Glad to read the review. I’m excited to see it tonight.
I think the original Giradoux itself leans to the wayward, fey, and all-too-whimsical for its own good. But there was a time when a story about the glories of madness had cachet in and of itself (cf., movies like King of Hearts, A Thousand Clowns, Harold and Maude).
The score is grand.
I’m surprised no notice was taken of Irma, who is given a terrific song.
Oh well. (There’s a videoclip of Ms Lansbury talking about the experience. She says she thinks it flopped because the audience was expecting her to be Mame and were disgruntled. She also says that she had learned a lot from Don Pippin by that point, and that her voice had never been stronger or more supple than in this show.)
Revisions, revisions.
I still have my fingers crossed that the revision of CAMELOT doesn’t make prosaic the inspiration of it. (The movie is such a poor, distended version with Redgrave waltzing away with the picture, which is wrong.). Like ‘Madwoman,’ Camelot has a very special style too, a magical one, and, from the remarks I see on the other board about the previews and the set, and from how Sorkin’s ‘Mockingbird’ adaptation undermined Atticus Finch’s heroism, I’m wary. |
