Rowlands and Ritter

Orpheum Audience

Blondell

If I lived in Brooklyn, I would have been in the audience on Dec. 2 for the theatrical re-staging of my favorite John Cassavetes film, Opening Night.

TheNY Times review reports that director Mr. van Hove based his production on the original Cassavetes script for Opening Night rather than filmed version of the story (a film he claims to have never seen). Since I totally associate Opening Night with the strength of its casting–Thelma Ritter, Gena Rowlands and Joan–I’m curious to know how a theatrical re-staging would work without the visual support or its central players. In my experience, the film is essentially unwatchable any minute Rowlands, Powell or Ritter are not on the screen.