#1
Posted: 6/30/10 at 8:43am
Yes, Trevor Nunn, we did forget about you.
#2
Posted: 6/30/10 at 8:52am
I really don't like his work as of late, but I will say he has a very good point here.
I first thought he was upset because he couldn't let the material go, but then he went on to say who got the job...
This is where director's rights gets a little dicey. To hire all the assistants of the original creative team to re-stage a production, while not paying and/or crediting the original team is blatantly not hiring the original team because you don't want to pay their fees.
If you wanted a reimagined staging, then you'd get an entirely new perspective, not the assistants of the original team.
I first thought he was upset because he couldn't let the material go, but then he went on to say who got the job...
This is where director's rights gets a little dicey. To hire all the assistants of the original creative team to re-stage a production, while not paying and/or crediting the original team is blatantly not hiring the original team because you don't want to pay their fees.
If you wanted a reimagined staging, then you'd get an entirely new perspective, not the assistants of the original team.
#3
Posted: 6/30/10 at 9:10am
^ Do you mean assistance?
The message I got from this article was that he's phoning it in and still coasting on the "I (co) directed Les Miz!" fact
The message I got from this article was that he's phoning it in and still coasting on the "I (co) directed Les Miz!" fact
#4
Posted: 6/30/10 at 9:21am
Yea... I don't buy this "we're staging an entirely new production headed by a young fresh creative time but they happen to all have been assistants on the original production." I call major BS
#6
Posted: 6/30/10 at 9:57am
Sorry, but I think Nunn is absolutely right - I'm sure most here don't agree with me on this, but I think the vast majority of what's good about Les Mis and what we associate with the show now came from the work he and John Caird did as opposed to Boublil and Schonberg. As a piece of musical theatre writing it's really nothing special IMHO; the RSC production made it look like something far, far better than it actually was. This "new production" isn't a radical new way of doing the show - it's still using the majority of what Nunn and Caird and the RSC contributed, which went far beyond the physical staging.
#7
Posted: 6/30/10 at 10:04am
The new production is very good
Namo i love u but we get it already....you don't like Madonna
#8
Posted: 6/30/10 at 10:12am
^ It's made up of lots of very good and well-staged scenes, but for me it suffered from the same lack of coherency that the score itself does and that the original production so skillfully avoided. It just seems to jump around from scene to scene with no real sense of pacing. (But, to be fair, a lot of people seem to think that about the original, especially in its current incarnation which has been cut heavily.) It is nice to hear the score played by a decent-sized orchestra though, even if the new orchestrations can't compare to the originals they are far better than the horrid down-sized version currently accompanying the West End production!
Updated On: 6/30/10 at 10:12 AM
#9
Posted: 6/30/10 at 10:13am
I'm on Team Nunn!
"This thread reads like a series of White House memos." — Mister Matt
#10
Posted: 6/30/10 at 10:31am
I think Nunn is right here. Sounds to me like these "assistants" just restaged a few scenes without the turntable, but that we can still expect the in place marching and flag-waving during One Day More
#11
Posted: 6/30/10 at 10:35am
Poor Sir Trevor!
Is that sincere, or do are you being snide and implying he deserves it because you didn't like A Little Night Music?
Never mind, I answered my own question.
Is that sincere, or do are you being snide and implying he deserves it because you didn't like A Little Night Music?
Never mind, I answered my own question.
#12
Posted: 6/30/10 at 10:45am
I think the show has always been a bit of a mess, i dont think the new staging makes it any worse or less coherent. I actually thought with its scalled back sets etc it flowed better and didnt feel as clunky, much as the way i loved the revised Miss Saigon when it was out in the UK Tour. Yes i missed the Helicopter but the show itself was a lot more fluid.
Namo i love u but we get it already....you don't like Madonna
#13
Posted: 6/30/10 at 11:13am
Nunn and Caird are right. Hands down.
"I know now that theatre saved my life." - Susan Stroman
#14
Posted: 6/30/10 at 11:19am
I don't understand what parts of the new production are supposedly the original with minor changes. I saw none of this...
#15
Posted: 6/30/10 at 12:11pm
There is no denying there's something a little fishy here. I think both Nunn and Mackintosh have good points. You have to feel a little backstabbed when your former assistant is suddenly working on a revamped version of the show you previously directed, but the revamping is kind of a variation on the work you already did. But Mackintosh makes a good point in saying Nunn and Co. were not left in the dark. LEGALLY, it is impossible for the original directors to not be credited in some way. Therefore, it is impossible for the original directors to not have been filled in on this "new" production before it began.
Something just seems fishy.
Something just seems fishy.
#16
Posted: 6/30/10 at 2:00pm
Is that sincere, or do are you being snide and implying he deserves it because you didn't like A Little Night Music?
I was being clever.
Never mind, I answered my own question.
You always do
I was being clever.
