was directed by Robert Moore. But it was still so misguided. I found this in an old Guardian article: "[Tennessee Williams] wasn't much more thrilled with a 1976 Granada TV production, starring Natalie Wood and Robert Wagner. Here, according to Williams, Laurence Olivier mistakenly conceived Big Daddy as 'a southern planter gentleman instead of a former overseer who struck it rich through hard work'."

http://www.theguardian.com/stage/2012/sep/30/cat-on-a-hot-tin-roof

Updated On: 8/25/14 at 03:14 PM

It would be nice to see a production with Jayne Weisner as Anne. I think she could give a more sweet performance than any other actress could do.

Great, thanks for bringing back some bad memories of what I saw in that production of RENT. Talk about COMPLETELY MISSING THE POINT!

I hate the "modern" Jesus Christ Superstar

Patash, did you really see West Side Story at Stratford? Paul Nolan's hair was his natural light brown and, while sensitive, didn't seem effeminate to me. The NY Times praised his athleticism. What's not subjective is the ethnicity of the Maria, Chilina Kennedy, and Anita, Jennifer Rias, neither of whom are Asian.

Director Gale Edwards' modern-dress revival of Jesus Christ Superstar. Jesus, take the wheel!

Seconded. And the real shame is she'd already done a (much better) production at the Lyceum in the West End, which was allegedly scrapped because it didn't tour well. So big deal! Take it to Broadway!

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I hate the "modern" Jesus Christ Superstar

Which one? The Gale Edwards version or the arena tour?

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David Cromer’s direction of “Rent” at American Theatre Company/About Face here in Chicago. As an actor in the show described it to me, this was supposed to be a “gritty,” “real” production of the show and “how Jonathan Larson intended it to be.” How they were able to ask Larson what he intended is beyond me…but, seeing as so much of the show is about love and friendship, I highly doubt he intended his characters to be so unlikable and act like they never enjoyed each other’s company. It seemed Cromer felt that the more strange, off-putting, and emo these characters were, the more “intense” and “real” the world was. I walked out of the theatre feeling gross – I wanted to get far away from these characters, when I usually leave “Rent” feeling like I want to be a part of their friend group.

Also, for Cromer being so focused on it being “real,” he decided to throw in some stylistic things that would have been distracting even if the rest of the show wasn’t played to be “natural” (in quotes because the entire thing was beyond forced).

Perhaps the most distracting and upsetting part of the show was that you could see the actors’ egos onstage as they acted. You could tell they thought they were doing the coolest, realest, most formidable production of “Rent” anyone would see in their lives. I knew someone in the cast and, talking with him after the show, it was clear that the entire company approached the show in exactly this way and Cromer was pumping it into them that by approaching “Rent’ in this way, they were doing was important, real work.

Also, when I am grateful for the moment in the show when Angel dies…something must have been very, very off.

not the production, but one performance. Coleman Domingo in Chicago, at the performance I saw he played the role, in essence, as Jackie Chiles from Seinfeld.

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The Sam Waterston production of King Lear was awful. It was directed at a snail's pace...and some things are better left to the imagination.

I would probably end up cheering in the middle of the theatre because I wouldn't have to listen to his insufferable droning anymore.