Steadstyle Chicago May 2010 Commentary by Joe Stead The Best Drama From Stage to Screen Theatre may be ephemeral and in the moment, but film is forever.  In my recent column "From Stage to Screen and Back," I discussed some of the work that began as Broadway musicals that became films and vice versa.  Broadway and Hollywood are notorious for borrowing back and forth, as witnessed by "Billy Elliot," "The Producers," "Alfred Hitchcock's The 39 Steps," "Shrek the Musical," and oh the list goes on and on.  Part of what makes live theatre so special and indispensable is the fact that it is happening right before our eyes.  There are no second or third takes, we can't rewind or fast forward through the slow spots, and if someone forgets a line or cue, they better be able to cover.  Film is an altogether different medium.  It is almost alarmingly literal and visual, a visceral experience at its best. I thought it would be fun to take a look at some of the theatre's best dramatic work that has also made the successful leap from stage to screen.  I chose fifteen films, all based on works that originated live on stage, that cross several different genres.  I intentionally left out Shakespeare's plays that have been filmed, which I hope to touch on in a future column of their own, and any live performances preserved on video, as I discussed recently with "Mister Roberts" and "Bus Stop".  These are all major motion pictures that are ready to be seen on DVD.  So grab the popcorn, dim the lights and let the drama begin. Angels in America Tony Kushner's two-part Tony and Pulitzer Prize winning manifesto may have been one of the most challenging theatrical works of the 20th Century.  It's set in the Ronald Reagan era of the 1980's in which the American government turned a blind eye to the AIDS pandemic even as several of its most powerful proponents like Roy Cohn fell victim.  A decade after the original plays, "Millennium Approaches" and "Perestroika" took their final curtain calls in New York, HBO Films turned them into one of the most highly watched mini-series in history, and to stunning results.  Viewers can watch the entire six hour production in one marathon viewing, in a 2 parter as it was originally seen on stage, or in six one-hour installments.  And with a dream cast that boasts Al Pacino, Meryl Streep and Emma Thompson among others, you are getting one big bang for your entertainment buck.  The scope of this sprawling work is almost overwhelming.  In terms of sheer length, "Nicholas Nickleby" and "Strange Interlude" may take the prize, but thematically "Angels in America" is the Mount Olympus of the American drama.  Beautiful Thing I fell instantly in love with this charming British gay coming of age story in its 1998 Chicago Premiere, so memorably directed by Gary Griffin for the now-defunct Famous Door Theatre.  And it works nearly as well in the slightly opened up film version.  It is played with such honest emotion that by the final dance you will have fallen in love right along with the main characters as they try to make their own kind of music.  A landmark film that is beautiful indeed. The Best Man Americans should view Gore Vidal's crackling swipe at political corruption every single Election year.  Remy Bumppo Theatre did a bang-up job with their 2006 stage revival, which offered the beloved late Gene Janson in his final performance among a distinguished cast of Chicago theatre stalwarts.  The 1964 film is just as peerless and offers Henry Fonda in one of his best and most idiosyncratic roles as a Presidential contender facing a nasty, mud-slinging campaign.  "The Best Man" remains a vigorous and enlightening look at the American political machine. Born Yesterday Film star Jean Arthur had been the inspiration for the character of Billie Dawn in Garson Kanin's original comedy of blonde ambition, "Born Yesterday".  But when Arthur bowed out during the out of town tryouts, Judy Holliday took over the role to eventual Oscar winning acclaim.  The role and the lovable but slightly dim-witted persona fit Holliday like a glove, and her performance is beautifully preserved for the ages to enjoy in this perceptive and witty comic masterpiece.  Judy/Billie is the mistress of sleazy business mogul Harry Brock (Broderick Crawford), who is in the nation's capitol to do a little political arm twisting.  When Harry decides that Billie's not too bright for his image, he hires a reporter (William Holden) to smarten her up.  Well, teacher does his job a bit too well in this modern spin on the Pygmalion legend.  "Born Yesterday" was entertainingly re-made in 1993 with Melanie Griffith, John Goodman and Don Johnson.  But Holliday was the original and definitive Billie Dawn, and you would be wise to make her acquaintance. Doubt One of the most recent hit plays to receive the Hollywood treatment, John Patrick Shanley's extremely thought-provoking, Pulitzer Prize winning drama explores a potential child sex abuse scandal within the Roman Catholic Church.  