Could we please have a re-make of this almost perfect show, this time with some of the deleted material restored, especially "Pretty Little Picture" and fewer pointless chase scenes? .... who to cast? .... Michael Crawford or Nathan Lane for Hysterium? ... it's a pity that the magnificent Leon Greene, who made something of a career of playing Miles Gloriosus would be too old now for the part ... suggestions?
But you ARE Blanche ... and I AM.
A remake would be interesting, but I can't imagine that any cast assembled today could match the original group. What an amazing roster of comic genius!
I'm not disrespecting the comic performers of today. There are many I'd love to see take a crack at this material. (I'd want to see Bill Hader in there somewhere. And possibly Jon Hamm as Miles Gloriosus..?) BUT the 1966 group included so many who had so MUCH experience, including vaudeville. In addition to the eight or ten big roles, there are a good 20 or 30 additional SMALL roles that were played by great talents.
I'm saying that there was a deeper bench in 1966 than in 2011.
Better, perhaps, to wait for the perfecting of CGI re-creation, in order to include the deleted material but with the original performers. (Yes, I know, the day that could be done convincingly is a LONG way off.)
You're right: Mostel; Silvers; Gifford, Hordern, Crawford and Greene are hard acts to follow ... the original film should have been so much better ... Lester threw away great material for endless unfunny chase scenes. A bad call when the book was a highly polished perfect gem that was worked on for years to make it without a single superfluous word.You can read Sondheim's account of the trouble taken with the script elsewhere.
But you ARE Blanche ... and I AM.
Oh, I agree---Lester was apparently enthralled with outdoor location shooting and devoted way too much of the movie's running time to such scenes, which is practically criminal considering the roster of talent that was sitting around doing nothing while all this outdoor stuff was being filmed.
I haven't read Sondheim's account and will now look it up! (thanks)
How about a filmed stage version so that they could leave the material in and not have to worry about fitting a theatrically-told stage play into the confines of a cinematically-told story?
shareI like the idea of a filmed stage show but nit with Nathan Lane. I think he's a great actor and performer but you might as well just watch Zero Mostel again.
shareI agree with you, except that Nathan Lane would have to be Pseudolus (a part that he has already won awards for on Broadway).
Let Zygons Be Zygons.
To me it's a toss-up whether Pseudolus or Hysterium is the better part. Believe it or not, Geoffrey Rush has just had a huge success as Pseudolus in Australia.
But you ARE Blanche ... and I AM.
I don't think it matters which is the better part. Nathan is just built to play Mostel parts.
Let Zygons Be Zygons.