Since we started this blog, we are usually so excited to write about what we’ve seen; we’re composing in the cab on the way home (except of course when he had food poisoning from eating at Glass House Tavern). We saw FELA last Wednesday night and decided to write this tonight, after ditching an incredibly long line at the movies and winding up with an unexpected free night. Even a little detour to the Container Store left us with plenty of time to blog.
So now here we are about to write about FELA and not only do we have difficulty pronouncing the name of the show, we really don’t even know what to say.
The minute you enter the Eugene O’Neill Theatre, you are immediately transported to Lagos, Nigeria in the 1970’s and the electricity of the show grabs your attention, with decorations unlike most other Broadway shows. The musicians, already playing on stage as you enter, transport you to the owner’s nightclub. The ushers neurotically remind everyone to keep the aisles clear, so you know that this show is going to be interactive. All of the ingredients normally needed for a successful Broadway show are in FELA; an incredibly talented cast, innovative costumes and make-up, creatively choreographed dancing, use of multi-media and an interesting soundtrack.
So what was our problem? Despite the fact that FELA “looks great on paper,” it was surprisingly slow at times, which is hard to imagine given the high energy level. Straining to understand the accents from the almost totally Nigerian cast, just took too much effort. We are struggling to write this as much as we struggled to understand the cast.
What intrigued Cathy the most was the bird’s eye view of the bunions on the dancer’s bare feet and what struck Jeff the most was the guys in the band bopped along with the cast. Pretty sad, eh? We can’t say that it was a bad experience but we can’t say that we would recommend this show either. MEMPHIS it’s not.
Up next: RECIPE FOR LIFE
Saturday, February 27, 2010
Saturday, February 20, 2010
A VIEW FROM AFAR
We were especially excited about seeing A VIEW FROM THE BRIDGE because we were going with four dear friends, Flo Feinberg & Ben Geizhals, Kristene Doyle and Mark Terjesen. The evening started out fabulously; we arrived at Glass House Tavern for our 5:30 reservation and bumped into Nancy Ploeger and Nancy Ryan, who we believe are now shadowing us not only in theatre but in dining, as well. No sooner did we exchange hugs and kisses then we spotted Richard Thomas sitting less than a foot away. We didn’t want to be rude and interrupt his obviously quiet dinner with his adorable son Montana, but we had to tell him how much we adored him in RACE (Richard – hope you take us up on our offer to do a guest HOUSE SEATS blog!).
Dinner went downhill from there. The service was horrible and the waiter rude. The food was only mediocre and little did we know the best was yet to come. We were so rushed that we barely made it to the theatre in time. Once shown to our seats we were reminded of the only negative of buying tickets for 6 rather than 2 - it is very difficult to get the seats we like. We are spoiled. We admit it. Our usual seats are rows 1-5, on the aisle, of course. We forgot there is actually a Row O! OMG, our seats were almost in the lobby! And what was that overhang making it difficult to see and hear?
Onward. The set and costumes immediately brought us to the 1950’s Brooklyn waterfront, which is the setting for Miller’s dark story of post World War 2 familial relationships. Liev Schreiber and Scarlett Johansson were wonderful in the lead roles of Eddie Carbone and his niece Catherine. Jessica Hecht and Michael Cristofer were also truly fabulous as supporting players. Although Schreiber is a seasoned Broadway actor, this was Johansson’s Broadway debut and this role truly showcased her real talent.
Cathy thought the show was rather slow although Jeff enjoyed the tempo and found it to be typical of a good Arthur Miller play. The only negative was that the movement of the set at times disrupted the flow of the show.
As Cristofer’s character Alfieri, the lawyer, says in his narrative, you know what’s going to happen step by step before it does. So it is no secret that once Eddie “drops a dime” on his illegal immigrant visitors, he is going to die - and you can pretty well figure out that it will be at the very end of the show. The stabbing scene by the way was a bit overacted. It stopped just short of Beatrice or Catherine breaking into "There's A Place For Us" a la Maria in WEST SIDE STORY. Despite all this, one lonely woman was caught off guard and screamed “Oh My God” just as Eddie thrashed and died on the stage. This scene however; was not enough to deter from the overall power of the show and the talent of the cast.
