Saoirse Goes Broadway
-
the-spileys — 10 years ago(October 23, 2015 02:55 PM)
Unfortunately James was fired from Focus Features for being "too indie" with the indie arm of Universal and so now he is a lonely professor and occasional producer. As head of the studio, he was responsible for winning the bidding war over
Atonement
and for financially backing
Hanna
(Focus is a distributor primarily) ("The film was co-produced by the US Holleran Company and German Studio Babelsberg, with financial support from various German film funds and the main distributor, Focus Features, which holds the copyright to the film" -from Wiki), which, without his greenlight would've stalled the project which was time sensitive from the actress' age.
These are some films that he distributed as the head of Focus Features before his ousting:
Lost in Translation
21 Grams
Pride and Prejudice
Eastern Promises
Atonement
Milk
The Kids Are All Right
Jane Eyre
Hanna
Moonrise Kingdom
Dallas Buyers Club
If only his career could've lived to see
Brooklyn
, I'm sure he would've picked it up. And he certainly would've tried to pick up
The Grand Budapest Hotel
given his choice to win the bidding war over
Moonrise Kingdom
. But alas, those films have done fine/will do fine without his help though.
Hanna
may not have though.
Mitdnaairotciv -
mysteryfan — 10 years ago(August 09, 2015 09:15 PM)
Thanks for this information. So it will be for little while for her. I am excited for this. Hopefully, if someone on this board lives in NY can go to the play and give their review/opinion, it would be great.
-
jlent — 10 years ago(September 11, 2015 05:55 PM)
From the ticket site:
http://s1.ticketm.net/tm/en-us/dam/a/a18/ee372f70-acc6-424f-ba73-29a197e0fa18_29811_CUSTOM.jpg -
purple_lemon — 10 years ago(September 11, 2015 06:34 PM)
Suitably portentous. By the way if anyone is a fan of Sophie Okonedo I can recommend the tv mini-series of 'Oliver Twist' (2007) where she plays Nancy opposite Tom Hardy as Bill Sikes.
The Players of The Game are the scum of the earth. -
jlent — 10 years ago(September 12, 2015 07:52 AM)
scast, at first I thought I'd rather be more in the middle to get a complete view of the action without having to twist my neck. But then I thought, who am I kidding? I want to be able to see Saoirse's eyes up close in real life.
I am, however, now broke. I'll manage. -
jlent — 10 years ago(September 12, 2015 08:19 AM)
Can you imagine? I doubt he'll be there. Certainly he'll be there opening night but I can't imagine him at a matinee in the second month of the play's run.
The person I'm taking is adamant, however, that we wait by the stage door afterwards. She says she wants to take a photo of me with Saoirse. I'm resisting. I would be too uncomfortable worried Saoirse would be thinking, "who is this older man sidling up to me?" Maybe I'll be able to take a photo of my friend with her. -
peterquennell — 10 years ago(February 02, 2016 05:48 AM)
Stage door crowds now tend to be large and many who wait there dont even see the show, at least that night.
Our experience is that any actor in a success of a play loves this part as much as being on stage. UK and Irish actors in particular like hamming it up for the crowd. Adrenaline high.
They do dozens of selfies now. Have a Sharpie pen ready if you want your program signed. -
jlent — 10 years ago(September 12, 2015 01:46 PM)
It was tricky, but the site ended up sending me to different places.
This is it. Pick a date:
http://www.ticketmaster.com/The-Crucible-Ny-tickets/artist/2161375 -
DCI77 — 10 years ago(September 14, 2015 11:36 AM)
I'm late, obviously. Anyways
This is great news. Theater is a wonderful way to sharpen the acting chops, and with such magnificent material! (Arthur Miller is one of my favorite playwright and The Crucible one of my favorite plays.) Honestly, I'm more interested in how the director will inte5b4rpret the material than anyone who is cast here. It's just a nice plus that Saoirse's in it, and with the role of Abigail! The Crucible would draw crowds regardless of who stars in it.
