Edward Albee dies at 88

[Swithin]

So sad to report the death of Edward Albee, one of the great American playwrights. Most famous for his play Who's Afraid of Virginia Woolf, he wrote many more wonderful plays. I worked with him  on a number of occasions and always enjoyed his wit and wisdom.

 

[TopBilled]

A unique writer. I always felt like he and Williams covered some of the same emotional territory, but Albee was a little more direct. There's less subterfuge and a lot of frankness in his material. 

[Swithin]

The great Uta Hagen -- the original Martha in Who's Afraid of Virginia Woolf -- let's imagine she's raising a glass to Edward Albee.

 

[rayban]

After "Tiny Alice", he suffered the abuse of critics who perceived him as a gay man.

 

And he suffered a gradual decline in terms of audience popularity.

 

And he never stopped writing.

 

Eventually, he did win a renaissance, which he richly deserved.

 

Of his later plays, "The Goat or Who Is Sylvia" is a one-of-a-kind theatrical experience.

 

Maybe someday the original three-act version of "Malcolm" will be triumphantly staged.

 

[Sepiatone]

I don't see how if he WAS a gay man why there would be any "abuse" by critics due to it.  It really wouldn't have mattered, no more than it did about Truman Capote.

 

But Albee will be missed by a lot of theater goers and fellow playwrites and I hope he rests in peace.

 

 

Sepiatone

[LornaHansonForbes]

After "Tiny Alice", he suffered the abuse of critics who perceived him as a gay man.

 

And he suffered a gradual decline in terms of audience popularity.

 

And he never stopped writing.

 

Eventually, he did win a renaissance, which he richly deserved.

 

Of his later plays, "The Goat or Who Is Sylvia" is a one-of-a-kind theatrical experience.

 

Maybe someday the original three-act version of "Malcolm" will be triumphantly staged.

 

 

 

I have never heard of and am now terribly curious about JAMES PURDY, he has an intriguing wikipedia write up, BUT NONE OF HIS NOVELS HAVE ARTICLES!!!! Anything else you can offer on him?

[Swithin]

Here's a review of Albee's adaptation of Malcolm:

 

https://www.nytimes.com/books/99/08/15/specials/albee-malcolm.html

 

[rayban]

I have never heard of and am now terribly curious about JAMES PURDY, he has an intriguing wikipedia write up, BUT NONE OF HIS NOVELS HAVE ARTICLES!!!! Anything else you can offer on him?

James Purdy lived and died in my Brooklyn neighborhood - Brooklyn Heights.  

 

He is such a unique and gifted novelist.

 

I'm not sure that I could do him justice.

 

But, if you could get a copy of his 1967 novel, "Eustace Chisholm and The Works", I do think that you would be in for a rewarding reading experience.

 

At the time, it was billed as "The Sensational Novel of Perverse Love".

 

Purdy inhabits a very specific, a very strange, perhaps even alienating world, but, at the same time, it is so unusual and fascinating that you can't help but be drawn into it.

 

Fight it, though, you might.

 

Edward's Albee's adaptation of Purdy's first novel, "Malcolm", which was also titled "Malcolm", had a much-publicized opening on Broadway.

 

But he was forced to edit the three-act version into a much shorter two-act play.

 

And, as a consequence, it was considerably weakened.

 

It deserves a major re-mounting in its' original version.

 

It concerns a very beautiful young man, more of a child, really, to whom a great many people are attracted.

 

That alone might have done it in as a Broadway offering at the time.

 

The homophobia of the theater critcs was - well, "rabid".

[rayban]

Matthew Cowles and Jennifer West in Edward Albee's "Malcolm" -

 

One gorgeous boy - among many appetites - what price beauty? -

 

[Vautrin]

I just reread The Zoo Story a few weeks ago. Didn't

have the same impact as it did back in high school,

but it still holds up pretty well as a good piece of

American absurdism.

[Hibi]

Wow. I hadnt heard any of this. (oblivious to news on the wknds). Very sad.