1 00:00:00,040 --> 00:00:04,320 Speaker 1: Trigger warning. This podcast involves discussions of child sexual abuse 2 00:00:04,400 --> 00:00:11,720 Speaker 1: and pedophilia. Listener discretion is advised. Alan Jay Lerner didn't 3 00:00:11,840 --> 00:00:15,760 Speaker 1: need to take suggestions from his assistant. He was Alan 4 00:00:15,960 --> 00:00:19,560 Speaker 1: Jay Learner. He was a Broadway legend. He had written 5 00:00:19,640 --> 00:00:23,800 Speaker 1: lyrics and librettos for huge musicals like My Fair Lady 6 00:00:23,800 --> 00:00:26,920 Speaker 1: for Camelot, for Brigade Doone. I don't know what Brigade 7 00:00:26,920 --> 00:00:29,560 Speaker 1: Dooon is, he wrote it. He'd worked in movies doing 8 00:00:29,600 --> 00:00:33,000 Speaker 1: the music with collaborator Frederick Lowe for Gigi, and he 9 00:00:33,040 --> 00:00:37,239 Speaker 1: wrote An American in Paris. But those hits were a 10 00:00:37,280 --> 00:00:41,360 Speaker 1: while back now, and it was the nineteen seventies. Learner's 11 00:00:41,360 --> 00:00:44,040 Speaker 1: work didn't fit as well into the Broadway culture at 12 00:00:44,040 --> 00:00:47,000 Speaker 1: the seventies. It kicked off hits that had overwhelmed New 13 00:00:47,040 --> 00:00:48,920 Speaker 1: York in a culture shifting way in the mid to 14 00:00:49,000 --> 00:00:52,959 Speaker 1: late sixties into the early seventies were sexy, edgy stuff 15 00:00:53,080 --> 00:00:57,800 Speaker 1: like Hair and Cabaret and Company. And by nineteen seventy one, 16 00:00:58,240 --> 00:01:01,280 Speaker 1: God's Bell and Jesus Christ super Star. You know, the 17 00:01:01,360 --> 00:01:06,319 Speaker 1: sexy Jesus musicals. Broadway was getting horny, and Alan Jay 18 00:01:06,400 --> 00:01:10,679 Speaker 1: Lerner was not a horny lyricist. His work was pretty traditional, 19 00:01:10,840 --> 00:01:15,399 Speaker 1: featuring heavy costumes and straightforward love stories with catchy burst 20 00:01:15,440 --> 00:01:18,640 Speaker 1: into song hits, and now that luster was wearing off. 21 00:01:19,160 --> 00:01:22,520 Speaker 1: His last two shows were nominated for a handful of Tony's, 22 00:01:22,520 --> 00:01:25,400 Speaker 1: but they were not the smash, financial and culture defining 23 00:01:25,480 --> 00:01:28,640 Speaker 1: hits he'd had with Low up through Camelot in nineteen 24 00:01:28,760 --> 00:01:32,440 Speaker 1: sixty the chased Alan jay Lerner needed to get with 25 00:01:32,520 --> 00:01:38,080 Speaker 1: the times. He needed to listen to his assistant. I 26 00:01:38,080 --> 00:01:40,919 Speaker 1: think you see where this is going. His assistant wanted 27 00:01:41,000 --> 00:01:45,200 Speaker 1: him to adapt Lolita by Vladimir Tobakov, and I quickly 28 00:01:45,200 --> 00:01:47,520 Speaker 1: want to give a huge shout out to one of 29 00:01:47,520 --> 00:01:51,080 Speaker 1: the top keepers of Lolita history, writer Sarah Weinman, who 30 00:01:51,080 --> 00:01:53,280 Speaker 1: we talked to last week for collecting a lot of 31 00:01:53,320 --> 00:01:57,440 Speaker 1: this information on the musical back in article for Vulture, 32 00:01:57,520 --> 00:01:59,840 Speaker 1: which I will link in the show notes. So did 33 00:02:00,000 --> 00:02:05,800 Speaker 1: Alan j Lerner understand Lolita? Uh? I think that the 34 00:02:05,840 --> 00:02:08,480 Speaker 1: story of Lolita is much more pertinent now than when 35 00:02:08,520 --> 00:02:11,600 Speaker 1: the film was made. Humbard is such a tragic, flawed 36 00:02:11,600 --> 00:02:15,480 Speaker 1: and misplaced romantic lost in post World War two. They're 37 00:02:15,560 --> 00:02:18,200 Speaker 1: countless men like him over forty who find it impossible 38 00:02:18,240 --> 00:02:20,440 Speaker 1: to wake up in the morning and not blink once 39 00:02:20,560 --> 00:02:24,680 Speaker 1: or twice at the life facing them. Oh, absolutely incredible. 40 00:02:24,840 --> 00:02:27,760 Speaker 1: Do you ever just hear how any person who has 41 00:02:27,800 --> 00:02:30,680 Speaker 1: ever adapted this book talks about the story and your 42 00:02:30,720 --> 00:02:34,760 Speaker 1: head just like explodes like that scene in Scanners. I can't. 43 00:02:35,120 --> 00:02:40,440 Speaker 1: It's unbelievable. But okay, who's collaborating on this with Mr Lerner? 44 00:02:40,639 --> 00:02:45,080 Speaker 1: It's a composer named John Barry, a suave Englishman most 45 00:02:45,120 --> 00:02:47,720 Speaker 1: famous for writing the theme song to James Bond. He 46 00:02:47,760 --> 00:02:51,000 Speaker 1: was in his late thirties. To Learners fifty one or 47 00:02:51,120 --> 00:02:55,520 Speaker 1: Is Learner would describe it a contemporary man go off. 48 00:02:55,639 --> 00:02:59,160 Speaker 1: Also on Learner's team is producer Norman Twain, who was 49 00:02:59,240 --> 00:03:02,679 Speaker 1: notorious in theater and film for being a gigantic personality 50 00:03:02,960 --> 00:03:06,120 Speaker 1: with big hits and bigger misses. For an idea of 51 00:03:06,120 --> 00:03:08,520 Speaker 1: what his vibe is, here's a quote pulled from the 52 00:03:08,560 --> 00:03:12,760 Speaker 1: Associated Press piece on the auditions for Lolita in nineteen seventy. 53 00:03:13,960 --> 00:03:15,320 Speaker 1: We've got to have a girl who makes a man 54 00:03:15,440 --> 00:03:19,560 Speaker 1: forget the moral conventions of society, but it's got to 55 00:03:19,600 --> 00:03:22,600 Speaker 1: be a complete mental situation. If Lolita is five ft 56 00:03:22,639 --> 00:03:25,560 Speaker 1: five with a great figure, it would be perfectly normal 57 00:03:25,600 --> 00:03:28,520 Speaker 1: for from Bear to go after her. The musical was 58 00:03:28,560 --> 00:03:32,080 Speaker 1: to be called Lolita My Love, and it's the last 59 00:03:32,120 --> 00:03:36,160 Speaker 1: attempt at an adaptation Vladimir Tobakov would ever sign off 60 00:03:36,200 --> 00:03:39,440 Speaker 1: on before his passing in ninety seven. By this time, 61 00:03:39,600 --> 00:03:42,560 Speaker 1: he was living in Montro Palace in Switzerland, working on 62 00:03:42,640 --> 00:03:46,120 Speaker 1: new novels full time and enjoying the residuals that Lolita 63 00:03:46,240 --> 00:03:49,200 Speaker 1: continued to rake in. He is, as he was during 64 00:03:49,240 --> 00:03:52,360 Speaker 1: the Kubrick movie, strongly averse to the idea of an 65 00:03:52,360 --> 00:03:55,320 Speaker 1: actual twelve year old playing the part night after night, 66 00:03:55,640 --> 00:03:59,960 Speaker 1: calling it sinful and immoral. This is, according to ken 67 00:04:00,080 --> 00:04:05,040 Speaker 1: Endel bomb book not since Carrie this statement aside, Nabokov 68 00:04:05,120 --> 00:04:07,200 Speaker 1: appears to have had all the faith in the world, 69 00:04:07,280 --> 00:04:10,120 Speaker 1: and Mr my fair Lady at first saying the following, 70 00:04:10,840 --> 00:04:14,360 Speaker 1: Mr Lerner is a most talented and excellent classicist. If 71 00:04:14,360 --> 00:04:16,719 Speaker 1: you have to make a musical version of Lolita, he 72 00:04:16,920 --> 00:04:19,840 Speaker 1: is the one to do it well. Keep in mind 73 00:04:19,960 --> 00:04:23,039 Speaker 1: Nabakov also said that about Kubrick two back in the sixties. 74 00:04:23,240 --> 00:04:25,720 Speaker 1: So let's see where this goes. Back to those low 75 00:04:25,800 --> 00:04:29,400 Speaker 1: La auditions in November nineteen seventy, dozens of girls as 76 00:04:29,440 --> 00:04:32,240 Speaker 1: young as ten and oldest twenty one went to the 77 00:04:32,279 --> 00:04:35,400 Speaker 1: Billy Rose Theater to audition for the head Hanchos and 78 00:04:35,480 --> 00:04:39,279 Speaker 1: Sarah Whyneman's piece kind of distills the vibe at these auditions. 79 00:04:39,320 --> 00:04:41,960 Speaker 1: A thirteen year old audition ee said the following to 80 00:04:42,040 --> 00:04:46,560 Speaker 1: a reporter. I wouldn't like to be Lolita, but I'd 81 00:04:46,600 --> 00:04:49,279 Speaker 1: still like to play the part. And a lot of 82 00:04:49,279 --> 00:04:52,559 Speaker 1: those auditioning legally had to be accompanied by a parent, 83 00:04:52,800 --> 00:04:58,520 Speaker 1: and the parents also had takes. There's a wickedness wherever 84 00:04:58,560 --> 00:05:01,320 Speaker 1: you go. It's just lucky my daughter only play accit. 85 00:05:02,560 --> 00:05:05,680 Speaker 1: The audition process sounded similar to that of Stanley Koprick 86 00:05:05,720 --> 00:05:08,479 Speaker 1: and James B. Harris's a lot of young girls, bodies 87 00:05:08,520 --> 00:05:12,800 Speaker 1: being appraised, a lot of extremely personal questions. Don't wear 88 00:05:12,839 --> 00:05:14,960 Speaker 1: makeup next time, said one of the producers to a 89 00:05:14,960 --> 00:05:17,960 Speaker 1: girl who was auditioning. I wanted to look sexy. The 90 00:05:18,000 --> 00:05:22,159 Speaker 1: girl replied, you look sexy anyways, he said, yikes. The 91 00:05:22,200 --> 00:05:25,360 Speaker 1: actor eventually selected for the role of Lolita was named 92 00:05:25,360 --> 00:05:29,120 Speaker 1: Annette Farah, now a casting director who goes by Chris Gilmore. 93 00:05:29,360 --> 00:05:31,719 Speaker 1: We're gonna be talking to her today and at the time, 94 00:05:32,040 --> 00:05:34,839 Speaker 1: she was fifteen years old and from a Los Angeles family. 95 00:05:35,120 --> 00:05:37,960 Speaker 1: More interested in her music career than being Lolita, but 96 00:05:38,040 --> 00:05:41,080 Speaker 1: being offered the lead in an Alan J. Lerner musical 97 00:05:41,279 --> 00:05:45,080 Speaker 1: that was grounds to be launched into superstardom, Honey, and 98 00:05:45,120 --> 00:05:47,479 Speaker 1: so she jumped at the opportunity and was willing to 99 00:05:47,520 --> 00:05:50,360 Speaker 1: relocate to New York from Los Angeles with her sister. 100 00:05:50,720 --> 00:05:52,640 Speaker 1: She had had a guest spot on The Brady Bunch 101 00:05:52,720 --> 00:05:55,520 Speaker 1: earlier in nineteen seventy and had sung a number of 102 00:05:55,680 --> 00:05:59,000 Speaker 1: obscure but very catchy teen hits in the nineteen sixties, 103 00:05:59,120 --> 00:06:02,080 Speaker 1: and had a promise in rear Ahead, including this incredible 104 00:06:02,120 --> 00:06:05,320 Speaker 1: B side I found on YouTube. She's saying nineteen seven, 105 00:06:05,839 --> 00:06:19,920 Speaker 1: You're a dumb dumb iconic stuff. Everyone go to YouTube 106 00:06:19,920 --> 00:06:22,320 Speaker 1: and listen to You're a Dumb dumb. So at fifteen, 107 00:06:22,640 --> 00:06:26,080 Speaker 1: Farah told the Associated Press her take on the story 108 00:06:26,160 --> 00:06:30,640 Speaker 1: of Lolita. Oh no, there's nothing dirty about what Humber does. 109 00:06:31,120 --> 00:06:34,239 Speaker 1: It's not a crime. In the ant umbar is cured. 110 00:06:34,480 --> 00:06:38,680 Speaker 1: It's just a love story. Interestingly, she had not read 111 00:06:38,720 --> 00:06:41,320 Speaker 1: the book at the time of being cast, so this 112 00:06:41,360 --> 00:06:44,880 Speaker 1: impression she's sharing is an impression made from the loretto 113 00:06:45,120 --> 00:06:48,960 Speaker 1: of the musical. Other leading roles included Dorothy Lowden, as 114 00:06:49,040 --> 00:06:52,280 Speaker 1: Charlotte Hayes. She'd later originate the role of Mrs Hannigan 115 00:06:52,360 --> 00:06:56,680 Speaker 1: and Annie and as Humbert the Shakespearean actor John Neville. 116 00:06:56,800 --> 00:06:59,200 Speaker 1: He'd also been in the mix for the Cooper adaptation, 117 00:06:59,360 --> 00:07:03,039 Speaker 1: and at least physically and in terms of stuffy englishness, 118 00:07:03,120 --> 00:07:05,679 Speaker 1: seemed like a good fit for the part. Rehearsals began 119 00:07:05,839 --> 00:07:10,080 Speaker 1: with February one previews at the Schubert Theater in Philadelphia. 120 00:07:10,200 --> 00:07:14,679 Speaker 1: In mind and producer Norman Twain was hyping it up, 121 00:07:14,960 --> 00:07:19,760 Speaker 1: even as things behind the scenes remained very chaotic. As choreography, music, 122 00:07:19,800 --> 00:07:24,320 Speaker 1: and story remained in fairly constant flux, Twaine assured local paper, 123 00:07:24,520 --> 00:07:27,840 Speaker 1: The Camden Courier Post that Lolita My Love would be 124 00:07:28,520 --> 00:07:32,680 Speaker 1: the best thing Alan's ever done, including My Fair Lady, 125 00:07:32,840 --> 00:07:36,360 Speaker 1: and that Alan J. Lerner and John Baba Baba Ba 126 00:07:36,480 --> 00:07:39,640 Speaker 1: Barry was that funny, okay, that they would be even 127 00:07:39,720 --> 00:07:43,040 Speaker 1: better than Learner and Low had been, no better than 128 00:07:43,160 --> 00:07:49,200 Speaker 1: Rogers and Hammerstein, no better than Olivia Benson and Elliott Stabler. 129 00:07:49,400 --> 00:07:51,840 Speaker 1: I've never watched s VU, but but I thought that 130 00:07:51,840 --> 00:07:55,160 Speaker 1: that might hit for people. When asked what Lolita My 131 00:07:55,240 --> 00:07:58,360 Speaker 1: Love was like as a show, Twain said the following. 132 00:07:59,360 --> 00:08:03,640 Speaker 1: No contraver see, no nudity, no four letter words, nothing 133 00:08:03,640 --> 00:08:08,360 Speaker 1: which compromises the taste of membo. The moral is that 134 00:08:08,480 --> 00:08:13,440 Speaker 1: total obsession with anything destroys a person, whether the obsessions 135 00:08:13,440 --> 00:08:16,920 Speaker 1: a little girl or a philosophy here. Okay, oh wait, 136 00:08:17,000 --> 00:08:20,880 Speaker 1: you've not done. Could I be involved with a nim fete? Yeah? 137 00:08:20,880 --> 00:08:23,800 Speaker 1: It could be, absolutely. There are certain types of girls, 138 00:08:24,200 --> 00:08:28,000 Speaker 1: little girls FETs, but all else being equal, would turn 139 00:08:28,080 --> 00:08:31,160 Speaker 1: me on if you met them in a motel by chance. 140 00:08:31,200 --> 00:08:34,160 Speaker 1: But I haven't fallen yet. I've been playing it pretty straight. 141 00:08:34,480 --> 00:08:37,640 Speaker 1: My wife prefers it that way. So before the short 142 00:08:37,720 --> 00:08:41,160 Speaker 1: history of Lolita my Love was complete, the lead a 143 00:08:41,280 --> 00:08:44,520 Speaker 1: net Farah would be replaced for reasons we'll discussed today. 144 00:08:44,600 --> 00:08:48,880 Speaker 1: The show was completely reworked multiple times, and it had 145 00:08:48,920 --> 00:08:53,000 Speaker 1: lost nearly a million dollars in ninety one money in 146 00:08:53,080 --> 00:08:56,160 Speaker 1: production costs. A playbill from the show's final run in 147 00:08:56,200 --> 00:08:59,679 Speaker 1: Boston at the Schubert Theater proclaimed a two act sweeping 148 00:08:59,679 --> 00:09:03,320 Speaker 1: produce auction that started in Ramsdale with songs like in 149 00:09:03,360 --> 00:09:08,080 Speaker 1: the Broken Promised Land of fifteen and Dante, Petrarch and 150 00:09:08,160 --> 00:09:11,319 Speaker 1: Poe all the way through Humbert Sweeping Lolita away to 151 00:09:11,400 --> 00:09:16,120 Speaker 1: the Betty By Motel and to Beardsley with Quilties, showstopper 152 00:09:16,360 --> 00:09:20,559 Speaker 1: March Out of My Life. I'm not kidding. Nabokov never 153 00:09:20,600 --> 00:09:23,920 Speaker 1: saw the show. He was enthusiastic at first, but much 154 00:09:23,960 --> 00:09:27,480 Speaker 1: like his experience with the Cooper adaptation, his enthusiasm for 155 00:09:27,520 --> 00:09:32,280 Speaker 1: the adaptation wilted over time. By October ninety one, he 156 00:09:32,360 --> 00:09:35,480 Speaker 1: told The New York Times the following if they're going 157 00:09:35,520 --> 00:09:37,560 Speaker 1: to do it, someday, they're going to do it, so 158 00:09:37,600 --> 00:09:39,680 Speaker 1: I had better be around when they do it, not 159 00:09:39,720 --> 00:09:42,160 Speaker 1: only to criticize the thing, but also to explain that 160 00:09:42,200 --> 00:09:45,240 Speaker 1: I have nothing to do with it. So why haven't 161 00:09:45,240 --> 00:09:48,520 Speaker 1: we heard about Lolita, My love, the show that brought 162 00:09:48,559 --> 00:09:52,320 Speaker 1: you my least favorite line in all of music? Who 163 00:09:52,520 --> 00:09:57,080 Speaker 1: is the piper who likes them? Post? Because it never 164 00:09:57,160 --> 00:10:28,960 Speaker 1: debuted on Broadway? This is lowly to podcast. Welcome back 165 00:10:28,960 --> 00:10:32,200 Speaker 1: to Lolita Podcast. I am your host, Jamie Loftus, and 166 00:10:32,240 --> 00:10:34,720 Speaker 1: today I think we're going to get about as close 167 00:10:34,760 --> 00:10:38,280 Speaker 1: to some levity as this series is going to get, 168 00:10:38,559 --> 00:10:42,120 Speaker 1: because we are talking about Lolita on stage now. Saying 169 00:10:42,120 --> 00:10:44,079 Speaker 1: this episode is going to be a little lighter doesn't 170 00:10:44,160 --> 00:10:46,760 Speaker 1: mean that there isn't still a fair amount of trauma 171 00:10:46,880 --> 00:10:50,640 Speaker 1: being discussed this is Lolita Podcast, and there certainly is. 172 00:10:51,080 --> 00:10:54,160 Speaker 1: But today we're talking about the Broadway musical of nineteen 173 00:10:54,240 --> 00:10:58,720 Speaker 1: seventy one by Alan Jay Lerner one adaptation by Edward Albe, 174 00:10:58,920 --> 00:11:02,800 Speaker 1: as well as the mattering of international ballets, stage shows, 175 00:11:02,800 --> 00:11:06,320 Speaker 1: and operas in a recent attempted revival of Lolita My 176 00:11:06,400 --> 00:11:09,959 Speaker 1: Love in New York, which spoiler alert is the first 177 00:11:10,000 --> 00:11:13,800 Speaker 1: adaptation of Lolita ever to be directed by a woman. 