Remembering A LION IN WINTER on its 50th Anniversary

[Mr. Nowack]

Posted: 3/3/16 at 2:39am

It opened 50 years ago today, at the Ambassador Theatre.

 

Written by James Goldman, it starred the great Robert Preston as well as Rosemary Harris, along with a young Christopher Walken and a pre-HAIR James Rado. Harris won the Best Actress Tony for her role, and Katherine Hepburn won the same for her portrayal in the film (which featured Peter O'Toole and a young Anthony Hopkins).

 

I must confess I'm entirely unfamiliar with the story, even through the movie.

 

Production Photos:

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

[nicnyc]

Posted: 3/3/16 at 3:45am

Thanks so much for posting, Mr Nowack!  Unfortunately, I was not born in time to see the original production so I really enjoyed seeing the photos.  Was anyone here fortunate enough to have seen the original production?  I would love to hear any recollections you may have.  I'm especially curious about Robert Preston's portrayal of Henry as he is clearly quite a departure from the O'Toole Henry that I'm sure many of us have ingrained in our heads.  I'd also particularly love to hear about Christopher Walken's Philip of France. 

The Lion in Winter has long been a favorite of mine.  The film is really wonderful - for this who haven't seen it, I highly recommend checking it out.  Peter O'Toole and Katharine Hepburn both give really beautiful, visceral performances as the feuding couple.  Hepburn's one liners alone make it worth your time.  I did get to see the 1999 revival with Lawrence Fishburne and Stockard Channing.  She was not Hepburn by any stretch, but she gave a very fiery deep performance.  Unfortunately, the war felt very one-sided as none of the others could begin to match her.  I hope it will be revived again at some point with a more evenly matched Henry and Eleanor.

Updated On: 3/3/16 at 03:45 AM

[dramamama611]

Posted: 3/3/16 at 4:49am

one if my favorites, but I've never seen a live production, just the film.

[best12bars]

Posted: 3/3/16 at 6:49am

A huge fan of the movie here as well. We watch it every Christmas, since it takes place over the holidays. I was surprised to learn that Robert Preston was the original King Henry, and I would love to hear about his performance as well. O'Toole really owned that role in the film.

[CarlosAlberto]

Posted: 3/3/16 at 7:55am

Those are some amazing photos! Robert Preston was truly a talented and versatile actor, was there anything he could not do?! I had zero knowledge of him originating the role of Henry on Broadway. 

 

What a great cast! James Rado?!? Wow - - - I had no idea he did anything prior to HAIR, especially not this.

 

Thanks for sharing!

[JayG 2]

Posted: 3/3/16 at 8:36am

MrNovak, these tributes are wonderful. Keep it up!

 

[Mr Roxy]

Posted: 3/3/16 at 9:03am

Would love to have seen this one. Great cast & photos are awesome

[BIG BALONEY]

Posted: 3/3/16 at 9:38am

Thanks for the posted beautiful pictures of this wonderful play. Saw  Stockard Channing about fifteen years ago and she also hit the ball out of the park.

[Ranger Tom]

Posted: 3/3/16 at 1:29pm

The O'Toole/Hepburn is my favorite movie of all time.  My family has favorite quotes that we pull out at appropriate moments - primary among them "Well, what family doesn't have its ups and downs."  Brilliant.  The Patrick Stewart/Glenn Close version sounded good on paper but was dreadful.  I'm sure Channing was wonderful but wasn't interested in seeing my 23rd Great Grandfather played by Fishburne (subject for a different post).  Saw a community theater production years ago, don't remember much.  I will watch it any time it's on TCM and will sit down as a family and watch at Christmas time - it is, by far, the greatest Christmas movie every made (no sarcasm).  I love it.  O'Toole was robbed at the Oscars.  Thanks for posting this.

[Mr. Nowack]

Posted: 3/3/16 at 6:09pm

I really do need to get around to seeing the film.

 

Glad everyone enjoys the photos, stellar Friedman-Abeles work as always.

[Fan123]

Posted: 3/4/16 at 4:45am

I first watched the movie recently, and to be honest I found it a bit sour for my taste. The characters were all so nasty and vindictive that I didn't get much fun out of their sparring (witty and pacy though it was), and once I realised (spoiler?) that each and every one of them was quite happy to repeatedly betray any of the others and switch alliances at the drop of a hat, the dramatic stakes dropped because I knew that any apparent relationship or power 'developments' would be tossed out again in another five minutes. Maybe all that was intentional and it was meant to be a depressing commentary on power or something. On the other hand, great cast and great performances. Ah well, it just goes to show how subjective taste is.

[GavestonPS]

Posted: 3/4/16 at 3:06pm

It's basically a "dysfunctional family sitcom" where the family members all happened to be royals.

