HOME / diary: A weeklong electronic journal.

Theater producer André Bishop

diary:
entries
12345

By Posted Tuesday, Oct. 21, 1997, at 3:30 AM ET
Share this article on Digg
Share this article on Buzz

Today was an easy day, as both companies of our upcoming shows (Ivanov and Pride's Crossing) were off. I did get a reassuring phone call from Jack O'Brien, the director of Pride's Crossing, telling me that he felt Tina Howe (the author) had "licked" the play's penultimate scene: a croquet game in which the play's 92-year-old heroine forces her equally ancient friends to play by her set of idiosyncratic rules and not by their old-fashioned, hidebound ones. He said that Cherry Jones, our leading actress, was pleased and stimulated by this new version. He invited me to a run-through of the play on Friday, the day after Ivanov's first preview. Oh God!
Peter and I went to the movies: Washington Square. I was eager to see it, as we had produced a revival of The Heiress a few years ago, and this film was supposed to be closer to the Henry James book than The Heiress. Well, it wasn't. I thought all the actors overacted, especially Jennifer Jason Leigh--whose "message" I continue not to "get." In fact, all the leading characters seemed not merely obsessive but insane. The movie was like Christopher Durang goes to Washington Square, though not as funny. I felt The Heiress, for all its Broadway tidiness and melodramatics, was far superior and more gracefully written.
And so to bed, as they say in diaries. Tomorrow through Thursday brings a difficult and potentially exhilarating time leading up to the first public performance of Ivanov.


diary:
entries
12345

By Posted Tuesday, Oct. 21, 1997, at 3:30 AM ET
Print This ArticlePRINTEmail to a FriendE-MAILShare This ArticleRECOMMEND...Get Slate RSS FeedsRSS
André Bishop is the artistic director of the Lincoln Center Theater in New York City.
What did you think of this article?
Join The Fray: Our Reader Discussion Forum
POST A MESSAGE | READ MESSAGES
The places we live.TODAY'S PICTURES: The places we live.
Cartoonists' take on homosexuality.TODAY'S CARTOONS: Cartoonists' take on homosexuality.
How low she can go.TODAY'S DOONESBURY: How low she can go.
Washington Post
The Washington Post
OPINIONS
Secretary Clinton?
Broder | It's not a good fit for her talents, or the next president.
Toles: A Layered ProblemEditorial: What Would Bill Do?