178 00:11:14,120 --> 00:11:19,120 Speaker 1: I'll say it, Lolita does not work on stage, or hasn't, 179 00:11:19,480 --> 00:11:21,840 Speaker 1: I should say, but the reasons why fall into the 180 00:11:21,880 --> 00:11:25,360 Speaker 1: same trappings that most adaptations of Lolita don't, but in 181 00:11:25,440 --> 00:11:28,360 Speaker 1: a uniquely theatrical way. I think the reason that the 182 00:11:28,400 --> 00:11:30,720 Speaker 1: two Broadway failures that we're gonna be talking about the 183 00:11:30,720 --> 00:11:34,800 Speaker 1: most specifically rank as less harmful in terms of adaptation 184 00:11:35,000 --> 00:11:37,920 Speaker 1: is because one wouldn't debut on Broadway at all, and 185 00:11:37,960 --> 00:11:40,480 Speaker 1: the other would barely make it out of the starting gate. 186 00:11:40,880 --> 00:11:43,360 Speaker 1: They were completely panned, and they never really got the 187 00:11:43,480 --> 00:11:47,000 Speaker 1: chance to do much cultural harm to anybody, except, of course, 188 00:11:47,240 --> 00:11:50,439 Speaker 1: the girls and women playing the titular role. Another pattern 189 00:11:50,559 --> 00:11:53,400 Speaker 1: that is well established that will be devoting an entire 190 00:11:53,440 --> 00:11:56,040 Speaker 1: episode two in a couple of weeks. Today, we're gonna 191 00:11:56,040 --> 00:11:59,320 Speaker 1: be speaking to Chris Gilmore, formerly a net Farah, who 192 00:11:59,320 --> 00:12:02,560 Speaker 1: played Lolita in the nineteen seventy one musical, Blanche Baker, 193 00:12:02,600 --> 00:12:06,480 Speaker 1: who played Lolita in the one adaptation by Edward Albi, 194 00:12:06,640 --> 00:12:09,840 Speaker 1: and Jacob Holder, the executive director of the Edward F. 195 00:12:09,960 --> 00:12:13,080 Speaker 1: Alby Foundation. In this episode, I think you'll notice a 196 00:12:13,120 --> 00:12:17,600 Speaker 1: few trends solidifying in the adaptations of Lolita, carrying over 197 00:12:17,679 --> 00:12:19,840 Speaker 1: from the Stanley Kubrick movie that have a lot in 198 00:12:19,920 --> 00:12:23,400 Speaker 1: common and are also very uniquely of their time. So 199 00:12:23,440 --> 00:12:27,160 Speaker 1: with that in mind, let's return to nineteen seventy. My 200 00:12:27,280 --> 00:12:29,840 Speaker 1: parents are in elementary school and a few hours south 201 00:12:29,880 --> 00:12:32,760 Speaker 1: of where they lived. Lolita my Love was in production 202 00:12:32,880 --> 00:12:36,120 Speaker 1: preparing for a February debut in Philly. The cast dealt 203 00:12:36,160 --> 00:12:41,160 Speaker 1: with constant content changes, and the show debuted to uh 204 00:12:41,720 --> 00:12:49,400 Speaker 1: these reviews in its present form, which will doubtlessly be 205 00:12:49,520 --> 00:12:52,080 Speaker 1: drastically altered before it leaves down. The show is only 206 00:12:52,120 --> 00:12:59,440 Speaker 1: a ghost of Nabokov's comic masterpiece. The kindest thing that 207 00:12:59,440 --> 00:13:05,240 Speaker 1: can be said out the musical is that it's a disaster. Yeah, 208 00:13:05,240 --> 00:13:08,520 Speaker 1: by all accounts it didn't work. This February shipwreck made 209 00:13:08,559 --> 00:13:14,040 Speaker 1: the original March thirty intended Broadway debut more or less impossible. 210 00:13:14,240 --> 00:13:16,679 Speaker 1: Learner and Barry had a ton of overhaul to do 211 00:13:16,880 --> 00:13:19,280 Speaker 1: and would need a successful preview to go off without 212 00:13:19,280 --> 00:13:22,400 Speaker 1: a hit. Before hitting a New York stage, producer Norman 213 00:13:22,440 --> 00:13:26,640 Speaker 1: Twain went into damage control mode, saying that quote, the 214 00:13:26,640 --> 00:13:29,560 Speaker 1: show didn't work technically, and when things don't work technically, 215 00:13:29,800 --> 00:13:33,400 Speaker 1: nothing goes right. I can see the backstage crew rolling 216 00:13:33,440 --> 00:13:36,680 Speaker 1: their eyes from here. That was not the problem. It 217 00:13:36,800 --> 00:13:39,599 Speaker 1: was the material, and after the failure of the Philadelphia 218 00:13:39,720 --> 00:13:43,240 Speaker 1: shows critically, with this constant material change, we see some 219 00:13:43,320 --> 00:13:46,439 Speaker 1: of the key players get shuffled out. Director Tito Capo 220 00:13:46,520 --> 00:13:50,640 Speaker 1: Bianco is replaced by British director Noel Willman, and Annette 221 00:13:50,640 --> 00:13:54,400 Speaker 1: Farah leaves the production as Lolita Now. The reason given 222 00:13:54,440 --> 00:13:57,000 Speaker 1: by the production at the time for firing Farah, who 223 00:13:57,000 --> 00:13:59,200 Speaker 1: had been styled to look very similar to Sue Lyon 224 00:13:59,320 --> 00:14:02,120 Speaker 1: and kuprisill Alita, was detailed in a gossip column of 225 00:14:02,120 --> 00:14:05,160 Speaker 1: the time which was unearthed by Sarah Weinman. It says 226 00:14:05,200 --> 00:14:08,360 Speaker 1: that Pharaoh was quote looking twenty four when she was 227 00:14:08,360 --> 00:14:12,640 Speaker 1: supposed to be sixteen unquote. The reality, according to Chris Gilmore, 228 00:14:13,240 --> 00:14:17,040 Speaker 1: was very different. More in that shortly after Fara departs, 229 00:14:17,200 --> 00:14:20,680 Speaker 1: auditions for Lolita are held again, including a young Sissy 230 00:14:20,680 --> 00:14:23,680 Speaker 1: spacect but Denise Nickerson is the choice for the role 231 00:14:23,800 --> 00:14:27,200 Speaker 1: in spite of Nabokov's initial anxieties of casting a girl 232 00:14:27,280 --> 00:14:30,360 Speaker 1: of Dolores Hayes's real age in the book, Nickerson was 233 00:14:30,440 --> 00:14:33,440 Speaker 1: only thirteen. During that next round of previews, she was 234 00:14:33,480 --> 00:14:35,960 Speaker 1: seventy five pounds and four ft nine, and her hair 235 00:14:36,040 --> 00:14:40,040 Speaker 1: was styled into the blonde bob evocative of lions. And 236 00:14:40,080 --> 00:14:43,440 Speaker 1: if Denise Nickerson's name sounds familiar, it's because she plays 237 00:14:43,600 --> 00:14:46,320 Speaker 1: Violet Beauregard in The Gene Wilder, Willy Wonka and the 238 00:14:46,400 --> 00:14:49,600 Speaker 1: Chocolate Factory and had just finished shooting shortly before taking 239 00:14:49,600 --> 00:14:52,600 Speaker 1: the role. Nickerson sadly passed away last year, but with 240 00:14:52,640 --> 00:14:56,080 Speaker 1: the changes in cast and libretto made the show launched 241 00:14:56,080 --> 00:14:59,720 Speaker 1: again that March in Boston at the Schubert Theater and 242 00:14:59,760 --> 00:15:04,760 Speaker 1: in only lasted nine performances. Luckily for us, or put 243 00:15:04,760 --> 00:15:06,560 Speaker 1: a pin in that maybe not, but for my purpose 244 00:15:06,640 --> 00:15:09,560 Speaker 1: is lucky. A recording from the audio board from Boston 245 00:15:09,960 --> 00:15:12,920 Speaker 1: is preserved in full, giving us recordings of the songs 246 00:15:13,120 --> 00:15:15,920 Speaker 1: and an idea of what the show sounded like, although 247 00:15:16,000 --> 00:15:19,600 Speaker 1: the extensive dance numbers, yes you hurt that right, remain 248 00:15:19,720 --> 00:15:22,600 Speaker 1: lost to history. And no matter how many giggles of 249 00:15:22,680 --> 00:15:25,800 Speaker 1: enjoyment you hear from the nineties seventies Bostonians in the 250 00:15:25,800 --> 00:15:29,120 Speaker 1: clips you're gonna hear today, the reviews in Boston were 251 00:15:29,200 --> 00:15:33,360 Speaker 1: just as rough. I'm afraid it's going to be a 252 00:15:33,400 --> 00:15:39,400 Speaker 1: case of better never than late. Do you be taking 253 00:15:39,480 --> 00:15:44,080 Speaker 1: us first? Are melodrama or satire or just a dirty 254 00:15:44,160 --> 00:15:51,200 Speaker 1: musical comedy? Some good music and some fine wit, but 255 00:15:51,360 --> 00:15:56,920 Speaker 1: it is done in by the plot. We mean style 256 00:15:57,080 --> 00:15:59,920 Speaker 1: and daste and depth. And these are things which al 257 00:16:00,000 --> 00:16:06,000 Speaker 1: and Jay Lemo's idea of theater evidently can no longer offer. Oh, 258 00:16:06,040 --> 00:16:08,640 Speaker 1: that last review was from the Harvard Crimson. So just 259 00:16:08,840 --> 00:16:11,600 Speaker 1: imagine like an eighteen year old with a suit that's 260 00:16:11,640 --> 00:16:15,280 Speaker 1: too big saying that. So Lolita, my love flops in Philly, 261 00:16:15,320 --> 00:16:18,640 Speaker 1: it flops in Boston. And Lerner was desperate to save 262 00:16:18,680 --> 00:16:22,640 Speaker 1: the production. He rewrote the show again twice, renamed it 263 00:16:22,760 --> 00:16:24,640 Speaker 1: Light of My Life, which seems like kind of a 264 00:16:24,720 --> 00:16:27,240 Speaker 1: lateral move in terms of creepy sounding titles, and he 265 00:16:27,320 --> 00:16:31,720 Speaker 1: tried to recast the leads again, pursuing Rex Harrison for Humbert. 266 00:16:31,720 --> 00:16:34,520 Speaker 1: Rex Harrison was in My Fair Lady and Haley Mills 267 00:16:34,800 --> 00:16:37,800 Speaker 1: for Lolita, and Haley Mills at this point was too 268 00:16:37,840 --> 00:16:39,880 Speaker 1: old for the role by quite a bit, at age 269 00:16:39,920 --> 00:16:42,240 Speaker 1: twenty four, and she had already turned down the role 270 00:16:42,240 --> 00:16:46,280 Speaker 1: of Lolita in Stanley Koper's production nearly ten years earlier. 271 00:16:46,440 --> 00:16:49,600 Speaker 1: Nabokov had this to say about Fara and Nickerson, the 272 00:16:49,640 --> 00:16:52,880 Speaker 1: two Lolita's cast in a musical. He had never seen 273 00:16:53,400 --> 00:16:55,520 Speaker 1: both girls, the one they fired and the one who 274 00:16:55,520 --> 00:16:58,600 Speaker 1: replaced her, were awful little boozym me girls, the wrong 275 00:16:58,680 --> 00:17:04,000 Speaker 1: type altogether. Uh what. By the end, Lolita My Love 276 00:17:04,160 --> 00:17:07,720 Speaker 1: had hemorrhaged a million dollars and it never debuted on Broadway. 277 00:17:07,760 --> 00:17:10,080 Speaker 1: Everyone was ready to move on, and they did. But 278 00:17:10,160 --> 00:17:12,760 Speaker 1: don't cry for this musical, because I think you will 279 00:17:12,840 --> 00:17:15,800 Speaker 1: understand why it flopped when we give the one surviving 280 00:17:15,800 --> 00:17:20,480 Speaker 1: bootleg recording a little listen. This adaptation is so extremely 281 00:17:20,520 --> 00:17:23,439 Speaker 1: off the mark that it was genuinely hard for me 282 00:17:23,520 --> 00:17:25,560 Speaker 1: to keep up with the whiplash of the tone. Like 283 00:17:25,600 --> 00:17:28,439 Speaker 1: if you thought the Kubrick adaptation was being played too 284 00:17:28,560 --> 00:17:32,280 Speaker 1: much for comedy. You have not heard anything. This musical 285 00:17:32,359 --> 00:17:35,640 Speaker 1: isn't just a comedy of manners. Humbered Humbert is presented 286 00:17:35,720 --> 00:17:38,920 Speaker 1: as a full on comedic hero and Lolita and My 287 00:17:39,000 --> 00:17:41,760 Speaker 1: Love never made it far enough into production to ever 288 00:17:41,920 --> 00:17:44,640 Speaker 1: release a cast album. So what's being pulled from here 289 00:17:44,840 --> 00:17:47,399 Speaker 1: is a rehearsal that's taking place in front of an 290 00:17:47,400 --> 00:17:51,679 Speaker 1: audience in Boston, my home city. And please do not 291 00:17:51,760 --> 00:17:54,399 Speaker 1: judge them too harshly for how much they seem to 292 00:17:54,440 --> 00:17:57,240 Speaker 1: love this. There's a lot of adaptation changes that were 293 00:17:57,280 --> 00:18:01,440 Speaker 1: popularized in Kubrick's Lolita that follow through to this adaptation. 294 00:18:01,680 --> 00:18:05,320 Speaker 1: Everyone calls the lead Lolita instead of Dolly or Dolores. 295 00:18:05,520 --> 00:18:09,359 Speaker 1: Quilty has a hugely inflated presence, and Humbert is a 296 00:18:09,400 --> 00:18:13,040 Speaker 1: long standing teacher, But the bizarreness of this adaptation is 297 00:18:13,440 --> 00:18:17,040 Speaker 1: uniquely its own. It opens with Humbert Humbert talking to 298 00:18:17,080 --> 00:18:19,560 Speaker 1: the audience at the beginning of the show, explaining what 299 00:18:19,720 --> 00:18:23,520 Speaker 1: nymphets are to us. The stage format does make it 300 00:18:23,600 --> 00:18:25,960 Speaker 1: much easier for Humbert to break the fourth wall and 301 00:18:26,000 --> 00:18:28,480 Speaker 1: speak to the audience directly, and this show does take 302 00:18:28,520 --> 00:18:33,320 Speaker 1: smart advantage of that at times. How many of you 303 00:18:33,480 --> 00:18:40,399 Speaker 1: have ever committed a murder? I under it surprisingly unsurprising experience. 304 00:18:42,280 --> 00:18:44,840 Speaker 1: For eighteen years of my quality, I have been a teacher. 305 00:18:46,080 --> 00:18:48,680 Speaker 1: Every morning while shaving, I invariedly looked in the mirror 306 00:18:48,720 --> 00:18:54,560 Speaker 1: and said, Humbert, you look exactly like a teacher. The 307 00:18:54,640 --> 00:18:57,480 Speaker 1: day after the murder, I looked in the mirror and 308 00:18:57,560 --> 00:19:03,600 Speaker 1: I said, humble you, she'll look exactly. Humbert says he 309 00:19:03,640 --> 00:19:05,800 Speaker 1: was teaching at a girls school in Switzerland, had to 310 00:19:05,840 --> 00:19:08,639 Speaker 1: break down, then goes to Ramsdale, Vermont, to give lectures 311 00:19:08,680 --> 00:19:11,840 Speaker 1: at the local college. Now where in New England Ramsdale 312 00:19:11,920 --> 00:19:14,439 Speaker 1: is kind of varies depending on the adaptation. It's like 313 00:19:14,480 --> 00:19:18,080 Speaker 1: New Hampshire for Kubrick Vermont. In this adaptation, who knows why, 314 00:19:18,200 --> 00:19:21,560 Speaker 1: but Humbert does mention to us that he got divorced. 