#jeffrey hatcher

[do-you-know-this-play]

[moorheadthanyoucanhandle]

REDIALING

Check out my review, online at Phoenix Magazine, of Arizona Theatre Company's production of Dial M for Murder...

...which plays through November 3 at Tempe Center for the Arts. I was fascinated to see ATC's production, which is revised for a contemporary audience by playwright Jeffrey Hatcher.

I've always had a soft spot for this show, having played Inspector Hubbard in it back in the '80s at the Peak'n Peek Dinner Theatre in Clymer, New York, directed by the late lamented Ben Agresti. It wasn't necessarily the best show I ever did, but it was certainly one of the most fun.

[adaptations-polls]

Which version of this do you prefer?

[movie-pirate]

[kristipetersenschoonover]

Theatreworks NM earns a white star with SCOTLAND ROAD

review by Kristi Petersen Schoonover Robert Ballard’s 1985 discovery of the Titanic wreck promised answers to many questions about that horrific night in April of 1912. What it failed to remind us is that sometimes, when we get those answers, they may not be the ones we want. This is the crux of Jeffrey Hatcher’s 1992 play Scotland Road—originally produced in Cincinnati and New York City—running…

[byneddiedingo]

Claire Danes and Billy Crudup in Stage Beauty (Richard Eyre, 2004)

Cast: Billy Crudup, Claire Danes, Tom Wilkinson, Rupert Everett, Zoë Tapper, Richard Griffiths, Hugh Bonneville, Ben Chaplin, Edward Fox. Screenplay: Jeffrey Hatcher, based on his play. Cinematography: Andrew Dunn. Production design: Jim Clay. Film editing: Tariq Anwar. Music: George Fenton. 

It's a measure of how the discourse on sexual identity has changed since 2004 that Stage Beauty, in which it is a central theme, seems now to have missed the mark completely. Billy Crudup plays Edward Kynaston, an actor in Restoration London who was noted for his work in female roles at a time when such parts were usually still played by boys and men. Kynaston, as the film tells us, was praised by the diarist Samuel Pepys as "the loveliest lady that ever I saw in my life." As the film begins, he is performing as Desdemona in a production of Othello, and is aided by a dresser, Maria (Claire Danes), who longs to act. After his performance ends, she borrows his wig, clothes, and props, and performs in a local tavern as "Margaret Hughes." When King Charles II (Rupert Everett) lifts the ban on women appearing on stage, Kynaston finds his career threatened, and when the king's mistress, Nell Gwynn (Zoë Tapper), overhears him fulminating about the inadequacy of actresses, she persuades the king to forbid men from playing women's roles: The king gives as his reason that it encourages "sodomy." Meanwhile, Maria has taken advantage of the ban to rise in her career, and calls upon Kynaston to coach her in his most famous role, Desdemona, while teaching him how to act like a man on stage. The premise allows for some insight into the nature of gender, but the film never approaches it satisfactorily. Instead, we have a conventional ending which suggests that Kynaston and Maria fell in love. Earlier in the film, Kynaston is shown in a same-sex relationship with George Villiers, the Duke of Buckingham (Ben Chaplin), who leaves him to get married. The film never quite deals with whether Kynaston is gay, bi, sexually fluid, or simply somehow confused by having been celebrated as a beautiful woman. While it's risky to apply 21st-century psychology to 17th-century sexual mores, Stage Beauty's general indifference to historical accuracy seems to demand that it do so. As unsatisfactory as it is, Stage Beauty has a fine performance by Crudup and he and Danes have good chemistry together. 

[nitrateglow]

Just when you think I’ll stop posting WUD-related crap-- nope!!

Earlier this year, a theater group from New Jersey posted a recording of their staging of Wait Until Dark and I found it really interesting for a few reasons.

1) It’s using the original 1966 script rather than the newer, shinier, 1940s-setting rewrite by Jeffrey Hatcher-- well, sort of. It’s actually pretty loose with the original script in terms of sticking to the details... I’d call it more a mash-up of the original play and the 1967 film. They keep some of the changes the movie made (like Roat cutting the phone line so Susy can’t call for help and Susy doing her Home Alone booby trap routine alone rather than with Gloria’s help) and occasionally use music from the film in the background. But otherwise, they don’t mess too much with the dialogue (save for a few cuss words here and there) and the story is still set in the 60s.

2) The director included a prologue scene that takes from both the movie and the 1998 Tarantino revival, with Lisa at the airport and then frantically searching for the doll in the apartment before Roat strangles her. I thought it was very well done!

