#1
Posted: 6/22/16 at 5:02pm
my friend and I remember reading the play in school but can't remember the title or author. Please help, this is driving me nuts
What famous play has a make butcher in it (possibly named Marty)
#2
Posted: 6/22/16 at 5:18pm
Maybe the movie Marty with Ernest Borgnine? I didn't know it was based on a play.
#3
Posted: 6/22/16 at 6:12pm
Paul Chayefsky originally wrote it for a very stage-like TV version, which was adapted into the movie.
#4
Posted: 6/22/16 at 6:17pm
I think Charles Strouse attempted a musical version.
#5
Posted: 6/22/16 at 6:26pm
Yes. I saw it at the Huntington Theatre in Boston several years ago. It starred John C Reilly. I don't think it ever went anywhere beyond that.
Art has a double face, of expression and illusion.
#6
Posted: 6/22/16 at 6:30pm
Oh wow, that's really interesting casting on paper. How was he?
#7
Posted: 6/22/16 at 6:46pm
I saw it too. There was a lot of work to be done, but I had hoped they would try to salvage it. The "Saturday Night Girl" number was particularly good. I think it was supposed to be a vehicle for Reilly to come to Broadway, and it kept getting delayed as he was making one movie after another. After awhile, I guess they just gave up. Reilly was good, not great. Like I said, there was enough there to justify making an effort to salvage it, particularly with the music. It's a shame it didn't go on, because it really is a well written story. One of my favorite movies.
#8
Posted: 6/22/16 at 8:09pm
Agree with Back Row. It was pretty good, but not great. Needed some work.
It's a really difficult story to musicalize. Marty is shy, awkward, insecure, everything that musical leads are usually not. It can be done. (Little Edie, Fosca, Elphaba) But the music can't be mopey in an effort to keep in character. It still needs to be big/intense to hold our attention and convey inner feelings. Edie, etc. were social outcasts in their own way. but their songs convey what they're feeling with eloquence, intelligence and power. Marty's songs were kind of catchy, but sappy and sad.
There's the old notion that the basic concept of musicals is that when talking isn't enough, sing. Well if you're going to do that the singing had better reflect the notion that what your saying is bigger than what you could say talking. In this case, it didn't. Or if it did, Reilly wasn't the right actor to convey it
It could make for an interesting straight play.
Art has a double face, of expression and illusion.
Updated On: 6/22/16 at 08:09 PM
#9
Posted: 6/23/16 at 12:16am
Interesting. Thanks for the reports. Shame there doesn't seem to be much material from it floating around.
#10
Posted: 6/23/16 at 1:57pm
In response to the original question, the Paddy Chayefsy television script for the non-musical MARTY was printed as a play in at least one high school textbook. The television production starred Rod Steiger and was so successful that it was expanded into a movie with Ernest Borgnine.
Tickets From $59
Tickets From $71
Tickets From $71
Tickets From $95