315 00:19:25,040 --> 00:19:27,959 Speaker 1: Humbert goes to Ramsdale and meets Charlotte, who brings up 316 00:19:27,960 --> 00:19:31,160 Speaker 1: her deceased husband Harold and shows Humbert her dead husband's 317 00:19:31,200 --> 00:19:35,760 Speaker 1: gun and his ashes. You're married, divorce, madam, happily divorced 318 00:19:35,840 --> 00:19:43,399 Speaker 1: many years ago in Paris, Oh Harrod magic. There's a 319 00:19:43,400 --> 00:19:46,680 Speaker 1: lot of laughing on this recording, and Dorothy Loudden is 320 00:19:46,720 --> 00:19:49,440 Speaker 1: definitely going for comedy with Charlotte here, but also it 321 00:19:49,480 --> 00:19:53,040 Speaker 1: seems like everybody's going for comedy. Denise Nickerson is introduced 322 00:19:53,080 --> 00:19:56,399 Speaker 1: to us as Lolita, and at age thirteen, she really 323 00:19:56,440 --> 00:19:59,840 Speaker 1: does sound thirteen, possibly more so than anyone who was 324 00:20:00,080 --> 00:20:07,360 Speaker 1: or played the part. You are Lolita, Lola, Lolita, there 325 00:20:07,400 --> 00:20:10,200 Speaker 1: are me, and just keep in mind for a reference 326 00:20:10,280 --> 00:20:12,720 Speaker 1: of how old she looked at this time. She plays 327 00:20:12,800 --> 00:20:16,600 Speaker 1: Violet Beauregard in Willy Wonka this same exact year. Humbard's 328 00:20:16,640 --> 00:20:20,399 Speaker 1: journals are significantly watered down to keep things light, and 329 00:20:20,440 --> 00:20:23,560 Speaker 1: he sings about Annabel to Lolita in the song in 330 00:20:23,640 --> 00:20:28,440 Speaker 1: the Broken Promised Land of fifteen. Perhaps it looks more 331 00:20:28,480 --> 00:20:31,720 Speaker 1: like a little girl that I knew many many years ago, 332 00:20:32,400 --> 00:20:37,400 Speaker 1: where Prince by the Sea Lolita never learned of Annabel, 333 00:20:37,480 --> 00:20:39,920 Speaker 1: and other adaptations that I know of. So it's an 334 00:20:39,920 --> 00:20:58,040 Speaker 1: interesting deviation, is that man upon the side. Another repeated 335 00:20:58,080 --> 00:21:01,919 Speaker 1: trend here is that Charlotte so heartlessly treated by the 336 00:21:01,960 --> 00:21:05,000 Speaker 1: script that the audience is trained to respond to some 337 00:21:05,119 --> 00:21:09,920 Speaker 1: really brutal lines from Humbert with laughter rumbling upstairs like 338 00:21:09,960 --> 00:21:12,879 Speaker 1: a truck on the street. Bursting into my room like 339 00:21:13,080 --> 00:21:17,320 Speaker 1: a horrs and heat that like driving out of my sight, 340 00:21:17,520 --> 00:21:20,600 Speaker 1: my only to the light of my life. Humbert is 341 00:21:20,640 --> 00:21:24,280 Speaker 1: preparing a lecture for Charlotte's group on the poets. I 342 00:21:24,359 --> 00:21:27,359 Speaker 1: intend to dwell exclusively on Fante fell in up with 343 00:21:27,400 --> 00:21:29,600 Speaker 1: Beatrice when she was nine, pet trot Will fell in 344 00:21:29,680 --> 00:21:32,200 Speaker 1: up with Laura when she was twelve, and Edgar Allan 345 00:21:32,280 --> 00:21:36,400 Speaker 1: Poe married Virginia when she was Humbert also makes very 346 00:21:36,480 --> 00:21:39,480 Speaker 1: little effort to conceal his true nature in this show, 347 00:21:39,560 --> 00:21:41,920 Speaker 1: but the people surrounding him are written to be so 348 00:21:42,080 --> 00:21:44,639 Speaker 1: clueless that it doesn't seem to matter. For my money, 349 00:21:44,680 --> 00:21:47,080 Speaker 1: he couldn't be more obvious. I won't speak to one 350 00:21:47,080 --> 00:21:50,399 Speaker 1: of them, only to Lolita, and Lolita, while remaining and 351 00:21:50,440 --> 00:21:54,400 Speaker 1: behaving twelve years old, is still framed to be a seductress, 352 00:21:54,440 --> 00:21:58,600 Speaker 1: and her quote unquote fluziness is often a pause for 353 00:21:58,760 --> 00:22:02,000 Speaker 1: laugh moment as actually, when Quialty is on stage, I'd 354 00:22:02,000 --> 00:22:05,840 Speaker 1: love to see little Lovelica. She must have grown. She's 355 00:22:05,840 --> 00:22:11,400 Speaker 1: sleeping out tonight, she must have Pulling from kuberc here, 356 00:22:11,720 --> 00:22:15,000 Speaker 1: Quilty comes to Ramsdale and meets Humbert. He's famous. His 357 00:22:15,080 --> 00:22:18,280 Speaker 1: plays are on TV, and he's also already familiar with 358 00:22:18,320 --> 00:22:22,200 Speaker 1: the concept of a nymphant infant a nymphet by me 359 00:22:22,400 --> 00:22:28,359 Speaker 1: caps Walker say how is your daughter? Gross? This is 360 00:22:28,359 --> 00:22:33,040 Speaker 1: a song called Dante, Petrarch and Poe. This song is 361 00:22:33,119 --> 00:22:35,560 Speaker 1: maybe the best and the worst of what all of 362 00:22:35,560 --> 00:22:38,200 Speaker 1: the adaptations have to offer, all said and done, you 363 00:22:38,320 --> 00:22:43,080 Speaker 1: see it is a Lectures exclusive plick features poets enraptured 364 00:22:43,280 --> 00:22:48,200 Speaker 1: and captured by creatures. Any pue, peasant, pessant, you peasant 365 00:22:48,640 --> 00:22:51,119 Speaker 1: chan them and throw them? What else is there to 366 00:22:51,240 --> 00:22:54,720 Speaker 1: call them but a nymphant? Because it's gross and awful 367 00:22:54,840 --> 00:22:56,919 Speaker 1: and trying to make you laugh about one of the 368 00:22:56,960 --> 00:23:01,080 Speaker 1: worst crimes that plagues humanity. But it's all so written 369 00:23:01,119 --> 00:23:04,280 Speaker 1: by the same guy who did My Fair Lady, and 370 00:23:04,320 --> 00:23:13,480 Speaker 1: the music is good. My head is exploding. Who is 371 00:23:13,520 --> 00:23:18,440 Speaker 1: that viper who likes them post viper? Who is that 372 00:23:18,640 --> 00:23:25,280 Speaker 1: viper that likes them post diaper? Why would you write 373 00:23:25,280 --> 00:23:36,080 Speaker 1: that this is how that song ends? I don't know. 374 00:23:36,280 --> 00:23:38,840 Speaker 1: Back at the house, Charlotte tries to seduce Humbert with 375 00:23:38,960 --> 00:23:41,880 Speaker 1: a show stopping number that I'm pretty sure it includes 376 00:23:41,920 --> 00:23:45,800 Speaker 1: an extensive dance routine. But Lolita comes home from a party, 377 00:23:45,880 --> 00:23:49,159 Speaker 1: and she and Humbert immediately start flirting. You remind me 378 00:23:49,200 --> 00:23:54,960 Speaker 1: of a sleepy Flamingo. Charlie gets a more sympathetic moment 379 00:23:55,160 --> 00:23:57,960 Speaker 1: than she does in other adaptations at this point. She 380 00:23:58,080 --> 00:24:02,080 Speaker 1: expresses regret at coming to rm Stell and expresses her loneliness. 381 00:24:02,640 --> 00:24:06,240 Speaker 1: Lolita then delivers Charlotte's letter, and while Lolita is away, 382 00:24:06,359 --> 00:24:13,479 Speaker 1: Humbert and Charlotte get married mother Englishman stepfather. Humbert, in 383 00:24:13,760 --> 00:24:17,480 Speaker 1: keeping with being the cruelest Humbert in this entire adaptation 384 00:24:17,520 --> 00:24:20,880 Speaker 1: catalog actually maybe put a pin in that until later 385 00:24:20,920 --> 00:24:24,080 Speaker 1: in the episode. But Humbert then sings a literal song 386 00:24:24,400 --> 00:24:27,119 Speaker 1: about how much he hates being married to Charlotte for 387 00:24:27,200 --> 00:24:31,800 Speaker 1: only twenty days. She talked and talked days me woked 388 00:24:31,800 --> 00:24:34,840 Speaker 1: and wopped in the rain. That wouldn't head kill my 389 00:24:34,920 --> 00:24:38,680 Speaker 1: toes began to web following that, he sings a whole 390 00:24:38,720 --> 00:24:41,920 Speaker 1: song about all the ways he wants to kill her. 391 00:24:42,840 --> 00:24:47,320 Speaker 1: I would never have the heart to shoot her with 392 00:24:47,480 --> 00:24:51,760 Speaker 1: a gun. The way that this song is just presented 393 00:24:51,800 --> 00:24:56,959 Speaker 1: as women right with my hands, all with the puta 394 00:24:57,160 --> 00:25:07,919 Speaker 1: of my life, with the all a night baby is 395 00:25:07,920 --> 00:25:10,960 Speaker 1: at this point in the show, especially where Humbert's word 396 00:25:11,040 --> 00:25:15,000 Speaker 1: is taken at face value. Here, he's the comedic hero, 397 00:25:15,400 --> 00:25:20,119 Speaker 1: the maligned husband with the loud, emasculating wife who's preventing 398 00:25:20,200 --> 00:25:23,480 Speaker 1: him from doing what he wants to. I would never 399 00:25:23,720 --> 00:25:31,520 Speaker 1: have Poisin. Charlotte finds Humbert's journal as normal. She's furious, 400 00:25:31,680 --> 00:25:34,200 Speaker 1: But then this has also played for comedy. How don't 401 00:25:34,200 --> 00:25:46,040 Speaker 1: we ever given Charlotte what ship? This happens right after 402 00:25:46,160 --> 00:25:49,960 Speaker 1: she realizes her new husband wants to sexually abuse her 403 00:25:50,000 --> 00:25:52,760 Speaker 1: twelve year old daughter. I mean, at this point, I'm 404 00:25:52,800 --> 00:25:56,359 Speaker 1: not surprised, but Jesus, Charlotte gets hit by the car. 405 00:25:56,480 --> 00:25:59,439 Speaker 1: Humbert is informed, and then the crowd laughs and laughs 406 00:25:59,480 --> 00:26:02,080 Speaker 1: as he says the reprise about the song about him 407 00:26:02,080 --> 00:26:04,359 Speaker 1: wanting to kill her. He gets a hotel room and 408 00:26:04,400 --> 00:26:06,879 Speaker 1: tells the camp not to mention Charlotte with death, picks 409 00:26:06,920 --> 00:26:11,440 Speaker 1: Lolita up and takes her to the betty By Hotel. Intermission. 410 00:26:15,680 --> 00:26:18,120 Speaker 1: We're at the betty By Hotel, which is the same 411 00:26:18,119 --> 00:26:21,800 Speaker 1: thing as the Enchanted Hunter's Hotel. Lolita says that Charlotte 412 00:26:21,880 --> 00:26:27,919 Speaker 1: is going to and stre but she doesn't use the 413 00:26:27,960 --> 00:26:30,440 Speaker 1: incest word as she does in the book. Now we 414 00:26:30,480 --> 00:26:32,919 Speaker 1: get a lot more Lolita in this adaptation than we 415 00:26:33,000 --> 00:26:35,280 Speaker 1: do in some others, and to be fair, we do 416 00:26:35,359 --> 00:26:38,720 Speaker 1: see different sides of her emotionally. Shortly after getting to 417 00:26:38,760 --> 00:26:41,000 Speaker 1: the hotel, she says that she wants to see her 418 00:26:41,040 --> 00:26:44,239 Speaker 1: mom and leave the hotel. In response, Humbert sings her 419 00:26:44,280 --> 00:26:46,600 Speaker 1: a song called tell Me, Tell Me to try to 420 00:26:46,680 --> 00:26:57,679 Speaker 1: seduce her into not wanting to go home now. In 421 00:26:57,720 --> 00:27:01,720 Speaker 1: the book, this is the scene where Humbert first rapes Lolita, 422 00:27:02,280 --> 00:27:05,439 Speaker 1: and the musical is wise enough to reference it without 423 00:27:05,480 --> 00:27:09,520 Speaker 1: showing anything. The way Humbert describes the moment to the audience, though, 424 00:27:09,920 --> 00:27:14,679 Speaker 1: is a daunable face on my naked chest. She told 425 00:27:14,760 --> 00:27:18,320 Speaker 1: me I was not the first. Oh, how innocent is 426 00:27:18,359 --> 00:27:22,720 Speaker 1: the Lord? He thought he was punishing a sinner, the 427 00:27:22,800 --> 00:27:26,919 Speaker 1: only lessoned my do. It's like that, And when she 428 00:27:27,000 --> 00:27:29,320 Speaker 1: learns that her mother has been killed, she has a 429 00:27:29,480 --> 00:27:37,159 Speaker 1: far more expressive outburst at him than in the book. 430 00:27:34,240 --> 00:27:46,320 Speaker 1: You Never Get You to Get Me? Why the women 431 00:27:46,400 --> 00:27:49,800 Speaker 1: always have to cry? They go straight to Beardsley, skipping 432 00:27:49,840 --> 00:27:52,720 Speaker 1: the entire road trip. Lolita tries to bribe him about 433 00:27:52,720 --> 00:27:55,879 Speaker 1: the play. Immediately says, I love you to increase the 434 00:27:55,920 --> 00:27:59,040 Speaker 1: likelihood of getting what she wants. The scene with Lolita's 435 00:27:59,040 --> 00:28:01,159 Speaker 1: head mistress on whether she can do the play or 436 00:28:01,160 --> 00:28:03,880 Speaker 1: not is included, but it's turned up to an eleven. 437 00:28:04,320 --> 00:28:07,359 Speaker 1: The headmistress gives Humbert an ultimatum that he must either 438 00:28:07,720 --> 00:28:10,399 Speaker 1: let Dolly do the play or go to a weird 439 00:28:10,440 --> 00:28:12,640 Speaker 1: class with her two nights a week where they get 440 00:28:12,680 --> 00:28:16,240 Speaker 1: to the root of her sexual trauma. Like in Koper's adaptation, 441 00:28:16,400 --> 00:28:19,639 Speaker 1: Quilty is very present in Beardsley. We see him at 442 00:28:19,640 --> 00:28:21,959 Speaker 1: the school, and Humbert is well aware that he's around. 443 00:28:22,080 --> 00:28:24,280 Speaker 1: He's not on the margins or in disguise as in 444 00:28:24,400 --> 00:28:28,280 Speaker 1: other versions. Tells me about the cast. They must be 445 00:28:28,400 --> 00:28:37,399 Speaker 1: quite young, butler on the inside. In fact, there's a 446 00:28:37,440 --> 00:28:41,160 Speaker 1: whole scene with Quilty and Lolita. Quilty openly flirt with 447 00:28:41,200 --> 00:28:43,400 Speaker 1: her while they're at school, and then he sings a 448 00:28:43,440 --> 00:28:46,200 Speaker 1: song called March Out of My Life about his own 449 00:28:46,280 --> 00:28:50,800 Speaker 1: tortured attraction to Lolita. Meanwhile, Lolita is portrayed as far 450 00:28:50,880 --> 00:28:54,880 Speaker 1: more outwardly devious than she is in Nabokov's book. She 451 00:28:55,120 --> 00:28:58,040 Speaker 1: blackmails Humbert. She says she'll tell her friends about him 452 00:28:58,040 --> 00:29:00,720 Speaker 1: if he doesn't pay up. He's portrayed sympath athetically as 453 00:29:00,720 --> 00:29:04,120 Speaker 1: a man who is losing touch with reality and being 454 00:29:04,160 --> 00:29:07,600 Speaker 1: tricked by a girl who seems to be doing absolutely fine. 455 00:29:08,160 --> 00:29:11,520 Speaker 1: You cannot torment me like this. I love you too much? 456 00:29:14,360 --> 00:29:16,840 Speaker 1: Is that all you have to say? I don't want 457 00:29:16,880 --> 00:29:20,880 Speaker 1: to be loved so much fun at least for me. 458 00:29:21,280 --> 00:29:24,320 Speaker 1: But in this scene, for all of this musical's glaring, 459 00:29:24,680 --> 00:29:28,400 Speaker 1: glaring failures, I really liked the song that Lolita sings 460 00:29:28,440 --> 00:29:31,200 Speaker 1: here at the height of her outward anger at Humbert. 461 00:29:31,320 --> 00:29:33,480 Speaker 1: It's called all you can do is tell me you 462 00:29:33,560 --> 00:29:36,920 Speaker 1: love me. That's all you can do is give me 463 00:29:36,960 --> 00:29:40,200 Speaker 1: in prison and tell me it's love. I tell you 464 00:29:40,360 --> 00:29:45,800 Speaker 1: it is all I can do. Think about you. Now, 465 00:29:45,920 --> 00:29:49,080 Speaker 1: Humbert is still framed as pathetic, and she's framed as 466 00:29:49,120 --> 00:29:52,080 Speaker 1: a mastermind. But I thought this was a solid cathartic 467 00:29:52,120 --> 00:29:55,800 Speaker 1: look into Lolita's mind. Humbert gives the idea to leave town, 468 00:29:56,040 --> 00:29:58,760 Speaker 1: and they leave Beardsley, just as in the book. She 469 00:29:58,840 --> 00:30:02,840 Speaker 1: gets away at three years pass Humbert runs into Lolita's 470 00:30:02,880 --> 00:30:05,880 Speaker 1: old friend Mona from Beardsley. Fun fact, this is played 471 00:30:05,920 --> 00:30:09,360 Speaker 1: by Judy Garland's daughter Laura left. Mona tells her that 472 00:30:09,480 --> 00:30:13,360 Speaker 1: Lolita ran away with Quilty. Humbert kills Quilty before going 473 00:30:13,400 --> 00:30:17,320 Speaker 1: to see Lolita, and Lolita has just heard about Quiality's murder. 