Successes of DANCING AT LUGHNASA and THE BEAUTY QUEEN...

[Lughnasa123]

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

In 1992, Dancing at Lughnasa received 8 Tony nominations, winning three - Play, Director, Featured Actress (for Brid Brennan's Agnes). In 1998, Beauty Queen of Leenane earned 6 Tony nominations, winning four - Director, Actress (for Marie Mullen), Featured Actress (for Anna Manahan) and Featured Actor (for Tom Murphy).

Can anyone that saw these original productions on Broadway share their memories and thoughts? Was Marie Mullen that amazing that she deserved the Tony for Best Actress. What was it about her performance that earned her such an honor? And what about Brid Brennan who was plucked out of all 5 women (and 3 nominees from the same play) and won the Tony...what was so brilliant about her Agnes?

Would anyone disagree with the fact that these winners deserved these awards - what about the other Best Actress nominees of 1998. It seems to me that Marie Mullen had no training and when you hear of her story about how she came to be an actress in Galway in Ireland originally, etc., eventually winning a Tony for her performance. I wish I could see these original productions of both of these plays...

[Jordan Catalano]

Posted: 7/19/11 at 8:29pm

If I live to be a thousand years old I'll never forget seeing BEAUTY QUEEN for the first time. It left me absolutely speechless an is still one of the greatest theatrical experiences I've ever had.

[Lughnasa123]

Posted: 7/19/11 at 8:35pm

In certain interviews, they show clips of the original Beauty Queen; they seemed to have filmed the production in the late 1990s....oh to get my hands on that

[Jordan Catalano]

Posted: 7/19/11 at 8:37pm

Well it was filmed for Lincoln center and there was also BRoll that wa shot and used for press purposes (not the entire show) and of course a bootleg of the show that was filmed.

[Mattbrain]

Posted: 7/19/11 at 8:42pm

My college did Dancing at Lughnasa in my freshman year. I went and I was bored out of my mind.

[Rypm25]

Posted: 7/19/11 at 8:49pm

I didn't see Beauty Queen....but always wish I had...most people that talk about it say nothing but wonderful things about it. I did, however see Dancing...I was about 15..my mother and I went for a weekend and saw a few plays. It was the closing weekend of Dancing at Lughnasa I remember because they were holding back playbills to make it through the weekend...and only gave us one between the both of us. I dont know if it had to do with my age, or what, but all I do remember about it was that I thought it was boring. Nothing more than that.

[Roscoe]

Posted: 7/20/11 at 11:11am

I saw and enjoyed BEAUTY QUEEN OF LEENANE, and can't imagine anyone deserving those Tonys more than the folks who won them. Marie Mullen was splendid in the lead, but I have to single out Anna Manahan and Tom Murphy for their splendid performances -- their big scene together (where Murphy has a letter to deliver into Mullen's hands only and Mullen is late and he has to decide whether to trust it to Manahan) is one of the funniest things I've yet seen onstage. Anna Manahan's performance as the vile Mag was just unforgettable.

[Chrysanthemum62001]

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

I've never seen either of these plays, but I love them both dearly.

[little_sally]

Posted: 7/20/11 at 11:12pm

I could never understand why Beauty Queen... didn't win Best Play.

[henrikegerman]

Posted: 7/21/11 at 2:14am

For me Beauty Queen was a great success. Funny, shocking, wild, exciting, beautifully acted, with that feverish rage that McDonagh is justly famous for.

I love and or greatly admire many of Brian Friel's plays (most recently Molly Sweeney at Irish Rep), but have never understood why Dancing at Lughnasa was such a big hit.

[henrikegerman]

Posted: 7/21/11 at 2:26am

I loved Mullen and Managhan. I can't easily tell you what made Mullen's performance so special except to say that the teamwork of the two was seamless and that there was a sense of danger throughout the performance that was palpable.

Maybe it was just my mood, where my head was at, or something about the performance the night I saw Dancing - which, as I've said, didn't impress me all that much, and, indeed, I agree that it was boring - but for me the acting standout was Rosaleen Linehan as Kate. I was quite surprised that Brid Brennan got the tony nod instead of her.

[Dubliner]

Posted: 7/21/11 at 8:14am

I saw all of these performances (in Ireland before they transferred to Broadway) and they were superlative. All of the roles were beautifully written and tapped very deep into the Irish psyche. The interpretations by the actresses were so perfect that they appeared as real people not artful creations. Bríd Brennan as Agnes in particular achieved a depth and subtlety that conveyed not just the events on stage but her whole life and hinted at the anger, passion and stubbornness that led to the awful tragedy that befell her and Rose. Every time I walk the South Bank in London I feel it is haunted by them.

[Jay Lerner-Z]

Posted: 8/12/11 at 11:37pm

Would you guys say the movie version of Dancing At Lughnasa is worth checking out? I wonder how Brid Brennan's performance in the film differs from what she did on stage.

[tazber]

Posted: 8/13/11 at 11:29am

Never saw Lughnasa on Bway, but the movie was pretty flat. It's not something I'd recommend seeking out unless you're really curious and/or have to see every thing La Streep does.

[AC126748]

Posted: 8/13/11 at 11:34am

I agree that the film is flat. The play's magic did not translate. See the upcoming Off-Broadway revival instead!

[dramamama611]

Posted: 8/13/11 at 11:49am

A Revival? I couldn't be happier!

I loved Lughnasa. Yes, I remember it taking me a little while to adjust to the accents (that's a thing with me for some reason) and to get "into" it...but I loved it.

[AC126748]

Posted: 8/13/11 at 11:52am

Drama, the Irish Rep is mounting a revival this fall. October 19-December 11.

[Jay Lerner-Z]

Posted: 8/13/11 at 4:06pm

Oh, I didn't know there was to be a revival either. Sounds great!

But tazber, I think I do fit into the "have to see everything La Streep does" category - it certainly seems like a brave choice to adopt an Irish accent amongst a cast full of real Irish people!

And surely the one thing that the movie has over the stage version is the gorgeous scenery.

Updated On: 8/13/11 at 04:06 PM

[Dubliner]

Posted: 9/4/11 at 2:24pm

Unfortunately the cast was not exactly full of Irish people. Of the five sisters only Brid Brennan was Irish. That said Sophie Thompson was a superlative Rose. It was a pity the play's magic didn't really translate to film. It was to be expected really given how much of the Abbey's original production's beauty was not realistic - the set and lighting owed more to Fr. Jack's Africa than to Donegal. I would hope someone might film it for television on a small scale with the original text someday. When Mike Nichols made Angels in America he did very little to disguise the fact that it was a filmed play rather than a movie and so preserved its greatness.