Agnes of God

Leadingplayer
#1Agnes of God
Posted: 7/5/12 at 11:56pm

Anyone see the original or a great production? Who was in it? I love the movie. It needs a revival!

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Jordan Catalano
#2Agnes of God
Posted: 7/5/12 at 11:58pm

I've said for a while it needs to be revived with Judi Dench and Marcia Gay Harden.

Dallaslive
#2Agnes of God
Posted: 7/6/12 at 12:10am

Saw It at Music Box Theatre with Elizabeth Ashley, Geraldine Page, and Carrie Fisher... Mesmerizing. One of the greatest nights of theatre in my life

Leadingplayer
#3Agnes of God
Posted: 7/6/12 at 12:35am

How was Carrie Fisher?

Dallaslive
#4Agnes of God
Posted: 7/6/12 at 12:39am

She was really great. Entire cast was electric. Amazing set design and lighting, too. One of those plays that you feel like you held your breath through the whole thing.

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CarlosAlberto
#5Agnes of God
Posted: 7/6/12 at 6:32am

I saw it as well...TWICE...once with the original leads...Ashley, Page and Plummer and then when Miss Diahann Carroll took over. Great play. I agree with Dallaslive's assessment. It really does need a revival.

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best12bars
#6Agnes of God
Posted: 7/6/12 at 6:58am

I saw it on Broadway with Elizabeth Ashley, Geraldine Page, and Carrie Fisher's understudy ... Maryann Plunkett.

All three were fantastic. I was completely riveted and blown away by the play.

By comparison, the film was such a disappointment. I was hoping for so much better than that.

Yes, it deserves a revival.

EDIT: If I were casting a revival today ...

Mother Superior: Ellen Burstyn or Cherry Jones
Psychiatrist: Melissa Leo or Mary Louise Parker
Agnes: Hailee Steinfeld


"Jaws is the Citizen Kane of movies."
blocked: logan2, Diamonds3, Hamilton22
Updated On: 7/6/12 at 06:58 AM

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somethingwicked
#7Agnes of God
Posted: 7/6/12 at 9:27am

Roundabout did a reading about five years ago with Viola Davis as Dr. Livingstone, Anne Hathaway as Agnes, and Lynn Redgrave as Mother Superior, directed by Doug Hughes.

It was apparently incredible, but they never got it off the ground, presumably because of scheduling issues with that particular cast (though I have a hard time thinking Hathaway would have made her Broadway debut in a part that pales in comparison to the other two in the play.)


Tonya Pinkins: Then we had a "Lot's Wife" last June that was my personal favorite. I'm still trying to get them to let me sing it at some performance where we get to sing an excerpt that's gone.
Tony Kushner: You can sing it at my funeral.
Updated On: 7/6/12 at 09:27 AM

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madbrian
#8Agnes of God
Posted: 7/6/12 at 10:38am

Mother Superior: Joan Allen
Psychiatrist: Laura Linney
Agnes: Alison Pill


"It does me no injury for my neighbour to say there are 20 gods or no god. It neither picks my pocket, nor breaks my leg." -- Thomas Jefferson

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castlestreet
#9Agnes of God
Posted: 7/6/12 at 11:02am

This is one of those productions that I've always said, "if I could go back in time"- the text is very well written and I adore Elizabeth Ashley- I think she is one of those actresses who were born for the stage- such presence!

bobs3
#10Agnes of God
Posted: 7/6/12 at 3:39pm

Saw the original with Ashley, Page and Plummer. The play itself is kind of heavy handed but it has three great roles for three great actresses. The night I saw it the stage manager came out and announced that Elizabeth Ashley had broken her toe getting out of bed that morning and that she would be performing the show "using a cane and wearing sensible shoes". Ashley, no stranger to ham acting, used that cane to great comic effect.

redmustang
#11Agnes of God
Posted: 7/6/12 at 4:02pm

Saw this play 3 times in one week - the only time I've ever done that. Cast was Diahann Carroll, Geraldine Page and Maryann Plunkett. All were excellent, Ms. Page was electrifying. After an evening performance, I was getting autographs (again) and three twenty-something Afro-American girls approached Ms. Carroll to autograph their Dreamgirls programs. (It was playing next door at the Imperial.) She looked at the program then looked at the girls and asked: Have you seen my show yet? They said they hadn't. She smiled and replied, as she handed the unsigned program back: After you see Agnes of God I'll sign your programs.

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MrMidwest
#12Agnes of God
Posted: 8/24/12 at 9:05pm

Elisabeth Shue could be good in it.


