| re: Remembering Neil Simon's 'Broadway Bound' on Broadway ... but forgetting there was a TV movie | |
| Last Edit: AlanScott 05:02 am EST 01/03/25 | |
| Posted by: AlanScott 04:57 am EST 01/03/25 | |
| In reply to: Remembering Neil Simon's 'Broadway Bound' on Broadway ... but forgetting there was a TV movie - WaymanWong 12:44 am EST 01/03/25 | |
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| I remember it well. I recorded it on VHS and later transferred that to DVD. It had what I guess was an intentionally dull look. Not that I think they meant it to be dull. Just muted and hazy. It was a bad choice. I have wondered if it was just something about my reception, but what's on youtube looks pretty much like what I recorded. I always think that Bancroft was a great actress who somehow at some point lost her greatness. Although there were occasional exceptions, in her film and television performances after the mid-1970s, she often seems like a solid actress who works hard but lacks inspiration, unlike so many of her earlier performances. And that was true here. She just didn't seem to connect with Kate on a deep level. Hume Cronyn was about as Jewish as Ethel Merman bringing a ham sandwich to a seder at Jule Styne's home (which she supposedly did). That's not to say he gave a bad performance. He was a great actor and he gave a good performance, but it lacked something. Maybe John Randolph's size and power is what the role needs. Conversely, Jerry Orbach seemed too big for his role. On paper, he was excellent casting, but somehow it ended up not working out so well. Jonathan Silverman moved from Eugene to older brother Stanley. Corey Parker was Eugene. Of course, everyone in the cast was a good actor and theoretically right for their roles, but somehow it never took off. Maybe more rehearsal was needed, and a different look was definitely needed. Actually, one person did repeat her stage role: Marilyn Cooper as the voice of Mrs. Pitkin in the radio sketch by the brothers. At least they realized that she could not be improved upon. Cutting the script down to fit in a two-hour TV slot did not help. It certainly was a mistake not to hire Lavin, just as it was a mistake not to hire Tyne Daly for the TV Gypsy, although in both cases enough else was wrong that I'm not sure the ultimate results would have been all that much better. When people say that the film of Mame would have been so much better if Lansbury had played Mame, I always say, "It might have been somewhat better but there would have been a limit to how much better it would have been if everything else had been more or less the same. And even if Madeline Kahn played Agnes." On the other hand, maybe if Cukor had directed it, as originally intended, and with Lansbury, it might have been better, but then we look at Cukor's late films and . . . |
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