Who's the best director working in New York theatre? — Page 2

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#26

re: Who's the best director working in New York theatre?

Posted: 1/18/07 at 7:59pm

It's interesting, the title of this thread asks "Who's the best director working in New York Theatre?," but the original post asks about "great, visionary directors." Although I admire Jack O'Brien and George C. Wolfe for their versatility, I would hardly call them visionary. Visionary directors are people like Robert Wilson, Richard Foreman, Elizabeth LeCompte. The last great, visionary director to work on Broadway was Julie Taymor. The best young hope is Daniel Kramer, whose production of Woyzeck at St. Ann's Warehouse was the best thing I saw in all of 2006.

"Inside every actor there is a Tiger, a Pig, an Ass, and a Nightingale. You never know which one is going to show up." -John Michael Higgins in FOR YOUR CONSIDERATION

Updated On: 1/18/07 at 07:59 PM

#27

re: Who's the best director working in New York theatre?

Posted: 1/18/07 at 8:07pm

I certainly agree with Kramer and thought his WOYZECK was one of the best things I saw last year. I didn't include him only because that was the only production of his I've ever seen (I've seen multiple productions by everyone else I named). He's also pretty firmly set on establishing himself in London and I don't know when we'll see his work in New York again. But he's certainly as promising a director as exists currently on either side of the Atlantic.

LeCompte may be my favorite director and the one who is a truly innovative visionary among her contemporaries. I know Foreman has stated that he's leaving stage behind for now and concentrating only on film, at least in the near future, which is why I didn't mention him. Taymor is fascinating, but she doesn't work enough in theatre for me to include her.

Wilson always creates eye-popping stage pictures, but I've not often been a fan of the content of the works themselves, finding them muddled and too eliptical for may tastes. He's certainly important and influential though.

"What a story........ everything but the bloodhounds snappin' at her rear end." -- Birdie [http://margochanning.broadwayworld.com/] "The Devil Be Hittin' Me" -- Whitney

Updated On: 1/18/07 at 08:07 PM

#28

re: Who's the best director working in New York theatre?

Posted: 1/18/07 at 8:20pm

some repeats from margo's list, but only because i agree

Jack O'Brien (such strength and versatility)
Nicholas Hytner
Bartlett Sher
Doug Hughes
Daniel Sullivan (such lovely sensitivity every time)
Michael Blakemore
John Doyle (yes, I'm a fan of his intimacy and inventiveness)
George C. Wolfe
Matthew Bourne (UK) (ill forgive a lazy edward scissorhands)
David Leveuax (greatly controversial and inconsistent, but I always appreciate the boldness and beauty of his choices, however inappropraite)
Deborah Warner (UK)

I don't find myself to be a negative person, but I had considerable trouble trying not to mention those whose work i loathe - most of them somehow getting a great amount of work.

#29

re: Who's the best director working in New York theatre?

Posted: 1/18/07 at 8:27pm

I'm going to have to agree with Margot Channing on this one. John Rando is one of the most un-inspired directors of our time.

His work is boring to watch and lacks any sense of surpise.

I strongly believe he is the sole reason for The Wedding Singers' failure!

#30

re: Who's the best director working in New York theatre?

Posted: 1/18/07 at 8:27pm

I loved Leveaux's productions of Jumpers, The Real Thing, Electra and Anna Christie (and thought his production of Betrayal to be quite good), but wasn't crazy about his work on Fiddler, Nine and Menagerie. You're right that he's inconsistent, but with the right material he can be brilliant.

I haven't seen Bourne's Scissorhands yet (it comes to BAM in a couple of months), but greatly enjoyed his Swan Lake.

And you're right that some of the worst directors seem to work the most frequently.

"What a story........ everything but the bloodhounds snappin' at her rear end." -- Birdie [http://margochanning.broadwayworld.com/] "The Devil Be Hittin' Me" -- Whitney

#31

re: Who's the best director working in New York theatre?

