“Breakfast at Tiffany’s,” again. It’s opened on Broadway this time. We revisit an American classic.

Audrey Hepburn as Holly Golightly (AP)

Truman Capote wanted Marilyn Monroe to play Holly Golightly in Breakfast at Tiffany’s.  He got Audrey Hepburn, and the rest is history.  The little black dress.  Moon River.  Elegant agonies.  Reinvention in New York.  Our American geisha.  An American classic.

Capote’s book was darker than the movie.  Sex for pay.  A frustrated gay narrator.  But the movie wasn’t all willowy glam either.  Not by a long shot.  Now it’s all back on stage, on Broadway.

This hour, On Point:  Breakfast at Tiffany’s – the book, the movie, the play, and in American imagination.

-Tom Ashbrook

Guests

Sean Mathias, director of the current Broadway adaptation of “Breakfast at Tiffany’s.”

Ginia Bellafante, columnist and critic for the New York Times. (@ginianyt)

Stefanie Cohen, arts and entertainment writer for the Wall Street Journal. (@stefaniecohen)

From Tom’s Reading List

Broadway.com “In 1958, author Truman Capote was already a celebrity when he published his now-iconic Breakfast at Tiffany’s: A Short Novel and Three Stories. Capote declared that the titular novella launched the second cycle of his writing career, following the success of his first novel, Other Voices, Other Rooms.”

The New York Times “Hovering about Richard Greenberg’s new stage adaptation of Truman Capote’s “Breakfast at Tiffany’s” like a beloved, chatty relative who doesn’t know when it’s time to go home is the memory of Audrey Hepburn as Holly Golightly in the 1961 movie. When the lights go down at the Cort Theater, where the show began previews on Monday, you expect her to sweep in any second, tall and swanlike, wearing her sunglasses and little black Givenchy dress and waving that ridiculous, yardlong cigarette holder.”

New York Post “Fur’s flying backstage at ‘Breakfast at Tiffany’s.’ We hear Vito Vincent, the orange cat who stars in the Broadway show, is now negotiating (through his owner) with producers to get a car and driver each night. Meanwhile his understudy, Montie, has been sacked for being ‘unruly,’ a spy says.”

Cory Michael Smith and Emilia Clarke in the new play, “Breakfast at Tiffany’s”