OUR TOWN revival starring Dustin Hoffman; Bartlett Sher directs

[TonightsMarquee]

Scott Rudin producing. More info here: https://deadline.com/2020/06/scott-rudin-dustin-hoffman-broadway-our-town-2021-bartlett-sher-1202974393/.

[WayTooBroadway]

Wow. I could think of many other names to headline this Thornton Wilder revival in 2021 America, but okay...

[TonightsMarquee]

Updated Deadline article:

"Producer Scott Rudin will bring actor Dustin Hoffman to Broadway in a 2021 staging of Our Town, to be directed by Bartlett Sher (To Kill A Mockingbird).

Hoffman will play the role of the Stage Manager in the classic Thornton Wilder play, sources close to the production say.

The production will be Hoffman’s first Broadway role since his Tony Award-nominated performance of Shylock in 1989's The Merchant of Venice. (...) The news come as Broadway is desperate for signs of a post-shutdown resurrection. The Broadway League announced this week that theaters are officially closed until January 2021, and few insiders believe productions will return before Spring 2021 at earliest."

[Jordan Catalano]

Not to brag, but I so called this one in the other threads.

And whatever - I’m stoked to see one of our greatest actors onstage. He’s a huge draw and will sell extremely expensive tickets which is what will be needed when the lights come back on. Expect a lot more announcements like this one before the year is out.

[Sutton Ross]

^ Yes to all of it. 

[Call_me_jorge]

Is Dustin Hoffman really still a hot commodity? His value has really dropped since the height of the #metoo movement. There is no way this will sell on his name alone. Rudin has gotta Rudin, I guess.

[Kad]

Oh good, an opportunity for people to revisit the numerous sexual misconduct allegations against Hoffman, which John Oliver publicly questioned him over and his responses were truly terrible.

Thanks, Scott Rudin! Just what we need right now! A tone deaf money grab.

[Jordan Catalano]

^ I honestly had never heard of any of that!

[Ravenclaw]

I love Our Town so, so deeply, and I love Bartlett Sher's work so, so deeply. I want to be really excited by this news. And yet...

It's hard to imagine who can really be excited about this piece of casting. Yes, Hoffman is a very talented actor, but he's still mostly failed to apologize for or acknowledge the many accusations against him. Beyond the accounts of sexual harassment he has refused to acknowledge, it's still hard for me to watch great performances of his like Kramer vs Kramer knowing how he tormented Meryl Streep for the sake of their performances.

But beyond that, it's become hard for me to see a production of Our Town that's had anything worthy to say about the play after David Cromer's astonishing production. Every production I've seen since his has either copied his famous coup de théâtre outright and suffered in comparison or purposefully not copied that choice and and also suffered in comparison. That production was such a landmark production that completely redefined one of the most important pieces of the canon that ten years later there are even references to it in the film Marriage Story. I love Bartlett Sher as a director, but I'm even doubtful of his ability to bring something new to the play.

But say he does find something interesting and new in the play, and say Hoffman makes a genuine apology and changes his behavior. The last revival proved that the character of the Stage Manager can be played by an actor of any age or gender, challenging the way the role is typically cast as an old white man. To revert back to tradition and cast as the omniscient authority figure as an old white man just feels uncreative and unexciting. I hope that the rest of the cast around him is very diverse.

I was a teenager when I saw David Cromer's Our Town, and that production opened my eyes to the beauty of what I now think is one of the most beautiful pieces of American literature. I so want a new production to cause the next generation of young people to fall in love with this play, but I have to say that I'm already doubtful that this production will do it.

[Jarethan]

I was unable to see the Cromer production.  What was the coup de theatre??

[RW3]

Scott Rudin wouldn't be able to read the room if his life depended on it.

[ACL2006]

And by next year, I'd say Fall 2021. Rudin's already got his hands tied with MUSIC MAN if Broadway reopens by the Spring.

[Ravenclaw]

Jarethan said: "I was unable to see the Cromer production. What was the coup de theatre??"

I was gonna put it in spoiler tags, but I guess it's been a decade since it closed, so it's fair game now...

The whole show was performed in modern dress with mimed props until the third act, when Emily goes back in time. Then, a curtain at the back of the stage came down and revealed a fully-realized period kitchen, with Emily's mother in period dress frying actual bacon on the stove. And you're just hit with the smell of bacon all at once. It was the perfect way of encapsulating what the play is about--missing the beauty of the ordinary moments while you're in them--while playing with the minimalist, empty theatre and mimed props aesthetic the play is so famous for.

[Kad]

Jordan Catalano said: "^ I honestly had never heard of any of that!"

It got buried quickly, coming on the heels of the Weinstein stuff hitting the fan.

Dustin Hoffman Accused of Exposing Himself to a Minor, Assaulting Two Women

John Oliver confronted Dustin Hoffman on sexual harassment allegations against him

[Sutton Ross]

I wasn't aware of any of that stuff either. Yikes. Thanks, Kad. 

[Kad]

So this is would be the second instance of a Rudin production prominently casting someone involved in a sexual misconduct scandal.

[Sutton Ross]

Indeed. Skipped that one and will be skipping this one, unfortunately. 

[Valentina3]

Maybe if we protest he will actually recast Hoffman? With someone with an impeccable record. Like Johnny Depp perhaps?

[Ravenclaw]

This role could be cast with LITERALLY anyone. Show me the production with Viola Davis or Olivia Coleman or Robert DeNiro or Glenn Close or Annette Bening or Mahershala Ali or Daniel Craig or Denzel Washington. I mean, the character has no physical description, no define age, gender, ethnicity, etc. You could even cast Timothee Chalamet or Jennifer Lawrence. Even Quvenzhane Wallis or Jacob Tremblay. I mean, it's just begging for some kind of publicity stunt a la All the Money in the World. And there is a truly unlimited amount of time in which to recast the role.

[Jordan Catalano]

Here’s an idea for the stage manager -

JULIE. ANDREWS.

[Jordan Catalano]

And thanks for those links, Kad. Damn.

[DAME]

All the allegations and more will come to light again . I have zero interest in seeing this .

[Ravenclaw]

Jordan Catalano said: "Here’s an idea for the stage manager -

JULIE. ANDREWS."

I would pay so much of the money that I don't have to see this happen. 

The only reason that the allegations against Hoffman aren't more widely known is that he hasn't done a movie in the three years since. When they came out, that put an ax in the idea of a potential awards push for his (admittedly, brilliant) performance in The Meyerowitz Stories, and he's been lying low ever since. But the allegations are sure to resurface as soon as he moves on to another project (I mean, we're seeing that happen in this very thread). Notably, when the sexual harassment/assault allegations came out, people start pointing out loads of stories about his behavior that were publicly known but brushed aside that don't strictly fall under the umbrella of sexual harassment but are troubling nonetheless. Take a look at Meryl Streep's story about shooting a scene with Hoffman on Kramer vs Kramer https://youtu.be/GtFGfeigSmY?t=240 (and this is hardly her only story about him).

[KingOfTheMine]

Has anyone heard about the timing of this revival or what theater it might play?  I think the Golden and the Booth are available.  Also the Barrymore, but that might be a better fit for The Lehman Trilogy since they're seeking a new house for next season.

[troynow]

Still think Broadway isn’t RACIST?

Here is an announcement of shows I want to see:
A Strange Loop
BLUE
Black Orpheus

Put some BIPOC people onstage and backstage. And above the freaking title.