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Once popular plays that are rarely produced.

I suppose the obvious example is Mary,Mary, closely followed by Come Blow Your Horn. What other plays were the darling of the regional/community theater circuit only to fall into oblivion. A few that come to mind are the following:

In the Boom Boom Room

Scapino

Man in the Moon Marigolds (yes, I know there was talk of a revival recently.)

Steambath

Top Girls

by Anonymousreply 498November 8, 2020 10:08 PM

Yes, Mary Mary tops the list. Also The Foreigner, Plaza Suite, and Noises Off. All great plays, btw.

For musicals, there was a time when you couldn't find a week without Joseph and the Amazing Technicolor Dreamcoat playing pithing 20 miles of you. Now it's almost forgotten. Likewise Godspell.

by Anonymousreply 1July 14, 2020 8:11 PM

I saw Scapino years ago at Lincoln Center in the Round, with the originator, Jim Dale. It was astounding, wonderful, and I can't think of Any contemporary actor being able to do it justice.

by Anonymousreply 2July 14, 2020 8:17 PM

Noises Off is still produced frequently and Plaza Suit had a major revival with Sarah Jessica Parker and Matthew Broderick. It was cut short due to Covid-19, but it was selling very well.

The Foreigner is a good example. Another that I just thought of is The Nerd.

I was not intending this to be about musicals, but Godspell is a good example of a musical. If we are going to include musicals, I will add Quilters. It was everywhere for about ten years.

by Anonymousreply 3July 14, 2020 8:18 PM

R2, I am insanely jealous. I suppose Mark Rylance could have done it about the time he did Boeing Boeing, but I cannot think of anyone younger.

by Anonymousreply 4July 14, 2020 8:21 PM

BOOM BOOM ROOM is just atrocious. A bad, offensive (racist, misogynistic) play that has dated really poorly.

by Anonymousreply 5July 14, 2020 8:22 PM

By contrast, TOP GIRLS could actually be pretty timely with a smart production. Thatcher's Britain = Trump's US in a lot of ways.

by Anonymousreply 6July 14, 2020 8:24 PM

Our Town

by Anonymousreply 7July 14, 2020 8:25 PM

This is a good topic, OP.

Will anyone be reviving, say, Neil LaBute plays in the future? Nicky Silver? Jon Robin Baitz? Cause that stuff feels pretty dated/irrelevant right now.

by Anonymousreply 8July 14, 2020 8:26 PM

The Shoemaker's Holiday

The Count of Monte Cristo

Pygmalion

Charley's Aunt

Same Time, Next Year

by Anonymousreply 9July 14, 2020 8:31 PM

Our American Cousin

by Anonymousreply 10July 14, 2020 8:34 PM

Cactus Flower

by Anonymousreply 11July 14, 2020 8:35 PM

R9, much like Charlies Aunt and The Curious Savage (yup), Charley's Aunt is still performed by Summer stock and community theaters. (Oddly, it is very popular in Germany where it is often performed in either modern dress or some form of post WWII dress.)

Pygmalion is also performed. Heaven knows there are enough Shaw Festivals.

by Anonymousreply 12July 14, 2020 8:36 PM

[R9], much like *Arsenic and Old Lace* and The Curious Savage... Damn I wish there was a edit function.

by Anonymousreply 13July 14, 2020 8:38 PM

In the age of Trump, The Foreigner would be an excellent choice.

by Anonymousreply 14July 14, 2020 8:38 PM

OMG -The Curious Savage is the most dreadful play! I still have nightmares about appearing in a production.

by Anonymousreply 15July 14, 2020 8:42 PM

R10= Olivia DeHavilland

by Anonymousreply 16July 14, 2020 8:43 PM

Speaking of Mary!

by Anonymousreply 17July 14, 2020 8:45 PM

Life With Father still holds the record for the longest run on Broadway by a straight play and has never had a revival since it closed in the 1940s.

by Anonymousreply 18July 14, 2020 8:45 PM

R18, I suspect we have had this discussion before. Life with Father has not had a major revival, but it was certainly performed in regional theater. I designed a production the the 1990s. The problem is that it requires an large cast (16), period costumes, 3 child actors, numerous wigs, and a great deal of Victorian bric-a-brac. For what it costs to mount, one can do a musical. I was involved in talks for a Broadway production starring Kelsey Grammer. It fell through for numerous reason, but one of the biggest was the expense.

by Anonymousreply 19July 14, 2020 8:55 PM

As mentioned: Mary, Mary; Curious Savage; Life with Father (and some theatres would even follow with its sequel), Cactus Flower.

Also (across multiple decades): Time Out for Ginger, Everybody Loves Opal series, Forty Carats, The Man Who Came to Dinner, Gramercy Ghost, See How They Run, Time Out For Ginger, Catch Me If You Can, Social Security, Three Men on a Horse, The Cemetery Club, Beau Jest, Inspecting Carol, Greater Tuna, A Thousand Clowns, The Pleasure of His Company, Sabrina Fair, The Tender Trap, Seven Year Itch, 6 Rms Riv Vu.

Going way back, Accent On Youth, Personal Appearance, Strictly Dishonorable.

Most second and third-tier Neil Simon and "serious" later Simon.

Usually there'll be one or two comedies every few years that are everywhere and then nowhere.

R8 those authors can't sustain a commercial audience now/in their time...I can't imagine there'll be a big resurgence where there wasn't sufficient original interest.

Your theatre company need some help, OP? Do you work for a large NFP in New York?

by Anonymousreply 20July 14, 2020 8:56 PM

R20 here. Since I listed Time Out for Ginger twice, as a penance, I'll post this little bit of info on the production Liza did.

This was during the 1960s pre-Flora period when she did Wish You Were Here, Diary of Anne Frank, Flower Drum Song, Take Me Along, The Fantasticks, Best Foot Forward and Carnival.

Offsite Link
by Anonymousreply 21July 14, 2020 9:02 PM

R20, neither. Retired. Actually, it was the "Worst Decade Aesthetic" that got me thinking about all of the plays that were so popular during a decade and the disappeared.

by Anonymousreply 22July 14, 2020 9:04 PM

Time Out For Ginger was a great little period piece. It was filmed as the musical Billie, starring Patty Duke as a young lesbian-in-training at a transitional moment in her life.

Offsite Link
by Anonymousreply 23July 14, 2020 9:05 PM

Remember when Sam Shepard was such hot shit? All that incest and domestic violence doesn't play so well now.

by Anonymousreply 24July 14, 2020 9:14 PM

Abie's Irish Rose

by Anonymousreply 25July 14, 2020 9:16 PM

Kelsey Grammer would be great casting for the dad in Life With Father. But who for the mother?

by Anonymousreply 26July 14, 2020 9:17 PM

R26, Judith Ivey, Margaret Colin, and Kate Burton were discussed, I will have to see if I can find notes.

by Anonymousreply 27July 14, 2020 9:32 PM

Oh R3 - your Quilters made me think of Vanities and Luv which then made me think of two handers like Two for the Seesaw and The Fourposter/I Do! I Do! and They're Playing Our Song.

My memory is really going now...Chapter Two, A Shot in the Dark, Any Wednesday, Bell Book & Candle, Born Yesterday (was recently on Broadway and didn't do well), John Loves Mary, Voice of the Turtle, Butterflies Are Free, The Happy Time, Under the Yum Yum Tree, Never Too Late, and Solid Gold Cadillac.

A little bit less often done but still made the rounds: Don't Drink the Water, Critic's Choice, Tunnel of Love, Anniversary Waltz, George Washington Slept Here, Light Up The Sky, I Remember Mama, Marriage Go Round, the military shows No Time For Sergeants, Mister Roberts, Stalag 17, Teahouse of the August Moon; also Send Me No Flowers, There's a Girl in My Soup, Take Her She's Mine. And in schools but not stock or amateur as much, Mrs. McThing.

You seldom see Inge anymore: Bus Stop, Picnic. As far as Broadway is concerned, Miller, Williams, O'Neill, Coward et al only wrote 3-4 max commercially viable titles (not limited run at a Broadway NFP).

And for the real low/no budget people: Thurber Carnival, Spoon River Anthology, and World of Carl Sandburg were the Love Letters of their day.

R27 Solid actresses, but none of those ladies are big enough stars opposite Grammer with his TVQ, Father and Mother should be stars of the same wattage and in this day and age even Clarence (oldest son) should be a very promising up-and-comer.

by Anonymousreply 28July 14, 2020 9:37 PM

Not that many of Neil Simon's plays are done as much any more. I'd say "Barefoot in the Park" and "The Odd Couple" and there was that "Plaza Suite" coming back with Broderick and Parker. The ones he did which were musicals are still done: "Promises, Promises", "Sweet Charity" and sometimes "Little Me". I would think "Prisoner of Second Avenue" would still play pretty well today (it would actually be a better one for the Brodericks). No one does "Star-Spangled Girl" except for the extremely overused Sophie's "Mr. Cornell" audition piece. "Lost in Yonkers" is done occasionally, but "Gingerbread Lady", "Fools", "The Good Doctor" and the later serious ones, nyet. They still do "Rumors" quite a bit though. 2 of the Simon autobiographical trilogy were canceled when there was a revival and hardly any tickets sold before the opening within the last decade. So Elaine Joyce is probably just getting royalties from about a third of her late husband's output. We can all take out a collection, Rose!

by Anonymousreply 29July 14, 2020 9:42 PM

Jane Curtin might be good opposite Grammer, or even better together, John Lithgow in "Life with Father" for a tv stage reunion "3rd Rock".

by Anonymousreply 30July 14, 2020 9:45 PM

R28, you hit on one of the problems with the production. They wanted a name for Mother, but not too big of a name. Also, I thought all three were a bit "heavy" for mother, but since Kelsey has a bit of a "twinkle" to him, the wanted an actress who was more grounded (Not sure why Cherry Jones was never mentioned.)

To be honest you are basically just vomiting titles, but Spoon River Anthology is a very good example of what I was think of. It was done everywhere, everyone did a monologue from it for auditions, and now, it has completely disappeared.

Vanities is another excellent example.

by Anonymousreply 31July 14, 2020 9:47 PM

"Picnic" was done by Roundabout a few years ago. Plus there was a mixed-race "Come Back Little Sheba" at Manhattan Theater Club. No one seems to do "Dark at the Top of the Stairs" anymore.

"Mr. Roberts" used to be done a lot, "Same Time, Next Year" was a perennial since it only has 2 characters, though what once seemed a little risque is now pretty tame.

by Anonymousreply 32July 14, 2020 9:48 PM

She Stoops to Conquer

Tartuffe

Volpone

by Anonymousreply 33July 14, 2020 9:49 PM

R30, Jane Curtain was mention but dismissed and unbelievable as a Victorian woman. Also, too mannish.

by Anonymousreply 34July 14, 2020 9:51 PM

Oh! Calcutta!

by Anonymousreply 35July 14, 2020 9:52 PM

My mind is going a mile a minute, OP--great thread. Thinking of the authors: John Patrick, Bernard Slade, Ronald Alexander, Abe Burrows, George Axelrod, Norman Krasna (perpetrator of Love in E Flat), Harry Kurnitz, John Van Druten, Samuel Taylor, John Cecil Holm. Every year a new title or two from this bunch and you hoped it would be good. None of them top-tier playwrights (like Miller, Inge, Williams, O'Neill, or Simon) but all had widespread and long-lived commercial successes. Hard to find their equals among the current batch of playwrights.

Heck, speaking of Life with Father, who remembers Lindsay and Crouse's plays anymore (other than two of their musicals, Sound of Music and Anything Goes, and Arsenic and Old Lace which they produced and ghostwrote)?

And how could I forget the raciness of The Moon is Blue?

by Anonymousreply 36July 14, 2020 9:52 PM

Not exactly "popular," but Shakespeare's Titus Andronicus and the Henry VI trilogy. Once I see those I'll have seen every Shakespeare play on stage at least once, so I wish someone would do them! (Yes, I know, the first is gruesome and rapey and the second is a slog. But still.)

by Anonymousreply 37July 14, 2020 9:55 PM

Arsenic and Old Lace, The Moon Is Blue, Barefoot in the Park, Any Wednesday, Life With Father, Twelve Angry Men, Come Back, Little Sheba, Six Rooms, Riv View, Same Time Next Year, Sleuth …. all of a time long ago, but have legs for community theater today.

by Anonymousreply 38July 14, 2020 9:55 PM

That entire generation of American playwrights who were popular between the two world wars: Elmer Rice, Robert Sherwood, George Kaufman, Clifford Odets, Thornton WIlder (exception: "Our Town") and so on.

by Anonymousreply 39July 14, 2020 9:55 PM

R36, your vomiting does occasionally spark something in the old memory. Your mention of a moon play reminded me of Dark of the Moon which was done all the time through the 1970s.

by Anonymousreply 40July 14, 2020 9:58 PM

Sunday in New York - fun film version with hunky and adorable Rod Taylor, Jane Fonda and Cliff Robertson Blue Denim

The Impossible Years

Norman, Is That You?

Tribute - popular for a few years after its author's Same Time, Next Year

Sabrina Fair - now just known by the Audrey Hepburn movie

Any Wednesday

Little Murders - (Barbara Cook in original play!) - the movie is even hard to find nowadays

You Know I Can't Hear You When the Water's Running

I Never Sang for My Father

Take Her, She's Mine

by Anonymousreply 41July 14, 2020 10:00 PM

Yes, Sleuth R38. Are audiences today just too savvy to be fooled by the gimmick?

Yes, R41 add Robert Anderson to the playwright list, although he was more of a serious than comedic one.

