Overlooked/Under-appreciated Scenes

[aasjb4ever]

Posted: 7/26/11 at 4:35pm

Has there ever been a truly great scene in a show that stood out to you but others might not have preferred? (performance/direction wise/ etc.)

One for me is "The Right Girl" from the current revival of FOLLIES, where Margie has been cut from the song. Buddy dancing with himself fit so well because it really shows how alone and bogged down he is.

GO.

[Gaveston2]

Posted: 7/26/11 at 5:43pm

I don't know which version of "Follies" put Margie INTO the song. She wasn't in the original and I've never seen it done that way. (I'm not suggesting you haven't; I'm sure you did. I just don't know who started that (or why). But I'm on the West Coast and have missed several revivals.)

Interestingly, in "Sondheim & Co." (I believe) somebody complains that that number was just stuck into the show because Gene Nelson had to have his solo. And then they complain that he never did it very well.

Which is what makes the scene "overlooked" and "under-appreciated", of course.

[Gaveston2]

Posted: 7/26/11 at 5:56pm

I know this isn't exactly what you meant, but I'm embarrassed to admit two scenes that get to me every time:

1. The von Trapp family starts up the mountain at the end of "Sound of Music."

2. Boy limps into the church at the end of "Shenandoah." "Pa... Pa..."

Yeah, those are two, really corny scenes and I make fun of them, too. I also burst into tears every time I see them. I've even worked both shows (backstage) and still cried at every performance.

[aasjb4ever]

Posted: 7/26/11 at 6:26pm

Re: Follies; Oh...When it was playing at the Kennedy Center, a few people pointed out that it was strange that she wasn't in that song. (It's the only production I've seen, so I just assumed it was new for this production)

[ljay889]

Posted: 7/26/11 at 6:33pm

The Kennedy Center production tried putting Margie in the number. But they cut her from it within the first week of previews. As far as I know, Margie has never been in the number before. At Papermill, Buddy and Young Buddy interacted with each other throughout the number.

[henrikegerman]

Posted: 7/26/11 at 6:34pm

In the very fine 1997 Broadway production of A Doll's House, the great act three scene between Kristen and Nils. In this production, starring a vibrant Janet McTeer, the roles were played, brilliantly, by Jan Maxwell and Peter Gowen. It was the first time I had seen Maxwell and I was truly overwhelmed by the beauty of her performance. The scene has everything: a heartfelt reunion of long lost lovers, a bitter man finding his heart again, his offer to withdraw his plot-propelling threat, and Kristen's decision that he needs to do what he first intended but no longer feels the need to accomplish for the sake of Nora and her future. In Maxwell's and Gowen's hands it was incredibly powerful.

Joanna Gleason's Moment in the Woods will be forever enshrined in my heart.

Also, the Christmas Eve scene at the beginning of Act 2 of the Promises, Promises revival, Katie Finneran's seduction of Sean Hayes. I don't know if I can ever explain what Finneran did with that scene, but I had the distinct impression that it was as close as I could come in a Broadway theater to seeing God.

[Katurian2]

Posted: 7/26/11 at 7:19pm

I loved Margie in the number when I saw it at the Kenn Center. Partially because the actress playing her did a fantastic job. But at least we got to see her later in 'Buddy's Blues.'


Mine:

The moment in 'Coast of Utopia's' 'Shipwreck' where the overlapping dialogue at the party shifts to just Vissarion saying how tired he is of utopias, and speaking of the hope in seeing the progress of the train tracks in his country. In just that one small scene, Crudup captured what it took 3 more hours and a huge number of actors to keep conveying. His performance was masterful, and so was the writing in that scene.

Also I'm going to say Liev Schriber near upstaging everyone in the 'View from the Bridge' revival, just seething with this physical lust in the background in every scene. Even thought the rest of the cast turned in fine performances, he just drew in power in every moment he was up there, even without speaking a word.

[Gaveston2]

Posted: 7/26/11 at 8:14pm

Well, I will spend the next few days trying to imagine Margie in "The Right Girl". Since the whole song has Buddy going back and forth between his two "girls," putting Margie on stage without Sally strikes me as really unbalanced.

Then when you get to "Buddy's Blues," if you use the same actress, you have the "real" Margie but only the "vaudeville" Sally.

Sounds like a bad idea, but I didn't see it. Maybe some production had a Buddy who couldn't carry that long a solo dance.

[AC126748]

Posted: 7/26/11 at 8:19pm

The final scene of John Guare's LANDSCAPE OF THE BODY, in which Betty remembers a conversation she had with her now-deceased sister Rosalie. As she remembers, the scene comes to be, and the adult Betty and Rosalie begin to act it out. It's an utterly unremarkable scene, but when I saw Lili Taylor and Sherie Rene Scott perform it in the NY revival a few years ago, it left be gobsmacked. I left the theatre in tears and felt like I was in a daze for hours afterwards. Unbelievable.

