Home › Books › Cocktails with George and Martha: Movies, Marriag…
Cocktails with George and Martha: Movies, Marriage, and the Making of Who's Afraid of Virginia Woolf?
by
58/99
Critics' Rating Index
45/99
Readers' Rating Index
n/a
Scholars' Citation Index
84/99
Volume of Reviews
61/99
Volume of Reader Ratings
Sign in to add to your shelf, rate, or review this book.
About This Book
An award-winning writer reveals the behind-the-scenes story of the provocative play, the groundbreaking film it became, and how two iconic stars changed the image of marriage forever. From its debut in 1962, Edward Albee's Who's Afraid of Virginia Woolf? was a wild success and a cultural lightning rod. The play transpires over one long, boozy night, laying bare the lies, compromises, and scalding love that have sustained a middle-aged couple through decades of marriage. It scandalized critics but magnetized audiences. Across 644 sold-out Broadway performances, the drama demolished the wall between what could and couldn't be said on the American stage and marked a definitive end to the I Love Lucy 1950s. Then, Hollywood took a colossal gamble on Albee's sophisticated play―and won. Costarring Elizabeth Taylor and Richard Burton, the sensational 1966 film minted first-time director Mike Nichols as industry royalty and won five Oscars. How this scorching play became a movie classic―surviving censorship attempts, its creators' inexperience, and its stars' own tumultuous marriage―is one of the most riveting stories in all of cinema. Now, acclaimed author Philip Gefter tells that story in full for the first time, tracing Woolf from its hushed origins in Greenwich Village's bohemian enclave, through its tormented production process, to its explosion onto screens across America and a permanent place in the canon of cinematic marriages. This deliciously entertaining book explores how two couples―one fictional, one all too real―forced a nation to confront its most deeply held myths about relationships, sex, family, and, against all odds, love.
Reviews
"The interweaving drama in these pages between two couples—one fictional, the other all too real and deeply flawed, and who enjoyed cavorting shamelessly in the press—is simply too delicious."
"He distills a lot of secondary material, including interviews published and unpublished."
"A penetrating examination of a bold film."
"His summing up is less persuasive ..."
"Lively, well-researched ..."
"This will renew readers' admiration for the classic film and its source material."
"But if the movie had cast its original Broadway stars, Uta Hagen and Arthur Hill, I wouldn't be here talking about it."
"Multilayered and eminently revisitable (like the play and the film), Gefter's wonderful book helps readers reevaluate vis-à-vis values prevalent half a century later."
Preview
Reader Reviews
0 reviewsSign in to write a review.
No reader reviews yet. Be the first!