Stritch's crossed legs.....

[ljay889]

Posted: 7/27/10 at 10:41pm

Like or don't like?





I think it looks nice, but makes Madame seem more fit and mobile than she really is.

PS, can you tell I'm bored?

[Michael Bennett]

Posted: 7/27/10 at 10:43pm

I like it - it gives her the noble air of superiority

[onedaymore]

Posted: 7/27/10 at 10:43pm

a) I see your point.

b) Yes.

[TheatreFan4]

Posted: 7/27/10 at 10:50pm

Is Madame Armfelt paraplegic?

[dramamama611]

Posted: 7/27/10 at 10:51pm

I've known several wheelbound people (all women, as I think about it!) that had some use of their legs, just not enough to stand and/or walk.

Also...question: does the audience SEE her cross her legs or is she always in that position? I can almost imagine a woman too vain with appearances to MANUALLY cross her legs (by lifting one leg with her arms) in private, so as to seem more in control.

BUT...I also wonder: would a classy woman of that time CROSS her legs at all????

[ljay889]

Posted: 7/27/10 at 10:55pm

She crossed and uncrossed them throughout her entire first performance. She was very jittery. No clue what she's doing now.
Updated On: 7/27/10 at 10:55 PM

[sbflyfan]

Posted: 7/27/10 at 10:55pm

They should just let her wear the dress shirt and black tights.

[adamgreer]

Posted: 7/27/10 at 10:57pm

I kind of like it. On that first night, though, she looked like she wanted to get out of the chair so badly. And then, ironically enough, she stayed put during Liaisons.
Updated On: 7/27/10 at 10:57 PM

[backwoodsbarbie]

Posted: 7/27/10 at 11:01pm

I like it. Its a very Stritch-y touch.

[wonkit]

Posted: 7/27/10 at 11:01pm

I have always assumed that Madame Armfeldt was frail, not paralyzed.

[PalJoey]

Posted: 7/27/10 at 11:05pm

Forget about the crossed legs. I still get filled with rage each time I remember that the fabulous dinner party

has been turned into...a picnic.

A picnic.

Where is style?
Where is skill?
Where is forethought?
Where's discretion of the heart?
Where's passion in the art?
Where's craft?

Updated On: 7/27/10 at 11:05 PM

[Michael Bennett]

Posted: 7/27/10 at 11:05pm

No, no, sweethearts - Madame Armfeldt walks in the show - Angela walked during Liaisons - Stritch stays put for that number but walks at the top of the second act. The character is not paralyzed - she is either very frail or too lazy to walk around her big estate.


I don't have any problem with the second act dinner table scene being a picnic - its VERY nordic, but I think they should have cut the line about being seen on the ground 'squatting' like bohemians.

To nitpick at the original production - I think it equally ridiculous that they would all be wearing beaded gowns to a summer dinner party - and although I love Florence Klotz's designs - and the red dress in particular - Tammy Grimes was right when she said "Desiree Armfeldt would never wear a red dress to a summer evening party."

Updated On: 7/27/10 at 11:05 PM

[ljay889]

Posted: 7/27/10 at 11:09pm

Nunn really pushes the frailness and decline of the character in act 2. I love it.

[Michael Bennett]

Posted: 7/27/10 at 11:12pm

Stritch definitely plays the role a lot frailer than Lansbury did in the second act. In fact, I'd go so far as to say, she's really the only Armfeldt I think I've ever seen who really seems to be aware (and conveys actively) that she's near death. IIts actually kind of fun to see Stritch so spry during the curtain call when she comes running out after seeing how frail her Armfeldt is by the show's end.

[adamgreer]

Posted: 7/27/10 at 11:14pm

I think Stritch's frailness leaves little doubt about what happens to Madame Armfeldt at the end of the show. And I agree, MichaelBennett, Stritch plays her Madame as very near death the entire show, which lends a new poignancy to her desire to see Fredrika well-cared for.

[ljay889]

Posted: 7/27/10 at 11:16pm

^ Funny, I got all of that from Lansbury. Everything from the expression on her face to the tone of her voice during her final scene was so chilling. She was so relieved that her daughter found someone and that her grandaughter will have a happy home and family. She died peacefully. That's what I got from seeing Lansbury five times.



Updated On: 7/27/10 at 11:16 PM

[Michael Bennett]

Posted: 7/27/10 at 11:26pm

I got that from Lansbury during the final scene, but her overall 'decline' seemed pretty quick - though perhaps it just felt that way because Lansbury played Armfeldt as rather dotty - a sort of TIm Burtonesque Mrs. Potts. It worked, but I do find Stritch to be a lot more mesmerizing and ultimately moving in the part, partly because of the anger, and regret she infuses into the character that its very different from what Lansbury was going for.

[Yankeefan007]

Posted: 7/27/10 at 11:31pm

I, too, believe that the "squatting like bohemians" line should have been cut - considering that they spend the entire scene squatting like bohemians.

[ljay889]

Posted: 7/27/10 at 11:34pm

To MB:
Interesting, I do see some of you points. As of now I do prefer Lansbury. But I've only seen Stritch's first performance; I will be revisiting her in a couple of weeks.
Updated On: 7/27/10 at 11:34 PM

[ljay889]

Posted: 7/27/10 at 11:35pm

I, too, believe that the "squatting like bohemians" line should have been cut - considering that they spend the entire scene squatting like bohemians.

Well Madame Armfeldt doesn't, and she is the one who says the the line. Plus it's one of the funniest lines/moments in the entire show.

[adamgreer]

Posted: 7/27/10 at 11:41pm

In London, Maureen Lipman changed the "We cannot be caught squatting on the ground like Bohemians!" to "I cannot be caught squatting on the ground like a Bohemian!" It makes more sense that way, is still funny, and Nunn should have kept it that way for Broadway.

[nobodyhome]

Posted: 7/28/10 at 2:30am

Hey, Michael Bennett, in the recent Times interview, Grimes said that her comment was, "Yes, but Desiree would never wear a red dress to a luncheon in the country."

http://www.nytimes.com/2010/06/22/arts/music/22tammy.html?scp=1&sq=tammy%20grimes%20little%20night%20music&st=cse

Of course, who knows what she actually said back in 1973, but while I agree that Desiree wouldn't wear that dress to a luncheon in the country, I don't think it's at all odd for her to wear it to a formal dinner party at the "sizeable mansion" of her mother.

Is the problem you have with it that it was an evening gown or that it was red? (In London and probably on the tour as well, Jean Simmons was in blue.) In Smiles of a Summer Night, the women are all in "grand evening gowns" (to quote the published screenplay). I'd trust Bergman to know the mores of the time period.

Was the dress not quite stylistically correct for the time period? I'm no expert on that. But Desiree wearing an evening gown is, I would think, appropriate and correct.

Updated On: 7/28/10 at 02:30 AM

[Mildred Plotka]

Posted: 7/28/10 at 3:47am

It should be on at a table. Period. It's one of Nunn's dumbest decisions in a production full of dumb "choices".

I'm all for new takes on material but revisionist choices that do everything but physically rewrite the text are clear examples of director attempting to be playwright. This isn't the first text Nunn's done this to (Oklahoma! anyone?) and I'm sure not the last.

[ljay889]

Posted: 7/28/10 at 5:23am

The NYCO production didn't have a table either. They did use chairs, but no table. Nobody flips out about that.

http://www.youtube.com/user/TheSondheimFan#p/u/10/nDvLPfSvSpo

[lotiloti]

Posted: 7/28/10 at 5:42am

As a straight laced matriach. She would never cross her legs. She would consider it very unladylike.The wheelchair is immaterial.