"The gods who nurse this universe think little of mortals' cares. They sit in crowds on exclusive clouds and laugh at our love affairs. I might have had a real romance if they'd given me a chance. I loved him, but he didn't love me. I wanted him, but he didn't want me. Then the gods had a spree and indulged in another whim. Now he loves me, but I don't love him." - Cole Porter

mpd4165
#13Agnes of God
Posted: 8/25/12 at 12:44am

Chicago will be seeing it this fall...in rep with Doubt.


Catholic Rep

3bluenight
#14Agnes of God
Posted: 8/25/12 at 1:29am

i've always been curious about cherry jones' statements in the extended features of rick mckay's golden age.
she says of plummer, 'of my generation, she is the genius, she is the touched one; and touched with the greatness of the ages. and i just wish she would come back and devote the rest of her life to the theater, because there's no one who can touch her.'

I know she did summer and smoke a few years ago, but for people who have seen her, do you agree with jones' assessment? what about her work in pygmalion, a tase of honey?


Namaste
Updated On: 8/25/12 at 01:29 AM

Phyllis Rogers Stone
#15Agnes of God
Posted: 8/25/12 at 1:37am

Brilliant but cray cray, I think?

Updated On: 8/25/12 at 01:37 AM

Leadingplayer
#16Agnes of God
Posted: 8/25/12 at 1:40am

How about Joley Richardson and Vanessa Redgrave?

Owen22
#17Agnes of God
Posted: 8/25/12 at 1:43am

I remember being very moved by her performance in the movie version of "The Hotel New Hampshire"...

3bluenight
#18Agnes of God
Posted: 8/25/12 at 2:23am

re: brilliant but cray cray

well, there may be some truth to that. she had one scene in the television series battlestar galactica. she was playing a type of medium, and her work is so interesting. varied and rhythmic. yet cutting and efficient.

i do wish more of her work was available.


Namaste

Phyllis Rogers Stone
#19Agnes of God
Posted: 8/25/12 at 2:41am

Have you ever seen The World According to Garp?

3bluenight
#20Agnes of God
Posted: 8/25/12 at 2:49am

ages ago. i was probably an early teen.


Namaste

Phyllis Rogers Stone
#21Agnes of God
Posted: 8/25/12 at 3:07am

I haven't seen it in a long time, either. I was an early teen, too. Like 13 or 14? Anyway, Amanda was was what's her face in Garp. Ellen something? She was really good is all I was saying.

I also remember one year when I was a kid she was up for a Tony Award. And my dad made some snarky comment about her, because they showed her once, and when they showed her later she was wearing a sweater. And I just remember him being really quippy about it!

vegas2
#22Agnes of God
Posted: 8/25/12 at 3:15am

I saw with Ashley, Page, and Plummer. All were excellent, but Plummer gave me chills. When she threw herself against the upstage wall and slid down to the floor, the whole audience gasped. It was scary real. And this was one of my first Broadway shows.

bobs3
#23Agnes of God
Posted: 8/25/12 at 7:10am

Amanda Plummer had a cameo in THE WORLD ACCORDING TO GARP film as Ellen James. Her character is the inspiration for The Ellen Jamesons, a radical, extremist, feminist group. I won't spoil what The Ellen Jamesons stand for and promote but it will blow your mind when you find out. If you haven't read the book you should, it is one of the masterpieces of 20th century fiction.

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followspot
#24Agnes of God
Posted: 8/25/12 at 8:17am

Plummer has only one scene and no dialogue in GARP and she still leaves an impression 30 years later. For perhaps her best screen work, I recommend the imperfect but unjustly forgotten 1983 Sidney Lumet/E.L. Doctorow drama DANIEL (Timothy Hutton, Mandy Patinkin, Lindsay Crouse, Tovah Feldshuh, Ellen Barkin). She has the lead in an upcoming indie (ABIGAIL HARM), and is cast in the HUNGER GAMES sequel. She's never stopped working in indies and TV (three Emmy Awards), but dang we need her back on the New York stage! (Love the Cherry Jones quote.) Maybe, like her father, her prime is ahead of her. Agnes of God

An aside: Why does the "cray cray" moniker only get applied to female performers? An actress who clearly relishes quirky roles and has worked non-stop in film, television, and theatre for 30 straight years isn't presently working on the New York stage, so she must be "cray cray" (subtext: difficult)? Interesting.

Amanda Plummer


"Tracy... Hold Mama's waffles."
Updated On: 8/25/12 at 08:17 AM