OUR TOWN revival starring Dustin Hoffman; Bartlett Sher directs- Page 4

[KnewItWhenIWasInFron]

Posted: 7/1/20 at 1:25pm

Ravenclaw said: "I loveOur Townso, so deeply, and I love Bartlett Sher's work so, so deeply. I want to be really excited by this news. And yet...

It's hard to imagine who can really be excited about this piece of casting. Yes, Hoffman is a very talented actor, but he's still mostly failed to apologize for or acknowledge the many accusations against him. Beyond the accounts of sexual harassment he has refused to acknowledge, it's still hard for me to watch great performances of his likeKramer vs Kramerknowing how he tormented Meryl Streep for the sake of their performances.

But beyond that, it's become hard for me to see a production ofOur Townthat's had anything worthy to say about the play after David Cromer's astonishing production. Every production I've seen since his has either copied his famous coup de théâtre outright and suffered in comparison or purposefully not copied that choice and and also suffered in comparison. That production was such a landmark production that completely redefined one of the most important pieces of the canon that ten years later there are even references to it in the filmMarriage Story. I love Bartlett Sher as a director, but I'm even doubtful of his ability to bring something new to the play.

But say he does find something interesting and new in the play, and say Hoffman makes a genuine apology and changes his behavior. The last revival proved that the character of the Stage Manager can be played by an actor of any age or gender, challenging the way the role is typically cast as an old white man. To revert back to tradition and cast as the omniscient authority figure as an old white man just feels uncreative and unexciting. I hope that the rest of the cast around him is very diverse.

I was a teenager when I saw David Cromer'sOur Town, and that production opened my eyes to the beauty of what I now think is one of the most beautifulpieces of American literature. I so want a new production to cause the next generation of young people to fall in love with this play, but I have to say that I'm already doubtful that this production will do it."

Still (and I suspect always) the most revelatory production I've ever seen of a play I thought I knew well. And I do wonder if, like the most recent Broadway "Glass Menagerie," its choices are so strong and logical that they'll inform subsequent performances (meaning, in "Glass," casting an actor with a disability as Laura and, in "Our Town," adopting a tone that is much more pissed-off than nostalgic and folksy.)

[Jordan Catalano]

Posted: 7/1/20 at 1:26pm

Updated On: 7/1/20 at 01:26 PM

[Jordan Catalano]

Posted: 7/1/20 at 1:26pm

I guess we won’t be getting Mandy & Patti as George & Emily.

Updated On: 7/1/20 at 01:26 PM

[SouthernCakes]

Posted: 7/1/20 at 1:51pm

I don’t feel like that “Glass” went over very well?

[Highland Guy]

Posted: 7/1/20 at 2:24pm

Broadway would need to tempt me with something special for me to venture cross-country from the safety of my California home.  I can't project too far into the future, but 2021 seems a bit too risky for me.  Though, if anything would draw me to the Great Bright Way, it would be to see Dustin Hoffman starring in "Our Town".  That's very special.

[trentsketch]

Posted: 7/1/20 at 2:48pm

If they get Joan Allen, I'm in. I'd pay orchestra prices to see her play the paperboy.

[Miles2Go2]

Posted: 7/1/20 at 3:50pm

Freeman is also problematic:

 

https://www.snopes.com/ap/2018/05/24/morgan-freeman-apologizes-wake-harassment-accusations/

[Theatrefanboy1]

Posted: 7/1/20 at 7:21pm

I’ll be honest. I’m excited for this. A little surprised to see how quickly we’ve jumped back to classics with a star in the title.

I guess we can then look forward to shows with “Meryl” and others forth coming in the next season or three.

Would love the see that Julie Andrews suggestion. But would also love another chance on Julia Roberts.
Or Timothee Chalamet or Ian McKellan
Or see Sandra Bullock

[Jordan Catalano]

Posted: 7/1/20 at 7:55pm

Sir Ian will be doing HAMLET on the West End so I highly doubt he’ll be back to Broadway. Julia has said for a long time that she’s been looking for the right show and honestly, she can do anything she wants to especially when theaters reopen.

[Highland Guy]

Posted: 7/1/20 at 8:39pm

A 2017 production, done right.

 

 

[Jordan Catalano]

Posted: 7/1/20 at 8:51pm

I don’t think there’s any “right” way to do this show. It can be done well and it can be done poorly. But there’s a million things that can be done with it. For me, the 1977 Hal Holbrook production will forever be the best version - with Holbrook’s Stage Manager one of the great stage performances. But that’s far from the only way to do it and I love when people experiment.

[Highland Guy]

Posted: 7/1/20 at 9:14pm

^^^^^^^^^

And, as near as I can determine, not one actor who was a person of color or deaf.

Yeah, the Pasadena Playhouse did it right.

 

https://www.pasadenaplayhouse.org/meet-the-cast-our-town/

[Jordan Catalano]

Posted: 7/1/20 at 9:25pm

As someone very involved in the deaf community, even my deaf friends would find your statement ridiculous. You’re saying any show EVER DONE without POC or deaf people Can’t be great. Makes sense.