474 00:30:17,360 --> 00:30:21,240 Speaker 1: When Humbert arrives, Lolita refers to Quilty's attempt to coerce 475 00:30:21,280 --> 00:30:25,000 Speaker 1: her into being in pornography as group activity, but she 476 00:30:25,080 --> 00:30:30,120 Speaker 1: says that she forgives him what he was fun. At 477 00:30:30,120 --> 00:30:32,960 Speaker 1: the end, Humbert is arrested in front of Lolita and 478 00:30:33,000 --> 00:30:35,320 Speaker 1: the show is over, just like in the Kuper movie, 479 00:30:35,560 --> 00:30:41,400 Speaker 1: Lolita Lives. Yea. I mean, what else is there to say? 480 00:30:41,520 --> 00:30:44,640 Speaker 1: It's all right there that this was truly a springtime 481 00:30:44,720 --> 00:30:47,720 Speaker 1: for hitler attempt to make one of the most hideous 482 00:30:47,800 --> 00:30:50,760 Speaker 1: crimes a person can commit into a lighthearted musical that 483 00:30:50,880 --> 00:30:53,640 Speaker 1: blames the child that, in the case of Denise Nickerson, 484 00:30:53,800 --> 00:30:57,000 Speaker 1: looks and sounds very much like a child for her 485 00:30:57,040 --> 00:31:01,840 Speaker 1: own abuse. Koper's adaptation looks deeply nuanced by comparison, and 486 00:31:01,880 --> 00:31:04,960 Speaker 1: the story behind the scenes was just as unsettling. I 487 00:31:05,000 --> 00:31:09,160 Speaker 1: mentioned a net Farah earlier, the original Lolita in Lolita 488 00:31:09,240 --> 00:31:11,520 Speaker 1: My Love and the girl who appears on the poster 489 00:31:11,720 --> 00:31:14,280 Speaker 1: even after being replaced. We'll be talking to her at 490 00:31:14,360 --> 00:31:16,800 Speaker 1: length in our episode on the actors who have played 491 00:31:16,880 --> 00:31:18,880 Speaker 1: Lolita in the past. But I wanted to share this 492 00:31:19,000 --> 00:31:21,520 Speaker 1: here because in the story of this musical, she is 493 00:31:21,600 --> 00:31:25,000 Speaker 1: generally reduced to a footnote in the already hard to 494 00:31:25,000 --> 00:31:28,320 Speaker 1: access history of the show. And that's not fair because 495 00:31:28,360 --> 00:31:31,920 Speaker 1: the press clipping I quoted earlier about her looking twenty 496 00:31:31,960 --> 00:31:34,800 Speaker 1: four more than sixteen as the reason for her dismissal 497 00:31:35,040 --> 00:31:37,840 Speaker 1: was not the case at all. Parah would have been 498 00:31:37,880 --> 00:31:40,880 Speaker 1: fifteen going on sixteen at this time, a minor with 499 00:31:41,160 --> 00:31:44,920 Speaker 1: very little control over how she was styled. She's now 500 00:31:44,960 --> 00:31:47,960 Speaker 1: a casting director and producer in Los Angeles who goes 501 00:31:48,000 --> 00:31:50,480 Speaker 1: by Chris Gilmore, and she has a new project called 502 00:31:50,480 --> 00:31:54,240 Speaker 1: Blood Pageant starring Snoop Dog. I know she rocks. We 503 00:31:54,320 --> 00:31:57,400 Speaker 1: caught up over the summer and she explained the circumstances 504 00:31:57,440 --> 00:32:01,640 Speaker 1: of her dismissal from Lolita, My love. Had you read 505 00:32:01,640 --> 00:32:03,960 Speaker 1: the book before going into the show or was or 506 00:32:04,000 --> 00:32:07,680 Speaker 1: had you seen the movie from the sixties or so? 507 00:32:07,760 --> 00:32:10,920 Speaker 1: I never read the book And when I Allen asked 508 00:32:10,960 --> 00:32:14,520 Speaker 1: me that, I said, no, Mr Lerner, I never read 509 00:32:14,560 --> 00:32:18,280 Speaker 1: the book, and he said, well don't, He said, since 510 00:32:18,320 --> 00:32:20,480 Speaker 1: you didn't, I want you to put the spin on it, 511 00:32:20,640 --> 00:32:23,080 Speaker 1: you know that you and he worked with me a little. 512 00:32:23,120 --> 00:32:26,360 Speaker 1: He counseled me, and you know, we did work through 513 00:32:26,400 --> 00:32:28,800 Speaker 1: the problem that I had never dated. I was so 514 00:32:28,880 --> 00:32:32,920 Speaker 1: virginal and perfect with that that it was something that 515 00:32:32,960 --> 00:32:34,920 Speaker 1: I wasn't, you know, going to hide from him. I 516 00:32:34,960 --> 00:32:37,840 Speaker 1: was saying, well, you know, approaching this, here's my thought. 517 00:32:38,400 --> 00:32:41,080 Speaker 1: The There was one scene was the most risque scene 518 00:32:41,120 --> 00:32:44,200 Speaker 1: we had, um where I had a little blue nightgown. 519 00:32:44,440 --> 00:32:46,960 Speaker 1: It was short, but it looked like a dress and 520 00:32:47,160 --> 00:32:49,920 Speaker 1: you know, thank god, it wasn't like see through or anything, 521 00:32:50,040 --> 00:32:52,240 Speaker 1: but it looked like a little blue baby doll dress. 522 00:32:52,320 --> 00:32:56,040 Speaker 1: It was really cute and so, um, I'm supposed to 523 00:32:56,040 --> 00:32:59,880 Speaker 1: be in a motel room with Humbert. Humbert, I take 524 00:33:00,120 --> 00:33:02,440 Speaker 1: my hand, and believe me, they rehearsed this thing so 525 00:33:02,480 --> 00:33:05,880 Speaker 1: many times because it was so important to them. How 526 00:33:06,000 --> 00:33:08,760 Speaker 1: my hand raised from the bed to like get my 527 00:33:08,840 --> 00:33:11,800 Speaker 1: finger and call him in enough and then the lights 528 00:33:11,840 --> 00:33:15,360 Speaker 1: go out. So they never showed two people getting together anything. 529 00:33:15,400 --> 00:33:18,080 Speaker 1: But it was very um it was like a ballet 530 00:33:18,760 --> 00:33:21,320 Speaker 1: and uh, you know because because I well, well I'm 531 00:33:21,360 --> 00:33:23,640 Speaker 1: jumping ahead though, I go, what's what's the snaps on 532 00:33:23,720 --> 00:33:26,280 Speaker 1: the top of my nightgown. What they had this? What 533 00:33:26,320 --> 00:33:29,680 Speaker 1: did they do to it? And nobody wanted to tell me. 534 00:33:30,160 --> 00:33:31,880 Speaker 1: And this is a hell of a way to hit 535 00:33:31,920 --> 00:33:35,640 Speaker 1: it on an actress, but you know, um, I went 536 00:33:35,800 --> 00:33:38,240 Speaker 1: around and then somebody said, well, Mr Learner will come in, 537 00:33:38,400 --> 00:33:40,600 Speaker 1: and so he told me, well, the snaps are in 538 00:33:40,640 --> 00:33:43,960 Speaker 1: the top because you're gonna drop your nightgown. You're gonna 539 00:33:44,160 --> 00:33:46,600 Speaker 1: rip it off and drop it in that scene rather 540 00:33:46,640 --> 00:33:48,920 Speaker 1: than I said, but yeah, but we rehearsed for three 541 00:33:49,040 --> 00:33:51,680 Speaker 1: days how to lift my finger to call him to 542 00:33:51,720 --> 00:33:54,840 Speaker 1: the bed. You wanted it sensual, you wanted a certain way, 543 00:33:55,160 --> 00:33:56,640 Speaker 1: and now all of a sudden, I'm not gonna lift 544 00:33:56,680 --> 00:34:00,600 Speaker 1: my finger. You know, I was I trained method Meisner, 545 00:34:01,120 --> 00:34:05,440 Speaker 1: comedy improm I added all I sang uh. And yet 546 00:34:06,640 --> 00:34:09,719 Speaker 1: they they wanted me to be a stripper too, And 547 00:34:09,800 --> 00:34:13,120 Speaker 1: there's nothing wrong with strippers, God bless him, but I 548 00:34:13,160 --> 00:34:15,000 Speaker 1: wasn't a stripper and I shouldn't have had to be 549 00:34:15,000 --> 00:34:17,440 Speaker 1: a stripper. I mean, you almost feel guilty, like you're 550 00:34:17,520 --> 00:34:21,279 Speaker 1: killing somebody to walk away from it. And so I 551 00:34:21,360 --> 00:34:25,719 Speaker 1: had this big conflict inside because everything inside of me said, 552 00:34:25,880 --> 00:34:28,560 Speaker 1: I don't want to drop this outfit in front of 553 00:34:28,680 --> 00:34:33,360 Speaker 1: hundreds of people. Well, you're a kid, you're fifteen, maybe sixteen, 554 00:34:33,520 --> 00:34:36,839 Speaker 1: and that's not a reasonable request for a child, and 555 00:34:37,040 --> 00:34:41,880 Speaker 1: it's demeaning to me. It almost it almost, um, you know, 556 00:34:41,920 --> 00:34:45,279 Speaker 1: adulterates the fact that I'm a singer and actor. And 557 00:34:45,400 --> 00:34:48,600 Speaker 1: if that's what people come for, then they're not coming 558 00:34:48,680 --> 00:34:52,680 Speaker 1: for the rest of the art, you know. So I cried, 559 00:34:52,719 --> 00:34:54,440 Speaker 1: and then I called my agent and I see him. 560 00:34:54,480 --> 00:34:56,120 Speaker 1: He was on the West coast and he said, I'll 561 00:34:56,160 --> 00:34:58,920 Speaker 1: be here tomorrow. I'm dropping everything. Um, he's not with 562 00:34:59,000 --> 00:35:01,240 Speaker 1: him anymore. But his name was Ron. Ron was amazing, 563 00:35:01,600 --> 00:35:03,839 Speaker 1: and so he flew to the coast. He said, this 564 00:35:03,880 --> 00:35:06,080 Speaker 1: isn't in your contract. They can't do this to you, 565 00:35:06,400 --> 00:35:09,239 Speaker 1: and you're a minor. And he had to talk with 566 00:35:09,280 --> 00:35:11,160 Speaker 1: them and they said, but we have to add this 567 00:35:11,560 --> 00:35:14,319 Speaker 1: hair has big box office seals. We want this, and 568 00:35:14,360 --> 00:35:16,560 Speaker 1: she won't be naked, she'll have a sea through body 569 00:35:16,600 --> 00:35:19,680 Speaker 1: stalking on. Well, I don't know what the difference is really. 570 00:35:19,880 --> 00:35:22,480 Speaker 1: I mean, if I know and I could see your 571 00:35:22,520 --> 00:35:24,719 Speaker 1: breasts and I could see your cha cha and everything else, 572 00:35:24,760 --> 00:35:27,560 Speaker 1: then you're naked. You know, it doesn't matter to see 573 00:35:27,600 --> 00:35:31,919 Speaker 1: through body stalking or not. And so I refused, and 574 00:35:31,960 --> 00:35:35,080 Speaker 1: then I'll never forget the producer's last words. He said, 575 00:35:35,120 --> 00:35:39,600 Speaker 1: well you're too virtuous. Thank you so much to Chris Gilmore, 576 00:35:39,719 --> 00:35:42,719 Speaker 1: and we'll be talking more about her career and experience 577 00:35:42,800 --> 00:35:46,759 Speaker 1: in Lolita soon. She has had a fascinating life so far. 578 00:35:47,080 --> 00:35:50,000 Speaker 1: So there's obviously a lot to unpack with this musical. 579 00:35:50,360 --> 00:35:54,120 Speaker 1: I mean, Piper, yes, but also other stuff. We're going 580 00:35:54,160 --> 00:35:57,680 Speaker 1: to analyze Learner's lowly to and I'll bes Lowlita together 581 00:35:57,840 --> 00:35:59,920 Speaker 1: towards the end of this episode. But one thing I 582 00:36:00,040 --> 00:36:02,080 Speaker 1: want to say here is that, in spite of all 583 00:36:02,160 --> 00:36:06,240 Speaker 1: the bad feedback Learner rightfully got in response to this show, 584 00:36:06,360 --> 00:36:09,000 Speaker 1: almost none of it had to do with the quality 585 00:36:09,160 --> 00:36:11,960 Speaker 1: of he and Barry's music. And I wouldn't call myself 586 00:36:11,960 --> 00:36:15,920 Speaker 1: a musical theater expert, but I was too into Phantom 587 00:36:15,920 --> 00:36:18,279 Speaker 1: of the Opera in middle school, and as such I 588 00:36:18,320 --> 00:36:21,480 Speaker 1: feel qualified to comment because a lot of the music 589 00:36:21,600 --> 00:36:25,720 Speaker 1: in Lolita My Love is extremely sticky, and that's another 590 00:36:25,760 --> 00:36:28,800 Speaker 1: reason I'm glad a proper cast album never got released. 591 00:36:28,840 --> 00:36:31,279 Speaker 1: As we're going to discuss in future episodes about how 592 00:36:31,360 --> 00:36:34,239 Speaker 1: Lolita and Dolores have been remembered in music. One of 593 00:36:34,320 --> 00:36:37,520 Speaker 1: the most effective ways to get bad info into the 594 00:36:37,520 --> 00:36:40,880 Speaker 1: minds of the general public is to make a simple, catchy, 595 00:36:41,040 --> 00:36:45,400 Speaker 1: highly repeatable song about it. Dante, Petrarch and Poe is 596 00:36:45,440 --> 00:36:49,520 Speaker 1: one of the most abjectly creepy songs I have ever heard, 597 00:36:49,640 --> 00:36:52,200 Speaker 1: but it's been stuck in my head for six months 598 00:36:52,280 --> 00:36:55,680 Speaker 1: against my will. While Lolita My Love's Music is an 599 00:36:55,680 --> 00:36:58,840 Speaker 1: extreme example of this, think of other earworms that have 600 00:36:58,960 --> 00:37:02,560 Speaker 1: gotten similar mess edges across and hit songs. I literally 601 00:37:02,560 --> 00:37:05,479 Speaker 1: couldn't possibly name them all. It would take all week. 602 00:37:05,640 --> 00:37:07,160 Speaker 1: I mean, off the top of my head, you have 603 00:37:07,239 --> 00:37:10,280 Speaker 1: every Disney Villain song ever you have, like Blurred Lines. 604 00:37:10,360 --> 00:37:12,839 Speaker 1: I'm a militant feminist and I listened to that song 605 00:37:12,960 --> 00:37:17,120 Speaker 1: for an entire summer. Really any like legendary seventies boomer 606 00:37:17,200 --> 00:37:19,400 Speaker 1: band has a famous song that is an ode to 607 00:37:19,480 --> 00:37:23,439 Speaker 1: an underage girl as an ostensibly consenting party. And then 608 00:37:23,800 --> 00:37:27,719 Speaker 1: think a learner's own creepy, immortal hit the song Thank 609 00:37:27,800 --> 00:37:32,319 Speaker 1: Heaven for Little Girls from g I hadn't thought about 610 00:37:32,320 --> 00:37:33,960 Speaker 1: this song in a very long time, and so I'm 611 00:37:33,960 --> 00:37:37,360 Speaker 1: gonna share some of the lyrics here. Thank Heaven for 612 00:37:37,480 --> 00:37:41,040 Speaker 1: Little Girls. They grow up in the most delightful way. 613 00:37:41,280 --> 00:37:44,680 Speaker 1: Those little eyes so helpless and appealing when they were 614 00:37:44,680 --> 00:37:50,399 Speaker 1: flashing send you crashing through the ceiling Nabokov. Why did 615 00:37:50,400 --> 00:37:52,960 Speaker 1: we hire this man? I mean the people selected for 616 00:37:53,000 --> 00:37:56,480 Speaker 1: these adaptations. It's a problem. So if you thought that 617 00:37:56,600 --> 00:38:00,359 Speaker 1: Lolita My Love flopping would put Broadway off the whole 618 00:38:00,400 --> 00:38:04,839 Speaker 1: story for another generation, you would be incorrect. Just ten 619 00:38:04,920 --> 00:38:08,439 Speaker 1: years later, a handful of years after, in a Book 620 00:38:08,440 --> 00:38:11,160 Speaker 1: of Death, then a Book of Estate, that is to say, 621 00:38:11,400 --> 00:38:14,719 Speaker 1: Vera and Dmitrina book off. At that point approved playwright 622 00:38:14,880 --> 00:38:19,480 Speaker 1: Edward Albi to do a very different, gritty, non musical 623 00:38:19,520 --> 00:38:23,759 Speaker 1: play adaptation, and spoiler alert, it also never makes it 624 00:38:23,800 --> 00:38:26,640 Speaker 1: to Broadway, but for different reasons. Allow me to explain 625 00:38:26,760 --> 00:38:29,480 Speaker 1: and what must be one of the best hidden secrets 626 00:38:29,520 --> 00:38:34,120 Speaker 1: of Broadway casting shame Albe's Humbert. Humbert is Donald Sutherland, 627 00:38:34,360 --> 00:38:38,319 Speaker 1: I'm not kidding, and his Lolita is played by Blanche Baker, who, 628 00:38:38,320 --> 00:38:40,680 Speaker 1: at the time of this production was around twenty four 629 00:38:40,760 --> 00:38:43,880 Speaker 1: years old. Donald Sutherland could not be reached for this podcast, 630 00:38:43,960 --> 00:38:46,120 Speaker 1: but we know about the behind the scenes of this 631 00:38:46,160 --> 00:38:50,200 Speaker 1: production was that, like Lolita My Love, it was incredibly tumultuous. 632 00:38:50,400 --> 00:38:53,480 Speaker 1: Albie had the full cooperation of the nabookof Estate, but 633 00:38:53,520 --> 00:38:55,640 Speaker 1: at this point the primary contact was in a book 634 00:38:55,640 --> 00:39:00,920 Speaker 1: off son Dimitri, whose track record overseeing adaptations was is mixed. 635 00:39:01,160 --> 00:39:04,120 Speaker 1: This wasn't a great period in the career or life 636 00:39:04,200 --> 00:39:06,319 Speaker 1: of Edward Albi, who had gone through a period of 637 00:39:06,360 --> 00:39:09,720 Speaker 1: extreme success with works like Who's Afraid of Virginia Wolf 638 00:39:09,760 --> 00:39:12,920 Speaker 1: in the nineteen sixties eight won a Pulitzer in nineteen 639 00:39:12,960 --> 00:39:16,200 Speaker 1: seventy five for a play called Seascape. He was a 640 00:39:16,200 --> 00:39:20,759 Speaker 1: master of dialogue and style, but not necessarily of adaptation, 641 00:39:21,360 --> 00:39:24,960 Speaker 1: albeit had some success adapting Carson mccullors to the stage, 642 00:39:25,080 --> 00:39:27,759 Speaker 1: and another with Everything in the Garden from a play 643 00:39:27,800 --> 00:39:31,520 Speaker 1: by Giles Cooper, but his attempt to adapt Truman Capote's 644 00:39:31,520 --> 00:39:34,960 Speaker 1: Breakfast at Tiffany's in nineteen sixty six never even opened 645 00:39:34,960 --> 00:39:38,720 Speaker 1: on Broadway, and his attempt at Nabukov's Lolita in eighty 646 00:39:38,760 --> 00:39:43,880 Speaker 1: one only ran twelve shows before closing. Albie's strength was 647 00:39:44,080 --> 00:39:47,640 Speaker 1: his own voice, a leader in the theater of the absurd, who, 648 00:39:47,760 --> 00:39:52,000 Speaker 1: in this Jamie's opinion, had such a distinct voice that 649 00:39:52,080 --> 00:39:54,240 Speaker 1: it seemed to kind of chafe with the very distinct 650 00:39:54,320 --> 00:39:57,400 Speaker 1: voice of Nabukov he was trying to adapt. Albi was 651 00:39:57,719 --> 00:40:00,960 Speaker 1: very edgy and very sharp, unaff aid to show and 652 00:40:01,000 --> 00:40:04,319 Speaker 1: simulate sex, to shock his audience, the same things that 653 00:40:04,440 --> 00:40:08,480 Speaker 1: Nabokov intentionally hid behind curtains of language and deception to 654 00:40:08,560 --> 00:40:12,600 Speaker 1: try and fool his jury into sympathizing with the despicable protagonist. 