Norman Is That You and Impossible Years, lol...My Daughter Your Son

Sunday in New York the play is literally about who is going to get to pop the leading lady's cherry. Another Norman Krasna opus.

by Anonymousreply 42July 14, 2020 10:04 PM

R27, Kate Burton is a very fine and much underrated actress.

Meanwhile, I have the off Broadway cast recording of Liza's Best Foot Forward on both vinyl and CD and I was astonished to read here on DL just a day or two ago that she was only 16 when it was recorded. It's a great recording and she is fabulous in it. What a shame they could only afford two pianos. A very young Christopher Walken was also in that production.

by Anonymousreply 43July 14, 2020 10:06 PM

Over The Tea Cups

by Anonymousreply 44July 14, 2020 10:06 PM

R43, I agree. She is also wonderful to work with. She was my first choice for Mother (not that I had that much say.)

by Anonymousreply 45July 14, 2020 10:09 PM

Peter Shaffer was really smart to put that nude scene in "Equus"

by Anonymousreply 46July 14, 2020 10:10 PM

R46, as I recall, it wasn't just smart, it was necessary. Every other time he reenacts the incident, he mimes getting undressed. It is only when he full commits that he has the breakthrough. At least that is my memory of it.

by Anonymousreply 47July 14, 2020 10:13 PM

R46, creative directors can put nude scenes into any play. It was lovely seeing full-frontal nudity in Cat on a Hot Tin Roof, for example.

by Anonymousreply 48July 14, 2020 10:14 PM

R48, and there there was the *totally necessary* nude scene in the Matthew Broderick Night Must Fall. Fortunately for the audience, it was a body double.

by Anonymousreply 49July 14, 2020 10:16 PM

That had a really short run. Didn't it close like within the week?

by Anonymousreply 50July 14, 2020 10:17 PM

Teahouse of the August Moon

by Anonymousreply 51July 14, 2020 10:18 PM

R50, no. It was a National Actor's Theater production that had it's run at the Lyceum and was popular enough to move to the Helen Hayes for 2.5-3 months.

by Anonymousreply 52July 14, 2020 10:21 PM

I seem to remember it got horrid reviews though.

by Anonymousreply 53July 14, 2020 10:22 PM

Doesn't anyone on DL understand menopause?

So many of these women suggested for Life with Father could not have a child under the age of 25.

by Anonymousreply 54July 14, 2020 10:30 PM

Oh Dad, Poor Dad, Mamma's Hung You in the Closet and I'm Feelin' So Sad: A Pseudoclassical Tragifarce in a Bastard French Tradition

I guess the play's fate was sealed when Roz Russell starred in the abominable film version. But that doesn't explain the rest of Kopit's lack of a career.

by Anonymousreply 55July 14, 2020 10:32 PM

Some of these plays only seem to come up in auditions when monologues are requested. But seeing full productions of many of them are rare.

by Anonymousreply 56July 14, 2020 10:36 PM

Dear Ruth

by Anonymousreply 57July 14, 2020 10:46 PM

Same Time, Next Year seems rarely done these days and while it might seem quaint to most educated people in this day and age, a lot of the community theaters in Bumfuck, Alabama wouldn't dare produce it because the entire show is about adultery. This idiots don't just steer away from shows with a lot of bad language or sex/nudity. They stay away from shows that even simply have themes they find objectionable or in poor taste. My friends have been on the board for many similar theaters and they'd told me enough horror stories to give Christopher Guest material for 10 more movies.

August: Osage County is another won that was huge at the time and you'd think with the movie having been released, it'd become a favorite of regional and community theaters all around the states, but perhaps the set requirements scare many away from it.

There are really only 4 Neil Simon plays that get a lot of regional play - The Odd Couple, Barefoot in the Park, Rumors, and Fools. All the others are much less produced.

by Anonymousreply 58July 14, 2020 10:48 PM

Morty Gottlieb would be so disappointed to see "Same Time, Next Year" included here. Or at least his estate is.

by Anonymousreply 59July 14, 2020 10:49 PM

Same Time, Next Year. Two characters, one set. Morton Gottlieb paradise.

by Anonymousreply 60July 14, 2020 10:52 PM

The Shadow Box - isn't done as much anymore

Quite a few Pulitzer winners - nope

Heidi Chronicles - not as much as it used to be, nor other Wasserstein plays

Not sure about Christopher Durang's plays -- certainly "Vanya and Sonya...." is done still, maybe Beyond Therapy

by Anonymousreply 61July 14, 2020 10:53 PM

The Elephant Man. The stage version.

by Anonymousreply 62July 14, 2020 10:55 PM

Is much Tom Stoppard still done? Maybe the "Real Thing" sometimes -- otherwise it's too deep for most - maybe some prestigious regionals

by Anonymousreply 63July 14, 2020 10:56 PM

R55. I directed Oh Dad when I was a junior in high school in 1974. Quellevscsndale! We also did Arsenic, You Can’t.., Bell Book and Canfle, Life with Fsther? See How They arum. and...wait for it, Mrs, McThing!

Does ANYONE do Mrs. McThing anymore?

by Anonymousreply 64July 14, 2020 10:56 PM

Bottoms Up! the musical with Helen Lawson. It was a surprise hit of the 1963-1964 season. Mostly because the audience wanted to see if Helen could complete a performance without attacking her cast. Or passing out drunk.

by Anonymousreply 65July 14, 2020 10:57 PM

The Ritz

by Anonymousreply 66July 14, 2020 11:00 PM

Isn't Rosencrantz and Guildenstern , etc. still done once in while? But yes, other than The Real Thing, Tom Stoppard in general.

by Anonymousreply 67July 14, 2020 11:00 PM

The Time of the Cuckoo

Goodbye, My Fancy

The Women (ok, done now and then)

Visit From a Small Planet

by Anonymousreply 68July 14, 2020 11:01 PM

Golden Boy

by Anonymousreply 69July 14, 2020 11:05 PM

I'd love to see a revival of Dark of the Moon. Love them ghost and witch stories.

by Anonymousreply 70July 14, 2020 11:06 PM

R64 I can barely remember what Mrs. McThing is about or what made schools do it all the time, once upon a time. I haven't heard of anyone doing it lately. Of course Mary Chase's other play, Harvey, gets done often. I saw Jim Parsons in it on Broadway. But no one touches her Bernardine (there's a movie with Pat Boone) or Midgie Purvis.

IIRC, there's no movie or tv version of Mrs. McThing...maybe that's part of why it's not well remembered.

R57 I put Dear Ruth (another Krasna play) in the box with Kiss and Tell and For Love or Money (both by F. Hugh Herbert, writer of The Moon is Blue). Ruth and Kiss became movies with sequels, and Kiss and Tell became a radio series and a tv show. For Love or Money became a Debbie Reynolds movie.

R68, yes yes Visit to a Small Planet (isn't hydrogen fun?) with all those directions in the back of the script about how to do the effects.

Thinking of summer showmances from years past.

by Anonymousreply 71July 14, 2020 11:10 PM

R1, Ive seen at least 4 different productions of Noises Off in the last 10 years including that horrible one at the Roundabout. I think Andrea Martin played Dottie. I laughed exactly once (and this play usually causes me laughing anuerisms).

by Anonymousreply 72July 14, 2020 11:11 PM

I want to see The Women revived with an all gay cast. With Anita Loos' film script, which is how she wrote it, not the Claire Boothe Luce original play.

by Anonymousreply 73July 14, 2020 11:15 PM

R54, the only actress who is really out of the question was Judith Ivey. She is actually older than Kelsey. The rest would have had the last child about 30.

by Anonymousreply 74July 14, 2020 11:16 PM

Do people still stage "Our Town". The pro and con of Neil Simon is that all his plays are sitcoms and easy to stage, but because they're sitcoms and a bit dated, they belong to a generation that is dying off.

by Anonymousreply 75July 14, 2020 11:20 PM

I know she isn't known for stage work and the Cheers tie in aside -- for a brief time years ago Shelley Long could have made a lovely frothy aristocratic looking Vinnie in Life with Father.

by Anonymousreply 76July 14, 2020 11:21 PM

No, No Nanette was all the rage fire a while

by Anonymousreply 77July 14, 2020 11:22 PM

The 1970a revival and its original tours were fabulous productions, r77. So much fun.

by Anonymousreply 78July 14, 2020 11:25 PM

^ 1970s

by Anonymousreply 79July 14, 2020 11:27 PM

Hobson's Choice -- though probably more popular in England than in the U.S. - delightful play made into musical "Walking Happy"

The Changing Room -- don't know if many regionals ever did this -- needs lots of naked men actors and people don't understand rugby terms -- a drama school did it in NYC about 8 years ago -- slice of life, but a bit hard to understand slang

Butley - other than Nathan Lane revival

Bedroom Farce

My Fat Friend

by Anonymousreply 80July 14, 2020 11:27 PM

Ducktails and Bobbysox

by Anonymousreply 81July 14, 2020 11:27 PM

I wonder if the Russian do Nyet, Nyet Nanytte

by Anonymousreply 82July 14, 2020 11:28 PM

Def neil simon is on a fade (it’s only m broderick that’s keeping his sitcoms rolling) . I hope albee follows (@ every 3 years for a virginia wolf revival is too much & not many orhers see the light of day)

by Anonymousreply 83July 14, 2020 11:28 PM

Nyet, Nyet Natasha

by Anonymousreply 84July 14, 2020 11:33 PM

R72 the one time i was the only person in a movie theatre (with my buddy) was the movie version of Noises Off. This was in Allentown. Never forgot it. We didn’t laugh once.

by Anonymousreply 85July 14, 2020 11:41 PM

Journey's End

by Anonymousreply 86July 14, 2020 11:51 PM

Richard of Bordeaux

by Anonymousreply 87July 14, 2020 11:52 PM

"No Sex Please, We're British" THANK GOD that one has faded away.

"Natalie Needs a Nightie" is another one that is well dead.

by Anonymousreply 88July 14, 2020 11:54 PM

The Letter

Rain

by Anonymousreply 89July 15, 2020 12:00 AM

P.S. Your Cat Is Dead

by Anonymousreply 90July 15, 2020 12:15 AM

Autumn Crocus

by Anonymousreply 91July 15, 2020 12:20 AM

When was the last time anyone saw a first class production of Gammer Gurton's Needle?

by Anonymousreply 92July 15, 2020 12:25 AM

I saw the original Broadway production of PS Your Cat Is Dead and it needed a quick death before any tours or regionals. Although the sight of Tony Musante's bare ass is seared into my brain forever, thank God.

by Anonymousreply 93July 15, 2020 12:26 AM

Make mine Macaroni

by Anonymousreply 94July 15, 2020 12:28 AM

In La in 1975 a small theatre group I was involved with did The Silver Whistle by Robert McEnroe about a young con man at a retirement home. Since it was in Pasadena the actors and actresses in the rest home were all played by wonderful character actors that you knew instantly = It was a wonderful show = I've never seen it advertised anywhere else. I was only 13 so I was too shy to greet, admire or talk with the cast but I do remember Parley Baer (Andy Griffith/Ozzie &Harriet) being quite warm and approachable.

by Anonymousreply 95July 15, 2020 12:29 AM

Not No Sex Please, We're British, but my local community theater did the worst possible production of Run for Your Wife. Glacier pacing.

by Anonymousreply 96July 15, 2020 12:51 AM

Henny Penny / Chicken Little / Whatever

by Anonymousreply 97July 15, 2020 12:53 AM

South Sea Bubble

by Anonymousreply 98July 15, 2020 12:58 AM

I played GUY in a production of In "The Boom Boom Room" by David Rabe in 2003.

by Anonymousreply 99July 15, 2020 1:25 AM

^^^ I forgot to say that while popular in acting class and in really low budget productions, "In The Boom Boom Room" it wasn't really that popular as a commercial production.

by Anonymousreply 100July 15, 2020 1:27 AM

Snow White and the Seven Dwarfs

by Anonymousreply 101July 15, 2020 1:27 AM

Everybody Loves Opal

by Anonymousreply 102July 15, 2020 1:28 AM

Cactus Flower

by Anonymousreply 103July 15, 2020 1:29 AM

Speaking of Natalie Needs a Nightie, we must mention the same authors Right Bed, Wrong Husband.

Speaking of Dear Ruth, Time Out For Ginger, For Love or Money, Kiss and Tell, and all of those - how can we forget Junior Miss? All those long run Broadway comedies with sitcom plots revolving around juveniles and ingenues used to be done and done again in stock, school, and community theatre.

Shelley Long at the right age would've been an exactly right Vinnie in Life with Father.

by Anonymousreply 104July 15, 2020 1:31 AM

Pizza boy ... he delivers

by Anonymousreply 105July 15, 2020 2:00 AM

R71. IMDb listed a televised production of Mrs. McThing with its original star, Helen Hayes (it mavebhad others from the original cast, such as Jules Munchin, Iggie Wolfington, Brandon de Wilde, and Professor Irwin Corey). We hated it so much when we did it we referred to it as Mrs. McZyurkey. It was so twee it made Harvey look like Yhe Iceman Cometh. I have memories of someone eorkshppping a musical of it s few years ago. Now we just need a revival of Chase’s third great play, Midgie Zpurvis, which featured Yallulah Bankhead as a baby sitter there was also an attempt to mudicaluze Harvey as Say Hrllo to Harvey.

When I was in high school, a fellow student did a monologue from her 8th grade play, Mamie’s Zgetting Married. Anyone hear of THAT one?

by Anonymousreply 106July 15, 2020 2:46 AM

Joseph/Dreamcoat was at the Kennedy Center about 5 or 6 yrs. ago.

by Anonymousreply 107July 15, 2020 2:57 AM

Again, Dark of the Moon needs a professional revival. For years it was a staple of high school and community theater productions, although local censors would sometimes would step in to declare it "too adult" for schools, just reinforcing its reputation as a serious play. Who will write the musical? Who will star?

by Anonymousreply 108July 15, 2020 3:06 AM

Follies! Oh sorry, OP, you stated " popular."

by Anonymousreply 109July 15, 2020 3:17 AM

Our American Cousin

by Anonymousreply 110July 15, 2020 3:21 AM

Is r106 having a stroke?

by Anonymousreply 111July 15, 2020 3:28 AM

Deathtrap

by Anonymousreply 112July 15, 2020 3:29 AM

Never Too Late...another sitcom play but thankfully not Neil Simon.

