Worst miscasting I ever saw: Nicol Williamson doing a one-man show of John Barrymore at the Geffen Theatre. I've railed about this show at length here before, so will keep my bitchin' to a minimum. But I'm something of a Barrymore aficionado. Two large portraits of him hang in my home; one a great photo of him in his Svengali make-up and costume developed from the original negative. I've read every Bio on him and have an original program from his Hamlet at the Haymarket in London.
Not only did Williamson not make any attempt to look or sound like Barrymore, it was like he didn't really study his life that deeply. He seemed to simply use a basic Barrymore framework to stick in a bunch of personal schtick he wanted to do onstage and just farted around on stage for close to two hours. It was far more a portrait of him than Barrymore. And a rather unflattering portrait at that. Sloppy and undisciplined. He stumbled over his lines continually. It was probably the most masturbatory performance I've ever seen and showed stunning contempt for its subject, its audience and the theatre in general. But what was laughable is a goodly portion of the audience gave him a standing ovation...it was like anyone British or with a reputation gets one these days, even if they're thumbing their nose at the audience. And I said I wouldn't do too much bitchin'. Ahhh, well...
It was such a relief to see Christopher Plummer's supreme Barrymore show to get the bad taste of this one out of my mouth.
Someone in Broadway - The Golden Age...Jay, help me out here...I think it was Sondheim...or was it Frank Langella?...talked about how the reason everything gets a standing ovation these days is that people have paid so much for their tickets that they have to justify to themselves that they were a part of something significant and memorable...very plausible theory, I think.
I too am a big Cornell Woolirch, aka George Hopely, aka William Irish, fan and have sizable collection though not as extensive as Bk's once was. In the appendix of Francis Nevins Bio of Woolrich, "First You Dream, Then You Die."...he lists over a hundred and sixty film, radio, and TV adaptations of Woolrich's work...and I don't think he has listed the last few film adaptations.
I myself have been trying to adapt, RENDEZVOUS IN BLACK for years...have a twenty-five page scene-for-scene treatment of it, but the rights situation is very complex and almost impenetrable.
I MARRIED A DEAD MAN...from which No Man Of Her Own and later, Mrs. Winterbourne (made into an inexplicable comedy) were adapted...has one of the most gripping openings I've ever read. Sometimes Woolrich's logic could be a bit dicey, but his prose style could cover up a multitude of sins and just carry you along with its visceral poetry.
Noel, I too am very happy with the choice of Edwards as Kerry's running mate. I think I would have banged my head against the wall if he had picked that stale old news, Gephardt (as The New York Post emblazoned on its headline today...everyone should run out and get a copy of that issue, it'll be a political collector curio like "Dewey Wins").
