And as for tomorrow night's broadcast of the John Doyle
Company...
I won't be able to watch it due to an overload of overlapping on the DVR, however, I did see it live during it's final weekend - in fact, during it's final weekend when the tapings were taking place. I liked the production, and Raul Esparza's take on Bobby was truly engrossing and revelatory.
I don't see John Doyle's actors-as-orchestra as a gimmick. It's just one of his styles. When he originally resorted to that choice, it was primarily due to budget and space concerns. Is it an ideal "solution"? Well... It's a valid one, imho. Every director, famous and otherwise, has their trademarks, their bag of tricks. Using the actors as the orchestra is just one of his. *I have some friends who are currently in rehearsals for his upcoming
Peter Grimes at The Met, and they're liking what's been going on in the rehearsal hall so far. And, rest assured, those gorgeous Sea Interludes will not be played by costumed choristers between scenes.
I also liked his
Sweeney Todd, and I went into the theatre that night actually prepared not to like it - well, at least not surprised if I didn't end up liking it - since the sound of the original production is so ingrained in my head. But the concept and the staging worked for me. I believe I even quietly said, "Wow!" out loud after the final blackout. In both
Sweeney Todd and
Company the instruments never got in the way for me since the actors were so well-trained and comfortable(!) with their instruments. The musical instrument they were playing became an extension of their body, their acting.
Yes, it's all horse-racing, but I also find it a bit dismaying that people are writing off all of John Doyle's work based on his Broadway revivals of
Sweeney Todd and
Company. He had a career filled with shows with actual musicians in the orchestra pit long before he mounted
Sweeney, and he has other assignments already lined up after his time at The Met this season. -God knows, Hal Prince - who told me personally that he loved John Doyle's version of
Sweeney ("It was the first version I had seen that didn't ape mine.") - has had his share of misunderstood and misfires. -Although, being one of the relative few who saw the hoped-for pre-Broadway tryout of
Whistle Down The Wind years ago in DC... The burning house was not the only hot mess on that stage.
