1st Night Photos: Stars Support Miller ResurrectionDate: 6 March 2006
A night after the critics visited Resurrection Blues, the UK premiere of Arthur Miller’s second-to-last play, directed by legendary filmmaker Robert Altman (See News, 8 Sep 2005), the stars turned out for a gala evening performance of the play at the West End’s Old Vic on Friday night (3 March 2006).
While the overnight reviews were largely disparaging – a “terrible embarrassment” (Charles Spencer, Daily Telegraph), “clumsily inept, poorly acted” (Michael Billington, Guardian), “bizarrely awful” (Paul Taylor, Independent) and “a chunk of satirical-religious anecdotage” (Nicholas de Jongh, Evening Standard) were amongst some of the descriptions – that didn’t seem to harm the celebrity turnout at either the gala performance or the post-show party at the Riverbank Park Plaza Hotel.
In addition to the company – and our Whatsonstage.com photographer – guests included Daniel Day Lewis, Tom Hollander, Richard E Grant, Greta Scacchi, Maggie Smith, Emma Thompson, Emily Watson, Helen McCrory, Charles Dance, Sally Greene, Katherine Helmond, Ronni Ancona, Lydia Fox, John Light and the playwright’s daughter Rebecca Miller.
A satire of cultural commercialisation, global politics and media saturation, Resurrection Blues, which Miller was rewriting in the weeks before he died in February (See News, 11 Feb 2005), received its world premiere at Minneapolis’ Guthrie Theater in 2002. It’s set in an unnamed South American country where a young rebel heralded as a messiah is gathering support from the downtrodden masses. When the government’s dictator captures the man and decides to crucify him, a New York-based TV company swoops in to vie for the broadcast rights.
Altman’s ensemble cast includes Hollywood actors Neve Campbell and Matthew Modine, Australian-born Academy Award winner Maximilian Schell, Broadway’s Jane Adams and Britons James Fox and Peter McDonald (See News, 3 Jan 2006).
The production marks the UK stage debut of the 81-year-old Altman, whose many screen classics have included MASH, Brewster McCloud, Nashville, The Long Goodbye, The Player, Short Cuts, Prêt-à-Porter, Cookie’s Fortune and Gosford Park. It’s designed by Robin Wagner, with costumes by Jenny Beavan, lighting by Rick Fisher and sound by Matt Mackenzie.
- by Terri Paddock
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