The Glass Menagerie, Was it that Bad?
The Glass Menagerie, Was it that Bad?
#0The Glass Menagerie, Was it that Bad?
Posted: 8/8/05 at 10:56amHas anyone seen this play?
#1re: The Glass Menagerie, Was it that Bad?
Posted: 8/8/05 at 10:57amare you referring to the recent david levaux production? yes, it was THAT bad.
#2re: The Glass Menagerie, Was it that Bad?
Posted: 8/8/05 at 11:01amyes...the jessica lange version i mean....what was so bad about it?
#3re: The Glass Menagerie, Was it that Bad?
Posted: 8/8/05 at 11:04amyou will find many opinions and discussions on this in previous thread -- try the search function with the title of the show....
MargoChanning
Broadway Legend Joined: 4/5/04
#4re: The Glass Menagerie, Was it that Bad?
Posted: 8/8/05 at 11:05amYes, do a search. And yes, it was THAT bad.
WOSQ
Broadway Legend Joined: 7/18/03
#5re: The Glass Menagerie, Was it that Bad?
Posted: 8/8/05 at 11:11am
I suggested to young actors that they go see this not-good production of a very good play and then go out afterwards to discuss what went wrong.
There were so many wrong choices (not 'questionable' choices, but wrong ones) that the production was actually fascinating in its own bad way.
You can learn much more from a failure that a hit.
#6re: The Glass Menagerie, Was it that Bad?
Posted: 8/8/05 at 11:24amyes, WOSQ--this production was of some value in that respect. a friend of mine who is a director (he has an MFA from Yale in directing--so one would presume he knows what he is talking about) said he thought the production was ok--and didn't find the casting problematic, etc. i've always respected his opinions about plays -- but between his own recent efforts and this comment, i have begun to feel that he doesn't know what he's talking about.
#7re: The Glass Menagerie, Was it that Bad?
Posted: 8/8/05 at 11:29amtnks for the info guys
#8re: The Glass Menagerie, Was it that Bad?
Posted: 8/8/05 at 11:32amUgh, just looking at the title makes me sick to my stomach. I have to relate 3 mini essays on the syntax of this play. Summer reading is a drag...
jo
Broadway Legend Joined: 5/15/03
#9re: The Glass Menagerie, Was it that Bad?
Posted: 8/8/05 at 11:55am
I thought it was alright - and so did most of the audience who gave it a standing ovation when I saw the play.
#10re: The Glass Menagerie, Was it that Bad?
Posted: 8/8/05 at 11:58amLevaux sat behind me during previews and chatted with a friend. I gave them the evil eye and they left. It kept me awake however...
#11re: The Glass Menagerie, Was it that Bad?
Posted: 8/8/05 at 12:02pmThe standing ovation at the performance I saw seemed very forced, like the audience was saying, "Look, it's Jessica Lange; she's famous, so we should stand".
Borstalboy
Broadway Legend Joined: 2/9/04
#12re: The Glass Menagerie, Was it that Bad?
Posted: 8/8/05 at 12:06pmWilliams just seems to be getting tougher and tougher to pull off, period. So many lop-sided productions recently...
MargoChanning
Broadway Legend Joined: 4/5/04
#13re: The Glass Menagerie, Was it that Bad?
Posted: 8/8/05 at 12:06pm
Standing ovations are utterly MEANINGLESS in this day and age. They have NOTHING to do with the quality of the show that just happened, but are a way for the audience to congratulate themselves on having just sat through a play and justifying the high cost of the ticket they paid for.
Heck, Suzanne Somers got a standing ovation the night I saw it (from a large chunk of the audience -- which did not include me or any of the people sitting around me or the dozens hastily fleeing the theatre) and that was one of the worst pieces of crap to appear on Broadway in a decade.
#14re: The Glass Menagerie, Was it that Bad?
