Ben, I'm quite fond of the Lubitsch version of To Be Or Not To Be - Benny, Lombard, Sig Ruman, Robert Stack - it's on DVD. I didn't like the remake at all. From everything I've heard, the reason for the cast departures have everything to do with the director and nothing to do with the piece. In fact, you speak of everything BUT the director. The director, whatever one thinks of his work, is still a novice. He's choreographed one musical, directed and choreographed one musical, and this is his first straight play. And if you don't understand comedy tone, especially in a difficult piece, you're done. These, of course, are just suppositions and/or suppositories. Contrast with a hoary and more importantly a flop 60s comedy like Boeing Boeing, which is suddenly all the hysterical rage - is it the piece (which flopped large, both play and film), or is it the director understanding the mechanics of the piece and finding a way to make it work?
