There might be an uncanny valley effect involved, in which the play becomes good again if the actors are of superstar quality. I could see this happening if certain “amateur mistakes” are actually required for the play to succeed, and ordinary actors who aren’t superstars wouldn’t realize this.
I loved the version my local high school put on, but when my local community theater—which does hire professional actors—put it on, they played everything far too straight and it stopped being funny. I’ve never seen the movie, though, but my father reported the same experience as I did; he also loved Arsenic and Old Lace when his high school put it on, but he never cared for the movie very much.
Disagree. The movie, which is a straightforward adaptation of the play, is creepy and hilarious; it’s quite good.
There might be an uncanny valley effect involved, in which the play becomes good again if the actors are of superstar quality. I could see this happening if certain “amateur mistakes” are actually required for the play to succeed, and ordinary actors who aren’t superstars wouldn’t realize this.
I loved the version my local high school put on, but when my local community theater—which does hire professional actors—put it on, they played everything far too straight and it stopped being funny. I’ve never seen the movie, though, but my father reported the same experience as I did; he also loved Arsenic and Old Lace when his high school put it on, but he never cared for the movie very much.