Stephen Sondheim Slams Creative Team of New Porgy and Bess 
Remind me to never, ever make him angry.
But he uses the phrase fuddy-duddy. I’m obsessed.
Oh fuck.
THIS IS A CRISIS OF THE GODS.
But seriously though, in my own littler universe, Sondheim and McDonald are co-gods.
THERE IS NO DRILL FOR WHEN YOUR BIGGEST THEATRICAL INSPIRATIONS CLASH
ABORT MISSION
I have second-hand embarrassment for the creative team and cast, because it’s pretty much the equivalent of God coming down and telling you you’re doing it wrong and need to stop. Mortifying.
I just imagine him sitting in a gigantic throne, flanked by Bernadette and Patti, and all he says is a booming “NO”.
I’m pretty sure everyone in creative has crawled into hovels by now. Hell, I think I would too.
The cast is what really excited me about this production. When I heard that they were interpreting it to be more musical theatre and less operetta, I was extremely skeptical but still excited to hear that it was being brought to Broadway after its ART run. Now, I hear all of Sondheim’s points and the actual name of the production (What is going on there?) and am kind of disappointed. I’m still thrilled to hear Norm Lewis and Audra McDonald in these roles, but if it’s not in the right production, I feel as if it’s diminishing the potential of their performances.
Wow. Just, wow. Awkward. I’m glad he still respects Norm and Audra to think so highly of their abilities to perform these iconic character, but still passionately agrees with the vision of the production. But whew, I totally agree with what givesmevoice said.
Ouch. I really didn’t realize all of the changes that the show is going through until I read this (and I do agree with Sondheim about the negative changes), and I can definitely see where he is coming from though. But I do feel embarrassed for the cast and creative team, especially Norm and Audra.
Some of these changes might be negative but…this is what ART does (Lizzie? Lilla? One of you knew a lot more about this). So I say reserve judgement until after people have actually seen this (I don’t know much about show and I realize some of these changes sound not good but still).
I think this is the take away point: “but there is a difference between reinterpretation and wholesale rewriting.”
Changing the fucking ending? Of Porgy and Bess? One of the great tragedies? That would be like someone changing the ending of “Romeo and Juliet” and saying they understand that Shakespeare would have come around and re-written it eventually to increase audience satisfaction.* As a lover of great tragedies, I’m pissed.
* Note: plenty of people have used the bare bones of Romeo and Juliet to create their own stories inspired by that show that work out happily, but they don’t still call them “William Shakespeare’s Romeo and Juliet.”
(via koolaidmoustache)
