Guess Who's Coming to Dinner

This weekend the Repertory Theatre of St. Louis is ending a very successful run of Todd Kreidler's play "Guess Who's Coming to Dinner" based on the screenplay for the 1967 Academy Award winning film Guess Who's Coming to Dinner by William Rose which starred Katherine Hepburn, Spencer Tracy and Syndey Poitier. I meant to write about it right after I saw it a couple of weeks ago but time got away from me.

As we saw a couple of years ago when NBC aired the stage version of "The Sound of Music" it's hard to stage a play that audiences know primarily from a very successful movie.  The audience might object when scenes aren't exactly the same as the film scenes and the audience, who can watch a film performance over and over in this day of digital rentals, can object if the stage actors interpret roles even slightly differently than the screen actors. But in this case the Rep pulled it off very well.

For those who have never seen the film, the story takes place in a single day at the home of a wealthy white San Francisco couple, Matt and Christina Drayton.  He is the editor of a newspaper with a liberal slant and she is the owner of an art gallery.  Their only daughter JoAnna (Joey) comes home from a trip to Hawaii and brings a surprise - a fiance named John Prentice Jr.   Prentice is a doctor with a worldwide reputation.  But the real surprise to the white couple is that their daughter's new fiance is black.  They also eventually meet Dr. Prentice's parents who Joey, as a further surprise, invites to dinner.

Although Matt and Christina have brought Joey up to believe all people are equal, no matter the color of their skin, they are taken aback that she intends to marry Dr. Prentice, perfect though he is in all ways.  Matt, especially, is convinced that the couple is making a mistake in marrying because the world is not ready for an interracial couple and they can expect to receive abuse.  The family's long time black maid, "Tillie", who feels that Joey is as much her daughter as the Drayton's, is also against the marriage and warns Dr. Prentice off.  Finally, Prentice's parents are also completely taken aback and his father is dead set against the marriage.

 The 1967 film, coming in the midst of the civil rights movement, was very popular.  The staged version here in St. Louis, which because of Ferguson, has become the epicenter for a new civil rights movement, also proved popular.  Although this production was planned long before Ferguson happened, the Rep took advantage of the additional interest by publishing a study guide, a play guide and a library resource list on their website. They also had a display in the theater lobby highlighting mixed race couples who live in the area. 

After seeing the play, I rented the film.  It had been at least 20 years (or more!) since I had seen it.  I wanted to compare the stage adaptation to the original screenplay.  A film can open up locations, of course, in a way that a play cannot.  We see San Francisco, the airport, the streets, a drive in burger/soda shop, the art gallery that Christina owns.  But it mostly takes place in Matt and Christina's beautiful home overlooking San Francisco bay.  The Rep's three-quarter jut stage does not, of course, accommodate many changing sets but is tailor made for a one set play.  The set design by Kevin Depenit is beautiful.  The formal dining room in the rear, the California casual living room up stage and, along the edge of the stage, slightly lower than the living room, the "terrace".   We never see the art gallery so, instead, Christina's assistant Hilary shows up at the house with pieces of art.  The "big client" that Christina is to have lunch with is, in the stage version, supposed to come for lunch at the house.  This gives Tillie time, on stage, to interact with not only Christina and Matt but with Hilary and let's us learn that she is opinionated.  We like her and trust her opinions.

I wondered if I would be able to forget Tracey, Hepburn and Poitier's performances enough to enjoy the play.  Margaret Daly and, perennial Rep favorite, Anderson Matthews played the roles differently but I soon was swept away by their performances.  I completely believed in them and the movie versions left my mind.  Richard Prioleau, as John Prentice, was also very good but I never could quite get Syndey Poitier out of my mind.  I think he was somewhat hampered by the actress who played Joey.

Joey is a difficult part, especially in 2015 when upper class white women just don't get married young as much as they did in the 1960's and when getting married to a man they just met is hard to fathom.  I couldn't remember who played Joey in the movie (it was Katherine Hepburn's niece, Katherine Houghton) so I wasn't comparing Shannon Marie Sullivan's performance to anyone's.  I did think her portrayal was the weakest in the show - through much of it I kept thinking "You are far too young to get married to anyone."  In fact, I kept thinking that Matt Drayton shouldn't even have to focus on whether he was ok with his daughter marrying Dr. Prentice particularly, but just focus on the fact that she shouldn't get married AT ALL yet.  I wondered if I would feel the same way re-watching the movie.  I did, but only slightly.  Only on principal, not based on the performances. I completely bought that "movie Joey" knew what she was doing and was completely in love with this man in an adult way whereas I thought Sullivan's Joey seemed young, flighty and possibly in love with the idea of love.