Our high school did "Sorry Wrong Number". Unfortunately the Stanwyck part was played by a terrible ham and knowing the plot some of us wanted her dead ASAP.

by Anonymousreply 113July 15, 2020 3:40 AM

Whose Life Is It, Anyway?

Blue Jeans

David and Lisa

Our Hearts Were Young and Gay

by Anonymousreply 114July 15, 2020 3:43 AM

I think Same Time Next Year with Emma Stone and Ryan Gosling would be fun.

by Anonymousreply 115July 15, 2020 4:08 AM

The Time of Your Life

by Anonymousreply 116July 15, 2020 4:44 AM

Dark Shadows: The Musical

by Anonymousreply 117July 15, 2020 4:46 AM

Springtime For Hitler

by Anonymousreply 118July 15, 2020 4:48 AM

I miss Joel Crothers.

Offsite Link
by Anonymousreply 119July 15, 2020 4:59 AM

Blue Denim, The Moon is Blue, I Am A Camera, Member of the Wedding

by Anonymousreply 120July 15, 2020 5:01 AM

I'm watching Dark Shadows on Prime (free). Joel is so hot.

by Anonymousreply 121July 15, 2020 5:03 AM

I'm the guy who says he's into big, bearded bears, but blocks anyone who isn't a blonde twink.

by Anonymousreply 122July 15, 2020 5:03 AM

You weren't so bad yourself, Louis!

by Anonymousreply 123July 15, 2020 5:04 AM

R122, um, drugs much? LMAO!

by Anonymousreply 124July 15, 2020 5:05 AM

R123, we need a Dark Shadows thread, stat!

by Anonymousreply 125July 15, 2020 5:06 AM

[R124] LMAO at my own mistake. I plead the headaches. ;)

by Anonymousreply 126July 15, 2020 5:09 AM

[quote] I miss Joel Crothers.

I miss Scatman Crothers.

Offsite Link
by Anonymousreply 127July 15, 2020 5:12 AM

I love R122...and Joel Crothers.

by Anonymousreply 128July 15, 2020 5:13 AM

King Lear

by Anonymousreply 129July 15, 2020 5:23 AM

Two Gentlemen of Verona. I was everywhere after beating Follies for the Best Musical Tony but now am long gone.

by Anonymousreply 130July 15, 2020 5:48 AM

R130, that is correct. I thought it might have a resurgence after the revival at Shakespeare in the Park, but nothing came of it.

Without being cute or snarky, The Drunkard belongs on the list. Unlike Our American Cousin and other not particularly amusing attempts at humor, The Drunkard was actually frequently produced through the 1970s. A production ran in LA from 1936-1969.

by Anonymousreply 131July 15, 2020 12:00 PM

Let My People Come

by Anonymousreply 132July 15, 2020 12:24 PM

None of the plays David Edwards wrote specially for Broadway legend Miss Lora Meredith are ever revived now.

by Anonymousreply 133July 15, 2020 1:03 PM

r108 All nude, all gay cast would be the only thing that could save Dark of the Moon today.

Hey, Witchy Boy!

by Anonymousreply 134July 15, 2020 1:07 PM

R133, that post is an imitation of humor....and a bad one at that.

by Anonymousreply 135July 15, 2020 1:14 PM

r113 It couldn't have been as bad as a high school production of Gypsy with a morbidly obese Mazeppa.

by Anonymousreply 136July 15, 2020 1:14 PM

I can't understand why Hit the Sky is not revived on Broadway. The problems out of town were fixed before we brought it in.

by Anonymousreply 137July 15, 2020 1:16 PM

Hello!!! No plays are running right now.

by Anonymousreply 138July 15, 2020 1:39 PM

Am I the only person here who has seen EAST LYNNE?

by Anonymousreply 139July 15, 2020 1:47 PM

r92

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by Anonymousreply 140July 15, 2020 2:00 PM

No, R139. I have seen two productions with actors and one performed with marionettes. I have also seen Hazel Kirk, Ticket Leave Man, The Two Orphans, and many others.

by Anonymousreply 141July 15, 2020 2:07 PM

Famous plays that were turned into more famous musicals.

Auntie Mame The Matchmaker Pygmalion (although still done)

by Anonymousreply 142July 15, 2020 2:40 PM

Finian's Rainbow

by Anonymousreply 143July 15, 2020 2:48 PM

R134, wasn't there a nude production of Dark of the Moon in the 1970s, or at least a revival that had nudity in it? I think Marcia Wallace and Rue McClanahan were in it, but not among the naked, thank goodness.

R143, New York recently saw a bunch of Finian's Rainbows inside the span of a decade or so: twice at the Irish Rep, once at Encores, and a Broadway revival that was a fuller version of the Encores production.

R114 and R120, yes Blue Denim with its teen angst. Wholly forgotten today, but a big deal back then. Here's Miss Joan Crawford on the set of "The Best of Everything" extolling the movie. "These are not juvenile delinquents. They're nice kids. Nice kids in trouble."

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by Anonymousreply 144July 15, 2020 2:58 PM

Star Spangled Girl.

by Anonymousreply 145July 15, 2020 3:18 PM

^^ Sandy Duncan's best role on celluloid.

by Anonymousreply 146July 15, 2020 3:23 PM

R146 I'm rather partial to "Million Dollar Duck" myself.

by Anonymousreply 147July 15, 2020 3:48 PM

The Me Nobody Knows

by Anonymousreply 148July 15, 2020 3:55 PM

[italic]No Sex Please, We're British[/italic]

by Anonymousreply 149July 15, 2020 3:59 PM

The Killing of Sister George with Emma Thompson would be interesting.

by Anonymousreply 150July 15, 2020 5:33 PM

R150, I am not sure she is right for George/June. Certainly, she is too old for Alice. Also, there is the issue that the play is different from the movie. The play is first and foremost a farce. It is much lighter in tone than the movie and the lesbianism is implied, not explicit. I suspect modern audiences would be disappointed.

by Anonymousreply 151July 15, 2020 5:57 PM

The Curious Savage

The Wind and the Rain

by Anonymousreply 152July 15, 2020 6:24 PM

OP, I think Thompson would be a good fit for George/June. And Kate Winslet (making her stage debut) could be a good Alice but is probably too old for it now.

by Anonymousreply 153July 15, 2020 6:33 PM

And Miss Reardon Drinks A Little

by Anonymousreply 154July 15, 2020 6:39 PM

[quote]R31 you hit on one of the problems with the production. They wanted a name for Mother, but not too big of a name.

Why not Connie Stevens?

by Anonymousreply 155July 15, 2020 6:49 PM

I would cast Laura Linney opposite Kelsey Grammer in [italic]Life with Father[/italic].

by Anonymousreply 156July 15, 2020 6:54 PM

R156, she would have been great, but since she had already played Kelsey Grammer's love interest on Fraiser, it was considered too obvious casting.

by Anonymousreply 157July 15, 2020 7:05 PM

A lot of plays mentioned here are products of their time and simply don't age well. I can't imagine anyone putting on MARY, MARY which is really just a early 60's boulevard comedy (I've only seen the film with Debbie Reynolds, which is pretty much a photographed stage play). Though I must admit I wouldn't have expected a revival of BOEING, BOEING either, though you need a Mark Rylance to pull it off (BTW, the film version with Jerry Lewis is ghastly).

Much of Neil Simon's work would seem very dated in its humor.

I was discussing the Ken Russell film THE DEVILS the other day with a friend (not a film I like BTW), and I wondered about the John Whiting play (based on the same Aldous Huxley book) that ran in the 60's with Anne Bancroft and Jason Robards in the roles Vanessa Redgrave and Oliver Reed played in the film. The play was originally done a few years earlier by the Royal Shakespeare Company and then revised. The revision was used in the Broadway production, which only ran for a couple of months.

I've never heard of this play being revived anywhere and wonder if it's just not very good. It certainly couldn't be as wild as Russell's movie, which is based on both the book and play according to the credits.

by Anonymousreply 158July 15, 2020 7:43 PM

Plays like AND MISS REARDON DRINKS A LITTLE and THE EFFECT OF GAMMA RAYS...are just lousy to begin with, regardless of the fact that the latter won a grossly undeserved Pulitzer. Even Joanne Woodward, in the film, could only do so much with the Betty The Loon character.

by Anonymousreply 159July 15, 2020 7:46 PM

I think The Devils has the same issue was Marat/Sade, it is a style of theater that is not performed much outside of universities. First of all, the original US production had a cast of 50. Second it is a kind of very theatrical theater that tends to be out of fashion.

by Anonymousreply 160July 15, 2020 8:03 PM

[quote]"These are not juvenile delinquents. They're nice kids. Nice kids in trouble."

Well, I think you're UNDERreacting, Miss Crawford.

by Anonymousreply 161July 15, 2020 8:13 PM

With dated plays like Mary, Mary the only way forward is to commit totally to the past. Convert the whole evening out into a night out in the early sixties. Lobby staff and ushers in period costumes. Period snacks and drinks (and advertising) at the bar. Ashtrays everywhere (even if you have to go outside to smoke). Period house music, coupled with period ads from radio and television. Program notes to remind (or teach) people what was going on at the time the play was written -A sort of living dramaturgy. You include it in your advertising: Have a wonderful night out seeing this year's biggest hit! Mary, Mary! The play is still funny -the lines are as sharp as ever. But audiences need to come in expecting a fun period piece, and not a lame attempt at updating something so it's "fresh" for the 21st century.

by Anonymousreply 162July 15, 2020 8:16 PM

The Samuel French scripts in the 70s always had the same (horrible sounding) plays advertised inside the covers:

[italic]Who Killed Santa Claus?

My Fat Friend

Veronica’s Room

Seascape

by Anonymousreply 163July 15, 2020 8:17 PM

[italic]Toys in the Attic[/italic]

A 1960 play by Lillian Hellman. Nominated for a Tony, which it lost to [italic]The Miracle Worker[/italic]. I was only reminded of it because I was researching Yvette Mimieux, who appeared in the movie version.

by Anonymousreply 164July 15, 2020 8:25 PM

Good point, [R163]. French seemed to spend most of its money advertising its least-popular plays. I previewed quite a few, and there wasn't a one I would have put on under any circumstances.

by Anonymousreply 165July 15, 2020 8:25 PM

Midsummer Madness

by Anonymousreply 166July 15, 2020 8:31 PM

Is “Ring Round the Moon” still done?

I did a private showing of “Ring Round My Bussy “ once, but it was not well received.

by Anonymousreply 167July 15, 2020 8:38 PM

The play CLAUDIA sounds like it was a big deal in the 1940s. But it sounds awful - some dithering, mentally deficient child bride has to grow up in it.

by Anonymousreply 168July 15, 2020 8:40 PM

I'm sorry [italic]the effect of Gamma Rays[/italic] is getting no love here. First of all it was the play that got DL fave Sada Thompson really noticed when she played Beatrice off-Broadway, and it was also the play off-Broadway that brought other DL favorite Judith Lowry to Johnny Carson's attention, and made her a favorite guest on [italic]The Tonight Show,[/italic] which in turn led to her getting the role of Mother Dexter on [italic]Phyllis.[/italic] The original off-Broadway production also featured Swoosie Kurtz as Janice Vickery.

Finally, when I first saw it in the early Seventies in the Midwest, it was the first time I ever saw a character portrayed realistically onstage with what we would now call Borderline Personality Disorder. It was very eye-opening for me. Even still, when I come across people who have BPD, my point of comparison for them is always Betty the Loon.

by Anonymousreply 169July 15, 2020 8:42 PM

Carroll Baker first got attention playing the ingenue in ALL SUMMER LONG.

Is this a good play? I’ve never heard it talked about - either the original, or any revivals.

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by Anonymousreply 170July 15, 2020 9:31 PM

R131: I was in a production of The Drunkard in college in the late 70s. It was kinda fun to do, and the audience seemed to enjoy it. The theatre department also did Marat/Sade and Gamma Rays while I was there, so colleges and universities seem to be where these plays go to die. Oh, we also did When You Comin' Back, Red Ryder? which I don't think has been mentioned so far.

by Anonymousreply 171July 15, 2020 9:33 PM

WINTERSET by Maxwell Anderson is a beautiful play. But it's written in contemporary verse. Too tough for today's poorly educated audiences.

by Anonymousreply 172July 15, 2020 9:36 PM

A funny thing was once a group of us went around the circle and started listing the plays we did in high school. (Perhaps a topic for another thread.)

THE CRUCIBLE ! ! !

by Anonymousreply 173July 15, 2020 9:37 PM

BURY THE DEAD by Irwin Shaw. Time for a revival.

THE MADWOMAN OF CHAILLOT by Jean Giradoux should also be revived.

We are living both of these stories. Might as well go see the play.

WINTERSET by Maxwell Anderson is a beautiful play. Verse drama, though. That would be a tough sell to today's modern unsophisticated audiences.

THE ADDING MACHINE by Elmer Rice. Mr. Zero can't kill his boss often enough to suit me.

by Anonymousreply 174July 15, 2020 9:45 PM

The Crucible is done a lot.

by Anonymousreply 175July 15, 2020 9:46 PM

[quote]R174 BURY THE DEAD by Irwin Shaw. Time for a revival.