[chewy5000]

Posted: 7/27/11 at 12:41am

'All I Need Is The Girl' anyone?

[ChiChi]

Posted: 7/27/11 at 1:24am

I really don't know if this one was underappreciated, but the I've always loved the credit card scene in Angels in America: Perestroika. In the original tour they began the scene at opposite sides of the stage. They spoke they're dialogue and throughout the word "credit card" would be spoken in a sad and low tone. Each time I wanted to cry a little more. Then she crossed and slapped him. It was so beautifully staged.

At the age of 15 I had never seen anything like this show before. But my uncle (who managed the arts facility) got tickets for me and my mom and we saw it together I was just coming out at the time and my mother was being very supportive. This show was a real opportunity for us to begin our progression.

[SeanMartin]

Posted: 7/27/11 at 1:27am

My favourite moments tend to be about stagecraft, so if I can profer up two:

-- the moment the dragon becomes a ship in PACIFIC OVERTURES. The whole show was mesmerizing, but that brief little moment really got me.

-- the tree panels in the original NIGHT MUSIC. Yes, now they're old hat, but when that show opened, they were revolutionary.

[ChiChi]

Posted: 7/27/11 at 1:29am

What were they like? Are there any pictures anywhere?

[SeanMartin]

Posted: 7/27/11 at 1:44am

There's some photos floating around; sadly, none that really capture it. But you had these huge panels -- probably 8x35 -- suspended from tracks overhead and running in grooves in the stage floor, all painted to look like white birch trees. They used the then-new material called Lexan because it was lighter than plastic and more durable. And these things just glided across the stage... and as they moved, people would appear. Or disappear. Easily done, of course, but it was all so freaking elegant.
Night Music 73 vs revival: scenery

[ChiChi]

Posted: 7/27/11 at 1:50am

I believe you can have a very effective and impressive set and still be simple. Fortunately I think there are a few real examples of this in theatre history.

[Gypsy9]

Posted: 7/27/11 at 4:59am

chewy5000: I don't see how "All I Need Is The Girl", the penultimate number from the First Act of GYPSY, is either overlooked or under- appreciated. First of all, it is a great dance number in and of itself and has been in every single production on Broadway. Secondly, it is important to the plot: Tulsa is practicing a number which he plans to use when he elopes with June and the two go off together to present a new act on their own. This will be initially heartbreaking to Rose when she reads about this at the railroad station at the end of Act One. But then she summons up Louise as June's replacement. It should be remembered that Louise watches Tulsa rehearse and toward the end of the number she actually joins in the dance with delight, presaging her greater involvement with show business to come in Act Two.

Incidentally, the best Tulsa for my money was the actor/dancer in the Tyne Daly production of GYPSY around 1990.

[Unknown User]

Posted: 7/27/11 at 5:22am

There are some pics of Aronson's set for Night Music here (as well as Follies and Company). Nothing too great, but... http://www.flickr.com/photos/28698051@N08/

[Unknown User]

Posted: 7/27/11 at 5:22am

There are some pics of Aronson's set for Night Music here (as well as Follies and Company). Nothing too great, but... http://www.flickr.com/photos/28698051@N08/
ANd here's a pic of the stage with all the tree panels in Updated On: 7/27/11 at 05:22 AM

[chewy5000]

Posted: 7/27/11 at 6:08am

It's just that I've heard a fair bit of debate as to whether the song is necessary or not.

[henrikegerman]

Posted: 7/27/11 at 7:10am

Patrick Breen's big scene in The Normal Heart, beautifully supported by Jim Parsons. HIs precise, specific rage for me dwarfed the more celebrated histrionics of the production.

[SeanMartin]

Posted: 7/27/11 at 9:38am

What a great gallery of his work. Thanks, Eric.

[madbrian]

Posted: 7/27/11 at 9:47am

Sometimes, a performer can elevate scenes, and for me, this was the case in the recent revival of Blithe Spirit. Lansbury? Terrific, but not the person to whom I refer. Everett? A nice surprise in the role, but no. Atkinson? A terrific performance that was overlooked by the Tonys, but no. And no, not Ebersole, either. The person to whom I refer is Susan Louise O'Connor, making her Broadway debut as Edith and stealing every scene in which she appeared.

[givesmevoice]

Posted: 7/27/11 at 10:22am

The person to whom I refer is Susan Louise O'Connor, making her Broadway debut as Edith and stealing every scene in which she appeared.

Yeah but I still don't understand the resolution to that show and her character's part in it.

[AC126748]

Posted: 7/27/11 at 10:38am

I have to agree. And I didn't find her performance to be anything special, either. I'm still baffled by the praise.

[Reginald Tresilian]

Posted: 7/27/11 at 11:10am

It turns out that it was not Charles, supposedly wanting, however unconsciously, to see Elvira again that raised her spirit but Edith, who is a (reluctant) medium.