Mother Courage at CSC- Page 2

[PattyO'Furniture]

Posted: 12/29/15 at 6:29pm

Taz - you beat me to it.  That is exactly why her non-statement was crafted.  

[HogansHero]

Posted: 12/29/15 at 6:33pm

@South Fl Marc It seemed that the connection flowed from the earlier posts and her non-explanation but, if that was not your intent, great.

@Borstalboy Whether or not his leadership was good or bad (there are those who would disagree with you but I don't have a horse in that race), it logically has nothing to do with what's happened here. At the end of the day, the job of an artistic director is to put on a show, not have a PR and no doubt financial nightmare, and he blew it this time. No one else to blame: it's on his watch. Hence my deduction. 

[FindingNamo]

Posted: 12/29/15 at 6:35pm

"From the little that has been said, it certainly doesn't like it's health-related..."

How can both things be true?

[Ranger Tom]

Posted: 12/29/15 at 6:39pm

Calculated and Diva-full.  Might be wrong but it should be interesting.  Bails on a vehicle built for her...  

[Sally Durant Plummer]

Posted: 12/29/15 at 8:04pm

Tonya Pinkins is no idiot. She is one of my favorite actresses and from the different interviews I've read or heard, she always wants to be involved in a good show. She pulled out of Millie because she didn't like the score (see my signature). I have not seen this show but based on the current reviews, it doesn't sound good. She probably pulled out because she didn't want another "Holler If You Hear Me" situation. She knows how to perform and stop a show. Perhaps this piece just isn't giving her the material (and cast) she needs.

[BroadwayKiwi]

Posted: 12/29/15 at 8:42pm

Mother Discouraged.

[indytallguy]

Posted: 12/29/15 at 9:15pm

Sally Durant Plummer said: "Tonya Pinkins is no idiot. She is one of my favorite actresses and from the different interviews I've read or heard, she always wants to be involved in a good show. She pulled out of Millie because she didn't like the score (see my signature). I have not seen this show but based on the current reviews, it doesn't sound good. She probably pulled out because she didn't want another "Holler If You Hear Me" situation. She knows how to perform and stop a show. Perhaps this piece just isn't giving her the material (and cast) she needs."

 

This is an interesting take, but wouldn't pulling out because the show isn't going as well as it could be a purely self-serving choice.  I have to think Laurie Metcalf might not want to spend every night with Bruce Willis, but still she does.

 

[musicaltheatreman2]

Posted: 12/29/15 at 9:34pm

I am sure Michael  Riedle (sp) is on the case and contacting his "sources" and will have a full report before the new year as to what really happened lol 

[South Fl Marc]

Posted: 12/29/15 at 10:08pm

"Perhaps this piece just isn't giving her the material (and cast) she needs."

 

I really hope that's not the case because pulling out a show because you don't like it or "it's not up to par" is completely unprofessional.

[PalJoey]

Posted: 12/29/15 at 10:13pm

 

Oy vey. What a mess.

 

[Brick]

Posted: 12/30/15 at 2:15am

She is a professional. I can't imagine she would leave a show prior to Opening simply because she doesn't like it. If her lawyer is advising her not to list her reasons, I can only imagine there was some explosive things contained in it.

[LightsOut90]

Posted: 12/30/15 at 2:31am

theres no way this production doesn't get canceled, as it is they are only scheduled for like 20 or so more performances after opening, it would be absurd to try and get someone else on such short notice, just take the loss and move on and if legality needs to be addressed so be it. 

[devonian.t]

Posted: 12/30/15 at 4:14am

It's pretty clear that an "artistic difference" has occured- on a pretty grand scale.

From what we have heard so far, it seems possible that it could be related to the "uneven" quality of the casting or the African setting- perhaps offence created by inelegant parallels?

Considering that the production was built around Tonya's presence, it's hard to imagine it will actually open now.  It's very sad when things go this badly wrong.

 

[neonlightsxo]

Posted: 12/30/15 at 9:09am

HogansHero said: " At the end of the day, the job of an artistic director is to put on a show, not have a PR and no doubt financial nightmare, and he blew it this time. No one else to blame: it's on his watch. Hence my deduction. "

 

100%.

[LarryD2]

Posted: 12/30/15 at 9:20am

So, did a performance happen last night?

[ClydeBarrow]

Posted: 12/30/15 at 1:02pm

I'm actually going to comment on the show itself rather than the drama surrounding Tonya Pinkin's departure. I saw the show on Monday night and it was very...not good.

 

I think other posters were being extremely kind to the actors. Everyone on that stage was awful. Tonya Pinkins kept forgetting her lines throughout the evening and her singing left a lot to be desired. This could have been part of the reason for her sudden departure from the production. Curtiss Cook Jr made his NYC stage debut and I have no idea how. His acting was amateur and his singing no better. On the other end of the experience spectrum was Geoffrey Owens who has been in many Broadway and Off-Broadway productions yet could not stop laughing the entire time. It was especially noticeable towards the end where he plays a villager trying to get Kattrin to stop drumming. You would think there was a sense of danger but something seemed pretty damned funny to him. I found it very unprofessional. 