I read this once, and thought it was creative. And moving.

It’s an anti war theme. All these dead soldiers come out of the ground and refuse to be buried, in protest.

by Anonymousreply 176July 15, 2020 9:49 PM

Oh, we did The Adding Machine, too. I played a head that popped up out of the ground. Fun makeup.

by Anonymousreply 177July 15, 2020 9:54 PM

What about everyone community theatre chestnut: YOU'RE A GOOD MAN CHARLIE BROWN

by Anonymousreply 178July 15, 2020 10:04 PM

The Star Spangled Girl

by Anonymousreply 179July 15, 2020 10:11 PM

The Gingerbread Lady was turned into the movie Only When I Laugh and they even improved upon the source material. Today, that movie's as forgotten as the play is. A shame, too, because it's one of Simon's more thoughtful shows.

by Anonymousreply 180July 15, 2020 10:17 PM

The Best Man

by Anonymousreply 181July 15, 2020 10:25 PM

THE EFFECT OF GAMMA RAYS is a much better play than IN THE BOOM BOOM ROOM, then and now.

And it's least as good as some of the other crap being bandied about here.

by Anonymousreply 182July 15, 2020 10:54 PM

R180 It’s on hulu or Prime now . Dated badly. Kristy McNichol is good in it , marsha fine but oh boy James Coco ... ugh & neil simon belongs in the 60’s - very early 80’s. I am Ebert & My say is final

by Anonymousreply 183July 15, 2020 10:57 PM

You Know I Can't Hear You When the Water's Running

by Anonymousreply 184July 15, 2020 11:02 PM

Luther

by Anonymousreply 185July 16, 2020 12:22 AM

Jacques Brel Is Alive and Well and Living in Paris

The music is all wonderful. Bring it back.

by Anonymousreply 186July 16, 2020 1:17 AM

Hedda

by Anonymousreply 187July 16, 2020 1:18 AM

Purlie

by Anonymousreply 188July 16, 2020 1:49 AM

The Melania Trump Story

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by Anonymousreply 189July 16, 2020 1:50 AM

A Taste of Honey

by Anonymousreply 190July 16, 2020 2:37 AM

Aged in Wood

Footsteps on the Ceiling

Both plays by Lloyd Richards who was very popular in the early 50s then kinda disappeared after his divorce.

by Anonymousreply 191July 16, 2020 3:30 AM

Richards' work relied heavily on the stars he employed. VERY heavily.

by Anonymousreply 192July 16, 2020 3:38 AM

"Remember when Sam Shepard was such hot shit? All that incest and domestic violence doesn't play so well now."

Said no one ever. It's called drama. Oedipus shtups his mother and kills Papa--do we cancel Sophocles, too?

by Anonymousreply 193July 16, 2020 3:42 AM

Anyone mention Tobaccky Rode?

by Anonymousreply 194July 16, 2020 3:43 AM

R193 the one about the brothers gets revived. Not a lot of his others

by Anonymousreply 195July 16, 2020 3:43 AM

The Best Man, Journey's End and Golden Boy all had excellent revivals within the past 15 years.

by Anonymousreply 196July 16, 2020 3:45 AM

R171. Did you go to Beloit? My best friend was in The Drunkard there and worked oniss Reardon. My girlfriend at the time was in Marat/Sade and The Drinkard. And my best friend talked about Red Ryder a lot. Would have been beteeen 1975-79.

by Anonymousreply 197July 16, 2020 3:48 AM

Once (thank goodness)

Shenandoah

Don't Bother Me, I Can't Cope

Beatlemania

by Anonymousreply 198July 16, 2020 3:49 AM

Major revivals of Buried Child, A Lie of the Mind, Curse of the Starving Class, True West, and Fool for Love (to mention the heavy-hitters) have been produced in the past decade on Broadway/Off-Broadway.

by Anonymousreply 199July 16, 2020 3:51 AM

California Suite

by Anonymousreply 200July 16, 2020 3:56 AM

The Boy From Oz

by Anonymousreply 201July 16, 2020 6:00 AM

R183, Joan Hackett was very good in it and looked gorgeous.

by Anonymousreply 202July 16, 2020 6:07 AM

"The Days and Nights of Beebee Fenstermaker" was listed inside Samuel French play covers and young actresses frequently used a scene from it in acting classes.

Cloud 9

Scuba Duba

Hot L Baltimore

by Anonymousreply 203July 16, 2020 6:34 AM

Mister Roberts had a multi-year run from1948 to 1941 and has never been revived on Broadway, but was adapted into a very successful movie starring its original star Henry Fonda as Mister Roberts and supported by James Cagney, William Powell, and Oscar-winning Jack Lemmon, with DL favorite Betsy Palmer as a fetching lieutenant/nurse.

by Anonymousreply 204July 16, 2020 6:48 AM

Are the plays of Terence Rattigan performed much these days? Movie and TV productions every now and then but stage productions?

by Anonymousreply 205July 16, 2020 7:04 AM

"Separate Tables" is done occasionally, and there's a "Deep Blue Sea" by Rattigan that's streaming.

by Anonymousreply 206July 16, 2020 7:12 AM

You Can't Take It with You Come Back to the Five and Dime, Jimmy Dean, Jimmy Dean I'm not Rappaport Nice People Dancing to Good Country Music: A Play in Two Acts The Miss Firecracker Contest Crimes of the Heart The Mystery of Drood Bullshot Crummond ... and huge seconds to Charlie's Aunt, No No Nanette and Noises Off. Do they still do Equus around you? I know there have been revivals, but I've not seen a local or regional production since 1989.

by Anonymousreply 207July 16, 2020 7:15 AM

... sorry, didn't realize hard return would display on the next line. [R207]

by Anonymousreply 208July 16, 2020 7:17 AM

They still do "You Can't Take It With You", and directors love to cast a nubile young man to play the nude scenes in "Equus" so it's done quite a bit.

by Anonymousreply 209July 16, 2020 7:17 AM

Gemini

by Anonymousreply 210July 16, 2020 7:22 AM

Community theatres did In The Boom Boom Room? I doubt it.

by Anonymousreply 211July 16, 2020 7:26 AM

"Look Homeward, Angel" by Ketti Frings; based on the novel by Thomas Wolfe.

by Anonymousreply 212July 16, 2020 7:44 AM

Here you go girls, pick something from 1970's

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by Anonymousreply 213July 16, 2020 8:20 AM

Nothing?

Try finding something from last 100 years.

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by Anonymousreply 214July 16, 2020 8:23 AM

Life With Father would be hard to follow after film starring William Powell and Irene Dunne.

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by Anonymousreply 215July 16, 2020 8:30 AM

Tea and Sympathy ......Street Scene.......Dream Girl

by Anonymousreply 216July 16, 2020 9:09 AM

Come Back To The Datalounge, BILL TAYLOR, BILL TAYLOR

by Anonymousreply 217July 16, 2020 9:18 AM

[quote]It’s on hulu or Prime now . Dated badly. Kristy McNichol is good in it , marsha fine but oh boy James Coco ... ugh & neil simon belongs in the 60’s - very early 80’s. I am Ebert & My say is final

Yes, well Rog...Mr Coco was nominated for the Academy Award for his performance, thank you very much. Poor Kristy. James,Marsha and Joan Hackett were all nominated,

On what planet is or was "In The Boom Boom Room" considered a popular play? Are we talking the 37 performance Lincoln Center flop starring Madeline Kahn?

by Anonymousreply 218July 16, 2020 9:24 AM

The Dark at the Top pf the Stairs

by Anonymousreply 219July 16, 2020 10:02 AM

R218, in the Boom Boom Room was produced by regional theaters wanting to be edgy. (Do regional theater even try to be edgy nowadays?

R216, Again Street Scene has a cast of thousands, it is too expensive to produce, and if one was going to throw that much money at it, one might as well do the Kurt Weil/ Langston Hughs opera.

Tea and Sympathy cannot be produced today, oddly because of the part about the woman sleeping with the high school student, not the homosexuality. I have heard of it being suggested for a season and rejected for that reason. The notion that statutory rape is OK if the adult is female and the teen is male does not work today.

Shenandoah is an excellent example of a musical. Though, thank god I have not heard the song Freedom for years. (Freedom is a state..........................of mind!)

In general, I don't think the plays of Caryl Churchill get produced often in the USA because they require thought from the audience. Much more than Top Girls, Serious Money would be perfect for a revival today, but it is in verse.

Landford Wilson is a playwright who has generally fallen off the face of the earth.

I will add that I think part of the problem is that there are no longer actors who can do these plays. There is a double whammy of university programs churning out identical little actor robots and young people who only see theater as a stepping stone to TV. As mentioned regarding Scapino, we have very few actors with great physical training/circus skills and very few actors can do character work. The all play some version of themselves.

by Anonymousreply 220July 16, 2020 10:30 AM

Here’s a nice overview of the most produced plays done during a twenty year range and the website has the annual list from 2014 on as well.

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by Anonymousreply 221July 16, 2020 10:42 AM

What of Joe Orton’s plays, are they done anymore? Maybe more so in the UK than the US?

by Anonymousreply 222July 16, 2020 10:43 AM

What of Tina Howe’s plays?

by Anonymousreply 223July 16, 2020 10:45 AM

Wow! R221, that list proves that Glass Menagerie is way over produced. Also, the fact that the Christopher Sergel version of To Kill a Mockingbird was produced so often makes me wonder why the need for the Aaron Sorkin version.

by Anonymousreply 224July 16, 2020 11:18 AM

R204 I've never seen the play, but I LOVE the film adaptation of "Mister Roberts". I don't typically go for military-oriented things, but I fell in love with that movie the first time I saw it.

by Anonymousreply 225July 16, 2020 11:25 AM

R225

Play Mr. Roberts was way before my time so had to look it up; and am rather surprised a vehicle that launched so many actors rarely is done nowadays.

Mr. Roberts won the 1947 Tony for best play against some stiff competition.

Am guessing Mr. Roberts was popular with post WWII audiences thanks to recent events. Wonder how people would react today...

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by Anonymousreply 226July 16, 2020 12:17 PM

Gee, you almost never see a first-class production of CHU CHIN CHOW anymore.

This would be the perfect way to re-open Broadway. Just start the fuck over.

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by Anonymousreply 227July 16, 2020 12:34 PM

I still have my souvenir program from Ben-Hur.

We don't get good shows like that one anymore.

Where is the City Center revival of Ben-Hur???

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by Anonymousreply 228July 16, 2020 12:47 PM

Happy Birthday, Wanda June

Watch On The Rhine

by Anonymousreply 229July 16, 2020 12:50 PM

Tilda Swinton was supposedly doing something about a remake of Auntie Mame for film; but nothing has come of all that noise.

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by Anonymousreply 230July 16, 2020 1:02 PM

Dead End. But it requires such an elaborate set and big cast I wonder whether it has ever had that many productions.

by Anonymousreply 231July 16, 2020 1:24 PM

Well, "The Voice of the Turtle" should be done more often since it's where our DL fave and mascot Vivian Vance was discovered for "I Love Lucy" doing a regional production of it.

by Anonymousreply 232July 16, 2020 3:13 PM

Prick Up Your Ears: The Musical

by Anonymousreply 233July 16, 2020 3:21 PM

The Time of the Cuckoo.

A nice production would be lovely. I can't bear Hepburn. It would be good to have a better reference in my mind. How great would it have been to see the great Shirley Booth in the role!

I was more than ready for Hepburn to go back to Akron.

by Anonymousreply 234July 16, 2020 3:27 PM

"Tea and Sympathy cannot be produced today, oddly because of the part about the woman sleeping with the high school student, not the homosexuality. I have heard of it being suggested for a season and rejected for that reason. The notion that statutory rape is OK if the adult is female and the teen is male does not work today."

The student in Tea and Sympathy is 18 - not a child. The real reason it isn't done is because it's dated as hell.

by Anonymousreply 235July 16, 2020 3:28 PM

Butterflies are Free

by Anonymousreply 236July 16, 2020 3:28 PM

R235, he is still a high school student. People do "dated as hell" plays all the time. In one case, it was to be part of a festival of plays with Gay themes. The Green Bay Tree,( talk about dated as hell), made the cut. Tea and Sympathy did not.

by Anonymousreply 237July 16, 2020 3:33 PM

I doubt that a lot of regional theaters will do Titus Andronicus, but it's been done in the past few years in DC, NYC, & Cleveland. Perhaps it's now the play you do when you can't do another round of better known Shakespeare.

by Anonymousreply 238July 16, 2020 3:54 PM

Forty Carats

by Anonymousreply 239July 16, 2020 4:40 PM

The Caine Mutiny Court-Martial

by Anonymousreply 240July 16, 2020 5:00 PM

The Red Devil Battery Sign

The Archbishop’s Ceiling

by Anonymousreply 241July 16, 2020 5:07 PM

"The student in Tea and Sympathy is 18 - not a child. The real reason it isn't done is because it's dated as hell."

It isn't dated in the least. Questions of masculinity and the definition of a man always have currency.

by Anonymousreply 242July 16, 2020 5:38 PM

"He is still a high school student..."

