Figured I needed to follow-up on our trip to theater on Friday night to see The Graduate. As suspected, it was not very good. There was a noticeable "walk out" factor at intermission (including the gay guys a row behind us), but we stuck around for the entire show... where the production received an unusually tepid 25-30% standing ovation (we remained seated).
So what was wrong? Well, I don't think the groundbreaking film translated all that well for the stage. Some of the things that I think made the film great was how it was edited, the use of the Simon & Garfunkel music, and that it was current commentary of the mid/late 1960s. Here it became a period piece and despite a sprinkling of "The Sound of Silence" the musical interludes included The Beach Boys and The Mamas and The Papas... a S&G medley was played at the end.
The success of this production seems to lie in the hands of who is playing the iconic Mrs. Robinson. Here our Miss Morgan Fairchild struggled to get a passing grade. While the 54-year old quite buxom Fairchild looked incredible, she played Mrs. Robinson as a perpetually sloshy drunk whose sole role was to toss out one-liners. I don't know whether this was how it was written for the stage or if it was Fairchild's interpretation of the role. Whatever the case, Fairchild did not 'act' drunk which much skill (or success). The role still goes for laughs in the latter half...as opposed to the film where Mrs. Robinson emotionally crumbles. In this respect, the script is much more to blame than whoever is inhabiting the role. That said, Fairchild is no Anne Bancroft (not that we ever thought that possible/probable).
The pre-pubescent looking actor who played Benjamin also did not stand up well to the role that made Dustin Hoffman a star. Again it is tough to know where to place the blame ... but the stage Benjamin did not have that odd combination of earnestness, innocence, confusion, and vulnerability that Hoffman brought to the role.
But this is the way theater (both plays and musicals) seems to be going these days. Not much originality. Producers want to temper the considerable financial risk by creating shows that have a recognition factor ... i.e. a translation of a movie or a songbook (ala the ABBA musical "Mamma Mia!" or Billy Joel's "Movin' Out"). Sometimes it works, but in the case of The Graduate -- which was not the total disaster I am making it out to be -- I think it was probably still better left undone.
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