Chris O'Dowd and James Franco. Photo by Richard Phibbs.
By Nichole Dupont The greatest moments are sadly the most fleeting. And what is more fleeting than the stage? We mourn that we never saw the sweat on Lawrence Olivier’s newly-muscled forearm in his stage debut as the Moor of Venice. Or Al Pacino’s contemptible grand ruse as Shylock in Central Park. “If only I’d been there," we say. “If only I lived closer. If only I had $150, I’d have gone." Don’t fret. The opportunity to see our generation’s beloved stars in revival acts and canonized roles is now just an affordable ticket (and short drive) away as more and more stage venues — the Met, Broadway, the National Theatre — open their curtains to live and taped broadcasting, bringing groundbreaking performances to community theaters across the globe. In fact, London's NT Live company got its feet wet in Broadway recently, filming the revival of Steinbeck’s classic "Of Mice and Men," starring James Franco, Chris O’Dowd and Leighton Meester. The Mahaiwe Performing Arts Center will be screening that taped broadcast of the sold-out summer production on Saturday, December 20. A live panel including Producer David Binder, Executive Producer/General Manager Wendy Orshan, Steinbeck Estate Representative Elizabeth Rubinstein and Marketing Director/Associate Producer Eric Schnall will precede the screening. “I think seeing live theater is a not-to-be-missed opportunity," says Mahaiwe executive director Beryl Jolly. “But at the same time, when something is as inaccessible as it is powerful, it’s a shame not to be able to enjoy that, especially when the dialogue sharing happens with audience members around the world." The Mahaiwe caught on to the live broadcast scene early on in 2008 at the end of the Metropolitan Opera’s first “live HD" season, bringing Gounod’s “Romeo et Juliette" (conducted by Placido Domingo) to downtown Great Barrington. Since then, the broadcast option has gained traction and has expanded to include National Theatre Live productions from the UK, and now Broadway. “There were so many people in the beginning who have seen the opera live and who joined early, and people who had a passion who would listen to the shows on NPR and could now see them fully staged and with interviews at intermission. It really started to gain traction."
Chris O'Dowd and Leighton Meester. Photo by Richard Phibbs.
Of course, it helps to have a star-studded cast and a ridiculously well-known tale to present, too. Eric Schnall, a Litchfield County part-timer who has been a producer and marketing director for the last 20 years (he’s currently running “Hedwig and the Angry Inch," and worked with David Binder on the 2004 production of “A Raisin in the Sun" starring Sean Combs, Phylicia Rashad and Audra McDonald) says that there was something surreal about bringing “Of Mice and Men" to a 2014 audience. “It’s what I call a ‘meat and potatoes’ play, full of chunky, great stuff and great story-telling," he says. “We have the right stars and that helped us bring this amazing play to a wide audience. I think Leighton Meester was our secret weapon. She really has an incredible fan base that was galvanized. The actors are very brave. Some of them haven’t done much stage work and it takes a huge risk to go in front of 1,000 people a night. No one’s doing it for the money. They’re doing it for the challenge." O’Dowd’s transformation from the charmingly comedic Irishman (he hails from County Roscommon) to a slow-witted, hulking migrant worker is, to his fans, nothing short of miraculous. And that Franco has to kill him night after night…heartbreaking, although we know the story by heart. “People come into the theater to watch their favorite stars and yet they get wrapped up in the piece, you can’t help it," says general manager Wendy Orshan (101 Productions, Ltd.), who was prepping for a busy weekend with the December 7 opening of “The Elephant Man" starring Bradley Cooper and Patricia Clarkson. “Even at that last moment when you know that George is going to shoot Lennie, you cry ‘no!’" Bringing this experience to a wider audience outweighed the numerous hurdles of filming the production—think of the Unions, the permissions, the cost, the offstage interviews—which may or may not have been Franco’s idea depending on who you ask. But in the end, it may well be worth it. For everyone. Orshan (who has a home in Sheffield) hopes that bringing NT Live’s first Broadway broadcast to local community theaters will whet audience appetites for more—maybe bringing people out for a day on Broadway, or just getting them into the habit of coming to more broadcasts and opening up a largely untapped social media space where fans and critics can discuss the performances of our lifetime. “It’s interesting. I’ve spent my whole career doing theater. And somehow live theater feels, still, very elitist," she says. “So when you have the opportunity to bring well-represented theater to people, you do it."
