LIVE READ SERIES ENDS BIG
By Michelle Romano
Last night I attended my first ever, Live Read at LACMA, for The Big Lebowski, the final installment in a series of screenplays being directed on stage by Jason Reitman. Although this was the final read of the season, Reitman assured all of the audience that he will be back this October to do it again!
The audience went crazy with applause, and many people yelled out that they have been at every single one of his Live Reads! I was impressed with the fact that so many people were able to get access to these tickets, which seemed nearly impossible to get judging by the amount of people who had been waiting in line for hours to try to get a stand by ticket to last night's sold out performance. Luckily, PPLA was able to score a spot for our reporters at every event courtsey of Film Independent.
I wasn’t sure of what to expect when I first stepped foot into the Bing Theater. However, as Reitman began to introduce the “surprise cast” for the read, I was really grateful to have had this opportunity to see something like this performed live. The cast included Hank Azaria, Jason Alexander, Christine Hendricks, Ray Wilson, Fred Savage, Katharine Reitman, Sam Elliott (reprising his role of The Stranger from the film, originally shot 15 years ago), and Seth Rogan as The Dude.
Attendees could not have been more pleased at the introduction of this star-studded cast about to re-enact a cult classic film, written by Joel and Ethan Cohen.
Reitman served as the director/narrator of the read, and was equally as funny as the cast, adding in his own remarks. During each scene change, the screen behind the cast would project a location image or still frame from the actual movie itself, so that the audience could feel as if they were in that location at that exact place and time during the read.
It was all very exciting to see this new spin on a film made years ago, with a brand new cast. It was truly a fun experience full of non stop laughter for both the audience and the cast themselves. I am sure I speak for the entire audience when I say that I look forward to the return of Reitman’s Live Read at LACMA this October.