In light of everything we know about real-life pedophile priests, it would be easy to make quick assumptions about the outcome.  Shanley will have none of that, though.  Just as you think you have the dilemma solved, the playwright throws a brilliant wrench into the drama.  Chicago and New York theatre audiences thrilled to the portrayal by Cherry Jones of an elderly nun, whose uncompromising mission to discover the truth leads to her own epiphany.  Hollywood brought its own big guns in for the 2008 movie, with Meryl Streep and Phillip Seymour Hoffman locked in the moral dilemma of "Doubt".  This is potent stuff, and perhaps one of the best dramas of the decade!   A Few Good Men I had the good fortune to see the World Premiere of then-newcomer Aaron Sorokin's Broadway-bound military court tribunal at the University of Virginia in 1989 starring Tom Hulce, the Oscar nominated film star of "Amadeus".  Both play and playwright went on to legendary success, Sorokin with "The West Wing" and "A Few Good Men" as an all-star motion picture with Tom Cruise spelling Hulce, alongside Demi Moore and Jack Nicholson.  The latter's volatile confrontation with Cruise forever cemented the words "You can't handle the truth" into celluloid immortality.  And the film and play still powerfully evoke questions on the military code of honor, judgment and ethical responsibility. Glengarry Glen Ross Chicago loyalists can point to playwright David Mamet with deserved pride.  Mamet's career really took off in Chicago during the 1970's and '80's and he enjoyed a particularly fruitful collaboration with the Goodman Theatre, which premiered several of his best works.  This trenchant look at the shady world of real estate sales was brought to the screen in 1994 with another brilliant cast, including Jack Lemmon, Al Pacino, Ed Harris, Alan Arkin and Kevin Spacey, many of whom took significant price cuts in order to appear in the low-budget independent film.  Something of a flop at the box office, this is still a searing work of powerful writing and acting. Harvey Has anyone ever made drunkenness and eccentricity quite as lovable as James Stewart did in Mary Chase's hilarious fantasy about a man and his best friend, "Harvey".  In case you haven't met "Harvey," allow me to introduce him and this wonderful film.  You see, Harvey (who we never quite see in the film) is a Pooka, i.e. a gently mischievous sprite that usually takes on animal form, in this case a 6 foot tall rabbit, and appears to those under the influence of alcohol.  Somehow, Stewart makes his pal so endearingly real and charming that by the final reel we're not only ready to make his acquaintance ourselves, but to bequeath Stewart's Elwood P. Dowd with a certain honorary sainthood.  The adorable Josephine Hull comes close to stealing (well, sharing) the picture in her original role as Elwood's exasperated sister. The Man Who Came to Dinner No less than "The Great Profile" himself, John Barrymore screen tested for the film version of Kaufman and Hart's zany stage comedy, but there really was no contest.  Who else could have made the house guest from Hell, the pompous, outrageous lecturer, critic and celebrity magnet Sheridan Whiteside as drolly delightful as the great Monty Woolly?  Together with a surprisingly restrained Bette Davis, Reginald Gardner, Jimmy Durante and an A-list Hollywood cast, this is vintage screwball comedy at its most delicious. The Odd Couple When it comes to Neil Simon on film, early is definitely better.  "The Odd Couple" and "Barefoot in the Park" are the best representation of America's most prolific comedic playwright's work on film, and no wonder as they both reunite several original cast members under Simon's frequent stage director Gene Saks.  Both films opened up their subjects just enough to exploit the medium of film without seriously distorting them, and "The Odd Couple" in particular introduced one of the most endearing and enduring teams ever.  There have been many different "Odd Couples" over the year, but perhaps none as definitive as Walter Matthau and Jack Lemmon.  The partnership lasted through "The Front Page," "Grumpy Old Men" and "Out to Sea," among others.  Who can ever forget Lemmon's neurotic neediness as perfectly contrasted by Matthau's salty cragginess?  The moose calls to help open Lemmon's sinuses, and Matthau's desperate realization that the signature reading F.U. meant Felix Unger.  This is situation comedy at its best and most believable as two single men try to survive living together without killing each other.    The Philadelphia Story Believe it or not, but the great Katharine Hepburn was once considered "box office poison" by Hollywood producers, but she bounced back in a big way with this stage and screen triumph.  