Yeah, so? It's not like Laura seduces Tom. They're good friends and he's hungry for the experience. Human, you know? Only in the bowdlerized movie does the ending have to be given a disclaimer, like the equally ridiculous ending of The Bad Seed. Oh, those 1950s!

by Anonymousreply 243July 16, 2020 5:43 PM

Some early Neil Simon plays don't show up very often like "Come Blow Your Horn" and "Star-Spangled Girl"

Sorry if these have already been mentioned.

by Anonymousreply 244July 16, 2020 5:47 PM

R242, it's dated because the whole point of the play is that we shouldn't mock effeminate boys because they might just be fey straight guys. Nothing about mocking guys who are actually gay.

by Anonymousreply 245July 16, 2020 6:05 PM

Barnaby Jones: The Musical

by Anonymousreply 246July 16, 2020 6:12 PM

R202 she was fine in it. Still a dated flick.

by Anonymousreply 247July 16, 2020 6:15 PM

Nobody Loves An Albatross.

by Anonymousreply 248July 16, 2020 6:36 PM

Helen Hayes' greatest hits: Coquette, Victoria Regina, Mrs. McThing, The Show Off, Harriet, inter alia.

by Anonymousreply 249July 16, 2020 6:39 PM

Has anyone mentioned Norman, Is That You?

by Anonymousreply 250July 16, 2020 6:41 PM

R197: Yes, I did go to Beloit in that time frame! I was also in Romeo and Juliet, The Tempest, Merchant of Venice, The Sandbox and Kennedy's Children (now there's a play that's never done anymore, just to stay on topic).

by Anonymousreply 251July 16, 2020 6:42 PM

Helen always did shit R 249

by Anonymousreply 252July 16, 2020 7:04 PM

How about Star Spangled Girl where Sophie is a MAGA girl?

by Anonymousreply 253July 16, 2020 8:07 PM

R231, Dead End has a popular production at Williamstown and off-Broadway (the Altantic?) back in the 90s.

by Anonymousreply 254July 16, 2020 9:33 PM

This has me thinking of the best community theater productions I have seen.

Krapps Last Tape (best Beckett production I have ever seen)

Ghetto by Joshua Sobel

Sexual Perversity in Chicago

by Anonymousreply 255July 16, 2020 9:38 PM

R251. I remember my friend Gary talking about seeing Kennedy’s Children at Beloit, so you were definitely there at the same time.

by Anonymousreply 256July 16, 2020 9:44 PM

They Knew What They Wanted

by Anonymousreply 257July 16, 2020 10:01 PM

Sextette

by Anonymousreply 258July 16, 2020 10:10 PM

We need a Sextette revival starring Madonna

by Anonymousreply 259July 16, 2020 10:15 PM

Mrs. Dally Has a Lover

by Anonymousreply 260July 16, 2020 10:50 PM

Some wonderful plays and play memories upthread! Many I've seen on Broadway or in amateur productions, most I've read. Reading plays, 'learning" them, has always been a source of pleasure. Imagine a frothy summer playhouse with a few mid-level "name" stars who like stage-work doing simple fun runs of The Moon Is Blue, The Curious Savage, For Love Or Money, Auntie Mame, The Matchmaker. Throw in a Three Days of Rain and I'm in heaven!

by Anonymousreply 261July 16, 2020 10:53 PM

Dead End also had a major production at the Ahmanson 10 or 15 years ago. But as noted, it's a big expensive show to do and doesn't get many revivals. And it's somewhat dated too now although not as badly as some other plays from that era.

by Anonymousreply 262July 16, 2020 10:55 PM

Isn’t this entire thread just a list of old plays? What’s the point? It’s as bad as those “Why wasn’t ... a bigger star?” threads.

by Anonymousreply 263July 16, 2020 11:09 PM

Oten people on oums are just plain stupid Once popular plays that are rarely produced stand to reason to be "old.".

by Anonymousreply 264July 16, 2020 11:31 PM

The point, r263, is that it's a fascinating overview of the legacy of American theatre and a window into the eras in which the plays were produced: the manners, mores, concerns and fashions of the day, and whether shows that once rode the zeitgeist have sufficient universality to appeal to a contemporary audience.

by Anonymousreply 265July 17, 2020 12:49 AM

R263, what is interesting is what plays people "miss."

Also, the plays that continue to be produced, but people think are rarely produced.

Getting a lot out of this thread.

by Anonymousreply 266July 17, 2020 12:55 AM

It's the competition, R263. Everyone here is vying to name the play that was once the biggest hit and is now untouchable for one reason or another. It's the competition.

by Anonymousreply 267July 17, 2020 1:27 AM

Crimes of the Heart and everything else by Beth Henley.

by Anonymousreply 268July 17, 2020 1:30 AM

I’m intrigued by the multiple references to The Curious Savage already. We did it as a senior year in 1983 and it seemed old fashioned and dated then. I can’t imagine it done in regional theater past the ‘60. How mental illness is portrayed would make it unproducible today.

by Anonymousreply 269July 17, 2020 1:51 AM

Thanks, R221 for that link of most produced plays. It's fascinating to look back 10, 15, 20 years and see familiar names of writers... and some completely unfamiliar ones.

Can someone closer to the economics of theatre writing tell us about it? Are most of those playwrights listed able to make a living from their productions? Do most of them have teaching jobs, or other means of sustenance? I'm not talking about Stoppard or Mamet, obviously, but someone like Sara Ruhl, David Lyndsay-Abaire, Katori Hall?

by Anonymousreply 270July 17, 2020 1:58 AM

R263 it's a catalogue of cultural touchstones that originated in the theatre that used to almost be inescapable, omnipresent in America and its pop culture but now are no longer really produced, taught, or remembered.

It's not just "a list of old plays". That would've had lots of mentions of Streetcar, All My Sons, Long Day's Journey, Salesman, Raisin etc and we still get those shows every few years on Broadway and then they do another regional cycle following that. The Crucible, Cuckoo's Nest are still read in schools. Most of the titles in this thread (that are listed by people who know what they're talking about) are rarely produced, and never produced on Broadway or in institutional not for profit regional theatre.

No more tired businessman naughty sex farces with risque titles. No more out-and-out boulevard comedy. Also, changes in form: very few meat-and-potatoes well-made plays anymore. Knock 'em if you like, but most audiences even now would be more satisfied by a good production of one of these oldie-goldies than something that messes with form but doesn't quite bring it off.

That list of most produced plays is actually only in TCG member theatres (institutional not for profits). A true list of the most produced plays in America that included all theatres--NFP, stock, educational, community theatre, etc. would nearly always be topped by Neil Simon, Agatha Christie, Ken Ludwig, and the moneymaker musicals that are season tentpoles etc.

by Anonymousreply 271July 17, 2020 2:24 AM

[quote]r224 the fact that the Christopher Sergel version of To Kill a Mockingbird was produced so often makes me wonder why the need for the Aaron Sorkin version.

I can’t even remember anymore when somebody wasn’t nagging at me or pressuring me or beating me … SPARKLE, Mockingbird, SPARKLE!

by Anonymousreply 272July 17, 2020 3:10 AM

R224, the Sergei version of To Kill a Mockingbird was very bad. It was thought that with a better script, the play could be produced in more high level productions like 12 Angry Men or Streetcar.

by Anonymousreply 273July 17, 2020 3:21 AM

And there were two versions of the Sergel Mockingbird, R273. One with grownup Scout looking back, and one with Miss Maudie as narrator. The best thing that can be said of either one is that you don't feel like any major plot points or characters were left out. But as an author Sergel has no point of view about the material, whereas the Sorkin version is very Sorkin and not every single thing in it is explicitly in the Harper Lee original.

by Anonymousreply 274July 17, 2020 3:25 AM

The Fantasticks

by Anonymousreply 275July 17, 2020 4:19 AM

The Chocolate Soldier

The Voice Of The Turtle

by Anonymousreply 276July 17, 2020 4:22 AM

R269, I agree that Curious Savage is a hopeless case now. But I thought it was a hopeless case then. It only ran for 31 performances on Broadway.... Since you're all theatre nerds, you might enjoy my experience with the play:

I was playing Hannibal, the patient with the violin who is practically mute until goaded to speech. Our Mrs. Savage was a good actress, but couldn't improvise at all. She had to script backchat. Fairy May, the young ingenue, was played by our 50-something, overweight producer. On opening night she pulled up her 45-foot motor home behind the stage door so she could have a private dressing room. Places were called. Fairy May and I are in position behind a sofa and the grand has just started to move when she tries to drag me by the hand, whispering that it would be better if we decided to play our fist scene downstage center, rather than the way it was blocked and rehearsed. She exits the scene and Mrs. Savage enters. What's supposed to happen is Fairy May comes back and grills Mrs. Savage, eliciting her backstory and all the exposition for the audience. Only that night, Fairy May was so pleased with her performance she went back to her motor home to touch up her makeup and forgot to come back. That left me, the character who won't speak, alone on the stage with the actress who couldn't improvise. It took just under seven minutes to locate the missing actress and hustle her back onto the stage. And, yes, those seven minutes were just as awful as you imagine. The rest of the run was technically better, but never rose to the dizzying heights of the opening scene on that first night.

by Anonymousreply 277July 17, 2020 4:39 AM

Naughty Marietta

by Anonymousreply 278July 17, 2020 4:51 AM

The Heiress

by Anonymousreply 279July 17, 2020 5:01 AM

R277 I'm curious about the fist scene now.

by Anonymousreply 280July 17, 2020 5:03 AM

The Heiress is often revived

by Anonymousreply 281July 17, 2020 5:14 AM

Orton is too free and wild for the current zeitgeist.

by Anonymousreply 282July 17, 2020 5:23 AM

R277 Thanks for sharing, great story! I played one of the evil stepchildren, Samuel, the judge. I was almost done in by our Fairy May too, in her histrionics of flopping down on the couch and windmilling her arms she smacked me right in the crotch. I think I had better improv skills than your Mrs. Savage to cover thankfully.

by Anonymousreply 283July 17, 2020 5:25 AM

r282, he lived in an era when being gay was illegal

by Anonymousreply 284July 17, 2020 5:26 AM

The Mousetrap

by Anonymousreply 285July 17, 2020 5:32 AM

We need to start a thread for theatre mishaps!

by Anonymousreply 286July 17, 2020 5:34 AM

[quote] Golden Boy

[quote]Journey's End

There was a Broadway production of Golden Boy in 2012, and one of Journey's End in 2007. Both played the Belasco Theater.

by Anonymousreply 287July 17, 2020 5:35 AM

Orton was free and wild, his plays were free and wild, but the laws of his era were not. Productions of his plays now, an era of more progressive laws, would likely be sacrificial lambs on the altar of Cancel Culture. Or be dismissed as dated.

by Anonymousreply 288July 17, 2020 5:40 AM

Detective Story ...... I know I could google it I thought of it Time Remembered ~Obc ~ Helen Hayes, Richard Burton & Susan Strasberg ...... The Gazebo :::::Will Success Spoil Rock Hunter?

by Anonymousreply 289July 17, 2020 6:32 AM

“Tall Story” by Howard Lindsay and Russell Crouse

by Anonymousreply 290July 17, 2020 6:39 AM

There's no use in mentioning old operettas. That art form is basically dead in the U.S. although it still has some appreciation in parts of Europe.

by Anonymousreply 291July 17, 2020 6:49 AM

Uh huh.

THE RED MILL!

by Anonymousreply 292July 17, 2020 12:14 PM

The Skin of Our Teeth

by Anonymousreply 293July 17, 2020 12:20 PM

^^ that is a great play. I would think it is revived often, especially by communities with a literary bent (bend?)

by Anonymousreply 294July 17, 2020 3:54 PM

"Orton was free and wild, his plays were free and wild, but the laws of his era were not. Productions of his plays now, an era of more progressive laws, would likely be sacrificial lambs on the altar of Cancel Culture. Or be dismissed as dated."

Yawn, Republicans blame everything they don't like on "cancel culture" but "cancel culture" has always existed. Oscar Wilde was a victim of Victorian "cancel culture"

by Anonymousreply 295July 17, 2020 4:07 PM

[quote]R288 Productions of his plays now, an era of more progressive laws, would likely be sacrificial lambs on the altar of Cancel Culture.

What are specific moments in his plays you think would enrage?

(waiting)

by Anonymousreply 296July 17, 2020 4:36 PM

It's the Republicans who bitch about cancel culture who would be the LEAST likely to watch or read his plays

by Anonymousreply 297July 17, 2020 4:59 PM

[quote]Butterflies are Free

They lost the opportunity years ago to have Gwyneth Patltow and Blythe Danner as the Mother. Blythe was the original girl.

by Anonymousreply 298July 17, 2020 5:51 PM

Goodbye, My Fancy

by Anonymousreply 299July 17, 2020 6:17 PM

Little Mary Sunshine

Seems like it could find an audience today since it's a parody of 19th century operettas (and Jeanette MacDonald/Nelson Eddy movies).

DL fave Eileen Brennan starred as Mary in the 1961 off-Broadway hit. Another DL fave Marian Mercer co-starred.

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by Anonymousreply 300July 17, 2020 8:33 PM

Marian Mercer did not co-star with Eileen Brennan in LITTLE MARY SUNSHINE. Mercer replaced Brennan when Brennan left the cast. I saw both of them.

by Anonymousreply 301July 17, 2020 8:37 PM

Who was better?

by Anonymousreply 302July 17, 2020 8:42 PM

R2, LOL. SCAPINO did not play at Lincoln Center in the Round. It was at the uptown Circle-in-the-Square.

by Anonymousreply 303July 17, 2020 8:43 PM

R302, They were both good, but Eileen Brennan was better. One of the funniest performances I've seen. I saw her twice; Marian once.

by Anonymousreply 304July 17, 2020 8:44 PM

A small correction, r300. Little Mary Sunshine is a parody of 1920s American operettas in general and Rose-Marie in particular. That's a slightly different breed than 19th century operetta.