We left the theater happy and said goodbye to our friends. Four hours later, our dinner at Glass Tavern returned to haunt us. We were both so sick for 36 hours we prayed for someone to do to us what had been done to Eddie Carbone! The food poisoning delayed this blog and despite a valiant effort, caused us to miss our next show, OUR TOWN!
Don’t miss this limited run production of A VIEW FROM THE BRIDGE but do stay away from Glass House Tavern!
Next up: FELA! THE MUSICAL.
Dinner went downhill from there. The service was horrible and the waiter rude. The food was only mediocre and little did we know the best was yet to come. We were so rushed that we barely made it to the theatre in time. Once shown to our seats we were reminded of the only negative of buying tickets for 6 rather than 2 - it is very difficult to get the seats we like. We are spoiled. We admit it. Our usual seats are rows 1-5, on the aisle, of course. We forgot there is actually a Row O! OMG, our seats were almost in the lobby! And what was that overhang making it difficult to see and hear?
Onward. The set and costumes immediately brought us to the 1950’s Brooklyn waterfront, which is the setting for Miller’s dark story of post World War 2 familial relationships. Liev Schreiber and Scarlett Johansson were wonderful in the lead roles of Eddie Carbone and his niece Catherine. Jessica Hecht and Michael Cristofer were also truly fabulous as supporting players. Although Schreiber is a seasoned Broadway actor, this was Johansson’s Broadway debut and this role truly showcased her real talent.
Cathy thought the show was rather slow although Jeff enjoyed the tempo and found it to be typical of a good Arthur Miller play. The only negative was that the movement of the set at times disrupted the flow of the show.
As Cristofer’s character Alfieri, the lawyer, says in his narrative, you know what’s going to happen step by step before it does. So it is no secret that once Eddie “drops a dime” on his illegal immigrant visitors, he is going to die - and you can pretty well figure out that it will be at the very end of the show. The stabbing scene by the way was a bit overacted. It stopped just short of Beatrice or Catherine breaking into "There's A Place For Us" a la Maria in WEST SIDE STORY. Despite all this, one lonely woman was caught off guard and screamed “Oh My God” just as Eddie thrashed and died on the stage. This scene however; was not enough to deter from the overall power of the show and the talent of the cast.
We left the theater happy and said goodbye to our friends. Four hours later, our dinner at Glass Tavern returned to haunt us. We were both so sick for 36 hours we prayed for someone to do to us what had been done to Eddie Carbone! The food poisoning delayed this blog and despite a valiant effort, caused us to miss our next show, OUR TOWN!
Don’t miss this limited run production of A VIEW FROM THE BRIDGE but do stay away from Glass House Tavern!
Next up: FELA! THE MUSICAL.
Thursday, February 11, 2010
RACE WINS THE RACE
That’s if the race we are discussing is the one to the TONYS.
But let’s backtrack. We are like the US Mail. Neither rain, snow, sleet or lack of cabs could keep us from getting to the Barrymore last night to see David Mamet’s latest offering, RACE. The only negative of last night’s awful weather is that we knew the empty seats in the theater could only have been from people who could not make it into the city because of the storm. They really missed something and if they are already living outside of the city (we feel so sorry for them!) they need to get an SUV.
Turned out to be a very easy commute to the theatre, dinner in a rather full Italian restaurant and once again an audience comprised mainly of hard core New York theatre goers. What fun, including the non (or barely) English speaking couple who mistakenly took our seats (on the aisle, of course), the too tall chatty guys behind us, the water, chocolate & wine hawker who knew everything about theatre (and was quite surprised that we knew more), not to mention Concetta Tomei sitting a few rows behind us, never off her phone during intermission.
RACE is a tight, smart show. There are no wasted moments, words or gestures. The curtain opens and the audience is thrust into the midst of a discussion between four characters. And this is one of the most perfectly cast shows we’ve seen in a long time. When you see plays with very small casts, even one misstep is glaring but this was really just right. Kudos to Mamet for both the play and the taut direction. David, did you cast it yourself too?
