How would Ivo van Hove ruin your favorite show? (Twttter thread)

[Alex Kulak2]

(I'm the one who tweeted this, so no one accuse me of stealing)

Evan Hansen sings the final song dangling from a tree branch, he lets go as the lights go black.

Also, it's not that Van Hove is sexist, it's that he's removing a lot of the material that belonged to the female characters in WSS. He's cutting "I Feel Pretty", the "Somewhere" Ballet, and there's talks of doing the film version of "America", a back-and-forth between the Shark men and women, rather than the stage version which is a number just for the Shark women.

Also, hiring a sexual harasser isn't helping his case...

[Kad]

No one is being shamed for being interested. People are just taking the piss of out Van Hove's reliance on the same set of directorial tools and his very distinct aesthetic. It's easy to skewer, particularly when critics fawn on him and producers give him carte blanche to do his thing. 

[devonian.t]

bwayobsessed said: "The fact that people are claiming he’s ruined it when they haven’t seen it is absurd"
 

The reaction is based on his, shall we say, patchy track record, and the details that have already been announced for WSS.

Simple really.

[djoko84]

devonian.t said: "bwayobsessed said: "The fact that people are claiming he’s ruined it when they haven’t seen it is absurd"


The reaction is based on his, shall we say, patchy track record, and the details that have already been announced for WSS.

Simple really."

Actually it's not simple, really. To criticize a show no one has seen yet is beyond moronic. It would be like criticizing Lin Manuel Miranda for casting non-white actors as real-life white people BEFORE having seen Hamilton. People take risks - sometimes they work and sometimes they don't. But to criticize the risks before the show is actually seen by anyone is ridiculous and preposterous. 

[SonofRobbieJ]

But we don't really need to see the show to know that altering the structure to remove I Feel Pretty is a massive change.  I'd say it was destructive.  The dramatic irony of this young woman celebrating her love and how it is making her giddy is undercut by the knowledge that she's about to get her life blown apart by the news of her brother's murder...BY THE MAN SHE IS SINGING ABOUT.  I think a lot of people are so used to the placement of the song in the movie that they forget that, even though it's a peppy, upbeat song, we are literally seeing the last truly happy moment Maria will have for a very long time.

It's like when they removed Geraniums/Stonecutter sequence from Carousel.  Without that lead-in, What's the Use of Wond'rin becomes Julie wallowing in feelings about Billy.  But if you leave the structure alone, that song becomes the really f-ed up advice Julie is giving to the other women about how to deal with men.  She's not drowning in self-pity.  She's playing an action, telling these other women how to approach their relationships and it's profoundly disturbing, even though the music is beautiful.

Bernstein, Sondheim, Rogers and Hammerstein were not unsophisticated rubes who created these songs for willy nilly.  They are brilliant storytellers who knew what they were doing. 

[PalJoey]

Bravo. Amen. Brilliantly explained.

[sabrelady]

SonofRobbieJ said: "But we don't really need to see the show to know that altering the structure to remove I Feel Pretty is a massive change. I'd say it was destructive. The dramatic irony of this young woman celebrating her love and how it is making her giddy is undercut by the knowledge that she's about to get her life blown apart by the news of her brother's murder...BY THE MAN SHE IS SINGING ABOUT. I think a lot of people are so used to the placement of the song in the movie that they forget that, even though it's a peppy, upbeat song, we are literally seeing the last truly happy moment Maria will have for a very long time.

It's like when they removed Geraniums/Stonecutter sequence from Carousel. Without that lead-in, What's the Use of Wond'rin becomes Julie wallowing in feelings about Billy. But if you leave the structure alone, that song becomes the really f-ed up advice Julie is giving to the other women about how to deal with men. She's not drowning in self-pity. She's playing an action, telling these other women how to approach their relationships and it's profoundly disturbing, even though the music is beautiful.

Bernstein, Sondheim, Rogers and Hammerstein were not unsophisticated rubes who created these songs for willy nilly. They are brilliant storytellers who knew what they were doing..

AND Mike  Drop. 'Nuff (well) Said.



 

[uncageg]

Simple really."

Actually it's not simple, really. To criticize a show no one has seen yet is beyond moronic. It would be like criticizing Lin Manuel Miranda for casting non-white actors as real-life white people BEFORE having seen Hamilton. People take risks - sometimes they work and sometimes they don't. But to criticize the risks before the show is actually seen by anyone is ridiculous and preposterous."

^^ Thank you! There have been revivals with changes that I was not crazy about when announced. But we don't know how they will work until we actually see them. And I have liked most that I have seen. And if one refuses to see a show because of the changes, then one really doesn't have the right to trash a production that they haven't seen. Or that hasn't even opened yet. Do I have my reservations about this production? Yup. Even if it was a straight up revival, I don't know that I would have run to see it. But I do plan to see this production to see what he has done with it. JMO

 

[kdogg36]

With all due respect to PalJoey, the answer is that he couldn't. The worst he could do is create a production of my favorite show that I didn't care for.

[LizzieCurry]

Sometimes you don't have to have tried or seen something to feel pretty sure about it ahead of time. If you smear some compost on two pieces of toast, I'm going to confidently say that's not going to be a quality sandwich.

[PalJoey]

Thanks for the due respect, kdogg!

[BWAY Baby2]

He ruined All About Eve in London for me and my brother- we both thought it was dumbed down and actually boring - and I did not like the constant drum beat in View From The Bridge- found it distracting and irritating. I do not care for his direction- and will avoid his productions in the future most likely. His name on a board will send me away.