Posted: 8/8/05 at 12:14pm
The nadir for me, when i knew standing ovations couldn't sink any lower, was Brooklyn. I almost cried when the audience stood (but that's another thread we've already done.)
#15re: The Glass Menagerie, Was it that Bad?
Posted: 8/8/05 at 12:16pmThe saddest ovation I ever witnessed was at Good Vibrations (I most certainly did not participate).
#16re: The Glass Menagerie, Was it that Bad?
Posted: 8/8/05 at 12:21pmI had to read the script, I just dont think that it appeals to many people..
MargoChanning
Broadway Legend Joined: 4/5/04
#17re: The Glass Menagerie, Was it that Bad?
Posted: 8/8/05 at 12:29pm
"I had to read the script, I just dont think that it appeals to many people.."
Sorry, but that an utterly ridiculous statement.
The Glass Menagerie is one of the most iconic, popular, frequently produced plays of the entire canon of American drama. There are literally thousands of productions of it around the country every year and it remains one of the most beloved plays ever written. I'm frankly hard pressed to name more than very small handful of other plays written by an American that are both more popular and more respected than "The Glass Menagerie."
This was just a bad production of it.
#18re: The Glass Menagerie, Was it that Bad?
Posted: 8/8/05 at 12:31pmfor me this is a stunning play and i appreciate it more and more as i get older. i grew up in st. louis and had it shoved down my throat because it was local boy made good (we didn't have many of those) but particular themes were never discussed and the details of his life were never brought up (they wanted to brag all over him--but his life was an unmentionable)
WOSQ
Broadway Legend Joined: 7/18/03
#19re: The Glass Menagerie, Was it that Bad?
Posted: 8/8/05 at 1:20pm
I read The Glass Menagerie in high school lo, these decades ago. The stage directions as published were so clear that I could 'see' the play years before I saw it performed.
I have seen it done many ways, but this last production had precious little to do with the text.
I keep saying, "The play's the thing".
#20re: The Glass Menagerie, Was it that Bad?
Posted: 8/8/05 at 1:42pmMargo, they were just expressing their views.
To Kill A Mockingbird
#21re: The Glass Menagerie, Was it that Bad?
Posted: 8/8/05 at 2:06pmI'm verging off-topic a bit, but has anyone seen a production of THE GLASS MENAGERIE with Williams' original stage directions, ie. with the ironic projections? I've always found the captions in the reading version of the play very odd, and undercut or even mock the emotion of the story (which may well be intentional). To my knowledge, there's never been a major stage production that employed Williams' projected captions.
MargoChanning
Broadway Legend Joined: 4/5/04
#22re: The Glass Menagerie, Was it that Bad?
Posted: 8/8/05 at 2:11pmThe original did use the captions as did the 1980's revival with Jessica Tandy.
#23re: The Glass Menagerie, Was it that Bad?
Posted: 8/8/05 at 3:12pm
Really? Williams' production notes in the reading edition of the play say that he agreed to the removal of the projected captions because Laurette Taylor's brilliant performance made up for anything he had to say through the captions. But perhaps he was only speaking about the ones relating to Amanda.
Did you see the 1980 revival, Margo? Did you find the captions effective, or distracting?
MargoChanning
Broadway Legend Joined: 4/5/04
#24re: The Glass Menagerie, Was it that Bad?
Posted: 8/8/05 at 3:19pmThe 1980 revival was a bit disappointing for me and I'm not sure why even all these years later. In addition to Tandy you had Amanda Plummer as Laura, Bruce Davidson as Tom and John Heard as the Gentleman Caller, which on paper looks like perfefct casting. There was something missing though. Tandy seemed too old and too strident for Amanda and there was chemistry missing between her and her children. Davidson was good overall, and Heard was first rate as the former hero now starting to go to seed. Plummer seemed somewhat affected in her mannerisms and speech and that through off the dynamics in certain scenes. The titles were fine, but probably more of a distraction than anything else. Not the best Menagerie I've ever seen, but I'm glad I saw it.
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