Podcast Host (81:57)
More common to be the number one movie in America for a long period of time, but still, two months is two months. And it was ended up being, I think, in the top five highest grossing films in America that year. The movie went on to have 13 Oscar nominations, the most of any movie. That year they did not win Best Picture. They lost, I believe, to A Man for All Seasons, Again, another British film. But they did win five awards, including Best Actress for Elizabeth Taylor and Best Supporting Actress for Sandy Dennis. This was also sort of the movie that kind of solidified the image of Liz and Dick. I think when a lot of people think of Elizabeth Taylor and Archer Burton, they do think of this movie, even though they made other projects together post film. The first notable revival of who's Afraid of Virginia Woolf On Broadway was in 1976 with Colleen Dewhurst and Ben Gazzara. It was directed by Edward Albee. I couldn't find a lot of information about the reception of this production, but the little I could find implied to me. It indicated to me that it was well received critically. The New York Times at least really loved it and loved the two of them and felt that this was both a very funny production, but like searingly painful. Dewhurst and Ben Gazzaro were nominated for Tony Awards for this production. There was no other major Broadway production of who's Afraid of Virginia Woolf until 2005 with Kathleen Turner and Bill Irwin, which we mentioned in the podcast. There have been productions before then, obviously, but just not on Broadway. There was a 2001 production at the Guthrie with Patrick Stewart and Mercedes Ruel. There was the production in New Haven with Mike Nichols and Elaine May. The 2005 production with Kathleen Turner did not win revival. They lost to Glengarry, Glen Ross. Bill Irwin won for playing George. Then in 2012, Steppenwolf Theater Company transferred its production from Chicago. I think it went from Chicago to D.C. and then to Broadway. And that production, as you mentioned, starred Tracy Letts, Amy Morton and Carrie Coon. I did some research and was reminded that Madison Dirks was the Nick in that production. Everyone but Madison unfortunately was nominated for a Tony Award. Madison was not. The 2005 production with Kathleen Turner and Bill Irwin is the only Broadway production where all four actors were nominated. The movie is the only other entity of Virginia Woolf where all four actors were nominated. At the original production, the Nick was not nominated. The 76 revival, the nick and Honey were not nominated. As they said in 2012, Madison Dirks Nick was not nominated. There was the 2020 revival for a Metcalf that we talked about that got shut down after like a week of previews because of COVID 2017. There was a London production with Imelda Stanton. You can see, I believe, the first two acts of that on YouTube. I watched the first act. It wasn't for me. Imelda is not my Martha. There was a 2022 production at Geffen Playhouse with Calista Flockhart and Zachary Quinto. We talk about sort of what is the impact of who's Afraid of Virginia Woolf? And I think the impact is immense. Oh, and also, if anyone's interested, we talked about this article in the episode that's also in the Boys in the Band episode. It's a 1966 New York Times article written by Stanley Kaufman, who is the chief theater critic at the time. And he does not name Edward Albee, Tennessee Williams and William Inge. Again, he does not name them, but he calls out the three most prolific dramatic writers of the time, which anyone who's in theater knew he was talking about those three. The name of the article is called Homosexual Drama and Its Disguises. And he basically was wondering why these three clearly homosexual playwrights were using women to disguise their queer identities on stage and basically was like, why don't they just write about queer stuff? Which is what led Mark Crowley to write Boys in the Band. Because he was like, fuck you, Stanley Kaufman. I will. The legacy of Virginia Woolf. Up until Virginia Woolf, you know, the American kitchen sink drama was nothing new. We definitely, you know, had kind of staked claim to that with Arthur Miller. You have All My Sons and Death of a Salesman and you have sort of his Greek tragedy version of that with View from the Bridge. And Tennessee Williams sort of took the kitchen sink dramas and gave it a whiff of perfume, a douse of bourbon and an air of poetry. And also an air of the odd. Because plays like Streetcar Named Desire and Rose Tattoo and Sweet Bird of Youth, they're very sexual and they're very human, but they have these almost out of left field twists that give it this heightened, melodramatic as. And as I mentioned earlier, Greek tragedy stakes. And the characters feel like these. How would I call it? These like impressionistic paintings of a human being that you see the human you. You see the essence of someone you might know. But they are filtered in a way that makes them theatrical and potent and very, almost high camp in a way, because they live at a fever pitch that most of us don't live all the time. But it's what makes William such a powerful writer and such a memorable writer and such a quotable writer? Edward Albee, with Virginia Woolf kind of birthed the urban sophisticate drama. It's the kitchen sink drama, and like Williams, it's heightened, but it's not heightened with perfume and an air of poetry. It's. It's the art of the insult. It's the weaponization of intelligence and wit and using all of the things that, you know, everyday Americans had already come to know. The. The overuse of alcohol and the subtle jabs in front of people for the marriage you have that is either completely loveless or there's love, but it's covered in piles and piles of resentment. And he whipped it up into this, as I said, urban sophisticate mentality. And you see that pay out in spades over the decades with so many works of the. We're a couple and we're not in love or in love, but there's just so much toxicity here. You see those kind of coupledom fights in movies like Marriage Story. Right? And there's so many other movies and TV shows that find influence from who's Afraid of Virginia Woolf? Or reference who's Afraid of Virginia Woolf? Gilmore Girls referenced it all the time. The TV show 30 something American dad has a whole episode where Roger and Francine play out their own version of who's Afraid of Virginia Woolf without actually ever saying it. The Simpsons has parodied it and referenced it. Melrose plays the nanny, Third Rock from the Sun, Animaniacs, Murphy Brown, the movie Black Bag, with Cate Blanchett and Michael Fassbender playing a married spy couple directed by Steven Soder. The pitch was that that movie was inspired by who's Afraid of Virginia Woolf? But what if they made it, you know, like a spy thriller? And then one of the most iconic episodes of the Office ever, Dinner Party. The writers officially stated that their influence for that episode was who's Afraid of Virginia Woolf? And if you watch it, like, you can see the influences. It's all, you know, located in one house over the course of one night. And it is at the center, a couple that are so resentful of each other and watching that bitterness seep out through their skin and making their guests uncomfortable and playing all these verbal games that just turn exceptionally deadly. And I think that you see that influence in theater a lot. Again, with the characters who speak so articulately. Is that the right word? I want to say, with such, you know, such articulate characters and in a way, that sometimes defies reality. We talked about this in Angels in America. Everyone in Angels in America is incredibly smart in very different ways, but very smart. And you see them sparring with each other in ways that are compelling and dramatic and hilarious, but also at a level that a lot of audiences can't really get. And part of that is because Tony Kushner himself is just such an insanely smart person. And I'd argue that post Angels, while he never really got as boldly creative and mind blowingly inventive, he got a lot better about writing for characters that were less smart than he was. I'd argue his west side Story screenplay.