655 00:40:12,719 --> 00:40:17,080 Speaker 1: Albi's interpretation of Humbert leaves no question of who he is, 656 00:40:17,280 --> 00:40:21,360 Speaker 1: and the experience of even reading it made my skin crawl. 657 00:40:21,560 --> 00:40:25,240 Speaker 1: The biggest addition and change that Albi makes, without a doubt, 658 00:40:25,360 --> 00:40:28,480 Speaker 1: is a character called a certain Gentleman, a narrator to 659 00:40:28,560 --> 00:40:30,880 Speaker 1: the story who is meant to be a stand in 660 00:40:31,200 --> 00:40:35,000 Speaker 1: for Nabokov himself, who guides Humbert Humbert through the play 661 00:40:35,320 --> 00:40:39,839 Speaker 1: and exposes him to the audience for the monster he is. Ordinarily, 662 00:40:40,120 --> 00:40:44,160 Speaker 1: Humbert is our narrator, and he manipulates us into seeing 663 00:40:44,160 --> 00:40:48,080 Speaker 1: the events of Lolita his way. Albi takes the route 664 00:40:48,080 --> 00:40:51,080 Speaker 1: of using the character of a certain Gentleman to show 665 00:40:51,160 --> 00:40:54,360 Speaker 1: us how the author of the show is manipulating Humbert, 666 00:40:54,560 --> 00:40:58,400 Speaker 1: who in turn is manipulating us the audience. A certain 667 00:40:58,440 --> 00:41:01,920 Speaker 1: Gentleman will say things like tiss tist, tist dirty old man. 668 00:41:02,040 --> 00:41:05,400 Speaker 1: When Humbert says something that is clearly reflecting the mindset 669 00:41:05,600 --> 00:41:08,760 Speaker 1: of a child sex abuser, and this kind of creates 670 00:41:08,880 --> 00:41:13,000 Speaker 1: this air of distance and annoyance that a certain gentleman 671 00:41:13,080 --> 00:41:17,239 Speaker 1: has with the protagonist. And I was pretty fascinated by 672 00:41:17,320 --> 00:41:20,080 Speaker 1: that choice, because I think it helps in some ways 673 00:41:20,160 --> 00:41:23,319 Speaker 1: and in hurts in others. It's definitely the clearest tool 674 00:41:23,360 --> 00:41:25,880 Speaker 1: I've ever seen used to make it clear that Humbert 675 00:41:25,920 --> 00:41:29,400 Speaker 1: is not reliable, is not noble, is not an artist. 676 00:41:29,600 --> 00:41:33,160 Speaker 1: But it also strangely works against the production by having 677 00:41:33,160 --> 00:41:36,760 Speaker 1: it made constantly clear that another person is making Humbert's 678 00:41:36,800 --> 00:41:40,200 Speaker 1: decisions for him. It almost succeeds more in making us 679 00:41:40,280 --> 00:41:43,759 Speaker 1: question the bulk off than the child sexual abuser he's 680 00:41:43,840 --> 00:41:47,399 Speaker 1: writing about. It creates a strange amount of distance. It's 681 00:41:47,400 --> 00:41:50,359 Speaker 1: a choice. It's effective in some moments and then in 682 00:41:50,400 --> 00:41:54,640 Speaker 1: others completely distances you from Humbert's evilness. It's also worth 683 00:41:54,640 --> 00:41:58,600 Speaker 1: mentioning that Albi was suffering from alcoholism rather badly at 684 00:41:58,600 --> 00:42:01,960 Speaker 1: the time of this production, and is constantly undergoing rewrites 685 00:42:02,000 --> 00:42:04,719 Speaker 1: to get the play to where it needed to be. Meanwhile, 686 00:42:05,040 --> 00:42:08,200 Speaker 1: Donald Sutherland was rumored to be putting pressure on Alby 687 00:42:08,200 --> 00:42:11,880 Speaker 1: to make Humbert more likable, which was definitely not to be. 688 00:42:12,120 --> 00:42:15,560 Speaker 1: But that is another interesting trend in the adaptations. Everyone 689 00:42:15,600 --> 00:42:19,279 Speaker 1: wants to play Humbert until they're playing him all sudden done. 690 00:42:19,320 --> 00:42:21,440 Speaker 1: There were a number of different scripts written in this 691 00:42:21,560 --> 00:42:25,160 Speaker 1: play is Quick March to Death in one version of 692 00:42:25,200 --> 00:42:27,960 Speaker 1: which ended up getting published. That's the one that I 693 00:42:28,000 --> 00:42:30,920 Speaker 1: read for this podcast. Albe is also the first and 694 00:42:31,120 --> 00:42:34,080 Speaker 1: to my knowledge, the only gay man who has worked 695 00:42:34,120 --> 00:42:36,799 Speaker 1: on a lolit To adaptation at the highest level. I 696 00:42:36,840 --> 00:42:39,800 Speaker 1: got a little more context on this show from Jacob Holder, 697 00:42:39,920 --> 00:42:43,240 Speaker 1: the executive director of the Albi Foundation. I'll be passed 698 00:42:43,280 --> 00:42:46,160 Speaker 1: away in and over the summer. He talked to me 699 00:42:46,239 --> 00:42:48,759 Speaker 1: about what that play was like and where it fell 700 00:42:49,000 --> 00:42:53,719 Speaker 1: in Albi and Lolita's career. You worked with him from 701 00:42:53,960 --> 00:42:58,480 Speaker 1: oh one uh through his death. I guess I am 702 00:42:58,480 --> 00:43:03,600 Speaker 1: looking for I guess some perspective on what you feel 703 00:43:04,440 --> 00:43:08,200 Speaker 1: drew him to this material, to Lolita in the first place. 704 00:43:08,680 --> 00:43:11,319 Speaker 1: So he got through a really bad period in the 705 00:43:11,360 --> 00:43:14,719 Speaker 1: nine eighties where American theaters wouldn't touch his work. But 706 00:43:15,000 --> 00:43:17,520 Speaker 1: Lolita is one of three plays that are really seen 707 00:43:17,719 --> 00:43:22,800 Speaker 1: as the period right before his fall from popularity, and 708 00:43:22,800 --> 00:43:26,680 Speaker 1: and the reason I reread that piece in the biography 709 00:43:26,800 --> 00:43:29,440 Speaker 1: to make sure that I wasn't. He hated when people 710 00:43:29,440 --> 00:43:32,719 Speaker 1: did too much analyzing with his own personal life in 711 00:43:32,800 --> 00:43:34,640 Speaker 1: terms of how that relates to his work, because he 712 00:43:34,680 --> 00:43:37,160 Speaker 1: didn't believe in the concept um and I didn't want 713 00:43:37,160 --> 00:43:40,719 Speaker 1: to add a layer on that he didn't himself suggest, 714 00:43:40,840 --> 00:43:43,920 Speaker 1: but his drinking was out of control during that time period, 715 00:43:44,040 --> 00:43:47,239 Speaker 1: so Lolita, he may already noticed his version of it. 716 00:43:47,600 --> 00:43:51,360 Speaker 1: He had intended to be at least a three act play, 717 00:43:51,640 --> 00:43:54,719 Speaker 1: and he intended it for it to be over the 718 00:43:54,760 --> 00:43:58,359 Speaker 1: course of two evenings, which when I read about that, 719 00:43:58,440 --> 00:44:00,560 Speaker 1: I've done as much research as I like, I could 720 00:44:00,719 --> 00:44:04,120 Speaker 1: spend any time doing trying to find what version would 721 00:44:04,120 --> 00:44:06,680 Speaker 1: have taken two nights. And while I didn't do that, 722 00:44:06,760 --> 00:44:09,320 Speaker 1: I found the original, which is a three act version, 723 00:44:09,800 --> 00:44:12,360 Speaker 1: and I read both that and I read what is considered. 724 00:44:12,600 --> 00:44:14,920 Speaker 1: You know what anyone can put on if they wanted to, 725 00:44:14,960 --> 00:44:18,120 Speaker 1: which is the dramas play service acting addition, that's to act. 726 00:44:18,760 --> 00:44:21,319 Speaker 1: But you're dealing obviously the question of like how did 727 00:44:21,320 --> 00:44:26,160 Speaker 1: the creators feel about their workforces? But wound up occurring 728 00:44:27,560 --> 00:44:31,520 Speaker 1: the nature obviously of their art versus commercial sensibility is 729 00:44:31,600 --> 00:44:33,920 Speaker 1: always going to be strongly at war. So if you 730 00:44:34,000 --> 00:44:37,160 Speaker 1: have a producer who's terrified, if you think, okay, this 731 00:44:37,280 --> 00:44:39,799 Speaker 1: is great, this is risking material that will bring in 732 00:44:39,800 --> 00:44:42,640 Speaker 1: an audience. But I can't let this thing be three 733 00:44:42,640 --> 00:44:44,600 Speaker 1: hours long or four hours long because it's going to 734 00:44:44,680 --> 00:44:46,759 Speaker 1: bore everybody and we're gonna get reviews. Let's say that 735 00:44:46,800 --> 00:44:48,279 Speaker 1: this is a whole I'm sure we need to make 736 00:44:48,320 --> 00:44:51,000 Speaker 1: this thing tight. And then you have Donald Sutherland, probably 737 00:44:51,040 --> 00:44:53,680 Speaker 1: in his ego, thinking all right, I'm already playing somebody 738 00:44:53,960 --> 00:44:57,160 Speaker 1: who's going to be perceived as horribly reprehensible, so I 739 00:44:57,160 --> 00:44:59,360 Speaker 1: need to make this thing as funny as possible or 740 00:44:59,400 --> 00:45:01,719 Speaker 1: as light as possible, or you know, almost I'm going 741 00:45:01,800 --> 00:45:03,600 Speaker 1: to play it in a way that shows that I'm 742 00:45:03,760 --> 00:45:06,920 Speaker 1: also sort of outside of it and I'm uncommenting on 743 00:45:07,000 --> 00:45:09,879 Speaker 1: it who my performance. So, my guests is that there 744 00:45:09,960 --> 00:45:13,640 Speaker 1: was a lack of trust in the material from the 745 00:45:13,719 --> 00:45:16,960 Speaker 1: actor who wanted to show his best, because obviously all 746 00:45:17,000 --> 00:45:19,880 Speaker 1: actors are concerned about how they're being perceived, because if 747 00:45:19,880 --> 00:45:23,000 Speaker 1: it goes wrongly, not only could it be perceived that 748 00:45:23,080 --> 00:45:25,680 Speaker 1: the acting is bad, but also you know, he who 749 00:45:25,680 --> 00:45:28,279 Speaker 1: wants to be then associated that the last role, as 750 00:45:28,520 --> 00:45:31,239 Speaker 1: you know, one of the more famous pedophiles in the literature, 751 00:45:31,640 --> 00:45:35,000 Speaker 1: so that can impact his career, whereas for Edward it 752 00:45:35,040 --> 00:45:37,840 Speaker 1: would be all about getting as much to the brutal 753 00:45:37,880 --> 00:45:41,080 Speaker 1: truth of what this piece is supposed to be communicating. 754 00:45:41,520 --> 00:45:44,960 Speaker 1: But I think that Edward was probably like looking for 755 00:45:45,040 --> 00:45:47,920 Speaker 1: the best possible Broadway producer at the time to work with, 756 00:45:48,239 --> 00:45:50,000 Speaker 1: and it was just not a match made in heaven. 757 00:45:50,640 --> 00:45:53,040 Speaker 1: I guess how involved was the in the Book of 758 00:45:53,640 --> 00:45:58,680 Speaker 1: Estate in Um, you know, reading through drafts and um 759 00:45:58,719 --> 00:46:03,279 Speaker 1: interacting with play as it was developed. As far as 760 00:46:03,280 --> 00:46:05,560 Speaker 1: I got a sense of it, it it wasn't friendly on 761 00:46:05,600 --> 00:46:08,600 Speaker 1: either side. It was very much an aggressive thing. But 762 00:46:08,719 --> 00:46:12,160 Speaker 1: he conceded to just changing it to a certain gentleman 763 00:46:12,360 --> 00:46:14,839 Speaker 1: and you know, draw from it what you will, which 764 00:46:14,880 --> 00:46:17,080 Speaker 1: is obviously that it's supposed to be a stand in 765 00:46:17,200 --> 00:46:19,239 Speaker 1: for the writer. The other thing is not only is 766 00:46:19,280 --> 00:46:22,000 Speaker 1: it that you know a C. G or the end 767 00:46:22,040 --> 00:46:26,160 Speaker 1: can be a stand in almost an interview, but obviously 768 00:46:26,200 --> 00:46:28,560 Speaker 1: from from moment one in the play he says, this 769 00:46:28,680 --> 00:46:31,840 Speaker 1: is the character of my own creation. So you're dealing 770 00:46:31,880 --> 00:46:35,239 Speaker 1: now also with Will Wait a second, how can you 771 00:46:35,680 --> 00:46:38,440 Speaker 1: how can you actually be even at all judgmental of 772 00:46:38,520 --> 00:46:41,080 Speaker 1: this character because this character, essentially we're being told it 773 00:46:41,160 --> 00:46:45,400 Speaker 1: doesn't really exist. You do. It's just you at the 774 00:46:45,480 --> 00:46:47,680 Speaker 1: end of the day, it's it's the dark recesses of 775 00:46:47,760 --> 00:46:50,759 Speaker 1: your mind. It's not his. You're in control of all 776 00:46:50,800 --> 00:46:52,960 Speaker 1: of this. And what's fascinating is that Edward would have 777 00:46:53,000 --> 00:46:56,480 Speaker 1: been very aware of the rules of you know, you 778 00:46:56,560 --> 00:46:59,000 Speaker 1: present the universe, and you stick to those rules. You 779 00:46:59,000 --> 00:47:01,200 Speaker 1: don't worry about the universe we live in. That's for 780 00:47:01,320 --> 00:47:04,240 Speaker 1: outside the feeder doors. Once you step inside the space, 781 00:47:04,920 --> 00:47:08,320 Speaker 1: forget you, forget your more A's, forget your your ethical 782 00:47:08,360 --> 00:47:11,360 Speaker 1: co your ten commandments. It's about the universe on stage. 783 00:47:12,040 --> 00:47:13,880 Speaker 1: You know, I don't think he ever did that. He 784 00:47:13,960 --> 00:47:17,560 Speaker 1: clearly didn't do anything with Lolita that he truly intended, 785 00:47:17,600 --> 00:47:20,040 Speaker 1: because there I go again where I don't get why 786 00:47:20,040 --> 00:47:21,960 Speaker 1: he allowed the two accussions to be published if he 787 00:47:22,040 --> 00:47:26,640 Speaker 1: said that was sort of the bastard accident at the 788 00:47:26,760 --> 00:47:29,279 Speaker 1: end of this terrible journey to the bad producer and 789 00:47:29,320 --> 00:47:33,600 Speaker 1: a bad actor, Thank you so much to Jacob Holder. 790 00:47:33,760 --> 00:47:37,480 Speaker 1: So what happens in this adaptation, I won't rehash the 791 00:47:37,480 --> 00:47:40,400 Speaker 1: whole thing for you, because there's no horrifying music. But 792 00:47:40,520 --> 00:47:43,960 Speaker 1: it's very different from Lowly to My Love, And I'd 793 00:47:44,000 --> 00:47:46,799 Speaker 1: like to point out some of the bigger subversions from 794 00:47:46,800 --> 00:47:50,600 Speaker 1: other interpretations. For better and for worse. We already talked 795 00:47:50,640 --> 00:47:53,520 Speaker 1: about a certain gentleman who is on stage with Humbert 796 00:47:53,520 --> 00:47:56,239 Speaker 1: for the entire show, but there are other elements worth 797 00:47:56,320 --> 00:47:59,000 Speaker 1: noting as well. Having read the play a couple of times, 798 00:47:59,200 --> 00:48:01,839 Speaker 1: it feels pretty clear to me that Nabokov and I'll 799 00:48:01,920 --> 00:48:05,439 Speaker 1: be clash in storytelling style. The swears and the forth 800 00:48:05,520 --> 00:48:10,719 Speaker 1: right sexuality, constant references to erections on stage, overt racism, 801 00:48:10,760 --> 00:48:14,080 Speaker 1: and homophobic comments to turn an audience against a character. 