The Wild Party: The E! True Broadway Story --- What happened?- Page 2

[LuvUrBatBoy]

Posted: 1/25/08 at 4:46pm

"Gower had a rule. "Who do you root for?" In the case of The Wild Party, none of the characters were worth rooting for."

LOL it's possible for a show with no characters whom one would root for to survive. It's called Rent

[ljay889]

Posted: 1/25/08 at 4:46pm

Please. LuPone might be a bitch and/or hard to work with. But she's never physically abused fellow cast members. She doesn't belong in the crazy home like Mandy.

[rosscoe(au)]

Posted: 1/25/08 at 4:57pm

...an evening of not-nice people doing not-nice things to one another. Who needs that?

Would that not be Virginia Woolf as well?

[ashley0139]

Posted: 1/25/08 at 5:13pm

I felt both versions were an evening of not-nice people doing not-nice things to one another. Who needs that?

That's what I love about it. And as others have said, it happens plenty.

I loved the Broadway production, and I think it is possible to watch flawed characters in a spiral of destruction. I believe it's called tragedy.

Agreed.

[Mattbrain]

Posted: 1/25/08 at 9:30pm

Y'know, all this backstage dirt aside, I think it's a damn good score and a highly underrated show.

[blaxx]

Posted: 1/25/08 at 10:58pm

I think it's very hard to have a character arc in an 8 hour stretch of time

Wow, someone should have told Jonathan Larson: his characters go through a trillion things in only three hours during the first act of Rent!

[Jon]

Posted: 1/25/08 at 11:05pm

West Side Story takes place in a day and a half.

[ray-andallthatjazz86]

Posted: 1/26/08 at 12:17am

Anyone who is to blame for Toni Collette's lack of will to go back to Broadway does not deserve any kind of good reputation or a chance of any kind.
He is indeed a violent egomaniac. What he did to his cast members was pretty humiliating and selfish, anyone with more class and talent doesn't need to resort to that kind of attitude in order to make a character or the material work.
I can't believe Collette doesn't wanna do another Broadway show because of this a*sshole.

[BrianS]

Posted: 1/26/08 at 1:27am

me: "my opinion isn't any more right than yours"

mallardo: "but for you to say ... is ridiculous."

Priceless.

[LePetiteFromage]

Posted: 1/26/08 at 1:37am

Updated On: 5/8/09 at 01:37 AM

[mallardo]

Posted: 1/26/08 at 3:01am

BrianS, context is everything. I wasn't challenging your right to an opinion, just your statement(s) re the impossibility of creating character arcs in a play with a compressed time period. Several other posters here have challenged this as well. I apologize for the word "ridiculous" - I should not have been so blunt.

[BrianS]

Posted: 1/26/08 at 8:36am

If cliche #1 on this board is telling someone their opinion is wrong, cliche #2 is changing their wording when you quote them just enough and then shooting them down for that...

I never said it was "impossible." I said it had to overcome the feeling that there wasn't much of a journey for the characters. I liked both versions for different reasons, but in both cases, the characters felt very "one-note" to me. "Here is this character and this is their defining trait for the show" over and over. I just didn't feel there was much of a journey anywhere in the story.

Compare that to Sweeney Todd (another show with people doing not very nice things to each other) where over a period of time Sweeney goes from committed revenge on Turpin to nostalgia at returning to his profession to ecstasy at having Turpin under his razor to rage at the world when he loses Turpin to... well you get the idea. And that's just one character.

Updated On: 1/26/08 at 08:36 AM

[mallardo]

Posted: 1/26/08 at 11:14am

BrianS,you sound like a reasonable guy. We'll have to disagree about TWP. Peace!

[nygrl23]

Posted: 1/26/08 at 11:27am

I don't know why she'd taken being spat upon personally. Really. I mean, she should have captured the holy water in a vial and had it mounted on the wall at Sardi's.

[uncageg]

Posted: 1/26/08 at 11:44am

"LOL it's possible for a show with no characters whom one would root for to survive. It's called Rent"

That was a joke I assume.

[Gobstopper]

Posted: 1/26/08 at 12:14pm

"LOL it's possible for a show with no characters whom one would root for to survive. It's called Rent"

"That was a joke I assume."

It was a lame joke if any. At any rate, Mandy is insanely talented, but good lord... I never realized how "unbalanced" he was. Poor Toni.

[me2]

Posted: 1/26/08 at 2:17pm

As I recently wrote, I hope that we have advanced far enough in the realm of musicals that they can use the power of music and dance to explore other experiences and ideas than just comedy. I personally never rooted for any of the characters in DEATH OF A SALESMAN, CAT ON A HOT TIN ROOF, or Troy in FENCES, but that doesn't mean they aren't great works.

I think Ethan Mordden address a bit of the Patinkinisms with the show in THE HAPPIEST CORPSE I'VE EVER SEEN.
Broadway Blog: Memoir: What I Did For Love

[BroomstickBoy]

Posted: 1/26/08 at 2:57pm

"Some actors use the excuse of "method acting" to be mean/rude/abusive in real life and at work, which is entirely unprofessional."

thank god I wasn't the only one who felt that way. To me, characters belong on the stage. It's your job to play that character with every ounce of gall onstage, not screw up the work place claiming it to be method in the process.

[jv92]

Posted: 1/26/08 at 4:48pm

"Please. LuPone might be a bitch and/or hard to work with. But she's never physically abused fellow cast members. She doesn't belong in the crazy home like Mandy."

Well, rumor has it she hit one of Hal Prince's children when they said something not very nice about her at a rehearsal for Evita, but I don't think there's any ill will between Patti and Hal.

[givesmevoice]

Posted: 2/25/08 at 12:06am

Well, rumor has it she hit one of Hal Prince's children when they said something not very nice about her at a rehearsal for Evita, but I don't think there's any ill will between Patti and Hal.

wait, what?

[Josh Freilich]

Posted: 2/28/08 at 5:02pm

Some actors use the excuse of "method acting" to be mean/rude/abusive in real life and at work, which is entirely unprofessional.

Tell me about it. Even though I was a musical director, the acting (in ANYTHING) kinda went to my head and I exploded almost every chance I had last year when I worked at my camp. I don't want to let that happen again this year.

[laura is broadway]

Posted: 9/22/08 at 6:09pm

I'm finding the ridiculous antics of all the great performers mentioned almost... kind of funny in a way... I mean Colm Wilkinson walking off stage? Patti hitting a kid? Haha, Jesus....

[LePetiteFromage]

Posted: 9/22/08 at 6:17pm

Updated On: 5/8/09 at 06:17 PM

[blaxx]

Posted: 9/22/08 at 6:20pm

I'm finding the ridiculous antics of all the great performers mentioned almost... kind of funny in a way...

I find it more ridiculous to bump this thread for no reason!

[sondheimgeek]

Posted: 9/22/08 at 6:21pm

"Well, rumor has it she hit one of Hal Prince's children when they said something not very nice about her at a rehearsal for Evita, but I don't think there's any ill will between Patti and Hal."

Well, one should know ones place when speaking to a goddess. Why if I were her I would've smitten him.