Customer Reviews

Story Theatre (Broadway Theatre Archive)

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This is NOT the Story Theater of the Broadway show created by Paul Sills, and the actors from the show who are listed here (e.g., Melinda Dillon) and in the imdb.com entry for this title do not appear in this DVD. This is a group of scenes performed at the Yale School of Drama that are "inspired" by Sills' work and based on folk tales that Sills used. Acting students may find it interesting, but fans of the Broadway play will be confused at best, and disappointed.

As noted in the other customer review, this is not the Broadway production but a Yale drama school event. Having an interest in Paul Sill's Story Theater, I ordered the DVD anyway to see his approach. The production was a disappointment - by today's theatrical standards, stiff and often slow. Because of the amount of mime involved, I think there's value here as a teaching tool for very young drama students, possibly K-3rd grade. (Although you'd want to preview all the stories first - "The Blue Light" turns removing a pair of boots into an erotic act.) The stories are simple and the costumes bright enough to keep the attention of young children. As for older students or adult viewers, it's just not punchy enough.

The most important quality of this DVD is that it exists. There's something strange, awkward, and distant about many of the recordings in this series: You're watching well-known actors at the top of their respective games but not reaping the benefit of their skill, magic, or charisma.

Perhaps it's that these plays-on-video are just that -- not plays, not films, but an uncomfortable hybrid of the two.

But, be that what it may, this is still an intriguing and, occasionally, surprising document of a piece of work created at a specific moment in time.