As the toast of Philadelphia's high society Tracy Lord, Hepburn is paired with both Cary Grant and James Stewart in Phillip Barry's stylish and romantic high comedy.  Nobody played this genre better and Kate the Great was off on one of the most acclaimed careers in movie history.  Watching this delightful film has all the bubbles of a first-rate champagne that never loses its fizz. Pygmalion By George, they did it!  Bringing George Bernard Shaw's talky satire on the British class system to the screen was no small order, and film producer Gabriel Pascale succeeded brilliantly.  This 1938 British film stars Leslie Howard as the phonetics professor who wagers he can turn Wendy Hiller's Cockney ragamuffin into a duchess by training her to speak like one.  With a few revisions to Shaw's shockingly unromantic comedy of manners, this handsome and generally reverent film served as the inspiration for the 1957 Broadway musical "My Fair Lady".  Go back to the original to see where Alan Jay Lerner and Frederick Loewe found the inspiration for their most "loverly" stage and film smash. A Raisin in the Sun The characters in Lorraine Hansberry's seminal masterpiece may be an African American family struggling to break out of their South Side Chicago ghetto, but their dreams are an inherent part of the fabric of America.  This play never fails to resonate and touch something in me.  And how fortunate we are to have the indelible work of the great Sidney Poitier and Claudia McNeil preserved forever on film.  Sean Combs and Phylicia Rashad starred in a recent Broadway revival that was also preserved as a 2008 made-for-TV movie.  Some things just can't be improved on, though.  So take my advice and stick with the irreplaceable originals. A Streetcar Named Desire One of the most iconic dramas of all time.  Tennessee Williams' smoldering stage to screen adaptation preserved the breakthrough performance of Marlon Brando's blue collar brute Stanley Kowalski, although it substituted the bigger name movie star Vivien Leigh for Broadway's Jessica Tandy as faded Southern belle Blanche DuBois.  Fortunately, Leigh was up to the task and next to "Gone With the Wind," this is certainly one of her defining roles.  The radiant Kim Hunter also recreated her stage portrayal of Stella in this scintillating tale of two sisters' dreams and delusions.  Although the Hollywood censors exorcised some of the racier aspects of Williams' original, several of those cuts have been restored in recent DVD reissues.  Even half a century later, this "Streetcar" is still one steamy ride. The Women Has ever a more glamorous cast been assembled for one film than Director George Cukor's ultimate all-star treatment of this vintage and sparkling George S. Kaufman and Edna Ferber comedy?  Beautiful Norma Shearer lights up the screen and gives Joan Crawford's "other woman" and Rosalind Russell's gossip queen quite a run for their money.  Jungle Red, anyone?      About Joe Stead Joe Stead has enjoyed a lifelong passion for the theatre, which has involved acting, directing, producing, designing and reviewing for the past twenty-five years.  He served as founder, producer and Artistic Director of Curtain Up Productions in Baltimore, Maryland and Four Star Players in Tampa, Florida.  Favorite productions have included "Life With Father," "Deathtrap," "The Odd Couple," "The Miracle Worker," "Brighton Beach Memoirs," "You're A Good Man, Charlie Brown" and "Godspell".  He has also performed leading roles in "Fiddler on the Roof," "Pippin," "The Phantom of the Opera," "The Front Page," and most recently as Hucklebee in "The Fantasticks" for Waukegan Community Players.  Joe holds a degree in Commercial Art from Tampa Technical Institute.  As a critic, he has reviewed everything from Broadway to community theatre and major regional theatres throughout the United States including the Kennedy Center in Washington, D.C., Paper Mill Playhouse in New Jersey, Goodspeed Opera House in Connecticut, and the Asolo Theatre in Sarasota, Florida.  Since 1998, he has been a proud resident of Chicago, the greatest theatre city in America.  He served for two years as Theatre Editor for College News and Central Newspapers.  He created the website Steadstyle Chicago in 2000 to showcase the city's outstanding and diverse theatre scene.  Joe was proud to serve alongside a distinguished panel of theatre professionals as a judge for two seasons of Speaking Ring Theatre's "Vitality" Festival of original short plays.  His most fulfilling role, in addition to reviewer and all-around theatre fanatic, was as director of the 2007 production of Peter Shaffer's "Equus" at Actors Workshop (now Redtwist) Theatre, which was nominated for five Joseph Jefferson Award Citations and won for Best Actor (Peter Oyloe).