Slog - Comments on Everybody Loves Bartlett http://slog.thestranger.com/2008/04/everybody_loves_bartlett Critics high and low are going all squishy and gushy about the new Broadway revival of South Pacific (which opened at the Lincoln Center on April 3). And they're giving special rose-petal-and-champagne showers to director Bartlett Sher, who will most certainly be nominated again for a directing Tony (to add to his previous nominations for Piazza and Awake and Sing). John Lahr, practicing restrained enthusiasm in The New Yorker: Under the elegant, astute direction of Bartlett Sher, Lincoln Center’s revival—the first on Broadway since the show’s début—is a majestic spectacle. Conjured by Michael Yeargan’s superb sets and Donald Holder’s... Copyright 2008 Tue, 08 Apr 2008 12:17:24 -0800 Tue, 08 Apr 2008 20:53:02 -0800 http://www.movabletype.org/?v=3.34 http://blogs.law.harvard.edu/tech/rss Comment by Michigan Matt I SO cannot wait to see this production. Can. Not. Wait.

]]> Michigan Matt http://slog.thestranger.com/2008/04/everybody_loves_bartlett#c993116 http://slog.thestranger.com/2008/04/everybody_loves_bartlett#c993116 Theater Tue, 08 Apr 2008 12:23:59 -0800 Comment by michael strangeways wow...didn't know Rajkhet Dirzhud-Rashid was writing over at Modern Fabulosity.

scary.

]]> michael strangeways http://slog.thestranger.com/2008/04/everybody_loves_bartlett#c993149 http://slog.thestranger.com/2008/04/everybody_loves_bartlett#c993149 Theater Tue, 08 Apr 2008 12:39:00 -0800 Comment by Roscoe It wasn't John Lahr getting swoony in the New York Times, it was Ben Brantley.

]]> Roscoe http://slog.thestranger.com/2008/04/everybody_loves_bartlett#c993152 http://slog.thestranger.com/2008/04/everybody_loves_bartlett#c993152 Theater Tue, 08 Apr 2008 12:39:34 -0800 Comment by Bauhaus As I see it, the challenge of a revival lies in reproducing something in a such way that it emits a vibe of newness. And unlike the original 1949 production of SP, everyone walks into this one knowing what to expect.

SP is supposed to be jarring and the shaking commences in the form of social commentary. The original audience experienced that; this new audience cannot. It's far too jaded by assassinations, Selma, unpopular wars, Watergate, gay lib, and the women's movement to be shocked by and re-educated about biracial children or interracial marriage.

The best that this new audience can hope for is a refreshing take on a wonderful R&H period piece. It appears that's what they're getting.

That said - is there anything better than Rodgers and Hart/Hammerstein?

]]> Bauhaus http://slog.thestranger.com/2008/04/everybody_loves_bartlett#c993175 http://slog.thestranger.com/2008/04/everybody_loves_bartlett#c993175 Theater Tue, 08 Apr 2008 12:52:38 -0800 Comment by Brendan Kiley Thanks, Roscoe. That's what I get for a bad cut and paste job without previewing my post.

]]> Brendan Kiley http://slog.thestranger.com/2008/04/everybody_loves_bartlett#c993179 http://slog.thestranger.com/2008/04/everybody_loves_bartlett#c993179 Theater Tue, 08 Apr 2008 12:56:40 -0800 Comment by Greg So, uh, is our boy Bart going to ever produce a full-on play at Intiman again? Because the one-man show Namaste Man is not going to cut it.

]]> Greg http://slog.thestranger.com/2008/04/everybody_loves_bartlett#c993234 http://slog.thestranger.com/2008/04/everybody_loves_bartlett#c993234 Theater Tue, 08 Apr 2008 13:34:47 -0800 Comment by Simac Dare I say what so many think: Broadway-style musicals are insipid, emotionally vacant, and uncompelling as art. And I say that as a gay man.

]]> Simac http://slog.thestranger.com/2008/04/everybody_loves_bartlett#c993248 http://slog.thestranger.com/2008/04/everybody_loves_bartlett#c993248 Theater Tue, 08 Apr 2008 13:44:11 -0800 Comment by Clearlyhere I would like to see the modern take of the show. I find it a little too stand there and sing then let's talk to consider it a great musical. Maybe I need to see this production to change my mind.

Loved Kelly O'Hara's interview on NPR, when she said that the naked prejudice she has to portray on stage makes her want to take a shower.

Good stuff

]]> Clearlyhere http://slog.thestranger.com/2008/04/everybody_loves_bartlett#c993313 http://slog.thestranger.com/2008/04/everybody_loves_bartlett#c993313 Theater Tue, 08 Apr 2008 14:28:36 -0800 Comment by halle fucking lujah @7 - I had no idea there was even one other fag who felt the way I do. I about threw up when a friend dragged me to 42nd Street a few years ago. I'd rather be fileted alive. It is disheartening to look at the listings for New York, and even worse, London, and see that it's mostly revival musical SHIT. There was a time you could go see great actors ripping each other to pieces on stage, now that's entertainment

]]> halle fucking lujah http://slog.thestranger.com/2008/04/everybody_loves_bartlett#c993374 http://slog.thestranger.com/2008/04/everybody_loves_bartlett#c993374 Theater Tue, 08 Apr 2008 15:32:09 -0800 Comment by Joe Adcock's Opposing Adjectives What? No scene where, for no reason whatsoever the sea-bees push a large deep-freeze across the stage?

Sounds to me like ole Bart is slipping...

]]> Joe Adcock's Opposing Adjectives http://slog.thestranger.com/2008/04/everybody_loves_bartlett#c993595 http://slog.thestranger.com/2008/04/everybody_loves_bartlett#c993595 Theater Tue, 08 Apr 2008 20:40:17 -0800 Comment by Bauhaus OK - let's put the show tunes thing to rest. All gay men aren't into Broadway. And to believe that they are is to call attention to oneself as being limited. But like Mel Brooks said in "To Be or Not To Be" when a Nazi told him of the plan to rid the Polish theater of gypsies and fags, "What?" he said, "Without gypsies and fags, there is no theater!"

Many gay men can survive quite well without musicals, but no musical can survive without gay men.

]]> Bauhaus http://slog.thestranger.com/2008/04/everybody_loves_bartlett#c993602 http://slog.thestranger.com/2008/04/everybody_loves_bartlett#c993602 Theater Tue, 08 Apr 2008 20:53:02 -0800