Posted: 1/18/07 at 8:27pm

Margo-

Foreman has a new work in New York right now.

Wake Up, Mr. Sleepy! Your Unconscious Mind is Dead!

"You travel alone because other people are only there to remind you how much that hook hurts that we all bit down on. Wait for that one day we can bite free and get back out there in space where we belong, sail back over water, over skies, into space, the hook finally out of our mouths and we wander back out there in space spawning to other planets never to return hurrah to earth and we'll look back and can't even see these lives here anymore. Only the taste of blood to remind us we ever existed. The earth is small. We're gone. We're dead. We're safe." -John Guare, Landscape of the Body

Updated On: 1/18/07 at 08:27 PM

#32

re: Who's the best director working in New York theatre?

Posted: 1/18/07 at 8:31pm

I guess that's one of the film-based/multimedia projects incorporating live action that he's been working on. Could be interesting.

"What a story........ everything but the bloodhounds snappin' at her rear end." -- Birdie [http://margochanning.broadwayworld.com/] "The Devil Be Hittin' Me" -- Whitney

#33

re: Who's the best director working in New York theatre?

Posted: 1/18/07 at 8:32pm

Also Sam Mendes

#34

re: Who's the best director working in New York theatre?

Posted: 1/18/07 at 8:34pm

Sam Mendes is uninspired. His GYPSY and VERTICAL HOUR, while technically solid, are hardly anything special from a directorial standpoint.

#35

re: Who's the best director working in New York theatre?

Posted: 1/18/07 at 8:44pm

John Rando is the reason Wedding Singer ran as long as it did--it was an entertaining audience pleaser. You can't blame The Dinner Party on Rando--it's one of Neil Simon's worst plays ever.

And the one thing Urinetown was not is "boring"--far from it. Urinetown was one of the best-directed shows I've ever seen...and the direction was not stolen from the Fringe. I saw it in both places and John Rando's work on it was magic. And it won him a Tony as Best Director, in a category that included Trevor Nunn, James Lapine and Michael Mayer.

Updated On: 1/18/07 at 08:44 PM

#36

re: Who's the best director working in New York theatre?

Posted: 1/18/07 at 8:52pm

Sorry, but I don't Rando is even among the top 50 directors to work in New York in the past decade. I think that he's just a very lucky man with a very limited talent who has never created anything approaching the sorts of transcendent, innovative, unique visionary kind of work that many of the directors named in this thread have become known for. Not even close.

"What a story........ everything but the bloodhounds snappin' at her rear end." -- Birdie [http://margochanning.broadwayworld.com/] "The Devil Be Hittin' Me" -- Whitney

#37

re: Who's the best director working in New York theatre?

Posted: 1/18/07 at 8:52pm

Bob Crowley! Bob Crowley!

Only Kidding,

I'll go with Jack O'Brian. I consistantly like his work, even when the material itself is rotten (Hairspray.)

#38

re: Who's the best director working in New York theatre?

Posted: 1/18/07 at 9:02pm

John Rando is the reason Wedding Singer ran as long as it did

Which wasn't very long so that isn't saying much.

#39

re: Who's the best director working in New York theatre?

Posted: 1/18/07 at 9:57pm

Where is the James Lapine/Joe Mantello love?

#40

re: Who's the best director working in New York theatre?

Posted: 1/18/07 at 10:00pm

Mantello's more of a mixed bag. He's had as many disappointments as he's had hits.

#41

re: Who's the best director working in New York theatre?

Posted: 1/18/07 at 10:07pm

Michael Mayer
James Lapine
Michael Blakemore

I killed the boss, you don't think they're gonna fire me over a thing like that!!!!

#42

re: Who's the best director working in New York theatre?

Posted: 1/18/07 at 10:11pm

I would consider Lapine a much better writer than I would a director but what do I know?

BSoBW2: I punched Sondheim in the face after I saw Wicked and said, "Why couldn't you write like that!?"