James Spader is the current front runner in our vote for Best Actor in a Play. He understood the play and his role as if it was written for him and the interplay with also-wonderful David Alan Grier was nothing short of energy charged. It took us a little while to understand the "tightness" behind Richard Thomas's character portrayal. As soon as we understood his interpretation of the very tight-assed, formal client, we were with him 100%!. This was Kerry Washington’s Broadway debut and we welcome her with open arms and a “what took you so long to get here?”. The drained look on her face at the well-deserved standing ovation was reminiscent of the cast of BLOOD BROTHERS after every performance.
RACE is a trim hour and 40 minutes and it flew by. The topic is both timely and timeless and Mamet’s dialogue, vulgar as is his style, really kept this play moving along at a very rapid pace.
When we walked out of the theater we realized both how much and how little have changed in respect to how we view the historical issue of race relations. Seeing RACE and being in the presence of such fabulous acting was the best history lesson we’ve had in a long time.
But let’s backtrack. We are like the US Mail. Neither rain, snow, sleet or lack of cabs could keep us from getting to the Barrymore last night to see David Mamet’s latest offering, RACE. The only negative of last night’s awful weather is that we knew the empty seats in the theater could only have been from people who could not make it into the city because of the storm. They really missed something and if they are already living outside of the city (we feel so sorry for them!) they need to get an SUV.
Turned out to be a very easy commute to the theatre, dinner in a rather full Italian restaurant and once again an audience comprised mainly of hard core New York theatre goers. What fun, including the non (or barely) English speaking couple who mistakenly took our seats (on the aisle, of course), the too tall chatty guys behind us, the water, chocolate & wine hawker who knew everything about theatre (and was quite surprised that we knew more), not to mention Concetta Tomei sitting a few rows behind us, never off her phone during intermission.
RACE is a tight, smart show. There are no wasted moments, words or gestures. The curtain opens and the audience is thrust into the midst of a discussion between four characters. And this is one of the most perfectly cast shows we’ve seen in a long time. When you see plays with very small casts, even one misstep is glaring but this was really just right. Kudos to Mamet for both the play and the taut direction. David, did you cast it yourself too?
James Spader is the current front runner in our vote for Best Actor in a Play. He understood the play and his role as if it was written for him and the interplay with also-wonderful David Alan Grier was nothing short of energy charged. It took us a little while to understand the "tightness" behind Richard Thomas's character portrayal. As soon as we understood his interpretation of the very tight-assed, formal client, we were with him 100%!. This was Kerry Washington’s Broadway debut and we welcome her with open arms and a “what took you so long to get here?”. The drained look on her face at the well-deserved standing ovation was reminiscent of the cast of BLOOD BROTHERS after every performance.
RACE is a trim hour and 40 minutes and it flew by. The topic is both timely and timeless and Mamet’s dialogue, vulgar as is his style, really kept this play moving along at a very rapid pace.
When we walked out of the theater we realized both how much and how little have changed in respect to how we view the historical issue of race relations. Seeing RACE and being in the presence of such fabulous acting was the best history lesson we’ve had in a long time.
Sunday, February 7, 2010
WE DID THE MARATHON IN RECORD TIME
We are having just as much difficulty condensing yesterday’s nine hours of Horton Foote’s Marathon opus “The Orphans’ Home Cycle” into a single two paragraph blog as Foote must have had condensing his original work, consisting of nine plays, into the three we saw at the Peter Norton Space.
From the minute we walked out of the Norman Conquests marathon last season, our theater appetites were whetted for another three-plays-in-one-day-adventure. We were thrilled when we scored Seats A106 and 107 for yesterday’s Marathon, we could literally see every character breathe. The Peter Norton space is actually very intimate and surprisingly comfortable, which was critically important since we were in the same seats for nine hours.
We knew immediately that every other person there was like us, a hard core NY theatergoer. We ran into dear friend Nancy Ploeger and her friend Nancy, also avid theatre goers, whose presence evidenced our thoughts and comments about who was in the audience. The only downside to this theatre is the lack of good restaurants very close by and the bitter cold wind yesterday made walking to find the oerfect mealtough. But who really cares about eating when we were being fed such great theater.
How can we explain that while nothing really happens in terms of action during the nine hours we spent in our seats yesterday, everything happened. We were hooked from the very beginning and our attention never wavered. The story and characters so engaged us that we just hated to leave. By the time the taxi brought us home we were missing Horace and Elizabeth, not to mention Mrs. Vaughn and her son Brother and we were already wondering how they were doing.
