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| Eugenie Leontovich. |
The following precedes each entry
"In Lieu of Reviews"
Around 40 years ago, I began a major project that eventuated in the
publication of my multivolume series, The Encyclopedia of the New York
Stage, each volume covering a decade. For some reason now lost to the sands
of time, I chose to start with the 1970s. After writing all the entries through
1975 and producing a typed manuscript of 1,038 pages my publisher (Greenwood)
and I decided it would be best to commence with the 1920s. So the 1970-1975 material
was put aside as I produced volumes for 1920-1930, 1930-1940, and 1940-1950.
With those concluded, Greenwood decided it was all too expensive and not
sufficiently profitable, so the remaining volumes were cancelled, leaving my
1970s entries in limbo.
To compensate, I used the research I’d done on the 1970s to write a
book for Greenwood called Ten Seasons: New York Theatre in the
Seventies, which described all aspects of that era’s theatre, onstage and
off. Many years later, in 2012, I began a postretirement “career” as a theatre
reviewer, which led to my creating this blog as an outlet for my reviews. Over
the past eight years or so I’ve posted nearly 1,600 reviews, a substantial
number having first appeared on other websites: Theater Pizzazz, The Broadway
Blog, and Theater Life.
Now, however, with the New York theatre in suspension, and my
reviewing completely halted, is probably the perfect time to post as many as
possible of the entries I prepared for the never-published 1970-1975 book. The
entries that follow are in alphabetical order. Each entry has a heading listing
the subject categories of the work described: the author (A), the director (D),
additional staging (ADD ST), when credited; the producer (P), the set designer
(S), the costume designer (C), the lighting designer (L), the source (SC), the
theatre (T), the dates of the run, and, in parentheses, the length of the run.
The original entries also contained the names of all the actors but I’ve
omitted those here.
I will try to post at least one entry daily. When time allows, I’ll
provide more. The manuscript exists on fading, fragile paper and, because no
digital files exist, must be retyped. Hopefully, the tragic health situation
we’re all enduring will abate before I get too far into posting these entries
but, for the time being, devoted theatre lovers may find reading these
materials informative.
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| Anna Mitchell, Rudolph Willrich, Lanna Saunders. |
Eugenie
Leontovich, a famed actress who had performed in various Russian
companies in her youth, among them the Moscow Art Theatre, and who made her
American debut in 1922, conceived, directed, and acted in this bare-stage
production. It attempted to transpose to the stage Tolstoy’s great novel, Anna Karenina (1878), set in St.
Petersburg and depicting the tragic affair of Anna Karenina (Catherine Ellis), unhappily
married to Karenin (Arthur Roberts), with the dashing Count Vronsky (Mark
MacCauley).
Mme.
Leontovich’s concept was to have a company of actors appear to be rehearsing
the drama and then to step out of their Tolstoy roles to comment on what they
were portraying.
This
play-within-a-play idea allowed the actors to dress in rehearsal clothes, to
work without scenery, and to suggest old Russia only by imaginative period
touches introduced when needed. Nearly everyone played multiple roles,
including Mme. Leontovich.
Howard
Thompson was impressed by how “astonishingly well” it all played. This, he
asserted, was “rewarding, riveting theatre.” Others, however, were not so
impressed. Walter Kerr found serious problems with the loosely established
premise that did justice neither to the novel nor to the picture of an acting
company doing its own stage version. He also criticized the amateurish level of
the performers surrounding the star. The acting, threw in Edith Oliver, was
indeed weak, but she valued the “delicate, comprehending, and quite ingenious”
adaptation, as well as the unforgettable mature beauty and finesse displayed by
the aged Leontovich, whose roles included Countess Lydia, Annushka, and
Countess Vronsky.
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?
