Category Archives: Responses

The Heiress – 10/17/12

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On Wednesday, I went to see my second Broadway show called The Heiress which is based of the novel “Washington Square”. I noticed that the plot line was very similar but the ending was quite different and unexpected but I liked the concept very much. Catherine was still portrayed as being awkward and clumsy but only around her father. Jessica Chastain used a deeper voice to make her seem awkward. I expected her voice to be shrill actually because shes supposed to be overly sweet but Jessica’s version was definitely very effective in making Catherine seem naive and awkward. Throughout the play, Dan Stevens portrayed Morris as being genuinely in love with Catherine and it ended up making the audience find no flaws in the dynamic between the two but as the play neared to the end, the dialogue definitely showed that Morris was indeed as greedy as Dr.Sloper thought he was.

The ending was different from the book and it was much more fierce. Catherine’s voice was still low and monotone but it no longer seemed awkward but confident and blunt, as if she knew what she wanted for herself for the first time in her life. I enjoyed the twist because I wasn’t expecting Catherine to leave Morris under the false impression that she wanted to marry him when she actually just wanted to humiliate him. I think the ending make the show what its worth.

Even if we were in the balcony, I was still able to get a good view of the characters and I thought the scenery was beautiful. The lighting they used made morning seem like morning and night seem like night. It added to the effect of the whole story and I realized just how much of a role the lights play. For instance, Morris left Catherine the first time after he promised to marry her. And as the lights kept getting brighter, I realized how much time was passing and that Morris did indeed lie to her.

I like how on Broadway, you can hear the immediate response of the audience. When something was funny, the audience would laugh automatically and the experience is much more lively than watching it on screen. Even if the setting was only on stage, the drama of the story never made the scene boring no matter how long we had to look at Catherine’s living room. I noticed that the dialogue was slightly altered but some of it was the exact wording from the dialogue in the movie, The Heiress. I also noticed that the way the words are said are equally as important as the way the actors behave because the audience could be sitting very far away and not be able to completely see their facial expressions but would have to get the gist of the mood by listening to how the dialogue is communicated.

Overall, I enjoyed the experience of watching The Heiress and am looking forward to more Broadway plays.

10/15

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In Monday’s seminar class, we discussed Washington Square. First, we discussed Henry James as a narrator. Then, we compared both movies that are based on the novel.

When I was reading this novel, I did not detect Henry James opinion of Catherine. Throughout the novel I was able to detect some irony, but I did not realize that Henry James had an opinion towards his heroine. Initially he makes fun of her when he says, “Catherine’s back is a broad one which could have carried a great deal.” I wish I would have looked more closely at some of the things he had said when I was reading the novel because I feel I have missed his sardonic comments. It was interesting to learn that he did have an opinion of his protagonist at one point, because from my understanding of the novel I thought he was objective.

If I had to decide to see one of the two movies, just from my knowledge of the book and from seeing the clips in class, I would see The Heiress. I felt that The Heiress was more like the book. I know that’s not what I am supposed to expect as a moviegoer when I see a movie based on a book, but I like to go into a movie and see it be very close the book. In this movie, Catherine was more contained and simple, which I feel resembles her character in the book more closely. Like Professor Kahan pointed out, the other movie, Washington Square, seemed to have more of a 20th century feel based on the movements of the characters, which I didn’t like. I also feel that the emotions conveyed in Washington Square were over exaggerated. For example, Dr. Sloper’s sarcasm jumps right off the screen. In the book I detected his sarcasm in some of his comments, but I do not feel he was as sarcastic as he is portrayed in this movie, which bothered me. Catherine’s flaws are also much more prominent. I liked how she aced in The Heiress more because her shyness and simpleminded are not as exaggerated as they are in Washington Square.

Seminar Class 10/15/12

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On monday’s class, Professor Kahan began class by giving background information on the famous composer Mendelssohn. We discussed Mendelssohn’s well known Symphony No. 3, which was played during sunday’s Philharmonic. Mendelssohn came from a very wealthy family and was very educated. His music was very well known during the mid 1800s, or the Victorian Age. Besides Symphony No. 3, Mendelssohn also wrote another very famous composition. This work is known as The Wedding March which is the song played during the bride and grooms exit of the church. This song, amazingly, is still used and favored today in many, if not all weddings.

