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Terry Teachout on the arts in New York City

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Archives for January 26, 2017

Getting from stage to screen

January 26, 2017 by Terry Teachout

In this week’s Wall Street Journal “Sightings” column, I write about Fences and Manchester by the Sea, and what those two films teach us about the differences between writing for the stage and the screen. Here’s an excerpt.

* * *

Denzel Washington’s “Fences” and Kenneth Lonergan’s “Manchester by the Sea,” which both received best-picture Oscar nominations this week, have deep roots in live theater. “Fences,” of course, is the long-awaited screen version of August Wilson’s 1983 play. Not only did Wilson, who died almost 12 years ago, leave behind a draft of the script that has since been posthumously revised by Tony Kushner, but five cast members, including Mr. Washington (who doubled as the film’s director), Viola Davis and Stephen McKinley Henderson, starred together in the play’s 2010 Broadway revival. As for “Manchester by the Sea,” it was written and directed by Mr. Lonergan, whose “You Can Count on Me” and “Margaret” are among the finest films of the past quarter-century—yet Mr. Lonergan, like Wilson and Mr. Kushner, is also a playwright, one of the best we have.

None of this would have been stop-press news a generation ago. It used to be taken for granted that audiences across America would flock to big-screen versions of hit plays like “Who’s Afraid of Virginia Woolf?” and “The Odd Couple” that they weren’t able to see on stage. But times have changed, and while such major plays as “August: Osage County” and “Doubt” are still turned into films on occasion, it’s been years since any of them made more than a minor box-office splash.

Will “Fences” break that losing streak? Any director who seeks to turn a first-rate play into a movie of equal quality, after all, faces formidable obstacles going in, the biggest of which is that film, unlike live theater, is a fundamentally visual medium. A movie that is scrupulously faithful to the play on which it’s based can end up being visually unadventurous and stiff-jointed. If, on the other hand, the screenplay departs significantly from its source material, you may end up with a distortion, even a perversion, of what the playwright meant.

The problem with this argument is that many film critics wrongly elevate it to the status of an incontrovertible principle….

* * *

Read the whole thing here.

James Earl Jones and Courtney B. Vance perform a scene from the first Broadway production of August Wilson’s Fences, directed by Lloyd Richards, on the 1987 Tony Awards telecast:

Denzel Washington and Chris Chalk perform the same scene from the 2010 Broadway revival of Fences, directed by Kenny Leon:

The trailer for the 2016 film version of Fences, which opens with an excerpt from the same scene. The role of Washington’s younger son is played by Jovan Adepo:

So you want to see a show?

January 26, 2017 by Terry Teachout

Here’s my list of recommended Broadway, off-Broadway, and out-of-town shows, updated weekly. In all cases, I gave these shows favorable reviews (if sometimes qualifiedly so) in The Wall Street Journal when they opened. For more information, click on the title.

BROADWAY:
• Dear Evan Hansen (musical, PG-13, all shows sold out last week, reviewed here)
• Hamilton (musical, PG-13, Broadway transfer of off-Broadway production, all shows sold out last week, reviewed here)
• On Your Feet! (jukebox musical, G, some shows sold out last week, reviewed here)

OFF BROADWAY:
• The Fantasticks (musical, G, suitable for children capable of enjoying a love story, reviewed here)

IN PRINCETON, N.J.:
• Hamlet/Saint Joan (Shakespeare and Shaw, PG-13, remounting in rotating repertory of 2012 and 2013 off-Broadway productions, closes Feb. 12, original productions reviewed here and here)

CLOSING NEXT WEEK OFF BROADWAY:
• Finian’s Rainbow (small-scale musical revival, G, closes Jan. 29, reviewed here)

Almanac: Jacques Maritain on gratitude

January 26, 2017 by Terry Teachout

INK BOTTLE“Gratitude is the most exquisite form of courtesy.”

Jacques Maritain, Reflections on America

Terry Teachout

Terry Teachout, who writes this blog, is the drama critic of The Wall Street Journal and the critic-at-large of Commentary. In addition to his Wall Street Journal drama column and his monthly essays … [Read More...]

About

About “About Last Night”

This is a blog about the arts in New York City and the rest of America, written by Terry Teachout. Terry is a critic, biographer, playwright, director, librettist, recovering musician, and inveterate blogger. In addition to theater, he writes here and elsewhere about all of the other arts--books, … [Read More...]

About My Plays and Opera Libretti

Billy and Me, my second play, received its world premiere on December 8, 2017, at Palm Beach Dramaworks in West Palm Beach, Fla. Satchmo at the Waldorf, my first play, closed off Broadway at the Westside Theatre on June 29, 2014, after 18 previews and 136 performances. That production was directed … [Read More...]

About My Podcast

Peter Marks, Elisabeth Vincentelli, and I are the panelists on “Three on the Aisle,” a bimonthly podcast from New York about theater in America. … [Read More...]

About My Books

My latest book is Duke: A Life of Duke Ellington, published in 2013 by Gotham Books in the U.S. and the Robson Press in England and now available in paperback. I have also written biographies of Louis Armstrong, George Balanchine, and H.L. Mencken, as well as a volume of my collected essays called A … [Read More...]

The Long Goodbye

To read all three installments of "The Long Goodbye," a multi-part posting about the experience of watching a parent die, go here. … [Read More...]

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