Must Read Plays? — Page 3

Eric, your posts on the previous page were missing your avatar AND hat, as of yesterday p.m. The content of the posts was fine.

I saw the Tommy Tune production off-Broadway and loved it, even though I think few Americans really understand the second act. (It's all well and good to write "Victoria is played by a doll", but getting an audience to understand that the flesh and blood Victoria in Act II is the same character as the doll in Act I is something else entirely.)

At the time of the production, advertising emphasized Tune so much I actually assumed that the cross-casting was one of his stunts.

Still it's very fun play to teach and one can never waste time seeing or reading Churchill.

The less said about the film of M. BUTTERFLY the better. The premier play about gender and international politics (at least until ANGELS) is turned into a mere parlor trick.

Updated On: 5/21/14 at 08:49 PM

To be clear, I have never worn a hat in any avatar :P

Not sure what happened. After years of complaining to the mods here, a few months ago my current account now ALLOWS me to edit finally, or delete--but it's meant that all my previous account (though I never started a new account) posts are missing my avatar.

I've read Tune accepted the show partly to prove that he could do a non-musical (wasn't that the same as Michael Bennett when he did... umm I wanna say he directed the New York premier of Oh Dad, Poor Dad?)

It's interesting that Churchill says she doesn't care what actor plays which part in each act--though she does care about the gender (and race, I assume?) The changes made for New York actually don't do much to address any British issues--I do find them stronger (she moves the mother's great final monologue at the very end of the play, etc.)

Re-reading it for a friend's paper this year, I did find the depiction of gay men quite a bit more dated than I did when I was in it ten+ years back, but it seems unfair to judge given when it was written (and not so dated that I found it offensive.) At our performance the one thing that seemed to confuse the audience--in Act 1--was whether the pedophilia should be funny or not... I was amazed that it ran just under 1000 performances--I knew it was a hit, but...

And yeah--re M Butterfly, it's disappointing Cronenberg didn't try to be a bit more experimental in his direction.

Eric, I think the Michael Bennett-directed play you mean was TWIGS. I didn't see it, but I think it starred Sada Thompson. OH, DAD starred Barbara Harris and was much earlier in the 1960s, perhaps even before Bennett started as a choreographer.

Jerry Robbins directed OH, DAD in 1963, so I see why you made the association.

Updated On: 5/22/14 at 08:35 PM

We were posting at the same time, Eric.

Per IBDB, Bennett received an assistant choreographer credit in 1961, but he didn't stage his first musical until 1966. TWIGS wasn't staged until 1971. It was written by George Furth and had incidental music by Sondheim, and seems to have consisted of four one-act plays.

Was TWIGS composed of one acts left over from COMPANY? If Prince wasn't interested, perhaps it seemed natural that Bennett directed it.

Wasn't Sondheim in a televised version of at least one of the parts from Twigs? That's astute to make the Company connection--I never thought of that.

And of course Bennett didn't actually *direct* (officially) until Follies, after Twiggs--though Mendelbaum makes it quite clear he basically took over directing Coco, and Hepburn would only work with him by the end.

Ok, stand back-- I've pulled out my theater-going history to remind myself of favorite Broadway plays I've seen. Among those not mentioned yet I'd submit--

THE VISIT (Durenmatt)
TRAVESTIES (Stoppard)
TORCH SONG TRILOGY (Fierstein)
PRIVATE LIVES (Coward)
WIT (Edson)
SIX DEGREES OF SEPARATION (Guare)
PETER AND THE STARCATCHER (Elice)

I'm shocked that Six Degrees (and to a lesser degree, Torchsong) have not been mentioned yet! Great choices, Tree.

Gaveston, is the OP even still here? That was three years ago... Apparently back then, I even wore a hat.

I remember this thread from when it was first started! I was also just getting into reading straight plays, and I started with Jordan's list, which was, of course, a remarkable introduction to the genre. What works would you add to the list over these past three years? I must say that I have really fallen in love with the works of Amy Herzog and Stephen Karam. I would also add Tribes by Nina Raine to the list.