3) They show Lisa’s (apparently nude and wrapped in a shower curtain... echoes of Psycho?) corpse onstage and then it gets INSANE. At the end of that long exposition scene, right as the men are about to dispose of the body, Lisa straight up turns out to be only mostly dead because she suddenly wakes up and shrieks and then Roat stabs her and I’m like WTF IS THIS. It’s kind of dumb but also enjoyable in a schlocky, old-school 80s slasher way.

4) The guy playing Roat is channeling Scorsese movie energy and it’s great, like Keitel in Taxi Driver with a bit of De Niro from Cape Fear mixed in.

5) The actress playing Susy is damn adorable holy shit. She pays some homage to Hepburn, but she mostly does her own thing and is a bit pricklier.

But yeah, this was fun. It takes a lot from other versions, but it largely has its own vibe and I liked that a lot.

[thepiercedone20]

Originally posted 5.18.2016

[frontmezzjunkies]

"Tuesdays With Morrie" Unpacks a Relationship Regained with Subtle Ease

#frontmezzjunkies posts a review by #Dennis W. of #SeaDogTheater's #TuesdaysWithMorrie written by #JeffreyHatcher & #MitchAlbom directed by #ErwinMaas w/ #ChristopherJDomig #LenCariou Currently playing at #SaintGeorgesEpiscopalChurch #NewYork #OffBroadway

Christopher J. Domig and Len Cariou in Sea Dog Theater’s Tuesdays with Morrie. Photo by Jeremy Varner. The Off-Broadway Theatre Review: Sea Dog Theater‘s Tuesdays With Morrie By Dennis W. There is no villain, no dramatic climax, or any high comedy in Sea Dog Theater’s production of Tuesdays With Morrie written by Jeffrey Hatcher and Mitch Albom, but what you do get is a relationship regained…

[ropetick]

LESGATE: Have you written anything I would recognize?

TONY: Not unless you had a job rejecting manuscripts.

Jeffrey Hatcher

[hollywoodgothique]

Sierre Madre Playhouse will turn the screw this month

Sierra Madre Playhouse will stage a production of Turn of the Screw, playwright Jeffrey Hatcher’s adaptation of Henry James’ Victorian ghost story, starting this weekend. The 70-minute drama depicts the struggles of a young governess who comes to believe that her two young charges are haunted by – and perhaps in league with – a pair of ghosts. Viewed as a straightforward haunted house tale when…

[genevieveetguy]

- You don't have to please others all the time. - It's what I've been brought up to do. Difficult lesson to unlearn.

The Duchess, Saul Dibb (2008)

[adamwatchesmovies]

The Good Liar (2019)

Sticking your landing counts for a lot. If you’re going to show weakness, make it at the beginning of your movie and then recover so people leave with a good feeling. The Good Liar��loses confidence during its last act and pulls some cheap, borderline contrived moves that leave a bad taste in your mouth. Everything else about it is so engaging and intriguing it overcomes this flaw but a new cut with a couple of differently-written lines would do wonders for this crime thriller.

Roy Courtnay (Ian McKellen) is a professional con artist. He and his partner, Vincent (Jim Carter), decide to target Betty McLeish (Helen Mirren), a widow with a fortune to her name. Despite the suspicions of her grandson (Russell Tovey), Roy worms his way into Betty’s home.

I hope 80-year-old Ian McKellen never retires. He’s excellent in this role. Roy is a terrible person. He's stealing Betty’s money purely out of greed. He’s good at conning others out of their money so you respect and in a way like him but he’s taking it too far this time. You’re ready to write him off despite his charismatic nature but then, something happens. Bit by bit, we get tiny glimpses into his past and he slowly becomes more sympathetic. You think he may actually be falling for Betty. Perhaps this is actually a drama rather than a thriller? You want him to forget his old ways and settle down before he makes an unforgivable mistake.

While that's happening, there are hints of something amiss going on. You figure it’s got something to do with Betty but you’re unsure. It could simply be a previous con returning to haunt him - I had the feeling it was something else. Either way, it makes for excellent thrills.

Frequent McKellen collaborator Bill Condon keeps us unsure whether we should sympathize with Roy or not… until the last act of the film. The uncertainty we felt before evaporates with a couple of reveals. It feels cheap and more than a bit lazy. Not to mention it basically comes out of nowhere. Is it enough to take the entire movie down with it? Ultimately, no. Everything you liked beforehand remains intact. You just wish it was handled with more confidence and subtlety. We're adults. We can take moral dilemmas.