The sets and costumes were really perfect depictions of Texas in the early 1900’s. Michael Wilson’s direction was sublime….there were moments when it was hard to decide who made the decisions on physicality – the actors or the director. It didn’t matter since they worked beautifully. We were mesmerized by James DeMarse’s portrayals of two characters, Soll Gautier, the plantation owner and Henry Vaughan, Horace’s father-in-law. His energy and compassion and total understanding of the roles made all the difference in the world. The same must be said about Bill Heck’s portrayal of Horace and Maggie Lacey’s vision of his wife Elizabeth.
It was quite interesting to keep up with actors who played different roles in the three different plays, sometimes switching roles in different acts of the same play. The only actor who principally played only one role was Heck, who brought the adult Horace to life throughout the trilogy.
And if only the playwright could have lived to see his daughter Hallie bring this magnificent work to life. She grabbed us from the moment she stepped onto the stage and never let us go, just as the entire day did. In case you think we have lost all objectivity we do have to mention that we are not really sure how each of the individual plays is viewed on its own. It is nearly impossible to have a sense of that after having seen them consecutively, in the correct order, in one day.
Kudos to an incredible cast with amazing fortitude! It was a pleasure to see their hard word recognized with a well earned robust standing ovation at the end of the day, from real New Yorkers who appreciate truly good theatre.
We would give anything to know the rest of the story. Hallie – you must know it. Be an angel and shoot us an email at houseseats@yahoo.com and fill us in.
From the minute we walked out of the Norman Conquests marathon last season, our theater appetites were whetted for another three-plays-in-one-day-adventure. We were thrilled when we scored Seats A106 and 107 for yesterday’s Marathon, we could literally see every character breathe. The Peter Norton space is actually very intimate and surprisingly comfortable, which was critically important since we were in the same seats for nine hours.
We knew immediately that every other person there was like us, a hard core NY theatergoer. We ran into dear friend Nancy Ploeger and her friend Nancy, also avid theatre goers, whose presence evidenced our thoughts and comments about who was in the audience. The only downside to this theatre is the lack of good restaurants very close by and the bitter cold wind yesterday made walking to find the oerfect mealtough. But who really cares about eating when we were being fed such great theater.
How can we explain that while nothing really happens in terms of action during the nine hours we spent in our seats yesterday, everything happened. We were hooked from the very beginning and our attention never wavered. The story and characters so engaged us that we just hated to leave. By the time the taxi brought us home we were missing Horace and Elizabeth, not to mention Mrs. Vaughn and her son Brother and we were already wondering how they were doing.
The sets and costumes were really perfect depictions of Texas in the early 1900’s. Michael Wilson’s direction was sublime….there were moments when it was hard to decide who made the decisions on physicality – the actors or the director. It didn’t matter since they worked beautifully. We were mesmerized by James DeMarse’s portrayals of two characters, Soll Gautier, the plantation owner and Henry Vaughan, Horace’s father-in-law. His energy and compassion and total understanding of the roles made all the difference in the world. The same must be said about Bill Heck’s portrayal of Horace and Maggie Lacey’s vision of his wife Elizabeth.
It was quite interesting to keep up with actors who played different roles in the three different plays, sometimes switching roles in different acts of the same play. The only actor who principally played only one role was Heck, who brought the adult Horace to life throughout the trilogy.
And if only the playwright could have lived to see his daughter Hallie bring this magnificent work to life. She grabbed us from the moment she stepped onto the stage and never let us go, just as the entire day did. In case you think we have lost all objectivity we do have to mention that we are not really sure how each of the individual plays is viewed on its own. It is nearly impossible to have a sense of that after having seen them consecutively, in the correct order, in one day.
Kudos to an incredible cast with amazing fortitude! It was a pleasure to see their hard word recognized with a well earned robust standing ovation at the end of the day, from real New Yorkers who appreciate truly good theatre.
We would give anything to know the rest of the story. Hallie – you must know it. Be an angel and shoot us an email at houseseats@yahoo.com and fill us in.
Subscribe to:
Posts (Atom)