It's distinguished by having retained its original stage wall, creating a semicircular performance area against which performers are screened, as if in relief, while the mistral whines gently around the ancient bricks.
As with Cat on a Hot Tin Roof, the latter work featured a predominantly black cast, in contrast to its original stage and film productions.
Speculation about who would land its lead role, made famous by Barbra Streisand in its original stage and film incarnations, swirled for months and even spawned an online talent search before Mr. Sher ("South Pacific," "The Light in the Piazza") revealed in August that he had cast Ms. Ambrose, better known for her role on HBO's dark comedy "Six Feet Under" than for her musical chops.
"Hairspray" just opened to smashing reviews, and even "Rent," hardly the blistering hit in London it was on Broadway in its original staging, has returned in a "remixed" version.
The conductor Christopher Moulds is also attuned to the difficulties of this staging, but acknowledges that performing in the round aids intimacy, bringing Orfeo closer to its original staging; Monteverdi was commissioned for a court performance, so it would have simply been performed in a large room.
Blond Eckbert, in its original staging (for ENO, 1994), ran for just over an hour.
In its original staging, Mr. Beatty's enchanted forest and the performances of Debra Monk, who won a Tony as Geneva, and Jeff Daniels as Lyman, justified the production's size artistically, if not economically.
Almost 60 years since its original staging, the first play by a black woman to be performed on Broadway, Lorraine Hansberry's family drama still sings out loud, angry and true.
Le Pas d'acier had a sensational success in Paris and London, thanks to its original staging and bold evocation of images of Soviet Russia at the beginning of the 1920s with its economic dislocation and the beginnings of industrialization.
In its original staging, Mr. Beatty's enchanted forest and the performances of Debra Monk, who won a Tony for best featured actress, as Geneva, and Jeff Daniels as Lyman, recluse of the redwoods, justified the production's size artistically, if not economically.
Deaf West received four nominations for its original staging of the musical, directed by Michael Arden, at Inner-City Arts.
