Thursday, August 18, 2011

My Life at the Theater, The Gin Game



I saw THE GIN GAME (D.L. Coburn) in 1999 at the Music Hall Theater in Detroit. It starred Julie Harris and Charles Durning and these two great actors made for an exciting evening. It played on Broadway with the same cast in 1997 and was nominated for three Tony Awards including Best Revival.

Julie Harris came from this area and was always a real favorite here. An enjoyable evening for sure.

7 comments:

Todd Mason said...

I got to see the married couple Norma Ransome and Arthur Peterson do this at George Mason University, where Peterson was artist in residence associated with the WPA Theater Project, an archive of the Depression-era project (Peterson and possibly Ransome had actually performed in WPA productions).

Ron Scheer said...

What a GREAT cast. Two fine actors. I remember a TV version with Jessica Tandy and Hume Cronyn. I think you had to be there. In one of the house seats.

pattinase (abbott) said...

I also saw the Tandy/Cronyn production. But not the Ransome/Peterson evening.

Todd Mason said...

Cronyn and Tandy were the Original Cast. Ransome and Peterson, after the residency in the DC suburbs, mounted the play in Pasadena for some time as well.

Anonymous said...

Never saw this on stage, but did see the Cronyn/Tandy TV adaptation.

I don't think I ever saw Julie Harris on stage - she was the perfect Eleanor in THE HAUNTING, the first movie version of Shirley Jackson's THE HAUNTING OF HILL HOUSE - but we did see Durning in the original run of THAT CHAMPIONSHIP SEASON in 1972.

He served in WWII and was in the D-Day invasion. He's 88 and she is 85.

Jeff M.

pattinase (abbott) said...

I most remember Julie Harris in A Member of the Wedding Party. Durning from everything.

Charlieopera said...

What a GREAT play!