15 American Plays It'd Be Great to See Revived

[FindingNamo]

The always-insightful Michael Feingold has some suggestions for companies looking to produce under-performed plays. I'd love to see "Boy on the Straight-Back Chair," "A Few Stout Individuals," and "Zero Positive."


The Unsual Suspects

[aaronb]

My three would be Death of a Salesman, Glengarry Glen Ross, and Who's Afraid of Virginia Woolf. So I guess I got real lucky this year.

[After Eight]

I would love to see Life With Father, Come Blow Your Horn, The Girls in 509, Mary, Mary, Any Wednesday, Janus, Dark of the Moon, The Cantilevered Terrace, A Lovely Light, Look: We've Come Through, A Distant Bell, Those That Play the Clowns, Father's Day, The Pleasure of His Company.... so many others.

[PalJoey]

"Mary, Mary"? Oh, Mary...

[After Eight]

^
Oh, Pal Joey! If there was a more wonderful evening in the theatre, I can't remember it.

Let's hope for your, my, and everyone else's sake, we get to experience it again.

[dreaming]

I want a revival of Kimberly Akimbo. I like the script and have never seen it live.

[JoeKv99]

I worked in a dinner theater for a while- I had enough of Mary Mary and Any Wednesday to last a lifetime.

That is list is very interesting- I must confess I've never seen any of those shows and only read a couple of them.

[After Eight]

"I worked in a dinner theater for a while- I had enough of Mary Mary and Any Wednesday to last a lifetime. "

You're a lucky fellow.

As far as those two shows are concerned, I agree with that lyric from On the Town, "even a lifetime isn't enough."

[Borstalboy]

I'd add William Inge's underrated flop NATURAL AFFECTION. Also, I'd still love to see someone, anyone do the first play in John Guare's Lydie Breeze plays, WOMEN AND WATER.

MARY, MARY and ANY WEDNESDAY?? Jesus, why don't we just throw in CACTUS FLOWER, 40 CARATS, and UNDER THE YUM YUM TREE while we're at it?

[Jon]

We just did The Cocktail Hour to great success. I'd love to see Edward Herrmann and Kelly Bishop as the parents. The Gilmores!

[GlindatheGood22]

It's been seven years, time for a 'night Mother revival with Jan Maxwell and Sally Murphy.

[After Eight]

"Jesus, why don't we just throw in CACTUS FLOWER, 40 CARATS, and UNDER THE YUM YUM TREE while we're at it?"

Well, the thread says American plays. The first two, and I love them both more than words can say, are American adaptations of French plays. But let's have revivals of both, by all means, and Under the Yum-Yum Tree too. And please, somebody, revive the hilarious comedy, UTBU.

I too would like to see Inge's Natural Affection. And also his play, A Loss of Roses.

[jayinchelsea]

The best American play, that has never had a Broadway revival, is Ketti Frings' adaptation of Thomas Wolfe's classic, LOOK HOMEWARD, ANGEL. It ran for nearly 600 performances in 1957-58, won the Pulitzer Prize and Drama Critics Circle Award for Best Play, and all three of its leading actors (Anthony Perkins, Jo Van Fleet and Hugh Griffith) were nominated for Tony Awards, as was the play. How can it be that this beautiful play, which I saw only once as an undergrad at Brooklyn College, has not been revived? Come on, Roundabout or Manhattan Theatre Club, attention must be paid!

Second on my list would be Lillian Hellman's prize-winning TOYS IN THE ATTIC, a terrific melodrama that also won the Drama Critics Award in its 1960 season.

[jayinchelsea]

And After Eight, I saw UTBU (which unaccountably stood for Unhealthy to be Unpleasant, why do I remember that ?) on its opening night. It was written by Jimmy Kirkwood (A CHORUS LINE still a few years away), directed by Nancy Walker (ditto CAN'T STOP THE MUSIC), and had a very starry cast (Thelma Ritter, Tony Randall, Alan Webb, Margaret Hamilton) and was miserably unfunny (one of the "U's" in the title should have stood for that!) It opened during the 1966 subway strike, and I recall having to run 30+ blocks to get to the opening on time.

It need not be revived...

[After Eight]

^

What can I say, jay? I thought UTBU was one of the funniest plays I've ever seen.

[bobs3]

Yes to TOYS IN THE ATTIC with Holly Hunter, Frances McDormand, Michael C. Hall, Lily Rabe, Jayne Atkinson and Dennis Haysbert.

[bobs3]

LOOK WE'VE COME THROUGH, an underrated play by Hugh Wheeler from 1961 that ran only 5 performances. It is included in an out-of-print book titled "Broadway's Beautiful Losers". It is a romantic comedy and reads quite well. The original cast featured a very young, unknown actor named Burt Reynolds.

[aaronb]

And Thornton Wilder's The Skin of Our Teeth.

[jayinchelsea]

wow, bobs3, quite a cast for TOYS. now how do we get one of the not-for-profits to pay attention? I actually saw TOYS at one of the Roundabout readings quite a few years ago, and play's power as melodrama was still there.

I know Hellmann is out of style, but there's something to be said for the well-made play...

[SueleenGay]

Time Out For Ginger with SJP?

[BwayEqs]

A loss of roses.