802 00:48:14,239 --> 00:48:17,960 Speaker 1: These are all very Albi style choices, but they're almost 803 00:48:18,000 --> 00:48:21,640 Speaker 1: certainly something that Nabokov would not have liked. Now, we'll 804 00:48:21,640 --> 00:48:24,120 Speaker 1: get to the choices that I think Albie makes somewhat 805 00:48:24,120 --> 00:48:26,200 Speaker 1: effectively in a minute, but I just want to lay 806 00:48:26,239 --> 00:48:28,800 Speaker 1: it out. The show is a failure in more ways 807 00:48:28,840 --> 00:48:31,640 Speaker 1: than not. While Albi lets us know that Humbert is 808 00:48:31,680 --> 00:48:35,799 Speaker 1: an irredeemable criminal in no uncertain terms, he succeeds in 809 00:48:35,880 --> 00:48:38,920 Speaker 1: making the rest of the characters from the story leagues 810 00:48:39,000 --> 00:48:43,040 Speaker 1: more unlikable than they were in the original storytelling, particularly 811 00:48:43,440 --> 00:48:48,040 Speaker 1: Charlotte and Dolores Hayes. Charlotte Hayes is explicitly racist in 812 00:48:48,280 --> 00:48:51,440 Speaker 1: nearly every scene she appears in in the Albi play, 813 00:48:51,520 --> 00:48:56,200 Speaker 1: particularly when speaking to her black housekeeper Louise, and Lolita 814 00:48:56,320 --> 00:48:59,200 Speaker 1: makes similar comments later in the show that are not 815 00:48:59,320 --> 00:49:02,440 Speaker 1: present in the look. They both make anti Semitic comments 816 00:49:02,480 --> 00:49:05,480 Speaker 1: as well, or a certain gentleman when this happens, as 817 00:49:05,480 --> 00:49:08,520 Speaker 1: if to say, isn't that awful? I would never say that, 818 00:49:08,719 --> 00:49:11,560 Speaker 1: and it is awful. It's fucking terrible. But since this 819 00:49:11,600 --> 00:49:15,120 Speaker 1: show isn't making us watch Humbert manipulate this narrative, we 820 00:49:15,160 --> 00:49:18,960 Speaker 1: are instead watching a certain gentleman do that. This succeeds 821 00:49:19,040 --> 00:49:22,719 Speaker 1: only in making us hate Charlotte and Lolita. I don't 822 00:49:22,800 --> 00:49:25,600 Speaker 1: know what Albie is really going for here, but the 823 00:49:25,640 --> 00:49:29,480 Speaker 1: comments that are made by these characters are absolutely horrific. Now, 824 00:49:29,520 --> 00:49:31,560 Speaker 1: going back to the book quickly, that is not to 825 00:49:31,600 --> 00:49:34,880 Speaker 1: say that Charlotte does not make funked up racial and 826 00:49:35,000 --> 00:49:37,839 Speaker 1: anti Semitic comments in the nbak of book. There are 827 00:49:37,880 --> 00:49:42,080 Speaker 1: several moments where she hints at anti Semitism. In particular, 828 00:49:42,360 --> 00:49:45,520 Speaker 1: and these are obviously worth singling out and criticizing. So 829 00:49:45,719 --> 00:49:48,160 Speaker 1: I wanted to share a quick insight on that topic 830 00:49:48,400 --> 00:49:52,640 Speaker 1: from Dana Dragonoiu, a Nabucovian we spoke with in episode two, 831 00:49:52,760 --> 00:49:56,759 Speaker 1: about the comments that Charlotte makes in the book, something 832 00:49:56,800 --> 00:49:59,719 Speaker 1: that I certainly didn't pick up on my first you know, 833 00:50:00,000 --> 00:50:04,440 Speaker 1: several reads of Lolita, but the references to you know, 834 00:50:04,520 --> 00:50:11,759 Speaker 1: his feelings on anti Semitism, Yes, I mean um, Um, 835 00:50:11,880 --> 00:50:15,880 Speaker 1: he was very progressive on race for a man is 836 00:50:16,120 --> 00:50:20,920 Speaker 1: of his time, like exceptionally so and um, in part 837 00:50:21,040 --> 00:50:25,440 Speaker 1: he inherited that from his father. Uh So, Nabokov himself 838 00:50:25,480 --> 00:50:31,120 Speaker 1: comes from a very kind of Caucasian aristocratic, upper middle 839 00:50:31,200 --> 00:50:36,560 Speaker 1: class um background. But his father, UM was very close 840 00:50:36,600 --> 00:50:39,880 Speaker 1: friends with a lot of Jewish intellectuals, and his father 841 00:50:40,080 --> 00:50:43,360 Speaker 1: put his career on the line and even lost a 842 00:50:43,440 --> 00:50:50,480 Speaker 1: lot by reporting very fearlessly on the on the Mendel 843 00:50:50,560 --> 00:50:58,000 Speaker 1: Bailis affair. So his own father championed Jewish Jewish causes 844 00:50:58,360 --> 00:51:02,160 Speaker 1: for the entirety of his life. Um. It is for 845 00:51:02,280 --> 00:51:05,359 Speaker 1: that reason that Nabokov's are able to sail on one 846 00:51:05,440 --> 00:51:09,560 Speaker 1: of the last boats sailing out of France because the 847 00:51:09,640 --> 00:51:13,080 Speaker 1: Jewish league had paid for them in in recognition of 848 00:51:13,120 --> 00:51:16,520 Speaker 1: what the father had done, and Nabokov himself marries a 849 00:51:16,600 --> 00:51:19,160 Speaker 1: Jewish woman in spite of the fact that he knew 850 00:51:19,239 --> 00:51:22,720 Speaker 1: that the female members of his family would not approve 851 00:51:22,760 --> 00:51:26,800 Speaker 1: of it. Thank you again to Dana. So Edward Albee 852 00:51:26,920 --> 00:51:30,360 Speaker 1: is not inventing this within Charlotte Hayes, but he is 853 00:51:30,400 --> 00:51:33,200 Speaker 1: turning it up to an eleven and using every tool 854 00:51:33,239 --> 00:51:36,439 Speaker 1: at his disposal to get the audience to actively root 855 00:51:36,560 --> 00:51:39,279 Speaker 1: for Charlotte's demise, And the way I was reading it 856 00:51:39,360 --> 00:51:42,560 Speaker 1: by the time she's killed, it's a relief. Albeit seems 857 00:51:42,600 --> 00:51:45,040 Speaker 1: to be using in sensitive language and views in his 858 00:51:45,160 --> 00:51:48,160 Speaker 1: characters to get you to root for a child sexual 859 00:51:48,280 --> 00:51:51,840 Speaker 1: abuser to murder them, which is a moral hedge maze 860 00:51:51,920 --> 00:52:09,640 Speaker 1: I wasn't even aware existed. There is a lot to 861 00:52:09,640 --> 00:52:13,000 Speaker 1: be said about how I'll be treated race in his work. 862 00:52:13,280 --> 00:52:16,360 Speaker 1: He both during his life and later with his estate, 863 00:52:16,440 --> 00:52:19,400 Speaker 1: has been resistant to casting black actors in some of 864 00:52:19,440 --> 00:52:23,279 Speaker 1: his greatest works, especially Who's Afraid of Virginia Wolf, And 865 00:52:23,280 --> 00:52:27,279 Speaker 1: this was a decision that was widely criticized and eventually overturned. 866 00:52:27,520 --> 00:52:30,040 Speaker 1: So there's a ton to talk about there, and about 867 00:52:30,160 --> 00:52:33,080 Speaker 1: racism in casting on Broadway in general, that I don't 868 00:52:33,080 --> 00:52:35,000 Speaker 1: have time to tackle in this episode, but I would 869 00:52:35,040 --> 00:52:37,920 Speaker 1: start by referring you to a piece by writer Kyle 870 00:52:38,000 --> 00:52:41,200 Speaker 1: Turner called Who's Afraid of White Fragility. That's a good 871 00:52:41,200 --> 00:52:43,840 Speaker 1: place to start if you're interested in learning more. I 872 00:52:43,880 --> 00:52:47,120 Speaker 1: will link that in the notes. Albie does succeed in 873 00:52:47,320 --> 00:52:50,640 Speaker 1: making it the clearest of all of the adaptations. I've 874 00:52:50,719 --> 00:52:54,920 Speaker 1: encountered that Humbert. Humbert is an unreliable narrator and a 875 00:52:55,040 --> 00:52:58,880 Speaker 1: despicable person, but he still fails to bring Lolita to 876 00:52:58,960 --> 00:53:02,080 Speaker 1: the forefront in any meaningful way. Let me give you 877 00:53:02,120 --> 00:53:05,040 Speaker 1: some examples of what I'm talking about here. Here is 878 00:53:05,120 --> 00:53:09,360 Speaker 1: an exchange from the play. Humbert says that darling child 879 00:53:09,520 --> 00:53:14,640 Speaker 1: is a temptress. She is an infant. Then a certain 880 00:53:14,680 --> 00:53:18,600 Speaker 1: gentleman replies, no, really, she looks like an ordinary little 881 00:53:18,600 --> 00:53:21,879 Speaker 1: girl to me, he turns to the audience. Yes, I'm 882 00:53:21,880 --> 00:53:24,560 Speaker 1: sure she does, and to you too as well, I 883 00:53:24,680 --> 00:53:30,719 Speaker 1: dare say, unless unless I am not alone, Unless there 884 00:53:30,760 --> 00:53:33,160 Speaker 1: is one of you out there like me, one of 885 00:53:33,200 --> 00:53:36,480 Speaker 1: you who knows, one of you who senses the beauty, 886 00:53:36,640 --> 00:53:40,279 Speaker 1: the thrill of the danger. Is there a pedophile in 887 00:53:40,320 --> 00:53:49,440 Speaker 1: the house? That's right? That line ends with parentheses loud hiss. 888 00:53:52,480 --> 00:53:55,400 Speaker 1: The biggest change from the source material, besides the addition 889 00:53:55,440 --> 00:53:59,080 Speaker 1: of a certain gentleman, is probably Charlotte's death. Instead of 890 00:53:59,120 --> 00:54:03,640 Speaker 1: the incredibly convenient death that Humbert, Humbert constructs where she 891 00:54:03,760 --> 00:54:05,960 Speaker 1: is hit by a car at just the right moment. 892 00:54:06,120 --> 00:54:09,000 Speaker 1: Albe has Charlotte pull a gun on Humbert when she 893 00:54:09,080 --> 00:54:12,280 Speaker 1: learns of his diaries that are condemning her and planning 894 00:54:12,280 --> 00:54:15,640 Speaker 1: to rape Lolita. While doing so, In this version, she 895 00:54:15,760 --> 00:54:18,640 Speaker 1: falls down the stairs and dies of a head injury, 896 00:54:18,880 --> 00:54:21,680 Speaker 1: and the impact of Charlotte dying right in front of 897 00:54:21,760 --> 00:54:24,680 Speaker 1: us is much different than what we experience in the 898 00:54:24,719 --> 00:54:28,040 Speaker 1: book and some of the other adaptations. In a roundabout way, 899 00:54:28,440 --> 00:54:32,120 Speaker 1: seeing her die before our eyes validates Humbert's claim that 900 00:54:32,200 --> 00:54:35,480 Speaker 1: her death was a convenient win for him and gets 901 00:54:35,600 --> 00:54:38,840 Speaker 1: rid of all of the ambiguity and suspicion of Humbert 902 00:54:38,880 --> 00:54:42,759 Speaker 1: and questions that arrived from Charlotte's death happening outside of 903 00:54:42,800 --> 00:54:46,560 Speaker 1: the jurors plain site. We see other things like Charlotte's 904 00:54:46,600 --> 00:54:50,080 Speaker 1: funeral in detail, Humbert telling a certain gentleman that he 905 00:54:50,200 --> 00:54:53,839 Speaker 1: intends to abduct Lolita, and we also see this I'm 906 00:54:53,840 --> 00:54:57,160 Speaker 1: not kidding. Charlotte sits straight up in her coffin, calls 907 00:54:57,239 --> 00:55:00,719 Speaker 1: Humbert a molester, and says she will see him in Hell. 908 00:55:01,080 --> 00:55:05,400 Speaker 1: I especially don't like how this adaptation treats Lolita. For me, 909 00:55:05,719 --> 00:55:09,920 Speaker 1: the intense detailed descriptions of Humbert's intent to abuse her, 910 00:55:10,080 --> 00:55:14,080 Speaker 1: the actual nudity on stage of Blanche Baker or Lolita, 911 00:55:14,239 --> 00:55:17,279 Speaker 1: as well as a certain gentleman asking Humbert how she 912 00:55:17,600 --> 00:55:21,239 Speaker 1: was quote unquote indicates that i'll Be clearly wants to 913 00:55:21,320 --> 00:55:25,160 Speaker 1: confront the audience with how disgusting Humbert's crimes are, but 914 00:55:25,280 --> 00:55:28,279 Speaker 1: still manages to paint out Lolita as the seductress in 915 00:55:28,320 --> 00:55:31,920 Speaker 1: the process, and even exploits her body to make his point. 916 00:55:32,120 --> 00:55:36,560 Speaker 1: This just did not work. We understand Humbert's monstrosity, but 917 00:55:36,640 --> 00:55:39,200 Speaker 1: the way i'll be writes, we are not encouraged to 918 00:55:39,239 --> 00:55:41,799 Speaker 1: have any empathy for his victim. You can read it 919 00:55:41,840 --> 00:55:45,239 Speaker 1: if you really want to, but it's like gross. It 920 00:55:45,400 --> 00:55:48,120 Speaker 1: just it goes so far in the other direction that 921 00:55:48,200 --> 00:55:51,400 Speaker 1: even reading it on the page was deeply unsettling, because 922 00:55:51,440 --> 00:55:55,640 Speaker 1: it just feels exploitative and understands that it's exploitative, but 923 00:55:55,719 --> 00:55:58,560 Speaker 1: keeps doubling and doubling and doubling down. There are some 924 00:55:58,600 --> 00:56:01,160 Speaker 1: scenes where it truly just felt to me like Edward 925 00:56:01,200 --> 00:56:05,239 Speaker 1: Albe was trying to think of the most disgusting, gross, 926 00:56:05,239 --> 00:56:08,160 Speaker 1: horrific thing he could think of and then just made 927 00:56:08,239 --> 00:56:10,840 Speaker 1: someone do that. Final thing that struck me about this 928 00:56:10,880 --> 00:56:15,160 Speaker 1: adaptation was the final time that we see Lolita on stage. 929 00:56:15,280 --> 00:56:18,279 Speaker 1: At the end of a scene, Humbert, still accompanied by 930 00:56:18,440 --> 00:56:22,880 Speaker 1: a certain gentleman, literally will's Lolita away before going to 931 00:56:22,960 --> 00:56:26,280 Speaker 1: Quilty's mansion to murder him. After we've seen her seventeen 932 00:56:26,360 --> 00:56:29,960 Speaker 1: and pregnant. Have this interaction with Humbert, Lolita fades from 933 00:56:30,000 --> 00:56:32,120 Speaker 1: the story, just as she does in the book, but 934 00:56:32,239 --> 00:56:34,640 Speaker 1: in a much more self aware way than we see 935 00:56:34,719 --> 00:56:38,480 Speaker 1: at other points. Here's a bit from this scene. Lolita says, 936 00:56:38,840 --> 00:56:40,839 Speaker 1: you can tell them all about what I'm like in bed, 937 00:56:41,120 --> 00:56:45,280 Speaker 1: and he can tell you. Humbert replies, you are vanishing, 938 00:56:46,040 --> 00:56:48,799 Speaker 1: and the stage directions indicate that the lights begin to 939 00:56:48,840 --> 00:56:52,839 Speaker 1: go down on Lolita. Lolita says, huh, pardon, and her 940 00:56:52,840 --> 00:56:58,800 Speaker 1: spotlight continues to fade. Humbert says goodbye. Lolita. Hey, Lolita, 941 00:56:58,880 --> 00:57:03,160 Speaker 1: says humber It says, you have disappeared, and by this 942 00:57:03,239 --> 00:57:08,400 Speaker 1: time he is right. Lolita is completely engulfed in darkness. 943 00:57:08,560 --> 00:57:11,040 Speaker 1: There is still one more scene after this, Humbert goes 944 00:57:11,080 --> 00:57:14,160 Speaker 1: to Quality's house to murder him. After he's killed, a 945 00:57:14,200 --> 00:57:18,320 Speaker 1: certain gentleman tells Humbert what Lolita's fate was, her death, 946 00:57:18,520 --> 00:57:21,960 Speaker 1: her baby. Humbert asks what he should do next, and 947 00:57:22,080 --> 00:57:26,040 Speaker 1: a certain gentleman, the narrator of this production, tells Humbert 948 00:57:26,480 --> 00:57:31,000 Speaker 1: trigger warning that Humbert is going to masturbate to Lolita 949 00:57:31,080 --> 00:57:35,400 Speaker 1: over Quiality's dead body, and he starts to do that, 950 00:57:36,000 --> 00:57:40,840 Speaker 1: and that's the end of the play. Now it's hard 951 00:57:40,920 --> 00:57:45,080 Speaker 1: to compare and contrast these failed Broadway shows. Not only 952 00:57:45,120 --> 00:57:48,480 Speaker 1: are they completely different genres of theater, but it's impossible 953 00:57:48,520 --> 00:57:51,240 Speaker 1: to watch them since they never actually opened. I do 954 00:57:51,320 --> 00:57:54,720 Speaker 1: find it interesting that the actresses cast to play Lolita, 955 00:57:54,880 --> 00:57:57,600 Speaker 1: at least in the case of Denise Nickerson in Lolita 956 00:57:57,720 --> 00:58:01,160 Speaker 1: My Love and Blanche Baker in Edward Albe's Lolita, we're 957 00:58:01,200 --> 00:58:04,400 Speaker 1: both styled to look very similar to Sue Lyon in 958 00:58:04,440 --> 00:58:09,640 Speaker 1: the Kuberc adaptation. The Blonde Bombshell approach that completely contradicts 959 00:58:09,720 --> 00:58:13,400 Speaker 1: Nabokov's description of Dolores, a lanky Burnett who is by 960 00:58:13,440 --> 00:58:16,680 Speaker 1: all accounts an ordinary looking kid. That's a whole issue 961 00:58:16,720 --> 00:58:19,320 Speaker 1: we're going to keep discussing in future episodes, and one 962 00:58:19,320 --> 00:58:22,360 Speaker 1: of the reasons it's indisputably always going to be an 963 00:58:22,400 --> 00:58:26,040 Speaker 1: issue adapting Lolita with actors. Part of what makes the 964 00:58:26,040 --> 00:58:29,560 Speaker 1: book so horrifying is that we know that Dolores Hayes 965 00:58:29,840 --> 00:58:32,760 Speaker 1: is a twelve year old, and reflecting that on stage, 966 00:58:32,960 --> 00:58:36,880 Speaker 1: no matter how sensitively done, with a child who is twelve, 967 00:58:37,200 --> 00:58:41,600 Speaker 1: is inarguably unsafe. Nickerson does a good job in the 968 00:58:41,600 --> 00:58:44,680 Speaker 1: part of Lolita in the rehearsal recording that you can hear, 969 00:58:44,760 --> 00:58:47,480 Speaker 1: but the message of the show isn't just muddled. It 970 00:58:47,560 --> 00:58:49,640 Speaker 1: tries to have a child at the age that the 971 00:58:49,640 --> 00:58:54,320 Speaker 1: book indicates also matched the uncanny seductress rule that Humbert. 