THE GLASS MENAGERIE with Amy Adams in London

[jacobsnchz14]

Posted: 5/23/22 at 9:56am

Previews begin today for the Tennessee Williams classic across the pond, starring Oscar nominee Amy Adams. Anyone planning on attending? 

Updated On: 5/23/22 at 09:56 AM

[Jordan Catalano]

Posted: 5/23/22 at 10:18am

Yep! I’m seeing it in a few days!

[BroadwayNYC2]

Posted: 5/23/22 at 10:21am

The Duke of York is a stunning theater. I’m really hoping for a beautiful production. 

[BrodyFosse123]

Posted: 5/23/22 at 11:32am

[NOWaWarning]

Posted: 5/23/22 at 11:34am

I’m going June 2nd. So excited!

[UWS10023]

Posted: 5/23/22 at 7:51pm

Her career trajectory has been so amazing. I remember when she was doing dinner theatre in Minnesota.

[greensgreens]

Posted: 5/23/22 at 10:27pm

I’m not a fan of her stage work, but this will never be the worst Menagerie even if Adams leaves much to be desired. That honor is still held by the Leveaux/Lange/Paulson disaster, or as I call it, the original American Horror Story. 

[GiantsInTheSky2]

Posted: 5/23/22 at 10:35pm

UWS10023 said: "Her career trajectory has been so amazing. I remember when she was doing dinner theatre in Minnesota."

As someone born and raised in Minnesota, I’m ashamed to have not known this - at Chanhassen Dinner Theater or all places! I must have started seeing shows there shortly after she left. She really is a terrific actress.

[BrodyFosse123]

Posted: 5/23/22 at 11:30pm

GiantsInTheSky2 said: "UWS10023 said: "Her career trajectory has been so amazing. I remember when she was doing dinner theatre in Minnesota."

As someone born and raised in Minnesota, I’m ashamed to have not known this - at Chanhassen Dinner Theater or all places! I must have started seeing shows there shortly after she left. She really is a terrific actress."

22 year old Amy in their 1996 production of CRAZY FOR YOU:



 

[Jordan Catalano]

Posted: 5/26/22 at 8:29pm

I saw this tonight and while I did enjoy it, it’s not a perfect production. The choice of having Tom played by two actors is one I really just can’t get behind. It didn’t add anything to the piece and leaves “adult Tom” just standing around and lurking for way too long.
 

Amy is giving a solid performance as Amanda and I’m going to come back to this at the end of her run to see how she evolves with it. I’ve always wanted to see a younger Amanda and Amy is closer in age to what she would be than most actresses who play her. However what that means (at least right now) is that she doesn’t have the same “commanding” presence as someone like a Cherry Jones or Sally Field (even though I hated that production). There’s definitely places where she kind of fades to the back and I’m sure with some time she’ll fix that. 
 

Side note for people interested. As I was leaving the theater I saw about 30 people standing around and saw they were waiting for Amy. Security said she’d sign and take photos with anyone there but everyone had to be masked and anyone who took it off would mean she leaves. It was all very well handled (Amy even quoted “Drop Dead Gorgeous” for me and we had a good laugh - she’s just as sweet as you’d imagine her to be), but stage dooring is definitely back in London and I think the way it was handled here is something that could absolutely be done on Broadway, should the shows want to. 

[ATerrifyingAndImposingFigure]

Posted: 5/26/22 at 8:34pm

Had no idea they split Tom between two actors, that’s an abysmal idea and no doubt detracted from both of these men’s performances.

[Auggie27]

Posted: 5/26/22 at 10:10pm

The Tom split has been tried before, as has the considerably older Tom, placing a late middle-aged actor in the scenes of his youth to re-enact his past. The play is, to be obvious, fragile. Too much conceptual interpolation weighs upon that fragility and calls undue attention to direction (characters slipping through backs of sofas, okay, but we notice). I can accept a degree of stylization -- it's a memory play, and memory is unreliable and dependent upon imagination to compensate at times -- but the text should be front and center. The two Toms, oddly enough, calls attention to theatrical conceit in ham-fisted ways. It's a film idea -- edits doing the heavy lifting -- grafted on a play that works handily trusting the audience to accept a time difference between the narration and action recalled. And the narration, beautifully written, doesn't sustain a full performance, as is noted here.  But I'd kill to see this. Thank you for the really clear report. I can imagine strengths and liabilities. 

Updated On: 5/26/22 at 10:10 PM

[RippedMan]

Posted: 5/26/22 at 11:20pm

I'm sure it's in the works if the reviews are good, but I hope it comes to the states. She's been one of my favorites since Junebug and Drop Dead Gorgeous. 

Were they any interesting design flares or anything interesting with set/direction other than the 2 Toms thing?

[UWS10023]

Posted: 5/27/22 at 6:15am

GiantsInTheSky2 said: "UWS10023 said: "Her career trajectory has been so amazing. I remember when she was doing dinner theatre in Minnesota."

As someone born and raised in Minnesota, I’m ashamed to have not known this - at Chanhassen Dinner Theater or all places! I must have started seeing shows there shortly after she left. She really is a terrific actress."