But your main point is well taken. I love Little Mary Sunshine but it's useless to try to revive it commercially today. Contemporary audiences would have absolutely no context to put it in to understand either the musical styles or the satire. As I mentioned earlier in the thread, it's useless to mention individual operettas because that entire genre has been moribund for decades.

by Anonymousreply 305July 17, 2020 8:46 PM

"New Moon" was given an excellent revival at Encores about 10 years ago, and the audience ate it up, plus there was some political line thrown in there which seemed to resonate at the time.

by Anonymousreply 306July 17, 2020 8:48 PM

Well, bring operetta back. Time for a lavishly produced DESERT SONG at Radio City Music Hall.

by Anonymousreply 307July 17, 2020 8:49 PM

The music in great -- the libretti, not quite. Not that many musical theater people have the vocal style to pull if off, as many of them sound too popish. Some of the opera people can't act the book scenes, like Renee Fleming in that pretty crummy "Merry Widow".

by Anonymousreply 308July 17, 2020 8:54 PM

Back in the 1990s my friends and I attended a small but sweet summer stock production of The Student Prince, which has one of my favorite scores. But other than our group I don't think there was a single person there under the age of 65 and that was 25 years ago.

by Anonymousreply 309July 17, 2020 8:58 PM

Christopher Durang seems forgotten. Sister Mary is brilliant.

by Anonymousreply 310July 17, 2020 9:11 PM

Vanya and Sonya... etc. is done quite a bit. Auditioners of both sexes for shows still bring in, to auditioners' horror (since they are like the # 1 overdone monologues) the male and female version of the tuna fish monologues from "Laughing Wild".

by Anonymousreply 311July 17, 2020 9:13 PM

In the 1980s, New York City Opera did an operetta each summer for several summers. I saw DESERT SONG and THE STUDENT PRINCE. They were great fun. They also did a production of PAJAMA GAME with the great Lenora Nemetz as Gladys. She was a true Fosse dancer. She completely had the style.

And, of course, there was PIRATES OF PENZANCE at the Delacorte and then on Broadway and then every other damned theater in the world. I'm not so sure the form is entirely moribund. To be successful, i would need to be lovingly brought back to life by a gifted director. If it is done well, they will come.

by Anonymousreply 312July 17, 2020 9:18 PM

Well, the NY GIlbert and Sullivan Players were still around up until the pandemic, though they had to cancel their production of "Mikado" a few years ago when the Cancel culture got angry (not at them specifically but that G&S had used Japanese costumes, makeup, names, etc. in their show spoofing veddy British culture). It has wonderful music, so not sure how future productions are going to be staged. "Pirates of Penzance" and "H.M.S. Pinafore" are safe for the moment.

by Anonymousreply 313July 17, 2020 9:21 PM

Quite a few former "Naked Boys Singing" ended up in that G&S company!

by Anonymousreply 314July 17, 2020 9:21 PM

The Light Opera of Manhattan (LOOM) always had money problems but it struggled on until the late 1980s when the Founder/Director, his assistant and the musical director all died within a couple years of each other.

by Anonymousreply 315July 17, 2020 9:25 PM

The Light Opera of Manhattan (LOOM) always had money problems but it struggled on until the late 1980s when the Founder/Director, his assistant and the musical director all died within a couple years of each other.

by Anonymousreply 316July 17, 2020 9:25 PM

R314 Where did the Puppetry of the Penis boys end up?

by Anonymousreply 317July 17, 2020 9:27 PM

In Vegas, I think. But the originals were Aussies.

by Anonymousreply 318July 17, 2020 9:29 PM

Operettas are very popular in Germany, one of the reasons is that in the original language, the operettas were quite risque. The scripts to the American versions are quite sanitized.

by Anonymousreply 319July 17, 2020 9:31 PM

Romberg, Friml and Herbert wrote many English operettas though. The German-language ones like Lehar (Merry Widow", Johann Strauss ("Die Fledermaus"), etc. pretty much were the style and singing voices required for the American ones done by Romberg and company though. But yes, the German-Austrian opera houses still have the tradition of doing and having an audience enjoying operetta.

by Anonymousreply 320July 17, 2020 9:35 PM

Operettas are dead. Even light opera companies don't produce them.

by Anonymousreply 321July 17, 2020 9:40 PM

They are not dead. Opera Saratoga did The Merry Widow two summers ago and it was very popular.

Anyone who is sick of the pop music that ate Broadway would welcome a well-produced operetta.

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by Anonymousreply 322July 17, 2020 9:49 PM

R298, with Blythe and Gwyneth in Butterflies are free, it becomes the story of a blind man who falls in love with a woman who looks just like his mother.

That is a very strange concept.

by Anonymousreply 323July 17, 2020 9:52 PM

Just let Gwynnie assay the Eileen Heckart role. She's old enough to do so now.

by Anonymousreply 324July 17, 2020 9:55 PM

The notion that operetta is dead is very US-centric. White Horse Inn is produced constantly. Companies such as the Komische Oper Berlin as rediscovering old operettas such Der Graf von Luxemburg, Roxy und ihr Wunderteam, Die Csárdásfürstin , etc.

by Anonymousreply 325July 17, 2020 10:08 PM

Which is the best Merry Widow? Sheldon Harnick wrote lyrics for the Met, but Tams/Concord licenses one by Sidney Sheldon called LA 1961 version that was small enough to play the Jan Hus Playhouse.

by Anonymousreply 326July 17, 2020 10:29 PM

Smaller is not the way to go with an operetta. You can try to cram one down into a small space, but why? As has been said about another famous musical... It's Show Boat, not Row Boat.

by Anonymousreply 327July 17, 2020 11:17 PM

New York City Opera did "New Moon" and it was televised on PBS. Had televison to myself that night (brothers and parents were out), so got to sit and watch in peace. Loved every minute of it!

Taped the performance, but between going off to college, moving out on my own, and life in general have long since lost that VHS recording.

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by Anonymousreply 328July 17, 2020 11:35 PM

The New York Times was very unkind.....

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by Anonymousreply 329July 17, 2020 11:35 PM

As NYT comments about the NYCO 1988 reprise of "New Moon". operettas can work when scaled down from grand places like the MET or Imperial theater.

See no reason why if cast and done well New Moon or some of the other more famous operettas wouldn't do well in NYC or elsewhere in USA.

IIRC the genre was "music for the people" as it were; things that the ordinary person could enjoy. Not everyone wants to sit through nearly four hours of Wagner....

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by Anonymousreply 330July 17, 2020 11:41 PM

R327, That is not true. To a large degree, the renewed interest in Operetta is due to a scaled down production of The White House Inn that was done at Bar Jeder Vernunft in Berlin. There have also been scaled down versions of Frau Luna and Die Blume von Hawaii which have been very successful.

by Anonymousreply 331July 17, 2020 11:41 PM

One Kiss - The New Moon - Leigh Munro, NYC Opera

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by Anonymousreply 332July 17, 2020 11:42 PM

Ugh, White Horse Inn..

by Anonymousreply 333July 17, 2020 11:42 PM

Munro's voice was too dark and heavy for Marianne. It lacked the lush creamy charming sound that role requires.

Jeanette McDonald was better....

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by Anonymousreply 334July 17, 2020 11:47 PM

Christiane Noll nails it!

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by Anonymousreply 335July 17, 2020 11:51 PM

Miss Munro had to fill an actual opera house with her singing. Neither Miss McDonald nor Miss Noll was saddled with that burden.

by Anonymousreply 336July 18, 2020 12:08 AM

"Oh Calcutta!" one of Broadway's longest running shows yet you never see regional, community or high school productions any where.

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by Anonymousreply 337July 18, 2020 12:36 AM

Saw a wonderful bus-and-truck production of Desert Song back in 1981, my freshman year in college. Hadn't known anything about it prior. Absolutely loved it.

I think the trick to producing an operetta today is to treat it as something absolutely new. Papp's Pirates had its tongue firmly in cheek, but it was dramatically sound, and the voices were ones audiences could relate to. By all means keep it big -But don't let it be cheap/cheesy/musty.

by Anonymousreply 338July 18, 2020 12:38 AM

R337

NYT took up the case as to why no recent revival of "Oh Calcutta". General feeling is like many other books it was born out of certain time and place in history. Things just are so different today that you'd have to rework so much of the play to point of not worth bothering.

Sexual mores today are so totally different than 1969 or even 1989. Factor in rise of PC culture and the thing likely would be stopped before it started.

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by Anonymousreply 339July 18, 2020 12:48 AM

I notice most of the comments about operetta productions are about the 1980s. With a handful of exceptions, that's when operetta really disappeared as a popular art form in the US. I mentioned back in the thread that operetta has been dead here for decades although still popular in parts of Europe.

LOOM proved that operetta can work in small intimate spaces. It played first in William Mount Burke's living room, then in the Jan Hus Playhouse (a church basement) and then the Eastside Playhouse, which had only a few hundred seats. The usual accompaniment was an electronic organ and piano, sometimes just one or the other. Most of the productions were clever and enjoyable though their were a few clunkers. They were always well sung.

by Anonymousreply 340July 18, 2020 12:58 AM

Bus Stop

by Anonymousreply 341July 18, 2020 1:00 AM

Sunrise at Campobello

by Anonymousreply 342July 18, 2020 1:04 AM

[quote]Bus Stop

Someone above mentioned The Dark at the Top of the Stairs. Yes, second tier Inge really has disappeared despite the occasional production of Come Back, Little Sheba or Picnic.

by Anonymousreply 343July 18, 2020 1:05 AM

R339 But what about Let My People Cum, I think I saw that in the Edison Hotel in the ‘80?

by Anonymousreply 344July 18, 2020 1:06 AM

R319

Original lyrics and or how "Die Dreigroschenoper/Barbara's Song" is sung in English are nothing like the German. American censors saw to that.....

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by Anonymousreply 345July 18, 2020 1:09 AM

3PO is hardly your traditional operetta. But thanks for the clip!

by Anonymousreply 346July 18, 2020 1:17 AM

Richard III, with the titular king as effeminate

by Anonymousreply 347July 18, 2020 1:19 AM

R337 Ah, the apparently very well-hung Richert Easley with the moustache on the right hand of that photo! He looked cute when he was younger.

by Anonymousreply 348July 18, 2020 1:58 AM

r344, see r132

by Anonymousreply 349July 18, 2020 2:00 AM

Oh! Calcutta! had skits which weren't particularly that good. The pas de deux naked dance was very good, but the music to it kind of sucked. One of my friends was a replacement in the original off-Broadway and Broadway transfer; he told me he mainly wanted to do it because he wanted to do the Sam Shepard "Rock Garden" skit which had him talking about "when he cums it's like a river", etc. I guess he also didn't mind being naked, since he was pretty much a (straight) stud, too.

by Anonymousreply 350July 18, 2020 2:02 AM

"Let My People Come" was revived on the Upper West Side about 4 or 5 years ago, but the venue apparently didn't allow nudity (or something like that), so they did those parts of the show in their underwear. It didn't have the same effect. There were one or two very good songs in the show -- mainly "Take Me Home With You" is the one I remember. It played originally down at the Village Gate, then transferred to Broadway where it closed without officially opening. There was also a revival in the 1980s in that hotel on W. 43rd across that street from the NY Times old entrance. There was a guy who was a preacher in real life apparently from his bio, who was just thrilled to be naked (and he was hawt!!!!). Just remembering, wow!

by Anonymousreply 351July 18, 2020 2:06 AM

I only saw one production of Love! Valour! Compassion! after Broadway. It was a quite good one, too.

by Anonymousreply 352July 18, 2020 2:08 AM

R339 is one of the freepers who chime in to whine about "pc culture" and pretend things were better in the 60s when sodomy laws were still on the books

by Anonymousreply 353July 18, 2020 2:09 AM

Unlike "Let My People Come", which had a duet called "I'm Gay", the folks who devised "Oh! Calcutta" made a decision to not put any gay content or innuendo in the show at all. It was a enough with all the penises and lady parts and pubes up there; they probably thought they were being daring enough, though some of the actors were gay.

by Anonymousreply 354July 18, 2020 2:20 AM

Mamba's Daughters

Will Success Spoil Rock Hunter?

by Anonymousreply 355July 18, 2020 2:26 AM

The Lion in Winter is not seen on stage anymore. The film is so good, why bother?

by Anonymousreply 356July 18, 2020 2:53 AM

R285, The Mousetrap opened in 1952 and was still running until this past March because of the pandemic shutdown.

It has never been an enormously popular play but has been occasionally produced due to the reputations of Agatha Christie and of the original production.

I would say occasionally produced, not rarely produced.

_________________________

Just checked WP and it says that in the original licensing that Christie said that only one other production can be produced as long as the original production is still running. I have no idea whether this restriction is still in effect but surely this is responsible for the few other productions.

Critical reception for this show has always been mixed. But if the original production has been running (or was still running) since 1952, surely some audiences must have liked it.

by Anonymousreply 357July 18, 2020 3:13 AM

This thread inspired me to dig out the Oh! Calcutta! cast album and script. Um. Er. It plays more like an R-rated episode of Love American Style. I see what someone meant about the attitudes toward women and rape. Downright scary. Nothing in the score of any interest, either. :( Definitely a period piece that doesn't merit a revival.

by Anonymousreply 358July 18, 2020 3:18 AM

Anne of the Thousand Days (or as we called it in junior high school, "Anne of the Thousand Pages.")

by Anonymousreply 359July 18, 2020 3:22 AM

R332 Thank you for the clip of Leigh Munro singing "One Kiss". So lovely. We need a little operetta right this very moment.

Getting back to plays, how about Mary, Mary by Jean Kerr. I remember it running for a long time on Broadway. Starred Barry Nelson (yummy) who was later replaced by Tom Poston (weird).

by Anonymousreply 360July 18, 2020 3:30 AM

It's been talked about several times already, R360. It holds up surprisingly well -still funny. But it's very much a period piece. Does sophisticated humor still play?

by Anonymousreply 361July 18, 2020 3:32 AM

R350, Mary, Mary was mentioned in OP's original post as an example of what he was looking for. Did you bother to read the thread before posting?

