| re: Here! Here! | |
| Posted by: Chazwaza 03:58 pm EST 02/18/19 | |
| In reply to: Here! Here! - portenopete 03:47 pm EST 02/18/19 | |
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| Couldn't agree more about the Mendes/Lester COMPANY. It's the best one I've ever seen (I'm way too young to have seen the original), and the one that most fully made the show work in a modern setting. And his direction where it was clear how Bobby was mainly observing and moving in and out with ease made it work so well. In this production i was always left wondering "why is it staged like Bobbi is part of everything but she doesn't do or say anything... these scenes don't work as people hanging out". I don't agree about the book though. Even in the Doyle revival i remember laughing throughout thinking "this script is much fresher than I imagined it would be", it still somehow felt not-really-dated and funny. There are still people like these characters and even the pot smoking scene, when played right and directed properly and with a sensitively to how it can come off, doesn't seem at all unreal or stale. And if they would just update Karate to any number of other newer trendy things like, there'd be little to say about it. But the scene itself still works for me. I truly think the way Company would work now is with a gay male Bobby and all or mostly gay male couples. Gay men now are where straight men were in 1969, especially with marriage and commitment and sex. Every level of it clicks for that life, and for straight people in "now" (fill in the year) or a woman (which the show was clearly not actually written to be about), there are tons of concessions and compromises that have to be made with the text... none really for a gay version. Not to mention that it was written and conceived entirely by gay men, so I think whether we choose to acknowledge it or not that layer is and always has been there in the writing. And every scene and character plays with a corresponding gay person or couple I know. It's a shame Sondheim has never said yes to it, but maybe he will before he dies now that the female Bobbi has been allowed. |
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| Previous: | LOL. - portenopete 07:36 pm EST 02/19/19 |
| Next: | re: Here! Here! - Chromolume 04:53 pm EST 02/18/19 |
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