Stage on Screen
Does anyone remember this? It was a PBS thing where they actually filmed the stage productions of shows.
The two I remember were 'The Women' hosted by Jason Alexander and 'The Man Who Came to Dinner' hosted by Natasha Richardson and Liam Nelson.
They were lush beautiful productions.
Clare Boothe Luce's play is remarkable for it's cutting wit and the sound of the dialogue is nothing short of poetic. Revolutionary, especially for it's time (1936), with an all female cast it made a splash on it's first Broadway run - 666 performances. I love this play. Hten again, I do like just about all manner of 'comedy of manners' plays (the 'Importance of Being Ernest' would be another favorite), which this is.
It's also been picked up by Hollywood a couple of times. The first is a classic black and white made in the heyday of the Hays code and, as such, had some of the dialogue rewritten (which would have happened anyway) to get rid of the naughty words (and stage directions!). It also stared three of the most divine ladies of Hollywood: Norma Shearer, Joan Crawford and Rosalind Russel and is worth checking out. The second...sucked. It could have been good, I was looking forward to it being good and then it...took all of the strength and wit and charm of the original source material and made it suck.
But the stage on screen version is still my favorite. The timing is impeccable, the lines delivered with the right tone and inflection, the stage design was...remarkably elaborate and the costumes...pretty, pretty women in pretty, pretty outfits.
It works as a period piece and it would even work updated slightly (well, some scenes such as the running away to Reno to get a divorce wouldn't but dear goodness, just call it an alternate reality and get on with making a modern one that doesn't SUCK)
'The Man Who Came to Dinner' on the other hand...Kaufman and Hart wrote it and the main character is based on Alexander Woollcott, a noted critic and radio personality. Though they had intended Woollcott to play the role of Sheridan Whiteside, he couldn't in the original Broadway run (he later played the role on the West coast in a production that also had Harpo Marx playing a character based off of him, cool huh)
So you already have a play written by two of Broadway's finest based off of real people who, they themselves, are real characters. It's also been adapted to the silver screen as well as radio. As I have not seen the movie version and only heard one of the radio versions I can't really give my opinion on any of them, so I won't.
As for the stage on screen version - Nathan Lane in a role that allows him to be snarky and sarcastic surrounded by a cast that does what they do so damned well it's scary. It's one of those pieces where everyone works right. No one thing elevates above anything else. A cast of professionals that you, damn it, like seeing. The set and costumes was lush and richly saturated with color which is perfect in this notable period satirical piece. Could it have been better? Possibly. I'll let you know when I review other versions. Unfortunately, it would not work in an updated world. It relys too much on certain historical absolutes. But give it a few years and I could possibly see an updated version with a web-personality instead of a radio one. I'm not sure that it would work...but I can slightly see it as a possibility.
SO why have I spent so long talking about this? Well, the first reason is that I like the plays. The second is that I want a copy of the stage on screen versions.
And I just wanted to share that.
The two I remember were 'The Women' hosted by Jason Alexander and 'The Man Who Came to Dinner' hosted by Natasha Richardson and Liam Nelson.
They were lush beautiful productions.
Clare Boothe Luce's play is remarkable for it's cutting wit and the sound of the dialogue is nothing short of poetic. Revolutionary, especially for it's time (1936), with an all female cast it made a splash on it's first Broadway run - 666 performances. I love this play. Hten again, I do like just about all manner of 'comedy of manners' plays (the 'Importance of Being Ernest' would be another favorite), which this is.
It's also been picked up by Hollywood a couple of times. The first is a classic black and white made in the heyday of the Hays code and, as such, had some of the dialogue rewritten (which would have happened anyway) to get rid of the naughty words (and stage directions!). It also stared three of the most divine ladies of Hollywood: Norma Shearer, Joan Crawford and Rosalind Russel and is worth checking out. The second...sucked. It could have been good, I was looking forward to it being good and then it...took all of the strength and wit and charm of the original source material and made it suck.
But the stage on screen version is still my favorite. The timing is impeccable, the lines delivered with the right tone and inflection, the stage design was...remarkably elaborate and the costumes...pretty, pretty women in pretty, pretty outfits.
It works as a period piece and it would even work updated slightly (well, some scenes such as the running away to Reno to get a divorce wouldn't but dear goodness, just call it an alternate reality and get on with making a modern one that doesn't SUCK)
'The Man Who Came to Dinner' on the other hand...Kaufman and Hart wrote it and the main character is based on Alexander Woollcott, a noted critic and radio personality. Though they had intended Woollcott to play the role of Sheridan Whiteside, he couldn't in the original Broadway run (he later played the role on the West coast in a production that also had Harpo Marx playing a character based off of him, cool huh)
So you already have a play written by two of Broadway's finest based off of real people who, they themselves, are real characters. It's also been adapted to the silver screen as well as radio. As I have not seen the movie version and only heard one of the radio versions I can't really give my opinion on any of them, so I won't.
As for the stage on screen version - Nathan Lane in a role that allows him to be snarky and sarcastic surrounded by a cast that does what they do so damned well it's scary. It's one of those pieces where everyone works right. No one thing elevates above anything else. A cast of professionals that you, damn it, like seeing. The set and costumes was lush and richly saturated with color which is perfect in this notable period satirical piece. Could it have been better? Possibly. I'll let you know when I review other versions. Unfortunately, it would not work in an updated world. It relys too much on certain historical absolutes. But give it a few years and I could possibly see an updated version with a web-personality instead of a radio one. I'm not sure that it would work...but I can slightly see it as a possibility.
SO why have I spent so long talking about this? Well, the first reason is that I like the plays. The second is that I want a copy of the stage on screen versions.
And I just wanted to share that.