Never mind, I answered my own question.
You always do
#17
Posted: 6/30/10 at 2:40pm
I ... just ... wish ... I ... could ... have ... been ... a fly on the wall -- WHY WASN'T STARLIGHT EVEN NOMINATED????
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#18
Posted: 6/30/10 at 3:16pm
You always do
That's cause you usually just delete your comments when I ask about them or you just answer with a question!
That's cause you usually just delete your comments when I ask about them or you just answer with a question!
Updated On: 6/30/10 at 03:16 PM
#19
Posted: 7/1/10 at 9:20am
I'll forever respect the man who brought us The Life and Adventures of Nicholas Nickleby, even if it was nearly 30 years ago. Actually, I enjoyed the recent Night Music revival enough to see it twice.
#20
Posted: 7/1/10 at 9:55am
To be fair Nunn should be locked in a box for the painful job he did on Gone With The Wind
Namo i love u but we get it already....you don't like Madonna
#21
Posted: 7/1/10 at 11:52am
^ I'm not denying that he's done some (or a lot of) awful work over the years, but could the best director in the world have made Gone with the Wind's book and score into a good piece of theatre?
And yes, to any Nunn-haters out there, watch Nicholas Nickleby and see how a great director can turn what should be an unmanageably long and episodic story into a gripping, coherent and genuinely brilliant piece of theatre. Whereas now he seems better at doing the opposite: making genuinely brilliant pieces of theatre unmanagebly long.
Too often now he just falls back on his old ideas - which WERE great when he first used them, but nowadays have almost become cliches in their own right!
He can still do good work though - he directed a great production of Inherit the Wind at the Old Vic last year.
And yes, to any Nunn-haters out there, watch Nicholas Nickleby and see how a great director can turn what should be an unmanageably long and episodic story into a gripping, coherent and genuinely brilliant piece of theatre. Whereas now he seems better at doing the opposite: making genuinely brilliant pieces of theatre unmanagebly long.
Too often now he just falls back on his old ideas - which WERE great when he first used them, but nowadays have almost become cliches in their own right! He can still do good work though - he directed a great production of Inherit the Wind at the Old Vic last year.
#22
Posted: 7/1/10 at 12:33pm
That was a beautiful production at the Old Vic.
In addition to this, he did the same with Les Misérables as he did with Nicholas Nickleby.
In addition to this, he did the same with Les Misérables as he did with Nicholas Nickleby.
#23
Posted: 7/1/10 at 1:40pm
I'll forever respect the man who brought us The Life and Adventures of Nicholas Nickleby
He's done many awe-inspiringly brilliant productions, from Nickleby to the intimate and devastating Macbeth with Judi Dench and Ian McKellan.
I still have my laserdisc set of Nicholas Nickleby and watch it (or the Crummles sections) from time to time. In fact, it is one of the reasons I will not get rid of that old laserdisc player.
But just because an artist creates something great, that doesn't mean that artist will create only great things from that point on.
The history of the theater is littered with the mistakes of great artists, as are the histories of literature and the visual arts. One could even argue that wrong choices go hand-in-hand with brilliance.
So I'll forever respect the man who brought me that Macbeth and that Nicholas Nickleby as well, even though I have disliked many things he's done since.
He's done many awe-inspiringly brilliant productions, from Nickleby to the intimate and devastating Macbeth with Judi Dench and Ian McKellan.
I still have my laserdisc set of Nicholas Nickleby and watch it (or the Crummles sections) from time to time. In fact, it is one of the reasons I will not get rid of that old laserdisc player.
But just because an artist creates something great, that doesn't mean that artist will create only great things from that point on.
The history of the theater is littered with the mistakes of great artists, as are the histories of literature and the visual arts. One could even argue that wrong choices go hand-in-hand with brilliance.
So I'll forever respect the man who brought me that Macbeth and that Nicholas Nickleby as well, even though I have disliked many things he's done since.
Updated On: 7/1/10 at 01:40 PM
#24
Posted: 7/1/10 at 3:27pm
I think Nunn is a good director, but that said, why speak out when the UK tour is on the run instead of before or early in the run? I agree with ColorTheHours. Mackintosh is kind of fishy in this whole business (look at the riot of the concert), and the whole argument is actually between a nose and a mouth, since both has their own version. However, Nunn's tactics is kind of in the lower hand (and even kind of mean to indicate that works from "assistants" are not as good as his). Right now, it just makes him looks like a bitter attention seeker who might just want to cut a share in the production.
#25
Posted: 7/1/10 at 7:18pm
I'm sorry, I can not get past the whole bit about a "non-revolving" stage. Can someone explain, please? Les Mis needs a turntable, it's like a signature of the show.
Formerly: WishingOnlyWounds2 - Broadway Legend - Joined: 9/25/08
Updated On: 7/2/10 at 07:18 PM
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