Meanwhile, I loved the film with Debbie Reynolds on its original release but as I grew older I always suspected that the first stage production with Barbara Bel Geddes was probably the more sophisticated and entertaining one. It is entirely an outdated period boulevard comeday but still a charming one if you really know the period.

by Anonymousreply 362July 18, 2020 3:46 AM

^ Sorry, I mean r360, not r350. And obviously comedy, not comeday.

by Anonymousreply 363July 18, 2020 3:49 AM

R347 here you are

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by Anonymousreply 364July 18, 2020 3:51 AM

I never saw the original play/production, but I have the film and still enjoy it. I heard from fans of the original that Debbie Reynolds pretty much copied every inflection and movement of Barbara Bel Geddes' performance. They said it as a tribute to Reynolds' gift for mimicry, not to denigrate her. For me, I see her in the film, but hear Barbara's voice.

by Anonymousreply 365July 18, 2020 3:51 AM

Jon Robin Baitz' The Substance of Fire, Three Hotels and The End of the Day. Saw End of the Day sitting next to Alexis Smith in a small theater on West 42nd Street.

by Anonymousreply 366July 18, 2020 5:06 AM

Did you hum "Lucy and Jessie" until she noticed you?

by Anonymousreply 367July 18, 2020 5:09 AM

Bel Geddes and Nelson were soon reunited in Edward Albee's adaptation of Giles Cooper's "Everything in the Garden". It was a long way from Jean Kerr...

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by Anonymousreply 368July 18, 2020 5:22 AM

R296 Sorry to make you wait.

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by Anonymousreply 369July 18, 2020 5:53 AM

Speaking of bothersome potential, has Shopping and Fucking been done much in the 21st century?

by Anonymousreply 370July 18, 2020 7:35 AM

A Tree Grows in Havana

by Anonymousreply 371July 18, 2020 10:42 AM

Everything in the Garden is a fascinating, compelling play.

by Anonymousreply 372July 18, 2020 12:45 PM

I loved the 2008 revival of Top Girls in NYC, Elizabeth Marvel was fab. I wish they'd revive Cloud 9 in the US, but perhaps its gender politics would be seen as old hat nowadays.

I wonder if AR Gurney's work will find new audiences (aside from the treacly "Love Letters"). I guess only an increasingly narrow demographic would find the last days of WASPdom a dramatically resonant subject, but I love the Dining Room and the Old Boy.

John Patrick Shanley is still working of course, but there doesn't seem to be much interest in his pre-"Doubt" plays anymore. The screenplay for Moonstruck has the occasional flash of his earlier caustic wit but is otherwise fairly watered down.

by Anonymousreply 373July 18, 2020 1:37 PM

I would think ‘Night Mother” holds up well, is cheap to produce and has wonderful parts for actresses to show their chops. It’s also perfect for a limited run and getting a named actress or two involved with it.

by Anonymousreply 374July 18, 2020 3:55 PM

Thank god: some posters are naming some plays created AFTER 1980 or so.

by Anonymousreply 375July 18, 2020 4:24 PM

Oh, R375... Hissssssss!

by Anonymousreply 376July 18, 2020 4:25 PM

375 What difference does it make? Want them exterminated so they don't bother you?

by Anonymousreply 377July 18, 2020 4:27 PM

"I Remember Mama."

Marlon Brando played Nels in the original Broadway run.

by Anonymousreply 378July 18, 2020 4:36 PM

I prefer I Dismember Mama

by Anonymousreply 379July 18, 2020 4:39 PM

Just saw a Summer Stock theater ad on Long island in 1959 and they were putting on "The Boyfriend" and "The Tunnel Of Love" the hit 'adults only" comedy.

by Anonymousreply 380July 18, 2020 4:58 PM

What was "Tunnel Of Love"? Was that a metaphor for.... vagina?

I kind of love "The Boyfriend," Including the demented movie version of it.

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by Anonymousreply 381July 18, 2020 5:19 PM

So R369 is some kind of covert conservative who is angry at a play that says the established powers are sexist, racist, homophobic and violent?

Everyone in Britain understands the corruption of the established order there. So why get angry at a play that calls them out on it?

by Anonymousreply 382July 18, 2020 5:24 PM

How often does Cloud 9 have to be revived, R373? The 2015 revival was pretty good (and showed that Churchill was as sharply critical of 70s sexuality as she was of Victorian).

Once there is a good revival, New York companies tend to wait before mounting their version.

by Anonymousreply 383July 18, 2020 5:28 PM

All the plays of William Inge are pretty much out of favor right now but I like them.

by Anonymousreply 384July 18, 2020 5:33 PM

Hardly, there was a revival of Picnic on Broadway not too long ago

by Anonymousreply 385July 18, 2020 5:44 PM

"So R369 is some kind of covert conservative who is angry at a play that says the established powers are sexist, racist, homophobic and violent?"

I don't see too many conservatives flocking to Orton plays. They are well-known to dislike anything "gay"

by Anonymousreply 386July 18, 2020 5:45 PM

The Latent Heterosexual

by Anonymousreply 387July 18, 2020 5:47 PM

The review at R369 felt like it was written by someone in junior high. Is the author an actual student at Cambridge?

And yes, Orton plays can be anarchic and revolutionary and iconoclastic---and horribly sexist and dated, all at the same time.

by Anonymousreply 388July 18, 2020 5:52 PM

"Luv" by Murray Schisgal, directed by Mike Nichols. Cast: Alan Arkin, Eli Wallac, Anne Jackson, standby Rene Taylor. 1964, 900 performances.

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by Anonymousreply 389July 18, 2020 5:52 PM

Was LUV ever adapted as a musical?

by Anonymousreply 390July 18, 2020 5:57 PM

LUV was made into a musical called WHAT ABOUT LUV?

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by Anonymousreply 391July 18, 2020 6:06 PM

There's a movie version of "Luv", too, though it's rarely screened nowadays. Anybody familiar with it?

by Anonymousreply 392July 18, 2020 7:29 PM

R367 I was humming Too Many Mirrors from Platinum.

by Anonymousreply 393July 18, 2020 8:11 PM

"I would think ‘Night Mother” holds up well, is cheap to produce and has wonderful parts for actresses to show their chops"

But is slim pickins as a play.

I recently heard LUV for the first time via the original cast recording on YouTube. What a sharp, existential and hilarious play it is. No wonder Mike Nichols signed on to direct it. And what performances he obtained from the cast! To hear Anne Jackson play the registers of her voice is a lesson in comic delivery--just brilliant. The movie, predictably enough, is a disaster, foregoing everything that made the play great in favor of silly shtick. and the less said about the musical the better.

by Anonymousreply 394July 19, 2020 2:43 AM

Oh Dad, Poor Dad, Mamma's Hung You in the Closet and I'm Feelin' So Sad

by Anonymousreply 395July 19, 2020 2:58 AM

[quote]Hardly, there was a revival of Picnic on Broadway not too long ago

Seven years ago, it ran 49 performances

by Anonymousreply 396July 19, 2020 4:40 PM

The Marriage-Go-Round. Was very popular in summer stock at one time. So was summer stock, at one time.

by Anonymousreply 397July 19, 2020 4:41 PM

Kate and Allie: The Musical

by Anonymousreply 398July 19, 2020 6:59 PM

The Desk Set

Kiss Them For Me

Will Success Spoil Rock Hunter?

Angel Street (filmed as "Gaslight")

Never Too Late

Any Wednesday

by Anonymousreply 399July 19, 2020 7:05 PM

So besides Shakespeare, what plays are considered canon and remain eternally produced? Shaw? Lorca?

by Anonymousreply 400July 19, 2020 7:13 PM

Ibsen, Chekhov, Wilde, Moliere, for starters

by Anonymousreply 401July 19, 2020 7:15 PM

Under the Yum-Yum Tree

by Anonymousreply 402July 19, 2020 7:28 PM

Middle of the Night

I Am a Camera

Luther

Da

There's A Girl in My Soup

by Anonymousreply 403July 19, 2020 7:34 PM

The kind of comic style needed for LUV is likely not something contemporary actors could manage.

To me, Inge is like a wistful Williams wannabe, but if the Roundabout can revive a piece of crap like Williams' MILK TRAIN DOESN'T STOP HERE ANYMORE then there's no reason to ignore DARK AT THE TOP OF THE STAIRS.

by Anonymousreply 404July 19, 2020 7:47 PM

There was a revival of Angel Street/Gaslight in NYC not that long ago. The problem with the play is that the female lead is a victim from start to finish. She is dependent on men whether her husband or the detective. Also, she is so sheltered that she does not recognize the uncut rubies. She refers to them as pebbles. The only way to make it work might be to cast her as a child bride.

by Anonymousreply 405July 19, 2020 7:56 PM

The Lisbon Traviata should be revived with Mario Cantone in the role Nathan Lane played. Maybe someone like Dan Stephens for the other main role.

by Anonymousreply 406July 19, 2020 8:05 PM

Sorry, I meant Dan Stevens.

by Anonymousreply 407July 19, 2020 8:06 PM

Tamara

Tony and Tina's Wedding

by Anonymousreply 408July 19, 2020 9:29 PM

Aged in Wood

by Anonymousreply 409July 19, 2020 9:53 PM

You can add Fefu and her Friends. Site specific theater seams to have run it's course.

by Anonymousreply 410July 19, 2020 9:55 PM

From April 1973 "Don;' Bother Me I Can't Cope", Barbara Bell Geddes and Robert Lansing in Jean Kerr's "Finishing Touches", Debbie Reynolds "Irene", Jerry Orbach & Jane Alexander in "6 Rms Riv Vue", "That Champion Season", "The River Niger"

by Anonymousreply 411July 19, 2020 10:08 PM

"The kind of comic style needed for LUV is likely not something contemporary actors could manage."

Why do you think that is, r404? What is LUV's comic style? This is interesting.

by Anonymousreply 412July 19, 2020 11:48 PM

Tempest and Sunshine

by Anonymousreply 413July 20, 2020 12:18 AM

[quote]r405 Also, she is so sheltered that she does not recognize the uncut rubies. She refers to them as pebbles. The only way to make it work might be to cast her as a child bride.

When do we start?

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by Anonymousreply 414July 20, 2020 12:27 AM

"Why do you think that is, [R404]? What is LUV's comic style? This is interesting."

I'm not r404, but I'll take a stab at an answer.

LUV requires a farcical edge, an ability to push human behavior to the extreme to fulfill its intention. In today's oh-so-sensitive, thoroughly humorless age, one that denies the polarities of human appetite because it's "offensive" for one absurd reason or another, one wonders if there are contemporary actors, directors and producers left brave enough to display that truth of the human condition with conviction.

by Anonymousreply 415July 20, 2020 12:48 AM

LUV

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by Anonymousreply 416July 20, 2020 12:55 AM

Our Town The Subject Was Roses Equus

Audiences and theatrical producers run on minimal brain cells

by Anonymousreply 417July 20, 2020 12:59 AM

Dinny and the Witches

by Anonymousreply 418July 20, 2020 1:07 AM

So many plays in this thread have been produced in the last 15 years in NYC. Fefu and her Friends was just done LAST year at TFANA...

Where y'all from?

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by Anonymousreply 419July 20, 2020 1:09 AM

R415 is one of those conservative who bitch about "our humorless age" and evil politically correct liberals but won't admit that 90% of comedians, satirist, playwrights and pretty much most artists are liberal

People have always been offended by things, there was a time when even mentioning homosexuality was taboo on the stage but some people here don't seem to have any perspective

by Anonymousreply 420July 20, 2020 1:11 AM

When was the last time anyone did Reza's ART? I saw it four times in London, and it was a favorite for all the local theatre for a few years. Now it appears to be forgotten.

by Anonymousreply 421July 20, 2020 1:29 AM

"One Flew Over The Cuckoo's Nest"

by Anonymousreply 422July 20, 2020 1:35 AM

Footsteps on the Ceiling, by Lloyd Richards

by Anonymousreply 423July 20, 2020 1:45 AM

Your Arms Too Short to Box With God

by Anonymousreply 424July 20, 2020 1:52 AM

I'm sure Bryan Singer would love to mount (heh!) a high school production of "Take Me Out" or "Equus."

by Anonymousreply 425July 20, 2020 1:53 AM

I'm Getting My Act Together And Taking it On the Road

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by Anonymousreply 426July 20, 2020 1:54 AM

And of course, Libby Wolfson's version.

I'm Takin' My Own Head, Screwin' It On Right, And No Guy's Gonna Tell Me That It Ain't!

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by Anonymousreply 427July 20, 2020 1:55 AM

The Dairymaids

by Anonymousreply 428July 20, 2020 4:20 AM

R423 Starring Jessie Matthews in the musical version.

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by Anonymousreply 429July 20, 2020 5:14 AM

[quote] Our Town The Subject Was Roses Equus

Our Town and Equus are still done regularly. The Subject Was Roses , not so much. It was discussed either above in this thread or the Theatre Gossip thread that before everything shut down, a Broadway revival of Our Town with Dustin Huffman was being planned.

(Our Town with Dustin Hoffman sounds awful, BTW.)

by Anonymousreply 430July 20, 2020 5:38 AM

R420, you miss the point. Everything is so fucking analyzed today. It is chronic overthinking all the way down the line. Liberals are actually the worst.

However, the real issue that actors came from a different background. Most had little experience with "method acting". The learned to act in burlesque and summer stock. Most did not come out of university programs. Even then, university programs were very different than the ones now that churn out bland, low key, robot actors.

Note that neither Nathan Lane nor Rob McClure attended university for any length of time. Both basically went from high school to NYC. This why they are unique. Also, note that Rob McClure has a very hard time being cast in anything other than character roles. It isn't like the 50s and 60s when actors such as Charles Grodin, Robert Klein, Jack Lemmon played male leads.

