All Over (2002) Production Files

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Identifier: OVER2002
Inclusive Dates: 2002
Extent:
Roundabout Theatre Company, with McCarter Theatre Center, produced Edward Albee's All Over, with first preview on June 7, opening night on June 27 and closing night September 1, 2002. 1. Emily Mann won an Obie Award for Outstanding Direction; Rosemary Harris for Outstanding Performance. The production was originally staged at the McCarter Theatre Center with dates Feb. 12 to March 3, 2002. 

Ben Brantley, writing for The New York Times, in his review of the production wrote, "[l]ike most Albee plays, All Over considers the absurdity of living with the fact of death, but in especially literal, concentrated terms. Ms. Harris and Ms. Learned are superb in rendering the tentative alliance that the Wife and the Mistress have created for the ritual of the death watch. Like all the relationships in this play, it is only provisional. The inhabitants of Mr. Albee's universe are devistatingly, damningly alone." [The New York Times, June 28, 2002, reprinted from February 25, 2002]

Directed by Emily Mann, with set design by Thomas Lynch, costume design by Jennifer von Mayrhauser, and lighting design by Allen Lee Hughes.

Rosemary Harris played the part of The Wife, Pamela Nyberg played the part of The Daughter, Michael Learned played the part of The Mistress, Bill Moor played the part of The Doctor, Patrick Garner played the part of The Son, John Carter played the part of The Best Friend, Myra Carter played the part of The Nurse, Richard Cottrell, Keith Dixon and Chuck McMahon played the part of Newspapermen. Understudies: Mikel Sarah Lambert, Alison Edwards, Richard Cottrell. 
"All Over takes place around a deathbed as its characters attempt to achieve eloquence in the shadow of the unspeakable. The genesis of the play was Albee's intention to write two companion one-acts, to be entitled Life and Death. As reported by Mel Gussow in A Singular Journey, each one-act evolved into a full-length play: Death became All Over, while Life served as the starting point for Seascape. The play premiered on Broadway in 1971, directed by John Gielgud, starring Jessica Tandy and Colleen Dewhurst. 

In [early stagings of the play], most critics and audiences were baffled by All Over. Of the theatre critics, only The Nation's Harold Clurman seemed to understand what Albee was after: celebrating the playwright's theatrical elegy as 'the best American play of several seasons.' Clurman went on to remark that the work 'conveys an existential shudder which has its origins in the soul's dark solitude.' Albee's fellow theatre artists were similarly impressed. According to Gussow, Tennessee Williams told Albee that All Over was his 'favorite of your plays...a marvel of controlled eloquence.' Playwright Wallace Shawn declared it 'one of the greatest experiences I ever had in the theater.'" [Michael Cadden, Director of Princeton University's Program in Theatre and Dance. Printed in Roundabout's newsletter, Front & Center, Summer 2002]
Production records are contained in one Hollinger box spanning 17 folders. The stage documentation is not comprehensive, but does capture a selection of set imagery and Thomas Lynch's drawings/elevations. Prompt script is not present. 

Digital file includes:
General Management files (10.7MB)
Media (B-Roll and interview with Rosemary Harris) (71 GB)
JPG scans of Playbill (72 MB)
PDF of press clippings (3.69 MB)
Production photographs (7 color, 1 black and white cast/crew, 12 McCarter images that include two of Albee with Mann)
Show art (poster art, marquee, etc.) (255 MB)

Oversize file includes:
Set drawings/elevations, 8 pages

Marketing file includes:
Department and show files, containing mock-ups, ad placement, etc.

Photograph File includes:
4 color slides
26 color 3x5 prints (selection of stage and posed marketing images)
9 black and white contact sheets from production shots
Access Restrictions: Open and available for research by appointment, except as where noted.
Preferred Citation: All Over (2002), Roundabout Theatre Company Archives
Related Staged Production

All Over


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