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I have never read the novel Picnic at Hanging Rock by Joan Lindsay but I have always been fascinated by the film version directed by Peter Weir and have often told casts of R&J that they should watch it for its hyper, repressed, sexual energy. I've always thought it should be a musical, so my ears pricked up when Daniel Zaitchik, who was so spectacular in The Burnt Part Boys, told me he was writing a musical based on the novel. I told him that I would love to direct it when he was ready for that part of the process. He did a public reading of it recently but I was out of town and was not able to attend, so I was thrilled when Ira Weitzman from Lincoln Center called me and told me that he wanted to do a reading of the show and that he and Daniel would like me to direct it. (Ira, by the way, has always been one of my biggest cheerleaders and told me I had to direct musicals back when no one knew I could). Today Daniel did an informal, "in house," table, reading of the show at Lincoln Center. I was mesmerized by it. Daniel is as an exciting and innovative a writer as he is an actor. We'll be doing a reading of the show in early December at Lincoln Center. My mind is already swirling with images.
