Skip to main content

Patti LuPone: "Les Miserables"

Some thoughts about British musicals; I'm borrowing from a new book, "When the British Musical Ruled the World."


*Decades ago, a French writer went to see a revival of "Oliver!" He made note of Mr. Bumble, Bill Sykes, Nancy, Fagin. Suddenly, major French characters began dancing around in his head--Gavroche, Eponine, Valjean. He had a vision; he could no longer concentrate on "Oliver!" This is why we now have a musical version of "Les Miserables."


*The big "Miss Saigon" showdown centered on Jonathan Pryce. Actors were (understandably) furious that a white British man would be traveling to America to play an Asian character. In London, Pryce actually wore prosthetics and bronzer to "look Asian." The producers observed that the Pryce character was only half-Asian--and some wondered if this was a cynical move to make Pryce's casting seem more palatable. (Not a great move, in any case. Imagine if someone chose Norbert Leo Butz to play Barack Obama in a musical. "The character is half-white!")

*The people behind "Chess" were really angry about Frank Rich. There was speculation that Rich had blinding, irrational hatred for all British mega-musicals. He could not "kill" the ALW works ("Evita," "Cats") because they were just too popular. But he knew that "Chess" was vulnerable, so he wrote an especially vicious review to help send "Chess" toward a speedy death. I'm not sure about all of this. Maybe "Chess" is just very, very bad.

*The idea in "Les Miserables" was that several main actors would double as revolutionary fighters. If your final solo happens in Act One, then you can expect to spend Act Two as a faceless singer on the barricade. Patti LuPone hated this; also, she was missing her boyfriend, who was living his own life back in America. Patti became teary in rehearsals--and she insisted she would not spend any time on the barricade. She lost this battle. You could see her holding a gun, or a knife, in the shadows, somewhere around the nineteenth hour of the show, perhaps before "Bring Him Home."

*The first "Cats" production allowed the actors to be human. You never doubted they were human; they were stylized approximations of cats. The makeup was simple and abstract. The touch was light, as in Julie Taymor's "The Lion King." It's only in recent years that directors have tried hard to persuade you that you're watching actual cats. (That's certainly the idea in the recent movie.) One theory behind the decline in this show's popularity is that people are forgetting to make a show about people....People now have a silly idea that they are making a show about cats.

That's all for now. Happy weekend!

Comments

Popular posts from this blog

How to Host a Baby

-You have assumed responsibility for a mewling, puking ball of life, a yellow-lab pup. He will spit his half-digested kibble all over your shoes, all over your hard-cover edition of Jennifer Haigh's novel  Faith . He will eat your tables, your chairs, your "I {Heart] Montessori" magnet, placed too low on the fridge. When you try to watch Bette Davis in  Hush Hush Sweet Charlotte , on your TV, your dog will bark through the murder-prologue, for no apparent reason. He will whimper through Lena Dunham's  Girls , such that you have to rewind several times to catch every nuance of Andrew Rannells's ad-libbing--and, still, you'll have a nagging suspicion you've missed something. Your dog will poop on the kitchen floor, in the hallway, between the tiny bars of his crate. He'll announce his wakefulness at 5 AM, 2 AM, or while you and another human are mid-coitus. All this, and you get outside, and it's: "Don't let him pee on my tulips!" When...

Joshie

  When I was growing up, a class birthday involved Hostess cupcakes. Often, the cupcakes would come in a shoebox, so you could taste a leathery residue (during the party). Times change. You can't bring a treat into a public school, in 2024, because heaven knows what kind of allergies might lurk, in unseen corners, in the classroom. But Joshua's teacher will allow: a dance party, a pajama day, or a guest reader. I chose to bring a story for Joshua's birthday (observed), but I didn't think through the role that anxiety might play in this interaction. We talk, in this house, quite a bit about anxiety; one game-changer, for J, has been a daily list of activities, so that he knows exactly what to expect. He gets a look of profound satisfaction when he sees the agenda; it doesn't really matter what the specific events happen to be. It's just about knowing, "I can anticipate X, Y, and Z." Joshua struggled with his celebration. He wore his nervousness on his f...

Josh at Five

 Joshie's project is "flexibility"; the goal is to see that a plan is just an idea, not a gospel, not a guarantee. This is difficult. Yesterday, we went to a restaurant--billed as "open," with unlocked doors--and the owner informed us of an "error in advertising." But Joshie couldn't accept the word "closed." He threw himself on the floor, then climbed on the furniture. I felt for the owner, until he nervously made a reference to "the glass windows." He imagined that my child might toss himself through a sealed window, like Mary Katherine Gallagher, or like Bruce Willis, in "Die Hard." Then--thank the Lord!--I was able to laugh. The thing that really has therapeutic value for Joshie is: a firetruck. If we are out in public, and he spots a parked truck, he wants to climb on each surface. He breathlessly alludes to the wheels, the door, the windows. If an actual fire station ("fire ocean," in Joshie's parla...