From “Stephen Sondheim and Frank Rich at Avery Fisher Hall”

…directors feel they can improve a show. They have such contempt for the authors. We (the authors) know what we?re doing and they don?t. It?s contemptuous of them.

Eh, I respectfully disagree. But I have strong feelings on the place of Authorial Intent. I also think he’s picking and choosing, as earlier he compares the role of mama Rose to Hamlet, and feels that there’s lots of room for different interpretations. Apparently, an actor bringing something new to a role is ok, but not so much for a director?

“They painted the lily. They painted it really well, but it’s painted.” In other words, “Pygmalion” did not need to be rewritten into “My Fair Lady.”

YES! Absolutely :) I found the musical first and thought it quite nice, but was utterly blown away when I read Shaw’s original. And he had a much better ending.

‘Green Grow The Lilacs’ is a very bleak play about homosexuality. Would you get that from ‘Oklahoma!’? I don’t think so.” Rich then noted, “from some productions!”

My junior high class put on an Oklahoma production with… subtext. (At least, that’s how I saw it.) For my money, that’s the way it *should* be played. Was a bit put off to see the movie afterwords and find no subtext in it at all. (But that’s 50′s movie musicals for you.)