But Broadway. [yawn] Not really impressive, really, when it comes to these straight-to-Broadway scenarios. There two ways a production gets to Broadway. (1) Big Musical, either straight-to or after a successful out-of-town tryout (gotta test the waters first if it's popular enough, and if the critics like it) and (2) cast established actors in a play, after all most tickets are bought by tourists, and stage producers are no different than movie producers when it comes to investing ones money in productions.
Straight to Broadway.. Wow!
Broadway, when it comes to straight-to transfers aren't really the "best of the best" nor does it necessarily mean anything. It's a business and the productions that get the Broadway feather are seen as moneymakers. (Producers would never cast an early twenty-something young Ann Hathaway in a one-woman show.) Plus, it's The Crucible performed by established actors that says Broadway. Arthur Miller's name + The Crucible says "transfer to Broadway" alone. If it were a new play, eh, less of chance for an automatic transfer, and if it premiered in NYC it'll be off-Broadway simply due to the fact that the material isn't well known. Without any established actors 2000it might even be done at an "off-off-Broadway" theater. And Broadway, nowadays, is more so a destination than anything else, and less of an actually standard. Film actors, especially established ones, if they're going to do stage, want the branding of Broadway. That's what Broadway, the name, really is: a brand.
What would be more impressive if it were a cast of mostly unknowns, and an established stage actor here or there, getting transferred to Broadway. An example would be Spring Awakening where it premiered off-Broadway, gained critical acclaim and then later transferred. The rest is history. In terms of a play, August: Osage Country that orignated in Chicago's Steppenwolf and later transferred to Broadway. The rest is history.
This production for The Crucible was packaged for the Broadway glitz. At least Tevi Gevinson is getting more stage roles, who's around Saoirse's age.
In saying that, I have a sibling who lives in Manhattan and one thing we both share is our interest in plays & musicals, so Manhattan is a toy store for him when it comes to this sort of stuff. When it opens I'll give him a heads-up that Miller's play is showing and hopefully he'll see it. If so, I'll ask for feedback on the production.
2015: Slow West, Brooklyn -
Steve7216 — 10 years ago(September 14, 2015 02:42 PM)
Thoughtful post DC. I'm pretty much unfamiliar with stage productions. Perhaps she needs to scratch an itch, or maybe she believes the experience will result in the betterment of her craft. Given the playwright and other experienced actors, don't you think her casting says a lot about how she is perceived by those who put this whole thing together?
BTW, what's your thinking/expectations about Brooklyn? Do you feel she had a legitimate chance to land an Oscar nod? -
jlent — 10 years ago(September 14, 2015 03:43 PM)
No one takes Broadway seriously for new plays. It's musicals and standards for the tourist crowd. I'm pleased Saoirse has enough clout to get as her first stage performance one of those tourist attractions. (Though The Book of Mormon is KILLER.)
Real work, in new plays, is being done off-Broadway and off-off Broadway, but that kind of theater is dying off for large audiences, the way classical music is. Look at movies from the 30's, 40's and 50's. So many of them were ABOUT Broadway. I'm thinking of All About Eve. But I'm also thinking of last year's Birdman.
The former was an ode to Broadway, the latter more of a requiem.
Writers would rather do screenplays now. -
peterquennell — 10 years ago(February 02, 2016 05:41 AM)
No one takes Broadway seriously for new plays. It's musicals and standards for the tourist crowd. I'm pleased Saoirse has enough clout to get as her first stage performance one of those tourist attractions. (Though The Book of Mormon is KILLER.)
Real work, in new plays, is being done off-Broadway and off-off Broadway, but that kind of theater is dying off for large audiences, the way classical music is.
Hmmmm. We average Broadway and ballet once a week and I'd say at least a 1/4 of what we see is new. What really happened is that demand expanded to average over 50,000 seats a night and so most of the big shows could cover their initial costs.