#43

re: Who's the best director working in New York theatre?

Posted: 1/18/07 at 10:26pm

Lapine is a great writer when he has someone like Sondheim or Finn to work with. His plays are terrible; FRAN'S BED and TWELVE DREAMS are among the worst plays I've ever seen.

#44

re: Who's the best director working in New York theatre?

Posted: 1/18/07 at 10:28pm

No one.

There is no one working today who displays the vision Michael Bennett displayed in Company, Follies, Chorus Line and Ballroom.

No one who displays the vision Hal Prince displayed in Company, Follies, A Little Night Music and Sweeney Todd.

No one who displays the vision Tommy Tune displayed in Nine and Cloud Nine.

No one who displays the vision Bob Fosse displayed in Pippin and Chicago.

No one.

#45

re: Who's the best director working in New York theatre?

Posted: 1/18/07 at 11:10pm

Theatre's too expensive for visionaries to find success. There is very little room for innovation, especially in New York theatre. It is the regional companies who are mounting truly innovative and provocative work, and who are hiring risky, visionary directors. Less cost, less to loose, makes more sense. Places like Toronto, Chicago, Boston, San Fransisco, these are where the theatres with the truly new and exciting work are. New York just doesn't make sense.

#46

re: Who's the best director working in New York theatre?

Posted: 1/18/07 at 11:47pm

I completely agree about the staging of Woyzeck. Stunning, beautifully chilling, and completely visionary.

I would say Jack O'Brien is the director that I most consistantly love. His staging of Coast is incredibly moving and fluid, and striking (especially in Shipwreck).

"We don't value the lily less for not being made of flint and built to last. Life's bounty is in it's flow, later is too late. Where is the song when it's been sung, the dance when it's been danced? It's only we humans who want to own the future too." - Tom Stoppard, Shipwreck

#47

re: Who's the best director working in New York theatre?

Posted: 1/19/07 at 1:12am

I will agree with you Jesus about more risk being taken in regional theatres due to the high costs and pressures of mounting visionary theatre on Broadway.

I will say, very cautiously, that despite opinions about the content of the show, Michael Mayer's work on Spring Awakening has to be one of the more visionary concepts I've seen on BROADWAY in a while. I'm not saying he is the most visionary director, I'm just saying as far as Broadway is concerned, it is probably the freshest thing I've seen in a while. Would you agree? (Respond very quietly, before they come running)

"If you've got something to say, say it, and think well of yourself while you're learning to say it better." - David Mamet

#48

re: Who's the best director working in New York theatre?

Posted: 1/19/07 at 2:22am

Michael Mayer's work on SPRING AWAKENING is extraordinary, but it's the first time I've ever been impressed by his work. In the past I've found his productions to be less than distinctive.

Cheyenne Jackson tickled me. AFTER ordering SoMMS a drink but NOT tickling him, and hanging out with Girly in his dressing room (where he DIDN'T tickle her) but BEFORE we got married. To others. And then he tweeted Boobs. He also tweeted he's good friends with some chick on "The Voice" who just happens to be good friends with Tink's ex. And I'm still married. Oh, and this just in: "Pettiness, spite, malice ....Such ugly emotions... So sad." - After Eight, talking about MEEEEEEEE!!! I'm so honored! :-)

#49

re: Who's the best director working in New York theatre?

Posted: 1/19/07 at 9:05am

Yeah, what the hell happened to Tommy Tune...is the guy ever going to direct again?

"Impossible is just a big word thrown around by small men who find it easier to live in the world they've been given than to explore the power they have to change it. Impossible is not a fact. It's an opinion. Impossible is not a declaration. It's a dare. Impossible is potential. Impossible is temporary. Impossible is nothing.” ~ Muhammad Ali

#50

re: Who's the best director working in New York theatre?

Posted: 1/19/07 at 9:32am

Whoever's directing Legally Blonde.

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