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| Ingrid Bergman. |
"In Lieu of Reviews"
For background on how this previously
unpublished series—introducing all mainstream New York shows between 1970 and
1975—came to be and its relationship to my three The Encyclopedia of the New York Stage volumes (covering every New
York play, musical, revue, and revival between 1920 and 1950), please check the
prefaces to any of the earlier entries beginning with the letter “A.” See the
list at the end of the current entry.
CAPTAIN
BRASSBOUND’S CONVERSION [Dramatic Revival] A: George Bernard Shaw; D: Stephen Porter; S: Michael
Annals; C: Sara Brook (Miss Bergman’s costumes, Beatrice Dawson); L: William H.
Batchelder; P: Roger L. Stevens and Arthur Cantor b/a/w H.M. Tennent, Ltd.; T:
Ethel Barrymore Theatre; 4/17/72-4/29/72 (16)
A touring production, initiated in London, of an
infrequently seen Shaw comedy from 1899, with famed star Ingrid Bergman miscast
as the upper-class Lady Cicely Waynefleet, a role written for the unique charms
of Dame Ellen Terry (who played it for its American premiere in 1907).
Bergman’s natural abilities helped make her
performance more than passable but the production was recognized as being
little more than a vehicle and decidedly second-rate one at that. “[T]he
production is an example of old-fashioned star-casting at something not far
from its worst,” snapped Julius Novick.
Clive Barnes, having observed that “The story is not
only incredibly tedious but also somewhat unlikely even by the absurdist
standards of Shaw,” went on to note: “Miss Bergman Is both rather more than an
actress and rather less. She has comparatively little technique, and she glides
through the play like a visiting celebrity opening a garden party. And yet she
also exudes that almost unbelievable radiance, that ineffable loveliness, and
quintessential womanliness that have always put her acting in its place as a
mere secondary consideration. ‘Were Miss Bergman to act as well it would be
painting a lily that is all the more beautiful for its ingenuousness.”
The better known members of the company included
Pernell Roberts (in the title role), Eric Berry, Geoff Garland, Yusef Bulos,
Jack Davidson, and Jack Davidson.
Previous entries:
Abelard and
Heloise
Absurd Person
Singular
AC/DC
“Acrobats”
and “Line”
The Advertisement/
All My Sons
All Over
All Over Town
All the Girls Came
Out to Play
Alpha Beta
L’Amante Anglais
Ambassador
American Gothics
Amphitryon
And Miss Reardon
Drinks a Little
And They Put
Handcuffs on the Flowers
And Whose Little
Boy Are You?
Anna K.
Anne of Green
Gables
Antigone
Antiques
Any Resemblance to Persons Living or Dead
Applause
Ari
As You Like It
Augusta
The Au Pair Man
Baba Goya [Nourish the Beast]
The Ballad of Johnny Pot
Barbary Shore
The Bar that Never Closes
The Basic Training of Pavlo Hummel
The Beauty Part
The Beggar’s Opera
Behold! Cometh the Vanderkellens
Be Kind to People Week
Berlin to Broadway with Kurt Weill
Bette Midler’s Clams on a Half-Shell Revue
Black Girl
Black Light Theatre of Prague
Black Picture Show
Black Sunlight
The Black Terror
Black Visions
Les Blancs
Blasts and Bravos: An Evening with H,L. Mencken
Blood
Bluebeard
Blue Boys
Bob and Ray—The Two and Only
Boesman and Lena
The Boy Who Came to Leave
Bread
A Breeze from the Gulf
Brief Lives
Brother Gorski
Brothers
Bullshot Crummond
Bunraku
The Burnt Flower Bed
Butley
Button, Button
Buy Bonds, Buster
The Cage
Camille
Candide (1)
Candide (2)
The Candyapple