 

I'm a huge fan of Duncan Sheik's music and thought it was great in A MAN'S A MAN but here it was very lacking. I don't know if there were any live instruments played but all of the music sounded very canned. It was not loud enough so you could barely hear it. The singing was also very quiet but most of the time I was thankful for that because it was so bad. I really think that if there were good singers and real instruments then the music would be great. I was glad it was there because it kept me from falling asleep. 

 

The story was very repetitive and seemed more like short vignettes rather than a storyline. I couldn't have cared less for any of the characters and the times where I could see there was supposed to be some emotional connection it just wasn't there. Just because you have a mute girl crying out doesn't mean I'm going to be emotionally affected. 

 

The set was also pretty awful. When you walk in there is a gravel floor and two sections of a jeep. Looming overhead is a square section of fencing which comes down rather sloppily in the first act. My pet peeve was that only three sides of the fencing came down so the fourth just stayed uselessly overhead the entire show. When the fence was down people walked right through it so it didn't feel much like a barricade as it did some unnecessary prop. 

 

There's honestly nothing about this to recommend and I can see why Ms. Pinkins is getting the hell out of Dodge. They're going to be hard-pressed to find someone to come into the role last minute since it's pretty much her show and she's onstage almost the entire time. It would probably be best to cut their losses and just cancel the production. 

[15minutecall]

Posted: 12/30/15 at 2:30pm

CSC is a subscription house. Cancelling a show wouldn't cut losses, only add to them.

 

[neonlightsxo]

Posted: 12/30/15 at 3:26pm

AP story

http://www.usnews.com/news/entertainment/articles/2015-12-30/tonya-pinkins-quits-brecht-play-saying-her-role-neutered

Tony Award-winning actress Tonya Pinkins said she will abruptly leave the Classic Stage Company's revival early next month, claiming the part has been "neutered," ''subordinate" and created through "the filter of the white gaze."

[TheBatBoy]

Posted: 12/30/15 at 3:32pm

These two points stuck out to me:

"Pinkins said she consulted on the new changes to the play with Olympia Dukakis, who has played the role many times and came to see Pinkins. Ultimately, she decided: "A black female should have a say in presentation a black female onstage."

• That was the last person I thought I'd hear associated with this show. It might be my personal opinion, but shouldn't any actor have a say in the presentation of the roles they play onstage? 

"Pinkins said she was contractually obligated to play the part through Jan. 3 but "My Mother Courage is too big for CSC's definition. So it is best that they find someone to 'fit in,' because I cannot."

• Too big? I mean how can you isolate that role into a box like she's claiming they're doing?

[PalJoey]

Posted: 12/30/15 at 4:02pm

 

In the Classic Stage Company revival, directed by Brian Kulick, who is the artistic director of the company, the play's setting was changed to the Democratic Republic of the Congo and the script was cut.

 

Huh? Why?

 

 

 

[PalJoey]

Posted: 12/30/15 at 4:04pm

 

I mean, if Bertolt Brecht had wanted to write a play about the Democratic Republic of the Congo, I bet he could have written a pretty terrific one.

 

If Brian Kulick had wanted to direct a play about the Democratic Republic of the Congo, he should have gone out and commissioned one. 

[HogansHero]

Posted: 12/30/15 at 4:23pm

PalJoey said: " I mean, if Bertolt Brecht had wanted to write a play about the Democratic Republic of the Congo, I bet he could have written a pretty terrific one.

If Brian Kulick had wanted to direct a play about the Democratic Republic of the Congo, he should have gone out and commissioned one. "

That's throwing out the baby with the bathwater. Nothing wrong with changing the setting of a play. Everything wrong with doing it without a robust intellectual foundation. 

[KJisgroovy]

Posted: 12/30/15 at 4:32pm

As I'm sure you're aware, it's fairly common for productions of Mother Courage to be set in other places/times than Europe during the Thirty Years War. I don't see how a director generically resetting the play into another time and place makes much of a difference. If anything, Tonya Pinkins appears to be the one advocating a more specific resetting. 

If only there was a Pulitzer Prize winning play about a businesswoman who is trying to stay afloat in a world torn apart by civil war set in the Democratic Republic of Congo. 

[neonlightsxo]

Posted: 12/30/15 at 4:38pm

Let's say Tonya wanted to do Mother Courage & she wanted it to be set in the Democratic Republic of Congo. Great! But then don't hire your white male artistic director to direct it.

[Kad]

Posted: 12/30/15 at 4:54pm

But even though Brecht wrote plays set in all sorts of locales- the 30 Years War, China, Chicago, Victorian England- he specifically never set out to create a realistic and detailed depiction of those settings. An 'exotic' location or time was just for distancing purposes and projection of contemporary commentary.

Setting Mother Courage in a realistic depiction of the Congo- or any location- isn't what the play is about, and isn't the play Brecht wrote.