After the discussion of Mendelssohn, we started to talk about the novel Washington Square and our opinions on it. We mainly focused on Catherine Sloper’s character, the protagonist of the novel. She is known as a plain and ungraceful girl who has a fine taste in clothing and is soon to be an heiress. Even though she likes to dress well, she does not do it to impress others. She does it to please herself. He father, Dr. Austin Sloper, does not like when Catherine dresses this way because she makes it seem like she “wears her money.” We also discussed why Henry James chose to set the book in New York in the 1850s. Since the book was written in 1880 during the rise of the civil war, the author chose to set the book before the civil war occurred to show New York during its prosperous times.

The we watched scenes from two movies: Washington Square and The Heiress. We compared how these two movies differ with the presentation of characters and how they act during the film. I felt that in the film Washington Square Catherine’s role was very much like the character in the novel in the sense that she was very unsociable and ungraceful. In the film The Heiress, I felt that Catherine should have been more awkward and unsociable.  In Washington Square, Marian, Catherine’s cousin, introduced her to Morris Townsend. In The Heiress, Catherine’s Aunt Penniman introduced her to Morris Townsend. One particular difference that truly shocked me was Catherine’s dress in the movie Washington Square. Instead of Catherine wearing a cherry red dress just as her mother did in the past, the director of the movie disregarded this and had Catherine wear a huge and extravagant yellow dress. I was glad Professor Kahan decided to show us these scenes from the two movies in order to give the class a taste of what the broadway show would be like.

10/18/12 – Broadway Show – The Heiress

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Instead of going to our regular seminar class at 4:40 at CSI, both seminar groups went to a Broadway show. It was called The Heiress.  The last time I went to a show on Broadway was when I was in 6th or 7th grade, and my family and I saw, The Lion King. If I compared both shows, I would say that The Lion King kept me wanting to see more, whereas, The Heiress kept me on the edge of my seat towards the end. However, they are still absolutely magnificent and mind-blowing performances. The trip to the show was definitely one to remember, for it was filled with a lot of unexpected occurrences and tons of laughter.

My group and I, surprisingly, made it to The Heiress just in time, and were ready to witness the wonderful show. To be honest, I think it started off a little prosaic and wasn’t enticing at all. However, the satirical comments started coming out one after another, providing laughter for the entire audience. I can definitely say, I got a different feeling from watching the show and reading the book because the book didn’t appeal to all my senses, whereas, the Broadway show, touched on all expression levels. I think I can speak for everyone when I say, that the best part was the ending. Obviously, it differed greatly from the book Washington Square because in the novel, Catherine asked Morris to politely leave her life and never come back. However, at the show, she led him on to think she’ll take him back and as soon as he came back to her house with his clothes packed ready to marry her, Catherine shut off all the lights in the house, and swiftly went upstairs, leaving poor Morris, outside and alone.

I thought the construction of The Heiress, was quite inquisitive and pretty easy to follow throughout the entire show. I was never left bewildered or wondering to myself if what I thought happened, actually did. Going to this Broadway show was a change of pace, and I would definitely go back to see it anytime. I am also looking forward to seeing our teacher, Professor Kahan perform soon.

The Heiress

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Yesterday, the class went to see the Broadway show, The Heiress.  This has not been my first Broadway show; I have been to multiple Disney based shows and having been spoiled by the excellence of The Lion King, I did not expect much.  After the night ended, my expectations were most definitely inaccurate.

I think that the most important part of a story is the ending.  While the rest of the story must contribute to its overall purpose, the ending must execute what the story leads up to. I would not be surprised if the writer of The Heiress would agree with me.

At first, I was not having too great of a time at the show; I thought that the plot points of the play were underdeveloped and the actress that played Catherine needed some serious acting lessons.  After the class experienced the shockingly entertaining and unexpected ending of the play,  my initial thoughts of the show were thrown away into oblivion.  It was as if the the play was steering the audience in one direction the entire show and then once it came to the ending, the play made a complete 180.

I highly adore the fact that the creators of the show took this approach to the story.  Rather than make an accurate retelling of Washington Square, the creators made their own version of the story.

As shown by my tone, I find the ending of the show much more favorable than the novel’s.  There are countless classic stories that depict a protagonist as a mature hero or heroine that took care of their conflict(s) with just and noble actions.  It is a refresher to see the cold face of revenge take charge at the end of a storyline.

I cannot wait for the next seminar trip to the city.  Hopefully, the next performance the class will see is as clever as The Heiress.

