"The reason I didn't love it was that while the world of Runyon is populated by larger than life characters that can border on cartoonish, there is an earthiness to the characters. I didn't think anyone in the Lane revival seemed anything besides cartoony. Which makes the audience not really care about the characters."
I know what you mean, and I would say that's probably largely due to the style of Jerry Zaks' direction in general, and of that show in particular. I also think that, despite whatever its flaws may be, the movie version of GUYS AND DOLLS in that all, or almost all, of the actors create vivid characters without cartoonish exaggeration, including Stubby Kaye, Johnny Silver, Sheldon Leonard, et al. I would say there's even a lot of subtlety in the performance of B.S. Pully, who plays Big Jule. |