972 00:58:54,360 --> 00:58:57,520 Speaker 1: Humbert casts her in and tries to have both be true. 973 00:58:57,680 --> 00:59:00,600 Speaker 1: Not only does it not work, it makes a listener 974 00:59:00,800 --> 00:59:04,320 Speaker 1: very uncomfortable to hear a kid have to play. So 975 00:59:04,360 --> 00:59:06,720 Speaker 1: not only is this a failure on the writer's part 976 00:59:06,760 --> 00:59:10,120 Speaker 1: to acknowledge that Humbert's account is unreliable. I think the 977 00:59:10,160 --> 00:59:13,560 Speaker 1: tonal dissonance and how Nickerson is presented by Humbert and 978 00:59:13,640 --> 00:59:17,920 Speaker 1: quilty and Lolita my love as this seductress, with how 979 00:59:17,960 --> 00:59:21,240 Speaker 1: we see her on stage as a kid singing about 980 00:59:21,280 --> 00:59:24,360 Speaker 1: how she never wanted any of this. It scans very 981 00:59:24,440 --> 00:59:28,000 Speaker 1: odd because it is odd not just because a girl 982 00:59:28,120 --> 00:59:31,720 Speaker 1: of Dolores Jeyes's age can't contain multitudes, but because having 983 00:59:31,800 --> 00:59:35,280 Speaker 1: Humbert's false reality projected onto a thirteen year old as 984 00:59:35,280 --> 00:59:38,360 Speaker 1: if it's fact, and a lighthearted fact that that is 985 00:59:38,440 --> 00:59:41,640 Speaker 1: so disorienting that you almost have to laugh and hope 986 00:59:41,680 --> 00:59:45,040 Speaker 1: that Nickerson was protected behind the scenes. Given Chris Gilmore's 987 00:59:45,040 --> 00:59:49,160 Speaker 1: account of her experiences. Then in Alpiece Lolita, the dissonance 988 00:59:49,360 --> 00:59:52,080 Speaker 1: is a little different. We are absolutely led to believe 989 00:59:52,120 --> 00:59:55,640 Speaker 1: that Lolita brings her ordeal onto herself, but the friction 990 00:59:55,680 --> 00:59:58,920 Speaker 1: between Humbert, Humbert and his own author is the strongest 991 00:59:59,000 --> 01:00:02,800 Speaker 1: relationship focus upon. Now. There's no public record of Baker's 992 01:00:02,800 --> 01:00:06,320 Speaker 1: performance in Albi's Lolita, but playing the role at twenty four, 993 01:00:06,480 --> 01:00:08,960 Speaker 1: even though Baker did tend to play younger roles at 994 01:00:08,960 --> 01:00:11,000 Speaker 1: this point in her career, there's no doubt that an 995 01:00:11,000 --> 01:00:13,680 Speaker 1: audience would be able to tell the difference between an 996 01:00:13,720 --> 01:00:17,000 Speaker 1: actor of Denise Nickerson's age and one of Blante Baker's. 997 01:00:17,040 --> 01:00:19,200 Speaker 1: This is not a slight to Baker at all, and 998 01:00:19,240 --> 01:00:22,720 Speaker 1: I think in terms of production ethics, it's the responsible choice. 999 01:00:22,920 --> 01:00:27,600 Speaker 1: Especially with the gritty, gross choices that Albe makes, Having 1000 01:00:27,680 --> 01:00:30,560 Speaker 1: an actual minor in that role night after night would 1001 01:00:30,600 --> 01:00:34,000 Speaker 1: be as unacceptable as Nabukov thought it would be in 1002 01:00:34,040 --> 01:00:37,040 Speaker 1: the early nineteen seventies. But there's still a conflict here 1003 01:00:37,240 --> 01:00:40,480 Speaker 1: seeing an actress in her twenties, even one who appears 1004 01:00:40,480 --> 01:00:42,720 Speaker 1: to be in her teens, act in the role of 1005 01:00:42,760 --> 01:00:46,520 Speaker 1: seductress with Humbert. Humbert strikes a slightly different tone on 1006 01:00:46,640 --> 01:00:49,280 Speaker 1: stage than the twelve year old we hear about in 1007 01:00:49,320 --> 01:00:53,360 Speaker 1: the book, and this repeated tendency to show sexualized adults 1008 01:00:53,640 --> 01:00:57,880 Speaker 1: as representative of children creates a dissonance that strikes with 1009 01:00:58,000 --> 01:01:01,520 Speaker 1: actual children. I mean, you can go to Riverdale for that. 1010 01:01:01,600 --> 01:01:04,760 Speaker 1: You can go to any show about teenagers that's on 1011 01:01:04,840 --> 01:01:08,720 Speaker 1: broadcast television where all of the quote unquote teenagers are 1012 01:01:08,720 --> 01:01:11,440 Speaker 1: played by people ten years older than them. There have 1013 01:01:11,520 --> 01:01:14,320 Speaker 1: been so many listeners of this show who have reached 1014 01:01:14,320 --> 01:01:17,280 Speaker 1: out to me not having read the book before, saying 1015 01:01:17,280 --> 01:01:21,320 Speaker 1: that their cultural osmosis of this story of Lolita was 1016 01:01:21,360 --> 01:01:24,920 Speaker 1: that Lolita was about a purvy older man hitting on 1017 01:01:25,080 --> 01:01:27,960 Speaker 1: and having sex with a teenage girl presented to the 1018 01:01:28,040 --> 01:01:31,640 Speaker 1: viewer as sexy. As we all know now five episodes in, 1019 01:01:31,840 --> 01:01:34,560 Speaker 1: that's not the plot of the book, but the popular images, 1020 01:01:34,880 --> 01:01:38,040 Speaker 1: even up through the Alba production in the nineteen eighties, 1021 01:01:38,240 --> 01:01:42,840 Speaker 1: reinforce that common takeaway. So much of this story's legacy 1022 01:01:43,080 --> 01:01:46,240 Speaker 1: are driven by aesthetics, and the book off was well 1023 01:01:46,320 --> 01:01:49,760 Speaker 1: aware of that. In the afterward to Lolita, called on 1024 01:01:49,800 --> 01:01:53,320 Speaker 1: a book entitled Lolita, he writes this, for me, a 1025 01:01:53,400 --> 01:01:56,120 Speaker 1: work of fiction exists only in so far is it 1026 01:01:56,160 --> 01:01:59,920 Speaker 1: affords what I shall bluntly call aesthetic bliss. That is 1027 01:02:00,040 --> 01:02:03,720 Speaker 1: a sense of being somehow somewhere connected with other states 1028 01:02:03,760 --> 01:02:08,920 Speaker 1: of being where art, curiosity, tenderness, kindness, ecstasy is the norm. 1029 01:02:08,960 --> 01:02:11,080 Speaker 1: This is a lot of why I think this story 1030 01:02:11,280 --> 01:02:14,720 Speaker 1: is considered by many to be unadaptable. It is about 1031 01:02:14,800 --> 01:02:17,960 Speaker 1: crimes so horrific that acting them out on stage with 1032 01:02:18,040 --> 01:02:22,120 Speaker 1: actors the same age as the characters is unthinkable, and 1033 01:02:22,240 --> 01:02:27,440 Speaker 1: yet they persist finding workaround using actors of the correct age. 1034 01:02:27,440 --> 01:02:31,840 Speaker 1: For Lolita and watering the material down, or conversely, using 1035 01:02:31,880 --> 01:02:35,720 Speaker 1: an older actor for Lolita and misrepresenting the reality of 1036 01:02:35,760 --> 01:02:38,840 Speaker 1: the story's abject horror. And I'll be clear here, the 1037 01:02:38,920 --> 01:02:42,000 Speaker 1: abuse of a person and their opportunes is no less 1038 01:02:42,040 --> 01:02:46,160 Speaker 1: horrifying and contemptible. But there's an additional issue the men 1039 01:02:46,200 --> 01:02:50,280 Speaker 1: adapting this story right with the assumption that Lolita is 1040 01:02:50,320 --> 01:02:54,080 Speaker 1: not just able to consent, but is actively seducing Humbered, 1041 01:02:54,440 --> 01:02:57,000 Speaker 1: just as he says in the text. I'll take you 1042 01:02:57,040 --> 01:03:00,720 Speaker 1: back to that quote from Norman Twain from earlier. We've 1043 01:03:00,720 --> 01:03:02,560 Speaker 1: got to have a girl who makes a man forget 1044 01:03:02,680 --> 01:03:06,280 Speaker 1: the moral conventions of society. But it's got to be 1045 01:03:06,280 --> 01:03:09,520 Speaker 1: a complete mental situation. If Lelite's five ft five with 1046 01:03:09,560 --> 01:03:12,480 Speaker 1: a great figure, it would be perfectly normal for from 1047 01:03:12,480 --> 01:03:15,360 Speaker 1: Bear to go after her. This was an attitude that 1048 01:03:15,480 --> 01:03:20,439 Speaker 1: existed loudly and commonly at this time. So a live 1049 01:03:20,480 --> 01:03:24,760 Speaker 1: action interpretation of this story, particularly a nightly one, becomes 1050 01:03:24,760 --> 01:03:28,560 Speaker 1: a basically unworkable idea from a performance perspective. In my opinion, 1051 01:03:28,760 --> 01:03:32,480 Speaker 1: personally as an animation writer, I think it's animation or 1052 01:03:32,520 --> 01:03:35,640 Speaker 1: bust on this one. But that's another episode. But that 1053 01:03:35,760 --> 01:03:40,520 Speaker 1: isn't to say, if this live action issue were miraculously resolved, 1054 01:03:40,720 --> 01:03:44,040 Speaker 1: that these Broadway attempts would have been successful. There is 1055 01:03:44,080 --> 01:03:47,120 Speaker 1: no way, because there is the and I hate to 1056 01:03:47,240 --> 01:03:49,680 Speaker 1: use that these one oh one terms with you. You're 1057 01:03:49,680 --> 01:03:51,720 Speaker 1: smarter than this, but I have to use it. There 1058 01:03:51,840 --> 01:03:54,919 Speaker 1: is the male gaze of it all, with the way 1059 01:03:55,320 --> 01:03:58,480 Speaker 1: Learner and Barry in nineteen seventy one and Albe in 1060 01:03:58,560 --> 01:04:01,960 Speaker 1: nineteen eighty one are undoubtedly coming from a place of 1061 01:04:02,040 --> 01:04:05,960 Speaker 1: prioritizing Humbert's voice and predicament, though with very different approaches. 1062 01:04:06,320 --> 01:04:11,120 Speaker 1: Unlike Nabokov's book, Lolita or Dolores isn't really hiding in 1063 01:04:11,120 --> 01:04:14,080 Speaker 1: the pages of these plays. She's not there at all. 1064 01:04:14,600 --> 01:04:18,760 Speaker 1: Quality's role is inflated in both Unreliability is attempted to 1065 01:04:18,800 --> 01:04:21,880 Speaker 1: be addressed, but ultimately either ends up endearing you to 1066 01:04:21,960 --> 01:04:25,480 Speaker 1: Humbert or making him seem less responsible for his choices 1067 01:04:25,560 --> 01:04:30,000 Speaker 1: by including a writer on stage. And as always, Lolita's 1068 01:04:30,080 --> 01:04:34,640 Speaker 1: role is reduced to that of seductress who really barely appears. 1069 01:04:34,960 --> 01:04:38,640 Speaker 1: Before we leave this chapter in Lolita adaptation history, I 1070 01:04:38,680 --> 01:04:41,280 Speaker 1: wanted to share another small slice of an interview I 1071 01:04:41,320 --> 01:04:44,440 Speaker 1: did with Blanche Baker, who played Lolita in the Albe 1072 01:04:44,440 --> 01:04:47,440 Speaker 1: play and as an Emmy winning actor and professor. I'll 1073 01:04:47,440 --> 01:04:50,240 Speaker 1: remind you here that Baker was the daughter of an 1074 01:04:50,280 --> 01:04:53,760 Speaker 1: actress named Carol Baker, whose part in the movie Baby 1075 01:04:53,800 --> 01:04:57,160 Speaker 1: Doll in the nineteen fifties was a huge influence on 1076 01:04:57,240 --> 01:05:00,400 Speaker 1: how Sue Lion was styled in Kubrick's Low To in 1077 01:05:00,440 --> 01:05:04,040 Speaker 1: the nineteen sixties. And this family through line of these 1078 01:05:04,200 --> 01:05:08,480 Speaker 1: very specific ragid sexual aesthetics being asked of their performances 1079 01:05:09,000 --> 01:05:12,200 Speaker 1: is not lost on Blanche Baker, reflecting an issue had 1080 01:05:12,240 --> 01:05:15,400 Speaker 1: by virtually every actor who has played Lolita that I've 1081 01:05:15,440 --> 01:05:18,480 Speaker 1: spoken to. Her issues with taking on the role had 1082 01:05:18,600 --> 01:05:21,080 Speaker 1: much more to do with her treatment by the media 1083 01:05:21,240 --> 01:05:25,120 Speaker 1: and the public. Unlike others, Baker had a generally positive 1084 01:05:25,120 --> 01:05:28,320 Speaker 1: experience with the casting crew of the Albie production. Here's 1085 01:05:28,360 --> 01:05:31,120 Speaker 1: a little slice of our discussion about her experience with 1086 01:05:31,160 --> 01:05:35,480 Speaker 1: the media around the time of this show in the 1087 01:05:35,600 --> 01:05:38,200 Speaker 1: show runs. From what I've seen, the show ran for 1088 01:05:38,240 --> 01:05:42,240 Speaker 1: a couple of weeks, um after Boston previews. What was 1089 01:05:42,280 --> 01:05:46,680 Speaker 1: that switch from Boston to New York Like that was 1090 01:05:46,760 --> 01:05:52,600 Speaker 1: the onslaught of publicity, So that was that was very difficult, um, 1091 01:05:52,640 --> 01:05:54,400 Speaker 1: you know, and I had to be very careful. I 1092 01:05:54,560 --> 01:05:56,480 Speaker 1: was a young girls didn't have a lot of money 1093 01:05:56,480 --> 01:06:00,920 Speaker 1: and stuff, and I was being followed after show and stuff, 1094 01:06:01,000 --> 01:06:02,960 Speaker 1: and I had to have people meet me. I remember, 1095 01:06:03,040 --> 01:06:05,760 Speaker 1: it was really not so pleasant that aspect once I 1096 01:06:05,840 --> 01:06:07,720 Speaker 1: was before I got on the stage, and after I 1097 01:06:07,720 --> 01:06:09,560 Speaker 1: got off the stage. It really wasn't a heck of 1098 01:06:09,600 --> 01:06:12,240 Speaker 1: a lot of fun. Any time I went to a party, 1099 01:06:12,280 --> 01:06:14,919 Speaker 1: people were really looking at me, so I stopped going 1100 01:06:14,960 --> 01:06:17,720 Speaker 1: to parties. I really became more of a reck louse 1101 01:06:17,720 --> 01:06:20,720 Speaker 1: than you would imagine because I felt like I couldn't 1102 01:06:20,760 --> 01:06:24,480 Speaker 1: live up to what people expected. That was my own insanity, 1103 01:06:24,640 --> 01:06:28,000 Speaker 1: I guess, um, but I felt like they would expect 1104 01:06:28,000 --> 01:06:31,120 Speaker 1: me to be prettier, expect me to be you know, sexy, 1105 01:06:31,200 --> 01:06:33,120 Speaker 1: or forget that I was an actress, and I was 1106 01:06:33,200 --> 01:06:36,840 Speaker 1: just very uncomfortable for a while in my own skin. 1107 01:06:37,880 --> 01:06:40,840 Speaker 1: Thank you so much to Blanche Baker, and like Chris Gilmore, 1108 01:06:41,040 --> 01:06:43,560 Speaker 1: we will be speaking more with her soon. Okay, I 1109 01:06:43,640 --> 01:06:45,760 Speaker 1: know this is getting to be a long episode again, 1110 01:06:46,040 --> 01:07:05,240 Speaker 1: but really quick. Lolita has made other attempts on stage 1111 01:07:05,280 --> 01:07:09,760 Speaker 1: over the years, with varying, usually low degrees of success, 1112 01:07:09,800 --> 01:07:11,920 Speaker 1: that I would like to touch on really quickly, but 1113 01:07:12,160 --> 01:07:14,479 Speaker 1: not as in depth because they are in no way 1114 01:07:14,560 --> 01:07:17,400 Speaker 1: as notorious as the two shows we've talked about so far. 1115 01:07:17,560 --> 01:07:20,600 Speaker 1: But for the sake of completeness, it is a weird list, 1116 01:07:20,920 --> 01:07:24,680 Speaker 1: all right, Let's roll through these. There is the Russian 1117 01:07:24,760 --> 01:07:29,600 Speaker 1: opera of Lolita from by composer ro Dion Shedrin, which 1118 01:07:29,640 --> 01:07:32,920 Speaker 1: debuted at the Swedish Royal Opera with a Swedish translation 1119 01:07:33,080 --> 01:07:36,040 Speaker 1: of the Russian libretto. Lolita was played by a twenty 1120 01:07:36,080 --> 01:07:38,440 Speaker 1: five year old soprano. This is arguably one of the 1121 01:07:38,560 --> 01:07:42,280 Speaker 1: more successful and enduring adaptations, as it still plays today 1122 01:07:42,320 --> 01:07:44,240 Speaker 1: every once in a while. But that's not to say 1123 01:07:44,240 --> 01:07:46,400 Speaker 1: that it gets the point of the story. It's been 1124 01:07:46,400 --> 01:07:50,200 Speaker 1: performed in Russian, Swedish and German. Now, speaking to this 1125 01:07:50,320 --> 01:07:54,240 Speaker 1: problematic approach, let's hear from Shedrin on his interpretation of 1126 01:07:54,280 --> 01:07:57,520 Speaker 1: the story. It feels like a nostalgia for beauty. It 1127 01:07:57,640 --> 01:08:01,320 Speaker 1: is a symbol really for me. First, really, Lolita as 1128 01:08:01,360 --> 01:08:03,720 Speaker 1: a character is less of a human being but rather 1129 01:08:03,760 --> 01:08:09,040 Speaker 1: an archetype symbol of beauty, but a fleeting beauty. Okay, yikes. 