The first two-thirds are solidly directed and the whole thing features a terrific performance from Ian McKellen. Helen Mirren has a much smaller role and doesn’t get as much of a chance to shine but she’s pulling her weight too. They’re at the mercy of a screenplay that lets them down… but only at the very end. Since most of this is robust, I’m going to say you should check it out. Perhaps with lowered expectations, you’ll leave from The Good Liar delighted. (Theatrical version on the big screen, September 20, 2019)

[drinkwithhyde]

Instead of an all-good Jekyll and an all-bad Hyde, it is not always clear which character is more empathetic. Instead of seeing Jekyll and Hyde as a battle between good and evil, I see a little bit of bad in Jekyll and a little bit of good in Hyde.

Jeffrey Hatcher ( the playwright of 'Dr. Jekyll and Mr. Hyde,' presented by Theatre Three in Dallas Jan. 18-Feb. 11, 2018 in Dallas.)

[nitrateglow]

The Jeffrey Hatcher rewrite really makes Susy more hardboiled

I mean, Susy’s always tough-fibered, but here, she’s cussing and openly bitter about her disability. She even calls Gloria a “bitch.” Her cutting dialogue had me imagining Barbara Stanwyck in the role the whole time.

[loptrcoptr]

Storytime, kids!

So uh. I’ve become a caricature of myself. 

I’m not great at movie names. I have trouble remembering, for the most part, all the directors/producers/writers involved in a film, and usually I can only manage to remember one of the bunch. Only one. idk what it is about the major execs, I don’t have room for many in my brain or something.

I realized this when rewatching Return of The Jedi last year, one of my fave Wars with Stars, and noticing that Lawrence Kasdan co-wrote the film. I was shocked that I hadn’t noticed this before because Kasdan directed and wrote my all-time favorite Western, Silverado. And lo, he wrote for Raiders of the Lost Ark, and for The Empire Strikes Back, and my all time favorite Star Wars movie, The Force Awakens. Realizing this blew my mind, y’all. Now, I don’t like everything he’s done (and Idk if I can ever watch Raiders again after that Marian age issue reveal) but obviously... I have a certain type of taste and, apparently, it’s predictable to the -nth degree.

^^ (me @ myself)^^

Fast-forward to this week. On my birthday (Thursday) I wasn’t tired when I went to bed, so I watched this movie, Stage Beauty, which I had never seen before. It’s a romantic period drama with a screenplay by a man named Jeffrey Hatcher. And for some reason, mid-screening, the accurséd hyperfixation-fairy screamed THIS IS MY FUCKING JAM in my ear, and now I’m obsessed with it? Shit happens. I watched the movie two nights in a row, watched a shitty recording of a shitty community theater production of the original play, ordered the original play so I can read it (not that I don’t have the whole damn thing memorized at this point).... you get the picture. Jeffrey Hatcher adapted the screenplay from his own play, Compleat Female Stage Beauty, and neither movie nor play is without its flaws, so... I just can’t quite grasp what exactly the fuck I like so much about it. 

Well, tonight was my night to choose a movie for my family (my parents, we are still trapped in a house together, ain’t pandemic life fun) to watch, so I picked a few options and my dad grumpily said the only one that he’d watch was Casanova. Now, Casanova is one of my favorite movies. It hasn’t held up quite as well as I’d have thought it would, but it’s still a lot of fun and has a perfect soundtrack. Stage Beauty and Casnova have a lot in common, thematically, so I’ve been feeling some Casanova nostalgia over the last few days as a result of my shiny new Stage beauty hyperfixation. I know the names of every actor in Casanova, and I know Lasse Hallström directed it. You can see where this is going, right?

The opening credits are rolling, I’m thinking “ah, it’ll be nice to see Casanova since I’m on such a quirky-romantic-period-drama kick, apparently”. And here come the writing credits, and guess who wrote Casanova? Guess? Mr. Jeffrey Hatcher.

I think the sound that left me was kind of like a dying mouse, muffled by the stupid hand I clasped over my stupid mouth right after I muttered “oh no”. And my dad’s like “What? What is it?” and my dumbass just says “nothing, nothing. I know this writer. And... I am embarrassed.”

I’m trying to watch this movie while my whole brain is... crashing around in my skull having about seven tacky identity crises at once. I’m just?? A caricature of myself? goddamn, it used to be like yeah. Yeah, I joke that my personality is the color orange, some norse mythology, a few fuzzy animals and someone yelling “star wars” down a distant hallway, but APPARENTLY that was too kind. Apparently my personality is binary. Apparently, my tastes are so predictable that even when my brain is not consciously aware that something might be Right In My Stupid Wheelhouse, my heart can still pinpoint that it is... on a frighteningly consistent level.

So now I’m just a caricature of myself ¯\_(ツ)_/¯