Archives for September 2011

Few letters to the editor have stirred up as big a fuss as the one that Stephen Sondheim sent to the New York Times apropos of American Repertory Theater’s new production of Porgy and Bess. In my “Sightings” column for today’s Journal, I talk about that fuss and the reasons for it. Here’s an excerpt.
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Stephen Sondheim pulled the pin on a jumbo hand grenade when he sent a letter to the New York Times last month in which he took issue with American Repertory Theater’s Broadway-bound production of “Porgy and Bess,” which opened this week in Cambridge, Mass. To be sure, Mr. Sondheim hadn’t actually seen the show, but that didn’t stop him from blasting the “arrogance” of Diane Paulus, the show’s director, and Suzan-Lori Parks, a Pulitzer-winning playwright who has done what by all accounts is a drastic rewrite job on the book.
What made Mr. Sondheim’s letter possible was the fact that the creators of the new version had already discussed it at length with reporters. As Ms. Paulus explained to Playbill, their purpose in rewriting DuBose Heyward’s libretto was “to strengthen the piece dramatically….filling out what’s never been explored, taking the characters steps further, completing them, fully realizing them.” Given the fact that “Porgy and Bess” has a long and hugely successful production history, it may come as a surprise to its admirers that it requires strengthening. It certainly surprised Mr. Sondheim: “Ms. Paulus says that in the opera you don’t get to know the characters as people. Putting it kindly, that’s willful ignorance. These characters are as vivid as any ever created for the musical theater, as has been proved over and over in productions that may have cut some dialogue and musical passages but didn’t rewrite and distort them.”
The new “Porgy” is a work in progress that will continue to be revised between now and January, when it’s scheduled to open on Broadway. For this reason, the Journal has decided not to review the show until then, just as we chose not to review “Spider-Man: Turn Off the Dark” while it was still in previews. That said, Mr. Sondheim’s letter set me to thinking about how and why the great Broadway musicals of the past have been revised after the fact.
Rightly or wrongly, it’s become customary for a musical to undergo a fair amount of tinkering prior to being revived on Broadway. The score is usually reorchestrated for today’s smaller pit bands, and it’s equally common for the book to be revised. In most cases the goal of these latter revisions is to make the show more accessible to modern audiences…
“Music has a face: leave it alone. If you don’t like it, don’t play it; but don’t change it.” So said Paul Hindemith, one of the 20th century’s foremost classical composers. That’s what I think, too—up to a point….
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Read the whole thing here.

“It is amazing how complete is the delusion that beauty is goodness.”
Leo Tolstoy, The Kreutzer Sonata

Here’s my list of recommended Broadway, off-Broadway, and out-of-town shows, updated weekly. In all cases, I gave these shows favorable reviews (if sometimes qualifiedly so) in The Wall Street Journal when they opened. For more information, click on the title.

BROADWAY:

• Anything Goes (musical, G/PG-13, mildly adult subject matter that will be unintelligible to children, closes Jan. 8, all performances sold out last week, reviewed here)

• How to Succeed in Business Without Really Trying (musical, G/PG-13, perfectly fine for children whose parents aren’t actively prudish, all performances sold out last week, reviewed here)

OFF BROADWAY:

• Avenue Q (musical, R, adult subject matter and one show-stopping scene of puppet-on-puppet sex, reviewed here)

• The Fantasticks (musical, G, suitable for children capable of enjoying a love story, reviewed here)

• Million Dollar Quartet (jukebox musical, G, off-Broadway remounting of Broadway production, original run reviewed here)

IN ASHLAND, ORE.:

• Julius Caesar (Shakespeare, PG-13, closes Nov. 6, reviewed here)

• Measure for Measure (Shakespeare, PG-13, closes Nov. 6, reviewed here)

• The Pirates of Penzance (operetta, G, suitable for children, closes Oct. 8, reviewed here)

IN WASHINGTON, D.C.:

• Oklahoma! (musical, G, remounting of 2010 production, suitable for children, closes Oct. 2, original run reviewed here)

CLOSING SOON IN EAST HADDAM, CONN.:

• Show Boat (musical, G, suitable for bright children, closes Sept. 17, reviewed here)

CLOSING SATURDAY IN GARRISON, N.Y.:

• Hamlet (Shakespeare, PG-13, reviewed here)

CLOSING SATURDAY IN LENOX, MASS:

• Romeo and Juliet (Shakespeare, G/PG-13, violence and some adult subject matter, reviewed here)

CLOSING SUNDAY IN GARRISON, N.Y.:

• The Comedy of Errors (Shakespeare, PG-13, suitable for bright children, closes Sept. 4, reviewed here)

CLOSING SUNDAY IN LENOX, MASS:

• As You Like It (Shakespeare, G/PG-13, reviewed here)

• The Memory of Water (serious comedy, PG-13, some adult subject matter, reviewed here)

CLOSING SUNDAY ON BROADWAY:

• Master Class (drama, G/PG-13, not suitable for children, most performances sold out last week, reviewed here)

“Beauty is nothing but the beginning of terror, which we still are just able to endure, and we are so awed because it serenely disdains to annihilate us. Every angel is terrifying.”
Rainer Maria Rilke, Duino Elegies