Movies Based on Washington Square

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This session of seminar went by rather quickly.  We watched two movies, both based on the novel, Washington Square.  Both films followed the story of the novel; one was a black and white movie, The Heiress, and the other one was, Washington Square, a more recent film.  Personally, I enjoyed watching segments of The Heiress more but Washington Square was enticing as well.

I rarely enjoy black and white movies and I avoid them when I watch TV.  This is what made the class significant for me; when I saw that The Heiress was black and white I thought watching the clips would be very boring.  Yet the film was oddly alluring, I thought that even though the film was old, it portrayed itself as a modern film.  In addition, I really liked the way the actor performed Morris.  The character was simply likable, I did not like Morris when I read the book but this actor drew me in. I would root for him throughout the course of the movie.

The film, Washington Square, was enjoyable but I would not watch it on my own time.  Especially because of the actress that played Catherine, to put it simply, she was a terrible performer.  Every time she spoke I felt uneasy; she just made the film needlessly awkward.  I cannot really put my finger on the reason for her awkwardness, but I assume it was because she overreacted to everything; very melodramatic.

Hopefully, we will watch more movies for seminar in the near future. Who knows, a new favorite might arise out of this class.

Class 10-15-12

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In seminar on Monday, we discussed the various aspects of Washington Square in preparation for seeing “The Heiress” on Wednesday night. As a segue, we talked about Felix Mendelssohn, a famous composer. He was born in 1809 and was very affluent. He was extremely well educated, spoke several languages and had taken the “Grand Tour,” just as most affluent children did back in those times. The “Grand Tour” allowed children to venture outside of the local town and see all that the world has to offer. Mendelssohn took this time to compose several symphonies, including “The Scottish Symphony,” which we heard at the concert on Sunday afternoon. He then went on to write incidental music for “A Midsummer Night’s Dream,” which has been infused into American Culture as the “Wedding March.”

Washington Square was originally written by Henry James in 1880, but was set in 1850. This was primarily because any time after that, there would have to be mention of the Civil War breakout, and that could have possibly had an adverse effect on the characters and the society in which they lived. Throughout the novel, the point of views switched back and forth. The narrator never stayed neutral on his opinion of the characters. For example, Austin was portrayed nicer in Europe, yet, back home, he was a sour Grinch. In addition, the character of Catherine was looked down upon because she was a “romp,” or as we say today, a “tomboy.” This was very unexpected of a young lady in the Victorian Era.

To further familiarize ourselves with Wednesday night’s play, we watched two renditions of the Washington Square novel. The first was the 1949 film “The Heiress,” staring Olivia de Havilland as Catherine, and Montgomery Clift as Morris. The second was the 1997 drama “Washington Square,” featuring Jennifer Leigh as Catherine and Ben Chaplin as Morris. While these two movies follow the same plot, the stories are interpreted two completely different ways.

In “The Heiress,” Catherine is portrayed as a very plain and quiet girl who is introduced to a random man, Morris, at a family gathering. In contrast, Washington Square depicted Catherine as a lively, active, tomboyish, young woman. Her mannerisms and actions reflected those of a seven year old child, rather than a grown woman. In this rendition, Catherine is introduced to Morris by her cousin Marian, rather than her aunt.

Another major difference in the two pieces was the interpretation of Mr. Sloper. According to the novel, Austin is a gentleman that is very astute and opinionated, often seeming a bit snide and conceited at times. He is portrayed similarly in the 1997 movie. In contrast, the 1949 film portrayed Austin as a witty and comical man, in the sense that he is chipper and less uptight. Both movies have me curious to see how the characters unravel in The Heiress on Broadway.

 

The Heiress on Broadway: 10/17/12

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In place of Wednesday’s Seminar class, we went to see The Heiress on Broadway.  I have been to many Broadway shows before, but this was the first time I went to see a Broadway play that was not a musical.  I really enjoyed it.  I think the story was portrayed very well, and it did not stray too much from the actual story in the novel.  That was one of the main things I liked about the show – they didn’t for example, take the powerful and “sad” ending, as some people would call it, and turn it into a happy ending where Catherine takes Morris back and they marry and live happily ever after.  That would have been slightly disappointing.