Everybody starts somewhere. And when they are at the beginnings they are not famous, so it is easy not to connect the dots as their careers take off. When I was very young I was an acting apprentice at a summer theatre in New Hampshire called The New London Barn Players and Laura Linney worked in the box office. I did not remember it until many years later when I saw her talking about it on Inside The Actors Studio. 

 

Updated On: 5/27/22 at 06:15 AM

[dramamama611]

Posted: 5/27/22 at 8:46am

^Excellent point: when I was young (even before Emily Mann's career as Artistic Director),  I got to see many shows at the McCarter Theater (Princeton U), a terrific regional theater.  I often wonder (NOW) who I got to see there that truly "made it".  

 

To the thread: two Toms sound dreadful, looking forward to hearing the comparison of seeing it later in run.  I imagine that Amy Adams would have made a terrific Laura - is anyone aware if she ever played her? 

Updated On: 5/27/22 at 08:46 AM

[UWS10023]

Posted: 5/29/22 at 11:41am

I seem to remember her playing Laura at some point. I would not be surprised to read that she had played the part regionally. I can’t seem to find anything in a google search.

Updated On: 5/29/22 at 11:41 AM

[Johnsylva]

Posted: 5/29/22 at 12:03pm

This was absolute dynamite.

The dual Toms worked like gangbusters for me/

Adams is an absolute treasure.

What a gorgeous evening of theatre.

[LarryD2]

Posted: 5/29/22 at 12:19pm

Side note for people interested. As I was leaving the theater I saw about 30 people standing around and saw they were waiting for Amy. Security said she’d sign and take photos with anyone there but everyone had to be masked and anyone who took it off would mean she leaves. It was all very well handled (Amy even quoted “Drop Dead Gorgeous” for me and we had a good laugh - she’s just as sweet as you’d imagine her to be), but stage dooring is definitely back in London and I think the way it was handled here is something that could absolutely be done on Broadway, should the shows want to. 

The West End has been pretty lax about covid protocols ever since reopening. Most theaters have never required vaccines or masking, and while some shows eliminated the stage door, it's never been a blanket ban. It really seems to be much more decentralized than it is here. 

[CarlosAlberto]

Posted: 5/29/22 at 1:48pm

Jordan Catalano said: "I saw this tonight and while I did enjoy it, it’s not a perfect production. The choice of having Tom played by two actors is one I really just can’t get behind. It didn’t add anything to the piece and leaves “adult Tom” just standing around and lurking for way too long.


Amy is giving a solid performance as Amanda and I’m going to come back to this at the end of her run to see how she evolves with it. I’ve always wanted to see a younger Amanda and Amy is closer in age to what she would be than most actresses who play her. However what that means (at least right now) is that she doesn’t have the same “commanding” presence as someone like a Cherry Jones or Sally Field (even though I hated that production). There’s definitely places where she kind of fades to the back and I’m sure with some time she’ll fix that.


Side note for people interested. As I was leaving the theater I saw about 30 people standing around and saw they were waiting for Amy. Security said she’d sign and take photos with anyone there but everyone had to be masked and anyone who took it off would mean she leaves. It was all very well handled (Amy even quoted “Drop Dead Gorgeous” for me and we had a good laugh - she’s just as sweet as you’d imagine her to be), but stage dooring is definitely back in London and I think the way it was handled here is something that could absolutely be done on Broadway, should the shows want to."

So glad you enjoyed this Catalano. I always look forward to your POV because not only do you have great taste but yours is one of the only opinions I take seriously and respect on this board. 

Now marry me and whisk me off to London so I can see a West End show...

 

[Jordan Catalano]

Posted: 5/29/22 at 7:05pm

LOL. Well i just got back to NYC but heading back across the pond in a few weeks so we better hurry and get married. 

[Scott19]

Posted: 5/30/22 at 2:46pm

@jordancatalano Jordan, I'm heading to the UK next week for an extended stay. Curious if you might have any recommendations that I might be missing out on? I'm booked for My Fair Lady, The Corn Is Green, Straight Lines Crazy, The Burnt City, To Kill A Mockingbird, House of Shade, and Bonnie and Clyde. (I saw Cabaret and Get Up! Stand Up! last December. I enjoyed both a lot but don't feel the need to revisit.).

I've always admired your take on theatre, so would welcome any suggestions that you might have.

 

[Jordan Catalano]

Posted: 5/30/22 at 3:17pm

Hey, Scott!  I’m jealous you’re doing “Burning City”. I couldn’t get tickets for that so maybe in a few weeks when I’m back I’ll get lucky. 
 

Have you seen “Back to the Future” or “Life of Pi”? There’s also “The Father and the Assassin” at The National that people are raving about. Sadly I won’t be able to catch that and I really wish I was able to fit it in. 

[Scott19]

Posted: 5/30/22 at 7:51pm

Thanks, Jordan. 

Back To The Future it is!!! (I did see Life of Pi back in the fall. Loved it!!)

Thanks for taking the time. Much appreciated.

 

[imeldasturn]

Posted: 5/30/22 at 7:56pm

Production pics released:https://www.londontheatre.co.uk/theatre-news/news/the-glass-menagerie-starring-amy-adams-releases-production-images

Updated On: 5/30/22 at 07:56 PM

[RippedMan]

Posted: 5/30/22 at 8:43pm

Not sure what to make of those images, but it looks interesting.