The other issue is that directors/playwrights tend to kill any bit of creativity. I have seen it happen so many times. That is one of the reasons Bruce Norris turned to writing. He was fed up with always being told to dial it down or not being cast because he was "too big".

by Anonymousreply 431July 20, 2020 9:59 AM

R431 = Trumptard

by Anonymousreply 432July 20, 2020 1:16 PM

R431, the original cast of Luv had a lot of experience with method acting. Two of of the three were members of the Actor's Studio. The third had been training as an actor to childhood and did attend college for it.

None of them had any connection to burlesque or even vaudeville.

Two of the other actors you cite studied with Uta Hagen and Eva LeGalliene at a time when their work was not available in college programs. Now it is, so there is not such a huge gap between the training they had and what a college acting student of today has.

by Anonymousreply 433July 20, 2020 1:28 PM

^^^Correction:

Charles Grodin and Jack Lemmon studeid with Uta Hagen Robert Klein studied at YALE SCHOOL OF DRAMA.

by Anonymousreply 434July 20, 2020 1:30 PM

"Method acting" has been around for eons

by Anonymousreply 435July 20, 2020 3:55 PM

Never Too Late

by Anonymousreply 436July 20, 2020 4:15 PM

Grodin also studied with Lee Strassberg, so we have another method actor.

by Anonymousreply 437July 20, 2020 6:48 PM

Ladies In Retirement

by Anonymousreply 438July 20, 2020 6:51 PM

The Girls in 509 and A Thurber Carnival

by Anonymousreply 439July 20, 2020 8:03 PM

I've always found Charles Grodin utterly inexplicable, as a leading man or as anything else. One of those curious Boomer tastes, I guess.

Real character actors are disappearing, particularly in film and TV, but potentially in theatre as well. Those roles are going to aging leads, yesterday's leads, and wanna-be leads rather than classic "character" types.

by Anonymousreply 440July 20, 2020 9:37 PM

R440, FU. I'm awesome in The Heartbreak Kid (1972) and Heaven Can Wait (1978).

by Anonymousreply 441July 20, 2020 9:43 PM

J.B.

by Anonymousreply 442July 20, 2020 10:09 PM

Bent

by Anonymousreply 443July 20, 2020 10:13 PM

Nobody Loves an Albatross

The Marriage-Go-Round

Never Too Late

Purlie Victorious

by Anonymousreply 444July 20, 2020 10:19 PM

Charles Grodin, dear god it was torture watching that guy on screen and I was in my early teens. I hated the sight of him.

Barefoot In The Park

Don Quixote

by Anonymousreply 445July 20, 2020 11:09 PM

Sorry should have said Man of La Mancha

by Anonymousreply 446July 20, 2020 11:10 PM

I think Barefoot still gets occasional productions. Works best as the period piece it now is.

by Anonymousreply 447July 20, 2020 11:14 PM

Spoon River Anthology

by Anonymousreply 448July 20, 2020 11:43 PM

Barefoot in the Park is dated and shows its seams but it still works better than most Simon if you can cast it properly. Having truly talented character actors for the mother and the upstairs neighbor is essential. As mentioned above, it does still get produced.

by Anonymousreply 449July 21, 2020 12:36 AM

The Sign In Sidney Brustein's Window, by Lorraine Hansberry

by Anonymousreply 450July 21, 2020 12:38 AM

"it still works better than most Simon if you can cast it properly"

With a director who understands what the play is about. The same with Coward.

by Anonymousreply 451July 21, 2020 12:58 AM

It's hard to understand what Neil Simon plays are about?

by Anonymousreply 452July 21, 2020 1:11 AM

[quote]Robert Klein studied at YALE SCHOOL OF DRAMA.

And he ended up playing Deb Messing's father.

by Anonymousreply 453July 21, 2020 1:50 AM

The Sign In Sidney Brustein's Window was never popular (although I do like it) and it was done at The Goodman in 2016.

by Anonymousreply 454July 21, 2020 2:23 AM

Bent II

by Anonymousreply 455July 21, 2020 3:53 AM

Has any DL thread ever had as many uninformed authorities posting as this one does?

by Anonymousreply 456July 21, 2020 12:27 PM

What about Carousel?

In the me-too area I can't imagine this still being done. Billy Biglow beat up his wife in the play.

by Anonymousreply 457July 21, 2020 1:05 PM

That was my Tony, r450!

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by Anonymousreply 458July 21, 2020 1:07 PM

[quote]R231, Dead End has a popular production at Williamstown and off-Broadway (the Altantic?) back in the 90s.

Saw it in Williamstown, it was good. Scott Wolf (Party Of Five) was in it.

by Anonymousreply 459July 21, 2020 1:09 PM

Street Scene

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by Anonymousreply 460July 21, 2020 2:28 PM

R457 has never seen or read CAROUSEL.

by Anonymousreply 461July 21, 2020 2:52 PM

I saw the Ahmanson "Dead End." The big "coup de theatre," if you can call it that, was the large water tank that was supposed to represent the river the actors would occasionally dive into.

I'll bet there's still mildew in the orchestra pit.

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by Anonymousreply 462July 21, 2020 3:31 PM

R462 Yeah that's how it was originally done on Broadway in the 30s.

by Anonymousreply 463July 21, 2020 4:02 PM

R461, and yet....

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by Anonymousreply 464July 21, 2020 4:20 PM

Bent III: Bend It (Over) Like Beckham

by Anonymousreply 465July 21, 2020 4:21 PM

"Has any DL thread ever had as many uninformed authorities posting as this one does?"

All of 'em, honey...

by Anonymousreply 466July 21, 2020 5:53 PM

OP re. TOP GIRLS, as a high-schooler I played Kit in my Drama club production. I have always been babyfaced and immature-looking for my age, so seventeen-year old me could just about pull off twelve-years old by staying low to the floor and pitching my voice up a bit.

What I really wanted was a part in THE CRUCIBLE, because my crush was playing the lead and my young heart was in turmoil. My HS years were a bitch that way.

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by Anonymousreply 467September 25, 2020 11:52 PM

Our Hearts Were Young and Gay

Time Out for Ginger

Norman... Is That You?

Gemini

by Anonymousreply 468September 26, 2020 1:24 AM

As Bees in Honey Drown

by Anonymousreply 469September 26, 2020 1:29 AM

As Bees in Honey Drown

by Anonymousreply 470September 26, 2020 1:29 AM

In the 90’s, high school and college drama departments were obsessed with Christopher Durang.

by Anonymousreply 471September 26, 2020 1:37 AM

Oliver!

by Anonymousreply 472September 26, 2020 3:31 AM

R456for the win!

by Anonymousreply 473September 26, 2020 4:24 AM

[quote] Has any DL thread ever had as many uninformed authorities posting as this one does?

Which means you see yourself as the INFORMED authority here, judging everyone else...

by Anonymousreply 474September 26, 2020 4:28 AM

The Show Off, by George Kelly. Also, The Torch Bearers.

And what about the plays of Tim Kelly ("America's most prolific playwright")? Y'all did them in school, or children's theatre or community theater.

by Anonymousreply 475September 26, 2020 1:19 PM

Since The Red Devil Battery Sign was mentioned, I saw it in Boston - I don't remember if the play made it to Broadway. Anthony Quinn, Claire Bloom, and Katy Jurado. It was awful. Audience occasionally roared at serious lines. When they weren't walking out.

A once-popular play I saw in Williamstown (with Kate Burton and Robert Lupone, among others) was Counsellor At Law. by Elmer Rice. It was great and should be revived more - if the productions are as good as that one. (It's also a good movie, with John Barrymore and Bebe Daniels). Another once-popular play that's rarely produced is The Visit. I saw that at Williamstown also - with James Whitmore and Audra Lindley. That production just okay.

by Anonymousreply 476September 26, 2020 1:52 PM

Pump Boys and Dinettes...

by Anonymousreply 477September 26, 2020 2:22 PM

r477 Saw that at my local community theater a few years back.

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by Anonymousreply 478September 26, 2020 2:32 PM

No way am I going to troll 477 posts to see if this production was mentioned. But wasn't "Demimonde AKA Ritz Bar" by Noel Coward considered waay (sic) too louche for its time and never got produced? When it did, fairly recently, it didn't turn out to be a bag of Tesco Express crisps and all that. But I imagine the contemporary allusions didn't hold up that well.

On another note, I often am surprised the British Royal Family took to Noel, considering he was pretty outrageous for his day. Queen Elizabeth, King George VI's consort, really took a shine to Noel.* But even before then, he somehow wrangled King George V and Queen Mary to attend the opening night of "Calvalcade." I can just hear George V and Queen Mary getting ready for that big night out. "I'm sick of this poofer interrupting my stamp collecting!" "He'd lick you into your grave if you gave him half a chance. And a good thing that would be, too! Now calm down and smoke another lovely cigarette."

*28th March 1984, the Queen Mother unveiled a statue to Noel at Poet's Corner, Westminster Abbey. Graham "Payn in the Ass" Payn thanked her for coming. "I came because he was my friend," was her reply. If she like you, she really liked you.

by Anonymousreply 479September 26, 2020 2:36 PM

Can we keep the talk of the royals in the innumerable royals threads (that I avoid)?

by Anonymousreply 480September 26, 2020 2:43 PM

"Mame" was once popular in regional theatre. I wonder what killed it?

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by Anonymousreply 481September 26, 2020 2:46 PM

Snooki and the Kardashians and their ilk, R 481. Mame defeating southern bigotry and hectoring people to "Live!" and "Life is a banquet!" doesn't seem all that outrageous in the world of W.A.P., 2 Girls 1 Cup, etc. Plus the show itself is too long and grinding and takes a lot of resources to produce.

by Anonymousreply 482September 26, 2020 3:36 PM

I’m going to go off topic for a post since this thread is so active and ask about the opposite of this premise. On another board I discovered that former boy band cute twin Youtuber brothers turned activists Jack and Finn Harries are the grandsons of author playwright Michael Frayn. Many were speculating that they live off trust funds from their family as there parents are also successful in the performing arts.

I didn’t realize that Frayn was still alive, but I did think about the income he or his estate must receive because of how popular Noise’s Off must be? It seems to be done extensively here in the US and revived often. I assume the same in GB as well. I saw a touring production in college in the 80s and another one much later in NYC too. It seems like it must be lightening in a bottle. I know the movie bombed despite an interesting cast. Why does it get done so extensively? Is farce timeless? And was The Play that Goes Wrong just a rip off of it? And how did it do so incredibly well despite being a shadow of Noise’s Off?

by Anonymousreply 483September 26, 2020 5:50 PM

Aaron Slick from Punkin Crick

by Anonymousreply 484September 26, 2020 6:00 PM

R483 interesting, I didn’t know about the Frayn-Harries connection.

For what it’s worth, I despise Michael Frayn’s prose. SPIES is one of the worst books I have been asked to read in my entire life (it was on my school curriculum). His plays might be better, I wouldn’t know; if they’re not, though, he is stealing a living and giving it to his dreadful progeny.

by Anonymousreply 485September 26, 2020 9:40 PM

Just re-reading this thread and saw the R337's picture of OH! CALCUTTA! I was surprised to see that the gentlemen on the left (second from the end) was Scott Jarvis, who played the Courier in the OBC of 1776 (Momma Look Sharp).

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by Anonymousreply 486October 24, 2020 10:14 PM

Merton of the Movies

by Anonymousreply 487October 24, 2020 10:18 PM

Luv, definitely.

I'd like to also mention Springtime For Henry, which was huge in stock in the 50s. That's where Mel Brooks got the idea for Springtime For Hitler.

by Anonymousreply 488October 24, 2020 10:41 PM

R20 The Happy Time? I love this show. But it was never ubiquitous. It was last seen in NE Ohio in the 1960’s in a Jerry Leonard production and John Kennedy did in in the very early 70’s. Hard show to do well.

by Anonymousreply 489October 24, 2020 11:44 PM

R489 thats John Kenley

by Anonymousreply 490October 24, 2020 11:44 PM

R490, He was a hermaphrodite, lived 6 months as a male and 6 months as a female.

by Anonymousreply 491October 25, 2020 12:07 AM

Scott Jarvis had a few photos where he didn't mind baring his butt (on some archival site about the show) and a frontal (the latter had him full-frontal next to a tall building) and had other cast members posed next to silly drawings like fellow cast memeber (and future theater producer) Norman Weiler posed like an Egyptian but naked. Unfortunately, Jarvis died quite young. He was very handsome and talented.

by Anonymousreply 492October 25, 2020 12:20 AM

"Craig's Wife" by George Kelly is also really good; made in a film starring Rosalind Russell, it was remade (with some alterations to the script) as "Harriet Craig" starring DL fave (or is it DL frenemy for some?) Joan Crawford.

by Anonymousreply 493October 25, 2020 12:22 AM

R490 R489 and 490 here. I never heard that he was a hermaphrodite, but I did hear that as you said, John Kenley lives half the year as a woman and half as a man.

by Anonymousreply 494October 25, 2020 2:54 AM

Kenley established a mid-western empire of stock houses that remained in operation for decades. Whatever challenges he faced personally, he triumphed in his professional life.

by Anonymousreply 495October 25, 2020 3:01 AM

R495. R489 and 490 here again. Yes, JK was amazing. So many great stars, sone on their way up, others down, and some at the top of their game. Nothing like it today.

by Anonymousreply 496October 25, 2020 3:38 AM

R3 my mother still talks about GODSPELL to this day. She saw it in Nairobi in the seventies.

by Anonymousreply 497November 7, 2020 10:47 PM

""I Remember Mama."... Marlon Brando played Nels in the original Broadway run.

Nels...he...he... he

by Anonymousreply 498November 8, 2020 10:08 PM
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