![]() ![]() Richard Thomas as Atticus Finch and the company of To Kill A Mockingbird □Julieta Cervantesįive years and a pandemic later, the production (from which Rudin “withdrew” amidst further accusations making him the face of abusive Broadway working conditions and the impetus for demanding an end to them, then, in one final abusive power-play “reinstated” himself just long enough to close the show on Broadway last year before it could reopen) is now enjoying a deservedly successful national tour playing this week at the Hippodrome. But the bulk of the controversy came courtesy of the show’s arrogant monster producer, Broadway bully Scott Rudin, who endeared himself to no one when he pulled shenanigans such as countersuing the estate of Lee for protesting changes to the script and suing every small community and high school theatre company near any major market touring house performing another author’s previous version of the work which he had no stakes in, claiming Lee’s estate gave him exclusive rights to the piece (all unfounded, but what little group had the money to fight this behemoth?). He also spent much effort developing and defining the African-American characters (the unjustly accused Robinson and the Finch’s maid Calpurnia) more fully within the story. Originally it was criticized by purists who disagreed with Sorkin’s revisions of the beloved pieces (“This isn’t Harper Lee’s To Kill a Mockingbird,” as it was billed on the marquee, “it’s Aaron Sorkin’s To Kill a Mockingbird”, was the general consensus from its critics.) He not only focused the bulk of the plot on the Tom Robinson rape trial but he made Atticus the star of the piece, using the children (particularly the book’s lead character, daughter Scout) as the narrators stepping in and out of adult versions of themselves retelling the seminal events of their childhood and judgmentally observing the trial, then falling back into their childish personas to perform in the story they are telling. Sixty years ago Harper Lee penned what has become perhaps the quintessential American coming of age novel, the enduring and beloved staple of middle school American Literature curriculums To Kill a Mockingbird, which became in turn one of the most enduring and beloved movies of all time starring Gregory Peck, winner of the Academy Award for his endearing, human portrayal of antihero Atticus Finch trying to make a difference in the morality of the deep South.įive years ago, a new version of the play debuted on Broadway by Oscar and Emmy Award winning screenwriter ( The West Wing, The Social Network, Being the Ricardos) and playwright ( A Few Good Men) Aaron Sorkin, whose triumphant arrival was unfortunately overshadowed by a good degree of internal and external controversy.
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