While I thought the overall show was very well done, there were a few things I noticed that I think could have been done better.  For example, Dan Stevens, who played Morris Townsend, made Townsend a little too likable.  He made Morris Townsend seem too nice and too genuine so that, at certain times, I, as the spectator, almost felt bad for Morris and wanted Dr. Sloper to accept him and have Catherine take him back.  I think he could have been portrayed as a bit more conceited and deceitful.  In addition, one of the lines given by Dr. Sloper that we studied in great detail in class was not delivered too well, at least in my opinion.  There is a very powerful quote, at the beginning of the play, by Dr. Sloper: “Is it possible that this magnificent person is my child?”  In the novel, this line is delivered with sarcasm and irony.  In the play last night, I didn’t think David Strathairn delivered that line with enough sarcasm.  He seemed a bit too light-hearted and humorous.  Finally, Catherine was played very well by Jessica Chastain.  However, she was a bit too monotonous.  Every time she spoke, her tone was monotonous and it was almost as if she spoke in fragmented sentences.  I know Catherine was not supposed to be very intelligent or witty, but when I imagined Catherine, I always imagined her with emotions and feelings, and at least able to articulate herself.

My favorite part of the play was the ending.  It was absolutely incredible.  The last 15 minutes kept most of us on the edge of our chairs because it was so suspenseful.  We all knew how the book ended, but there was something about seeing it played out in front of us that made it much better.  Jessica Chastain portrayed Catherine so

Ariana Z. 10/15 class

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On Monday’s seminar Professor Kahan spoke to us about the life of Felix Mendelssohn. He  is a very famous composer, whose piece was performed by the SI Philharmonic on Sunday. The piece, Mendelssohn’s “Symphony No.3” was (as stated by Professor Kahan) the size of a normal symphony. It consisted of four movements and was true to the Victorian era. The music was emotional but not too emotional, and polite at the same time. This spoke to the Victorian style of modesty as well.

Mendelssohn himself led quite a full life, he had the ability and financial stability to take music lessons . Along with his sister, he was home schooled, and had a rigorous education. They both went on to become gifted musicians.

One of the pieces he composed that was a complete shock to me was “Wedding March.” After hearing a song like that so many times in one’s life, it is easy to forget or to infer about who wrote this piece. To learn that it was by Mendelssohn was an exciting fact to know.

In class we also spoke about the differences between the play “The Heiress” and the novel “Washington Square.” Besides not being able to exclaim the character’s point of view on a subject, the play appears to have relatively few differences in its content . The movie versions, however (of which we saw both), differ greatly. What predominantly stood out to me was in the movie “Washington Square” how the director chose to make Catherine very awkwardly bubbly, and that he chose to make her dress yellow and mismatched  compared to the rich, luxurious red described in the novel. Both choices in my opinion just made it uncomfortable to watch, especially the personality of Catherine. Another factor of this movie that I did not enjoy was how arrogant Morris Townsend seemed, he was less charming than in the first movie we watched, “The Heiress.” Of the two, the first portrayal would have to be my preference.

One last thing that I found interesting was regarding the names of the movies and play. Apparently, “The Heiress” is a title used since it provides the public with more of an idea as to what it is about. When one simply says “Washington Square” unless you know of the place and its reputation, you might as well assume it is a story of a town in Washington.

 

 

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10.15.12

Today, we spoke a little bit about why Washington Square is considered by many people a classic. We spoke about the narrator in the novel and how he was often ironical. I liked the narrator because I think he made a fairly normal story that could be boring more entertaining to read. I think the reason why I enjoyed the novel so much was because the style that Henry James wrote in reminds me of the way Oscar Wilde wrote. One reason why I think both authors write in a similar fashion is because James preferred European culture to American culture and Wilde was a European (Irish) author.

Towards the end of the class, we watched scenes from two movies based on the novel. I preferred the older film, the Heiress, to the more recent Washington Square. I had a lot of problems with the scenes we watched from the more recent film. I didn’t like the way Catherine was portrayed, she was too jittery and I saw Catherine as more of a quiet girl. I didn’t like that they changed the color of the dress to yellow. A major point of the dress was that it was red as a tribute to her mother. I also didn’t like Morris in this film either, I feel he was too stuck up and wasn’t doing a good job of hiding his confidence.

I enjoyed the scenes from the Heiress. I felt Dr. Sloper was sarcastic but, in an enjoyable way. In the party scene, you can tell Catherine is nervous but, she isn’t jumpy like the Catherine portrayed in Washington Square. I also thought the slight accent Morris had was charming but, not in your face. Even though I didn’t picture Morris with an accent, it was a nice touch to make the movie different from the novel but not completely different so that it loses touch with the original story.

I’m excited to go to the play and see how they portray the different characters. I’m not going to do any research so that I can have a completely fresh impression on Wednesday.

-Amber G.