Just a month after my last trip to NYC, is it too early to be thinking about my next one? I don't think so!
Particularly when Laura Linney is going to be on Broadway again. You have to hand it to the Roundabout -- they are certainly scoring the "event" shows. Claire Danes is closing soon in "Pygmalion" and Kathleen Turner is directing their "Crimes of the Heart" next year. My reaction to Linney in "Les Liaisons Dangereuses" is somewhat similar to Danes in "Pyg:" I absolutely LOVE Linney. For my film class last semester, I did a short paper on "Primal Fear" which was Ed Norton's first big splash in film. But I came away from it with a new appreciation for Linney who does amazing things with a relatively throw-away role.
Anyway, "Liaisons" is a meaty story but it's also not one that compels me to seek it out again and again. Malkovich and Close (and of course Uma!) were great in the movie version but for some reason I tend to remember the role Michelle Pfeiffer played. Anyway, it's mostly a story of mean people doing mean things. It's delicious fun once, but has a tendency to grow stale quickly.
So I MAY have to run up to see Ms. Linney come April. Or maybe something even more interesting will come along...
2 comments:
Wow, do I love the idea of Kathleen Turner directing Crimes of the Heart, one of my favorite plays. I'd like to direct that show myself some day...
I tend to be a bit skeptical of "star actors" being attached to a project as directors. So, I thought I'd try to be a bit more...accepting...and see what Ms. Turner's other directing credits might be. It seems that Crimes of the Heart is the only play she has director (or at least the only one that Google shares with me), along with a made-for-TV movie in the '90's, in which she also appeared. We shall see, I suppose.
Lily Rabe is said to be cast in the production. I saw Ms. Rabe as Annelle in the Broadway production of Steel Magnolias a few years ago (which one would think would be a revival, but it was the first Broadway production). She was great...which was aided by the fact that she was one of two actors (out of six) that knew all of her lines. Side note: just goes to show that bad theatre happens on Broadway too...and in DC...just a thought on the earlier thread about leaving Richmond to seek out quality theatre.
Sarah Paulson, however, I saw in The Glass Menagerie revival with Jessica Lange and Christian Slater (who was absolutely grounded, certain, solid, and a really captivating Tom). I found her to be a bit melodramatic (beyond what is perhaps required or suggested in the script).
Lily Rabe also appeared in the greatly hailed (even if overshadowed by that big trilogy thing by some other British playwright) revival of Heartbreak House. She's good stuff. And only 25!
So...Kathleen Turner...eh..Crimes of the Heart...great play...casting...may make it worthy...
My inconclusive ramblings I will now draw to a close.
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