| I never saw Inherit the Wind onstage till the production with Plummer and Dennehy. When I saw it, I was surprised that Mrs. Brady is really a nothing role in the play. I had noticed this long ago in the TV film with Jason Robards and Kirk Douglas, with Jean Simmons as Mrs. Brady, but I figured they must have cut stuff to fit it into a two-hour time slot with commercials. The screenplay for the Kramer theatrical film made some very good changes to the play, including some major and extremely helpful additional material for Mrs. Brady. I think that no matter how good a stage production of the original script may be, no stage production will ever equal the film, not just because the casting is so brilliant but also because of the additions to the script. I suppose that when both the play and the film are out of copyright, the film material will be added to some productions. Of course, it may already have been illegally added to some productions. |
