Sunday, October 26, 2008

Sunday Funday

The original Broadway cast album for today:


Posted by Kevin Daly at 9:15 AM
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6 comments:

Esther said...

I've never seen this movie. I think I should go put it in my Netflix queue immediately!

October 26, 2008 at 6:39 PM
paul said...

I once owned this album and let me tell you that there never was a better Albee actress than Uta Hagen. It takes a special actress to interpret Albee's lines. Another great actress is Kate Reid. Just watch her in "A Delicate Balance," Available, thank goodness, on DVD.

October 27, 2008 at 9:13 AM
Sarah B. Roberts said...

Esther, don't rent the movie until you've listened to this and read the original play. It's really quite different. The movie is good but is almost cartoonish in comparison. Albee said that Richard and Liz were good but were miscast based on their age. Also he didn't like the background music dramatization because it sentimentalized it. I saw the revival with Kathleen Turner and Bill Irwin and I have rarely been as transported by a play as I was that on that Sunday matinee.

I definitely agree about Kate Reid. The film of "A Delicate Balance" is brilliant and is straight from the play - I read along. I wish they had used the original Broadway cast, but you can't mess with Katharine Hepburn.

October 28, 2008 at 11:02 AM
Kevin Daly said...

If I had that proverbial time machine, the original production is one which I would love to go and see. Uta Hagen is sublime as Martha - finally a chance to put some sort of concrete evidence to the hype surrounding her gifts as a stage performer. I cannot believe that Melinda Dillon is 69 this year!

I have to agree with Sarah about the film version. I saw it first, and it actually confused me - especially in terms of Honey, a character who makes oh so much more sense when you're seeing it live. I saw the Irwin-Turner revival twice, including the closing performance where I actually got Albee's autograph.

"...Virginia Woolf?" remains one of my all-time favorite plays.

October 28, 2008 at 2:07 PM
Kevin Daly said...

PS, Did you know that Kate Reid was the matinee alternate for Martha in the original production?

October 28, 2008 at 3:24 PM
paul said...

I was surprised to learn that Kate Reid was the alternate for Martha. I always thought that it was Haila Stoddard. In the past, I always disdained the Taylor-Burton version, but after seeing the Turner version, I changed my mind. As I said previously, it takes a special actress to interpret Albee. There must be a little comedy and in line delivery Taylor had it, Turner did not.

October 29, 2008 at 9:07 AM

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