NEW YORK, July 28 — Theatre rewards the fresh take — a new work, or a new set of eyes on a familiar story. But Broadway this year is home to three shows that are being directed by men who oversaw the same shows, also on Broadway, decades ago. Why are they back? Here are edited excerpts from conversations with the directors about their experiences and expectations the second time around.
Trevor Nunn and ‘Cats’
A legendarily popular and yet much-satirised musical, based on T.S. Eliot poetry and set in a junkyard, about a group of cats vying to ascend to the Heaviside Layer and begin a new life.
History: Nunn directed the original production, which opened in 1982 and ran for 18 years, and his revival is scheduled to open July 31. In 1983, Nunn won a Tony Award for his direction of the original, and the show won the best new musical prize.
Why do it again? “It was 2 1/2 years ago when Andrew Lloyd Webber set up a little dinner party for people on the creative team and said, ‘I think we should bring Cats back into London, and there are all sorts of things that I’d like to review and challenge and question and modernise.'“
How do you keep it fresh? “The lyric ingredient is provided by the 20th century’s greatest poet, so going back to that material every so often, I discover new notions and a double meaning that I’d missed, a pun that we need to make clearer, a different way of releasing something spiritual in what Eliot is writing about.”
How have you changed? “I now have three daughters and two sons, and they’ve all seen Cats in two or three incarnations. And, since I married one of the most brilliant performers in Cats (Sharon Lee-Hill), and therefore she’s the mother of two of my daughters, they feel a particular attachment to the show. When you live through a couple of decades of entertaining children, playing with children, telling stories to children, you of course have an increasingly acute sense of what will work for them.”
How have we changed? “The story that I was able to dig out of Eliot poems, and out of ‘Practical Cats,’ is about forgiveness. That ingredient doesn’t change, whatever is happening politically in the world.”
Challenges: “To be absolutely certain that one isn’t feeling smug or self-content. One’s got to go on concentrating on everything as if it was a new piece.”
James Lapine and ‘Falsettos’
A family drama, set in New York in 1979 and 1981, about a gay man and his relationships with his boyfriend, his ex-wife, his son and his psychiatrist.
History:Lapine directed the original 1992 Broadway production and is directing a revival scheduled to open Oct 27. His ties to the material go even further back — he directed two ff-Broadway precursor shows, March of the Falsettos, in 1981, and Falsettoland, in 1990, that were combined to form the Broadway show; he wrote the book for Falsettoland and shares credit for the book of Falsettos with his collaborator William Finn. The writers won a Tony Award for best book in 1992.
Why do it again? “I went to see The Normal Heart with my 23-year-old assistant, who said, ‘I know about AIDS, but was it really like this?’ I thought, ‘Oh boy, this is really a fading memory.’ We did talk about some other directors, but nobody else seemed right, and it became old home week.”
How do you keep it fresh? “It was a very long time ago — basically I don’t remember anything. For this production, I have brought on the talented choreographer Spencer Liff, who had never seen the show and also has the advantage of being very young.”
How have you changed? “I’m approaching it now as a man in his 60s, versus a guy in his 30s. At that time, those characters were us. Now I’m someone much older, looking back at people of that age, so right off the bat your perspective has changed. And I was very new to the theatre then — the obvious change is that now I have craft in ways that I didn’t then.”
How have we changed? “Time has changed the world outlook on some of these issues, and that will be interesting, to see how it plays.”
Challenges: “I’m most nervous about hearing from people who saw it the first time and can’t wait to see it again. It’s really hard to meet someone’s expectations.”
Scott Ellis and She Loves Me
A romantic comedy, set in Budapest in 1934, about parfumerie clerks seeking love.
History: Ellis directed a revival of the musical in 1993, and this year directed another revival, which closed July 10.
Why do it again? “The truth is I had said no a couple of times. I don’t think it’s a good idea to go back to something that was successful. But we did a reading for a benefit, and I fell in love with it again.”
How do you keep it fresh? “I made a vow that there would not be one thing that I would repeat.”
How have you changed? “My life is totally different. At that time, I was young, and I don’t think I had fallen in love. Now I’m married, and I have children. All of that changed the way I look at this story.”
How have we changed? “Because things have gotten busier and faster in our world, there’s a longing that is even stronger now to go back to when it was not as fast. It’s much more emotional for audiences this time.”
Challenges: “Because it was in my bones, I knew these characters well, but there were times when I really had to let that go, and keep telling myself to allow the process to happen as if it were a new piece.” — New York Times