When I went back to watch the film I wondered if Sydney Poitier would live up to my memory of him from watching the film 20+ years ago.  And he did.  Wow, did he.  He really was fabulous.  It is a subtle performance that includes his body language and his eyes.  Of course, these things are easier to do on film than on stage.  But not every screen actor could carry it off the way Poitier did.  And watching Poitier and Houghton interact in the film, especially after seeing the interaction between the characters in the play, I was struck by how well Poitier and Houghton conveyed a couple in love by the little touches that passed between them and the way their eyes would meet.  It was all very natural - but, again, naturalness is easier to catch on film than it is to portray on stage.

The other supporting players in the stage version were very good. All in all it was an enjoyable and thought provoking evening of theater.  What is sad is that while so much has changed, legally,  so little has changed socially - at least so little has changed here in St. Louis.  A white liberal family today, one who believes that all people are equal no matter the color of their skin, probably would still be concerned if a family member was to marry someone of another race -- because they know that society is still going to make it hard on them.

New Local Bookstore - The Novel Neighbor

One of the saddest things to happen in the 21st Century is the demise of local independent bookshops.  My favorite nearby local bookshop, Puddn'head Books, closed a year or so ago.  Then the downtown branch of Left Bank Books closed. I still go to the original Left Bank Books in the Central West End but not as often as I probably should because, well, I don't live in the West End. 

As I said when Puddn'head Books opened:  "The bookstore of my imagination is small, with a friendly proprietor who likes the kind of books I like, in an easily accessed location with a lot of books that excite me." 

I am excited to tell you that Webster Groves has a new independent bookstore called The Novel Neighbor at the corner of Dale and Big Bend.  I missed the announcement but my sister had heard about it from a friend of hers so we went to check it out last week.  It's a charming little store that sits on a street corner and has decent parking.  It's not only a bookstore - which is probably good in this economy.   As its website says:

The Novel Neighbor is a unique concept and space that carries new adult and childrens’ books, unique works from local artists (including our own “artist(s) in residence”). We offer an amazing community space for book clubs, classes, author events, after-school activities, tastings, parties, showers, and more! We also, include cozy areas for reading – and a fantastic kids’ section with plenty of materials for little ones (and those grown) to read, experience, and explore.

We met the owner, Holland, who was just lovely.  And passionate about what she is doing.  She realizes she needs a business plan built on diversity to bring people into the store.  It worked with us because my sister heard about the store from a local photographer-friend of hers.  The shop has a nice community-use space and they plan to have some really interesting speakers in the evening.  I'm definitely going to check that out. 

The selection of books is not incredibly large (which is very wise of her) but in looking through the shelves, they were "my" kind of books.  So I know that I'll never have trouble finding something there.  And she'll order what she doesn't have. 

One thing I loved is that she is partially funded through kickstarter and she allows some of her funders to have special shelves where they can tell the world what kind of books they like.  I have to say that her backers have the same taste in books that I do!

I really hope the community supports this store.  I don't live in Webster Groves but I live nearby.  If any community in the St. Louis area should be able to support a local bookseller, it should be Webster and environs. 

Check it out:  The Novel Neighbor, 7905 Big Bend Boulevard, Webster Groves Missouri 63119
7905 Big Bend Blvd. Webster Groves MO 63119

Welcome 2015

I hope the blog reading world had a safe Happy New Year celebration. We're still within the 12 days of Christmas so I won't act like the holidays are over yet.  For Christmas my sister surprised me by giving me a book made up of many of my blog posts.  I've had fun reading through it and seeing what interested me at the time. 

That made me realize that it has been ages since I've posted anything.  There are probably many reasons for that including general laziness.  From time to time I've thought about writing something but that thought usually occurred in the midst of some other general craziness in my life and I would decide not to do anything.  I knew I had enough time to think up what to say but I just didn't feel that I had time to "maintain" it after posting.  I'm not sure I ever formulated an idea of what it means to "maintain" my blog but I think I just wasn't in the mood to keep checking back on it or thinking about what I wrote after I wrote it.  That seems like the antithesis of what a blog is for.  So I always chose not to write anything.

But it's a New Year and it's My Blog and, hey, I can set My Own Rules.  For 2015 the rule will be that I will write when the spirit moves me but will never check back in.  I will not allow comments so that I don't have to moderate them.  But I do check my Twitter feed regularly and I have an email address that blog readers use from time to time (and apologies to those emailing people to whom I never responded in the last few months - I'll try to be better this year.)

I'm excited about 2015 mostly because I really want it to be better than 2014.   See you around!