[VintageSnarker]

Posted: 7/1/20 at 9:46pm

AC126748 said: "It's as if Scott Rudin challenged himself to come up with the most tone-deaf idea he could, and he really swung for the fences here."

Oleanna directed by Ivo van Hove starring Louis C.K. and Rose McGowan

[Jordan Catalano]

Posted: 7/1/20 at 9:47pm

VintageSnarker said: "Oleanna directed by Ivo van Hove starring Louis C.K. and Rose McGowan"

LOLOLOLOLOLOLOLOLOLOL

 

[ErmengardeStopSniveling]

Posted: 7/1/20 at 11:09pm

I question Hoffman's stamina to play a role like the stage manager. Sure, they could give him an earpiece or let him read from a book, but it's a massive role for an almost-83-year-old who hasn't been on Broadway in 30 years and also hasn't played the lead in a film in quite some time. Artistically, I trust Sher and Rudin to deliver a good show more than most other people in this industry, but it still gives me pause.

Either way, I don't think the allegations will have much impact on the box office. That's not to say they're insignificant –– it's just that the ticket-buying public (especially the classic Manhattanite playgoer) kind of turns a blind eye to this stuff. Hoffman makes this an event.

[Miles2Go2]

Posted: 7/1/20 at 11:18pm

ErmengardeStopSniveling said: "I question Hoffman's stamina to play a role like the stage manager. Sure, they could give him an earpiece or let him read from a book, but it's a massive role for an almost-83-year-old who hasn't been on Broadway in 30 years and also hasn't played the lead in a film in quite some time.“

Two Words: Elaine May

Regardless, I’ll be skipping this as long as long as Hoffman is attached. 

[SFFrontRow]

Posted: 7/2/20 at 2:58am

Ravenclaw said: "Jarethan said: "I was unable to see the Cromer production. What was the coup de theatre??"

I was gonna put it in spoiler tags, but I guess it's been a decade since it closed, so it's fair game now...

The whole show was performed in modern dress with mimed props until the third act, when Emily goes back in time. Then, a curtain at the back of the stage came down and revealed a fully-realized period kitchen, with Emily's mother in period dress frying actual bacon on the stove. And you're just hit with the smell of bacon all at once. It was the perfect way of encapsulating what the play is about--missing the beauty of the ordinary moments while you're in them--while playing with the minimalist, empty theatre and mimed props aesthetic the play is so famous for."

My memory is a little foggy but wasn't the Cromer production done off-Broadway at the Barrow Street Theater (which is small)? The staging was kind of immersive/within the audience. I only saw Our Town performed live that one time and I remember it being really wonderful.

[blaxx]

Posted: 7/2/20 at 5:22am

This is Sher. The show will probably be 3.5 hours long, with 5 minute transitions between scenes to move the 300 set pieces involved. He probably will build the whole actual town.

[The Distinctive Baritone]

Posted: 7/2/20 at 12:56pm

Dustin Hoffman has always been one of my favorite actors, so I'm really sad to hear about those allegations. The one involving the 16 year old is especially horrible. Part of me is like, "But it was 35 years ago! Maybe he's learned since then!" and another part of me is just like, "I never want to see anything he's in ever again." Ugh.

And yeah, he's about to turn 83. Not to be ageist, but The Stage Manager is a hard role to memorize for even younger actors. We might be looking at an Angela Lansbury type situation (except kinda creepy).

[Highland Guy]

Posted: 7/2/20 at 1:13pm

Jordan Catalano said: "As someone very involved in the deaf community, even my deaf friends would find your statement ridiculous. You’re saying any show EVER DONE without POC or deaf people Can’t be great. Makes sense."

 

I didn't say that at all.   I said the Pasadena Playhouse did it right.  

Updated On: 7/2/20 at 01:13 PM

[Stage Door Sally]

Posted: 7/2/20 at 2:06pm

No. Just no to Dustin Hoffman as the Stage Manager. Simon Stimson maybe.

[JSquared2]

Posted: 7/2/20 at 2:18pm

Highland Guy said: "Jordan Catalano said: "As someone very involved in the deaf community, even my deaf friends would find your statement ridiculous. You’re saying any show EVER DONE without POC or deaf people Can’t be great. Makes sense."


I didn't say that at all. I said the Pasadena Playhouse did it right."

 

Actually Highland what you said (when responding to a post about an old TV production) was:

And, as near as I can determine, not one actor who was a person of color or deaf.

Yeah, the Pasadena Playhouse did it right.

As I (and I believe most anyone else) would interpret this as you saying that in order for the show to be done "right" (whatever that means), one of the boxes that needs to be checked off is having a deaf actor in the show.   What did Pasadena do to make the play "right"?

 

[Call_me_jorge]

Posted: 7/2/20 at 2:47pm

blaxx said: "This is Sher. The show will probably be 3.5 hours long, with 5 minute transitions between scenes to move the 300 set pieces involved. He probably will build the whole actual town."

If sher continues to work with his frequent collaborators I’ll be interested to see Michael Yeargans scenic design.

[Dollypop]

Posted: 7/2/20 at 5:52pm

Which role will Kelli O'Hara play?