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| re: Spoiler (sort of) | |
| Posted by: Delvino 08:18 pm EST 11/25/22 | |
| In reply to: Spoiler (sort of) - AlanScott 07:50 pm EST 11/25/22 | |
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| The role is sometimes indifferently cast, age ignored, rendering the revealed connection among the characters as ludicrous. The character of Molly, sometimes cast too young, creates the same problem. I’ve seen productions ignore the backstory demands thus and end up head scratchers. | |
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| The whole thing is a headscratcher | |
| Posted by: aleck 08:51 pm EST 11/25/22 | |
| In reply to: re: Spoiler (sort of) - Delvino 08:18 pm EST 11/25/22 | |
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| But the two times I saw it, the audience had a good time. But I don't recall the detective's age being such an important thing. I remember that he was bearded. That said, Richard Attenborough originated the role and he was about 30 at the time. Isn't 50 the new 30? | |
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| re: The whole thing is a headscratcher (major spoilers) | |
| Last Edit: AlanScott 03:59 am EST 11/26/22 | |
| Posted by: AlanScott 03:58 am EST 11/26/22 | |
| In reply to: The whole thing is a headscratcher - aleck 08:51 pm EST 11/25/22 | |
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| Attenborough was 29, and judging by photos, had not yet entered premature middle-age. Daniel Craig is 54. Mrs. Boyle remarks that Trotter is rather young to be a sergeant. When filling in the guests on the backstory, Trotter says that the older boy would be around 22 now. As Delvino points out, the ages of Miss Caswell and Molly must move upward if he doesn't appear to be in his early 20s. The backstory involving the three of them, as well as Mrs. Boyle, is not supposed to have happened all that many years ago. They can adjust some things in the script, but if the actor can't appear early 20s, well, I think it hurts the play. I like the play. |
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| re: The whole thing is a headscratcher (major spoilers) | |
| Last Edit: Delvino 09:58 am EST 11/26/22 | |
| Posted by: Delvino 09:57 am EST 11/26/22 | |
| In reply to: re: The whole thing is a headscratcher (major spoilers) - AlanScott 03:58 am EST 11/26/22 | |
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| I like it, too. Full disclosure: I played Giles in community theater when I was 20, and I'm not an actor. It's the one almost thankless role, with one big scene when he attacks his wife with over-the-top suspicion. Otherwise, he has little to do. I remember trying to make everyone think I was the killer with my unbridled rage. Once again, I'm not an actor, but I wore turtlenecks and a Norfolk jacket and looked cute on stage. | |
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| re: The whole thing is a headscratcher (major spoilers) | |
| Last Edit: JereNYC 08:15 pm EST 11/27/22 | |
| Posted by: JereNYC (JereNYC@aol.com) 08:05 pm EST 11/27/22 | |
| In reply to: re: The whole thing is a headscratcher (major spoilers) - Delvino 09:57 am EST 11/26/22 | |
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| I played Christopher many years ago and I remember the actor who played Giles in our production had many of the same issues that you did. He specifically couldn't really find a way to reconcile Giles looking down his nose at Christopher on the assumption that Christopher is a homosexual and then, later in the play, accusing his wife of having an affair with this same character. Either you think he's gay or you think he's sleeping with you wife...pick one, Giles, and stick with it. All of this is just to make the character seem like a factor in the mystery and, as you say, make him a viable suspect. Otherwise, he's just the nice guy husband with no involvement in anything that's going on. I found the Christopher character to be challenging because Christie introduces a lot of ideas and possibilities about him only to follow through on none of it and leave the character a complete cypher. In the text, he never even appears in the final scene when the killer is unmasked. He just exits at one point and is never heard from again. The play has plot holes you could drive a train through, so it really has to be played as quickly paced as possible to keep the audience from thinking about anything too hard or for too long. One other note...in our production the director cast the detective with a female actor and that not only worked, but drew out the suspense in the final scene in ways that we weren't anticipating. Nothing was changed in the text except pronouns. I remember one funny incident that happened on stage during one of our performances. The actress playing the detective has gathered the entire cast on stage earlier on in the play to speechify, in this case to explain her presence at the inn and give a little back story that will be relevant later on. Well, the actress went up on her lines this particular night at got stuck in a loop and wasn't sure how to get out of it. Now, normally, someone else might've jumped in to help get her back on track, but, in this case, the character is talking about things that none of the rest of the characters should have any knowledge of...so all we could do it is look around the stage at each other with pleading in our eyes hoping that someone else might have a bright idea about what to do to help our poor, hapless castmate. After what seemed like an eternity, the actress pulled herself out of the loop she was in and was able to go forward with where she needed to be and the colletive sigh of relief on the stage was palpable. |
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| If Mrs. Paroo can have a 47-year-old daughter and a 10-year-old son, why not? | |
| Posted by: aleck 06:29 am EST 11/26/22 | |
| In reply to: re: The whole thing is a headscratcher (major spoilers) - AlanScott 03:58 am EST 11/26/22 | |
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| The only way I can figure this is that Mrs. Paroo was about 14 or so when she got pregnant back in Ireland (raped by a priest?) and birthed Marion at age 15 or so. Then, at age 52 or so birthed Winthrop. I don't think there were many in vitro procedures in Iowa in the early days of the 20th century, but maybe a star in the east appeared in the sky. This is a highly dubious scenario, but thousands of people are buying it at the Winter Garden -- and paying a high price to do so. Broadway has certainly become colorblind, genderblind and, in the case of Sutton Foster, ageblind. The producers of this announced production of The Mousetrap will have to scramble things up to spark interest in this creaky play. I think you better brace yourself for some highly unorthodox casting and script manipulation. Think back to that last Inspector Calls revival and the multiple the derivations taken with that original script and multiply that by about four. |
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| re: If Mrs. Paroo can have a 47-year-old daughter and a 10-year-old son, why not? | |
| Posted by: AlanScott 08:49 am EST 11/26/22 | |
| In reply to: If Mrs. Paroo can have a 47-year-old daughter and a 10-year-old son, why not? - aleck 06:29 am EST 11/26/22 | |
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| LOL. Actually, the original published scripts suggests that Mrs. Paroo was around 14 when she gave birth to Marian. (I've mentioned this here several times.) Mrs. Paroo is described as being around 40 in the stage directions. No age is given for Marian, but Harold guesses that she is around 26. How about Victor Garber for Trotter, Nathan Lane for Christopher Wren, Len Cariou for Giles, Anita Gillette for Molly, Penny Fuller for Miss Caswell, Frank Langella for Paravicini, Bambi Linn for Mrs. Boyle, and John Cullum for Major Metcalf. :) |
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| In the Times today | |
| Posted by: aleck 09:08 am EST 11/26/22 | |
| In reply to: re: If Mrs. Paroo can have a 47-year-old daughter and a 10-year-old son, why not? - AlanScott 08:49 am EST 11/26/22 | |
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| According to today's Times article about this upcoming production, the producers claim they will reproduce the West End production exactly. Well, good luck with that. Based on what I saw a few years ago, an exact reproduction will give all who missed Moose Murders a chance for witnessing a stage murder mystery catastrophe. Your dream cast seems just about right. All performed with walkers or in wheelchairs. Or as an alternative: Paging Sam Gold! |
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| re: The whole thing is a headscratcher | |
| Posted by: Delvino 09:14 pm EST 11/25/22 | |
| In reply to: The whole thing is a headscratcher - aleck 08:51 pm EST 11/25/22 | |
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| That makes Molly … 65-70, but why not? A post war newlywed. | |
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