 

I don't mean to put it down. I love the film. But all those zingers are decidedly anachronistic.

[QueenAlice]

Posted: 3/4/16 at 7:32pm

I've never seen it on stage, but I love the movie. I just looked this up and was surprised to realize the original production only played 92 performances! Not a success at all.  I guess the popularity of the film is what really gave it such a long afterlife.

[EponineThenardier]

Posted: 3/4/16 at 8:22pm

My absolute favorite play. =) Thank you for sharing the photos, I've never seen them!

[Someone in a Tree2]

Posted: 3/4/16 at 9:53pm

Love the script. Never saw any production but the film. Why oh why has no-one ever turned this into a musical? It seems custom made for Sondheim's brand of literate bitchery.

 

Are you guys aware that the first season of the TV show EMPIRE is entirely patterned after The Lion in Winter? The king is dying, the queen has just been released from prison, and the 3 sons (a brainiac, a gay one, and an immature baby) are vying for the throne.

[MichelleCraig]

Posted: 3/4/16 at 10:06pm

Mr. Nowack, thanks for your posts. I love them.

 

I've seen this performed live a number of years ago at the Pasadena Playhouse. It was sort of meh... The film is one of my all time favorites. Like others have posted here, there are many lines you can pull up and shine with depending on your delivery.

 

I found that a blu-ray of the film has been released in Spain! I ordered it from Amazon.es

Updated On: 3/4/16 at 10:06 PM

[SidebySidebyLogan]

Posted: 3/5/16 at 3:36am

I've always thought Judith Light would do wonders with Eleanor 

[best12bars]

Posted: 3/5/16 at 8:03am

I would never say it's a "sitcom." It's far too clever and astute for that.

 

More like "Who's Afraid of Virginia Woolf?" but set almost a thousand years ago.

 

With just as much punch and resonance.

[g.d.e.l.g.i.]

Posted: 3/5/16 at 10:25am

CarlosAlberto said: "James Rado?!? Wow - - - I had no idea he did anything prior to HAIR, especially not this."

 

Not just The Lion in Winter -- Rado had lived several lives before HAIR. In his college days, he co-authored three musical revues (Interlude and Interlude II at University of Maryland, Cross Your Fingers at the Catholic University of America), and all of his early songs were both written and composed by him.

 

When he moved to NY, he supported himself by writing and recording pop songs [as "James Alexander and the Argyles"] while he studied acting with Lee Strasberg, and then he landed roles in such shows as Marathon '33, Luther, Hang Down Your Head and Die (where he met Gerome Ragni), and the Chicago company of The Knack.

 

In fact, when HAIR was about to enter production with Joe Papp Off-Broadway, Rado had just been cast in Hallelujah Baby with Leslie Uggams, meriting a NY Post story with his picture announcing his sudden elevation to "stardom." He had to choose between Broadway and HAIR, and he chose HAIR -- which eventually got him to the same place anyway, so all's well that ends well.

Updated On: 3/5/16 at 10:25 AM

[Scripps2]

Posted: 3/5/16 at 6:45pm

Someone in a Tree2 said: "Why oh why has no-one ever turned this into a musical?"

 

Search out 1975 flop Thomas and the King with a great pre-Hollywood John Williams score; some stunning sets and costumes - if you can find any photos; some fine performances - listen to Dilys Hamlett deliver Power on the OLC; some naff lyrics (although I do like the rhyme for Plantagenet); its own closing Follies-esque nightmare sequence; and an apparently ropey book that scraped the barrel with a scene involving a monk caught doing something he shouldn't have been. Strictly speaking, not a musical of The Lion in Winter but certainly a musical with the same characters and tensions.

 

This generation of Plantagenets also appear in several other plays by major authors such as Murder in the Cathedral and Becket.

Updated On: 3/5/16 at 06:45 PM

[Scripps2]

Posted: 3/5/16 at 6:47pm

PS Robert Preston as Henry II? He must have been great!

 

[GavestonPS]

Posted: 3/5/16 at 6:53pm

best12bars said: "I would never say it's a "sitcom." It's far too clever and astute for that.

 

 

 

More like "Who's Afraid of Virginia Woolf?" but set almost a thousand years ago.

 

 

 

With just as much punch and resonance.

 

"

Again, I know it from the film, but I don't agree it can fairly be compared to VIRGINIA WOOLF. The central conceit of WOOLF elevates it to another theatrical level entirely.

 

But I wasn't using sitcom as a derogatory term. I think it's a perfectly valid form that demands considerable skill. (God, look at all the failed sitcoms on TV right now for proof that they aren't easy to make.) But in American hands, especially, it is a form based on "zingers", as is LION IN WINTER. That was all I meant.

 

Updated On: 3/5/16 at 06:53 PM