Reading Mr. Sondheim’s letter in the NY Times reminded me of an experience I had at a Broadway revival of “A Doll’s House.”  The lead actress was brilliant.  Her Nora made me re-think much of the play.  Nora’s defiance against Torvald before she slammed that famous door was different than any other production I’d ever seen.  I returned to see the play again.  I had to.  But something was off when I saw it again.  That final scene was different.  The characters’ movements were wildly changed.  The lines weren’t the same.  The pacing was altered.  Something was up and it rattled me.  When the performance was over I approached an usher to ask what was going on.  She told me it was different every performance.  The actors playing Nora and Torvald routinely moved differently and spoke some or all of the lines depending on how they ‘felt’ the scene was going.  This was for the intention of getting to that powerful climax.  The actors were given freedom to ‘play’ through the scene in order to build to the final moments so that it felt natural.  The usher said that the scene might play 7 minutes one performance and 15 minutes another.  Now, in rehearsal this kind of ‘play’ may be vital to the actors discovering those moments.  But this was a performance (and not in previews).  It made me wonder, “Can they do this because Ibsen is dead?”  He couldn’t be that pesky playwright coming around demanding that his text be followed.

The Gershwins and Mr. Heyward won’t come around now to complain about this new Porgy and Bess.  And don’t they deserve more respect for their great work?  Use all the backstory necessary in rehearsal if it helps get to the proper moments.  But if you want to bring all that new material into the performance call the show something else.

And to Mr. Sondheim’s other point, no judgment has been made on this new production in performance.  It might be great.  We don’t know yet.    That production of “A Doll’s House” I saw was brilliant.  I even went back twice more.