1130 01:08:09,240 --> 01:08:11,040 Speaker 1: And that's also not to say that the reviews of 1131 01:08:11,080 --> 01:08:16,800 Speaker 1: this show were good here's what Michael Walsh of Time said. Unfortunately, 1132 01:08:16,840 --> 01:08:20,120 Speaker 1: the novel has more music on a single page. Shedren's lazy, 1133 01:08:20,160 --> 01:08:25,360 Speaker 1: imptant scores loudish when it's not downright sullen, So there's that. Also, 1134 01:08:25,479 --> 01:08:28,880 Speaker 1: it's four hours long. Moving on, there are several ballet 1135 01:08:28,960 --> 01:08:32,040 Speaker 1: productions that I've found records of, one which was choreographed 1136 01:08:32,040 --> 01:08:36,559 Speaker 1: by British dancer Kathy Marston in in Denmark that, based 1137 01:08:36,560 --> 01:08:39,479 Speaker 1: on its trailer, really seems to play up Lolita's role 1138 01:08:39,479 --> 01:08:43,320 Speaker 1: of seductress as a torturer of Humbert. She even like 1139 01:08:43,520 --> 01:08:47,679 Speaker 1: grins maniacally at the camera at the end. Brought another 1140 01:08:47,760 --> 01:08:51,639 Speaker 1: attempted opera in Boston from composer John Harbison, which ends 1141 01:08:51,680 --> 01:08:54,720 Speaker 1: up getting canceled when the clergy child abuse scandal in 1142 01:08:54,760 --> 01:08:57,679 Speaker 1: Boston happened in two thousand and two. In two thousand 1143 01:08:57,680 --> 01:09:01,320 Speaker 1: and three, a lot of attempts. Writer Michael West staged 1144 01:09:01,360 --> 01:09:05,120 Speaker 1: some of Nabokov's unused screenplay from the nineteen sixty two 1145 01:09:05,120 --> 01:09:09,200 Speaker 1: movie in Dublin, Ireland, and people didn't like it. Reviewer 1146 01:09:09,280 --> 01:09:13,000 Speaker 1: Hiroko Mikami said, in particular the way that sex was 1147 01:09:13,080 --> 01:09:16,920 Speaker 1: staged between Humbert and Lolita which already I'm like, no, 1148 01:09:17,080 --> 01:09:19,599 Speaker 1: thank you, but Maccami says, the way it was staged, 1149 01:09:19,800 --> 01:09:23,439 Speaker 1: he felt clearly placed the blame of a rape onto 1150 01:09:23,520 --> 01:09:26,880 Speaker 1: the victim. Also in two thousand three, Russian director Victor 1151 01:09:27,000 --> 01:09:30,679 Speaker 1: Sobchuk wrote a stage adaptation that gets rid of quality 1152 01:09:31,000 --> 01:09:33,880 Speaker 1: entirely and changes the setting to England in the early 1153 01:09:33,920 --> 01:09:38,559 Speaker 1: two thousand's. Also in two thousand three, Italian choreographer David 1154 01:09:38,680 --> 01:09:43,120 Speaker 1: Bombana did a seventy minute ballet adaptation that skewed extremely 1155 01:09:43,120 --> 01:09:46,000 Speaker 1: erotic based on clips I've seen with Lolita and Humbert 1156 01:09:46,040 --> 01:09:49,639 Speaker 1: looking very sensual. There's a number of duet dance numbers 1157 01:09:49,640 --> 01:09:52,759 Speaker 1: that have been inspired by Lolita and Humbert over the years, 1158 01:09:52,800 --> 01:09:56,400 Speaker 1: all of which have a very forbidden love tone. All 1159 01:09:56,439 --> 01:09:59,680 Speaker 1: links on below. It's a little more intriguing. There was 1160 01:09:59,720 --> 01:10:02,840 Speaker 1: a man show from two thousand nine written by Richard 1161 01:10:02,840 --> 01:10:06,479 Speaker 1: Nelson that features Humbert Humbert speaking to the audience from 1162 01:10:06,520 --> 01:10:09,839 Speaker 1: a prison cell. Years later. This production was pretty well reviewed, 1163 01:10:09,920 --> 01:10:13,400 Speaker 1: and while Dolores obviously never appears on stage, it couldn't 1164 01:10:13,439 --> 01:10:15,960 Speaker 1: be clearer, according to the reviews of the time, that 1165 01:10:16,080 --> 01:10:20,280 Speaker 1: Humbert is projecting and unreliable and Brian Cox played him 1166 01:10:20,280 --> 01:10:24,120 Speaker 1: here who is the daddy in succession? And we know 1167 01:10:24,320 --> 01:10:27,920 Speaker 1: he can play a really mean guy. Also in two 1168 01:10:27,960 --> 01:10:33,200 Speaker 1: thousand nine, American composer Joshua Feinberg and choreographer Johann Saunier 1169 01:10:33,520 --> 01:10:37,160 Speaker 1: made a quote unquote imagined opera in New Jersey that 1170 01:10:37,280 --> 01:10:41,479 Speaker 1: was a multimedia production. Humbert Humbert uses screens and dance 1171 01:10:41,520 --> 01:10:45,280 Speaker 1: and video to demonstrate his descent and obsession. This was 1172 01:10:45,320 --> 01:10:47,840 Speaker 1: pretty well reviewed in the New York Times, but given 1173 01:10:47,840 --> 01:10:51,280 Speaker 1: how reviewers Steve Smith characterizes the source material, I don't 1174 01:10:51,280 --> 01:10:53,679 Speaker 1: really know who to trust here. Here's how Steve Smith 1175 01:10:53,720 --> 01:10:57,520 Speaker 1: talks about the story. Is Humbert Humbert a suave, calculating 1176 01:10:57,560 --> 01:11:02,320 Speaker 1: seducer or a pretentious, delusional monster? Mighty also be a 1177 01:11:02,400 --> 01:11:05,840 Speaker 1: relatable victim, not only of his own urges but also 1178 01:11:05,880 --> 01:11:08,920 Speaker 1: of those of Dolores Hayes, the child with whom he 1179 01:11:08,960 --> 01:11:12,839 Speaker 1: has obsessed. But clips from this production seemed to strike 1180 01:11:13,040 --> 01:11:15,160 Speaker 1: closer to the right tone. I do wish I could 1181 01:11:15,160 --> 01:11:18,839 Speaker 1: have seen it. And finally, there is a Minnesota comedy 1182 01:11:18,840 --> 01:11:22,479 Speaker 1: group called four Humors that did a three person production 1183 01:11:22,600 --> 01:11:26,280 Speaker 1: based on the Kubrick movie. In oh the parts are 1184 01:11:26,320 --> 01:11:29,120 Speaker 1: played by white guys. It's clearly in over the top 1185 01:11:29,120 --> 01:11:32,040 Speaker 1: comedy and like Lolita is played by a chubby guy 1186 01:11:32,120 --> 01:11:47,760 Speaker 1: in his thirties wearing a bikini, like I'm just, I'm just, 1187 01:11:48,160 --> 01:11:50,960 Speaker 1: I'm tough. I don't know about you, but I was 1188 01:11:51,000 --> 01:11:53,559 Speaker 1: exhausted just having to listen to that, and like, no 1189 01:11:53,680 --> 01:11:56,240 Speaker 1: offense if if these guys are listening, I guess, But 1190 01:11:56,320 --> 01:11:58,799 Speaker 1: sometimes you just get the feeling that a guy watches 1191 01:11:58,880 --> 01:12:01,920 Speaker 1: three episodes of Anti Python and it's like, I think 1192 01:12:01,920 --> 01:12:04,080 Speaker 1: I'm a comedian and it's like, no, I think you 1193 01:12:04,240 --> 01:12:09,000 Speaker 1: just hold prejudices from the early nineteen seventies. Whatever, I'm 1194 01:12:09,040 --> 01:12:11,439 Speaker 1: a comedian and this as lame as fuck. And that's 1195 01:12:11,520 --> 01:12:15,439 Speaker 1: the comprehensive list up until now. But all this to say, 1196 01:12:15,520 --> 01:12:19,040 Speaker 1: there's been a lot of attempts, and on stage, none 1197 01:12:19,120 --> 01:12:22,200 Speaker 1: of them have been enduring. And you'll notice that there 1198 01:12:22,240 --> 01:12:25,040 Speaker 1: were only one or two women involved in any of 1199 01:12:25,080 --> 01:12:28,920 Speaker 1: the above in a creative, high level sense, which brings 1200 01:12:29,040 --> 01:12:33,040 Speaker 1: us to the present. The final adaptation I want to 1201 01:12:33,040 --> 01:12:36,680 Speaker 1: discuss is one I found to be the most intriguing. 1202 01:12:36,840 --> 01:12:40,080 Speaker 1: It was a revival of the Alan Jay Lerner musical 1203 01:12:40,240 --> 01:12:43,160 Speaker 1: Lolita My Love that was performed in New York in 1204 01:12:44,439 --> 01:12:46,640 Speaker 1: as a part of a celebration of his work, and 1205 01:12:46,680 --> 01:12:50,800 Speaker 1: the director of this production of Lolita My Love was 1206 01:12:51,439 --> 01:12:57,200 Speaker 1: drum roll please, a woman was not a sist. Man. 1207 01:12:57,360 --> 01:13:00,960 Speaker 1: Can you believe It's? Wow? It's really edible stuff. It 1208 01:13:01,040 --> 01:13:05,280 Speaker 1: takes sixty five years, but but you get there. The 1209 01:13:05,400 --> 01:13:09,719 Speaker 1: director of the revival of Lolita My Love is named 1210 01:13:09,760 --> 01:13:13,439 Speaker 1: Emily Maltby. She took on the challenge of creating a 1211 01:13:13,479 --> 01:13:17,880 Speaker 1: workshop performance of the show by cobbling and restructuring all 1212 01:13:17,920 --> 01:13:21,439 Speaker 1: of the drafts that Learner wrote throughout the seventies. Working 1213 01:13:21,479 --> 01:13:25,639 Speaker 1: with composer Eric Hogginson, Malbi managed to create a pretty 1214 01:13:25,640 --> 01:13:30,200 Speaker 1: contemporary version of the show that still used Learner's work exclusively, 1215 01:13:30,360 --> 01:13:33,160 Speaker 1: adding in a character that was a therapist speaking to 1216 01:13:33,240 --> 01:13:38,200 Speaker 1: Humbert to address the unreliability that goes undiscussed in the original. Again, 1217 01:13:38,320 --> 01:13:40,519 Speaker 1: I have not seen this show, but I know many 1218 01:13:40,560 --> 01:13:43,360 Speaker 1: who have, and given the fact that Maltby was only 1219 01:13:43,400 --> 01:13:45,880 Speaker 1: given a handful of weeks to get the production together, 1220 01:13:46,040 --> 01:13:49,160 Speaker 1: it sounds like a pretty unique moment in lowlit to 1221 01:13:49,200 --> 01:13:52,080 Speaker 1: adaptation history. We'll be talking to her more in the 1222 01:13:52,120 --> 01:13:55,000 Speaker 1: finale of the pod. But I wanted to end this episode, 1223 01:13:55,200 --> 01:13:58,839 Speaker 1: speaking with her about her process of waiting through Learner's 1224 01:13:58,880 --> 01:14:01,680 Speaker 1: drafts and finding stuff she could use, as well as 1225 01:14:01,680 --> 01:14:03,920 Speaker 1: her approach to taking on not just in the book 1226 01:14:03,920 --> 01:14:08,400 Speaker 1: of Lolita, but learners. Here's our discussion. I just couldn't 1227 01:14:08,400 --> 01:14:10,800 Speaker 1: believe that this fourteen year old girl was so was 1228 01:14:10,840 --> 01:14:13,599 Speaker 1: so into this, and so one of the things we 1229 01:14:13,640 --> 01:14:15,400 Speaker 1: did was basically I went through the script and I 1230 01:14:15,479 --> 01:14:19,599 Speaker 1: highlighted the moments that if I were Humbert, I would 1231 01:14:19,800 --> 01:14:23,880 Speaker 1: would be my like prime examples of how interested of 1232 01:14:23,880 --> 01:14:28,120 Speaker 1: how she behaved like a Lolita, right, how she manipulated him, 1233 01:14:28,200 --> 01:14:30,600 Speaker 1: how she coaxed it, whatever, how much she wanted it, 1234 01:14:30,640 --> 01:14:32,439 Speaker 1: how much she was into it, whatever. I found all 1235 01:14:32,479 --> 01:14:34,960 Speaker 1: of those moments sort of highlighted them and they were 1236 01:14:35,000 --> 01:14:38,760 Speaker 1: really like, you know, a passage here, an interaction here, whatever. Um. 1237 01:14:38,840 --> 01:14:40,960 Speaker 1: And so we would play a little like echo of 1238 01:14:40,960 --> 01:14:45,200 Speaker 1: this synth music. The lights would change to like this 1239 01:14:45,280 --> 01:14:49,360 Speaker 1: sort of insidious green and this like stark white uplight um. 1240 01:14:49,400 --> 01:14:52,560 Speaker 1: And the actors playing Lolita, who I should say was 1241 01:14:52,600 --> 01:14:55,160 Speaker 1: twenty four, which she is very small. UM. I was 1242 01:14:55,280 --> 01:14:57,120 Speaker 1: very adamant from the beginning that we're not casting an 1243 01:14:57,160 --> 01:15:02,640 Speaker 1: underage actress. Um. But she she went from this you know, rambunctious, 1244 01:15:02,680 --> 01:15:05,639 Speaker 1: fourteen year old kind of energy, and she would essentially 1245 01:15:05,640 --> 01:15:07,880 Speaker 1: like go into like a trance. She would go into 1246 01:15:07,960 --> 01:15:11,040 Speaker 1: like you know, she would sort of lose all of 1247 01:15:11,080 --> 01:15:16,160 Speaker 1: her agency and he would um. And then she would 1248 01:15:16,200 --> 01:15:19,000 Speaker 1: just deliver these lines as if as if he was 1249 01:15:19,080 --> 01:15:21,800 Speaker 1: like puppeting them to her or parenting them to her, right, 1250 01:15:22,120 --> 01:15:24,880 Speaker 1: and he would like, you know, not quite as literally 1251 01:15:24,880 --> 01:15:27,280 Speaker 1: as like controlling her like a marionette. But that was 1252 01:15:27,320 --> 01:15:30,519 Speaker 1: the sort of idea was that, you know, there were 1253 01:15:30,560 --> 01:15:32,760 Speaker 1: these moments and we kind of I couldn't give her 1254 01:15:32,760 --> 01:15:34,800 Speaker 1: extra lines, I couldn't give her a voice, but I 1255 01:15:34,800 --> 01:15:37,080 Speaker 1: could show you that her voice was being taken from her. 1256 01:15:37,439 --> 01:15:40,799 Speaker 1: Maybe what you're seeing didn't actually happen in that way, 1257 01:15:41,080 --> 01:15:43,519 Speaker 1: you know, and and maybe he's coloring it. And so 1258 01:15:43,760 --> 01:15:46,240 Speaker 1: there were just these couple of moments that for him 1259 01:15:46,240 --> 01:15:49,160 Speaker 1: were these key moments where we just got a sense 1260 01:15:49,200 --> 01:15:52,599 Speaker 1: of like he was kind of manipulating the storytelling. And 1261 01:15:53,320 --> 01:15:55,720 Speaker 1: we had this thing in the very first song where 1262 01:15:55,760 --> 01:15:58,559 Speaker 1: she came out, you know, with a sweatshirt and her 1263 01:15:58,600 --> 01:16:00,719 Speaker 1: hair up, and then over the core of the song, 1264 01:16:01,479 --> 01:16:05,360 Speaker 1: the ensemble like at his commands, you know, took her 1265 01:16:05,400 --> 01:16:07,400 Speaker 1: hair down and took the sweatshirt off, and then he 1266 01:16:07,760 --> 01:16:10,400 Speaker 1: kind of um trained her to tuck her hair behind 1267 01:16:10,439 --> 01:16:12,320 Speaker 1: her ears, and it was just sort of this like 1268 01:16:12,400 --> 01:16:16,559 Speaker 1: creation of Lolita, this idea of like Lolita being a 1269 01:16:16,600 --> 01:16:20,200 Speaker 1: different character from Dolores. Thank you so much to Emily 1270 01:16:20,240 --> 01:16:22,680 Speaker 1: Maltby and we will be hearing from her soon. And 1271 01:16:22,840 --> 01:16:28,240 Speaker 1: if you thought we talked about the aesthetics of Lolita today, honey, 1272 01:16:28,439 --> 01:16:31,240 Speaker 1: buckle up. We are taking a week off next week 1273 01:16:31,360 --> 01:16:34,599 Speaker 1: because my brain is melting out of my ears and 1274 01:16:34,680 --> 01:16:37,599 Speaker 1: it's the holidays. But in our next episode, we are 1275 01:16:37,680 --> 01:16:42,280 Speaker 1: diving into the visual legacy of Lolita. I'm talking music, 1276 01:16:42,520 --> 01:16:47,360 Speaker 1: I'm talking niche fashion communities. Not that one Lolita fashion friends, 1277 01:16:47,520 --> 01:16:50,720 Speaker 1: but there are fashion communities as well as interviews with 1278 01:16:50,800 --> 01:16:53,840 Speaker 1: some of the creators and people influenced by them. That's 1279 01:16:53,880 --> 01:16:58,519 Speaker 1: coming up on our next episode of Lolita Podcast. Happy Holidays. 1280 01:16:58,640 --> 01:17:04,479 Speaker 1: Sorry my podcast is so sad. This has been a 1281 01:17:04,479 --> 01:17:07,920 Speaker 1: production of I Heart Radio. My name is Jamie Loftus. 1282 01:17:07,920 --> 01:17:10,439 Speaker 1: I write and host the show. My producers are the 1283 01:17:10,439 --> 01:17:14,120 Speaker 1: wonderful Sophie Lichtman, Miles gray Beth and Marco Luso and 1284 01:17:14,200 --> 01:17:18,480 Speaker 1: Jack O'Brien. My editor is the amazing Isaac Taylor. Additional 1285 01:17:18,560 --> 01:17:22,479 Speaker 1: research and transcription from Ben Loftus. Music is by Zoe Blade. 1286 01:17:22,760 --> 01:17:26,240 Speaker 1: Theme is by Brad Dickart. I wanted to also thank 1287 01:17:26,360 --> 01:17:29,320 Speaker 1: my guest voices on this episode as he's Laura as 1288 01:17:29,400 --> 01:17:34,080 Speaker 1: Humbert Humbert, Robert Evans as Vladimir Nabokop, Joel Smith, Anna 1289 01:17:34,160 --> 01:17:38,680 Speaker 1: jos Nier, Paula Vignalen, and Aristotle Assavedo. We'll see you 1290 01:17:38,720 --> 01:17:39,120 Speaker 1: next week.