Steel Magnolias

I'm watching Steel Magnolias on the TV and thought I'd look up the play. I was surprised to see that the play wasn't until 2005. I thought it came before the movie. Anyway...did anyone see Steel Magnolias on the stage, and was it good? Just curious.

STEEL MAGNOLIAS began its life Off-Broadway in 1987. It was adapted into a film in 1989. The play made its Broadway debut in 2005 -- it was not a revival as it had never before appeared on Broadway.

All of the action of the play takes place solely on one set: Truvy's beauty salon, which is part of her house. There are only six characters (all female) that appear on stage. There is the voice of a DJ on the radio that is heard during the play and helps to announce each time span: the wedding, Christmas, Shelby's death, etc. All the other characters (like the male characters) that appear in the film version are only referred to in the dialogue (we never see them).

Updated On: 1/3/09 at 10:55 PM

Thanks for the explanations, yall! I didn't realize it was off-Broadway, and then just the women characters when it was on Broadway! Dramamama...what role did you play when you did it?

Nicole Kidman did it in Australia.

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I played Shelby. Liked the role, didn't love it.

I'd love to play it again and play just about anyone. Obviously, I'm a bit too old to play her or Annelle (sp?).

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LindyLee -- just wanted to correct your confusion.

The play NEVER had any other actors on stage aside from the 6 women. The Broadway production was exactly like the Off-Broadway production, just ON Broadway. They didn't rewrite the play for Broadway.

The original stage play (Off-Broadway AND Broadway) took place in the same location: Truvy's home beauty salon (there were no other sets). There was never any set changes or location changes -- to imply Christmas, the salon had Christmas decorations and their costumes reflected Christmas. You never saw Shelby's wedding -- you heard the women talk about it. You never saw Shelby in the hospital or her death -- you heard the women talk about it. You never saw any of the male characters --the women talked about them.

I hope this helped clear up your confusion as it sounded that you thought the original Off-Broadway production was a full scale production with male and female actors and sets and scenery, etc... but that they simplified it for its Broadway incarnation. Again... both the Off-Broadway AND Broadway productions were done the exact same way.

DOUBT did the same thing as a play.

You didn't see the child whose contact with the priest was the main plot point of the play.

He was just talked about. The incidents were just talked about.

That was changed for the movie.

That's the difference between theatre and film.

Theatre makes the audience use their minds and requires writers to WRITE effectively so that the audience is able to feel for the characters, whereas, in film, the audience needs to have the events shoved directly in their faces so that they don't have to bother using their minds.

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Margo Martindale as Truvy in the original production gave one of all-time favorite performances. I've never forgotten it.

You are so wrong.

*shrug* I guess you missed the "IMO" part of my post.