I will also make sure to include a cost-benefit analysis of each minute based on the price of my ticket, which is sadly the most I've ever paid to see a Broadway show.
Marie: Don't be in such a hurry about that pretty little chippy in Frisco.
Tony: Eh, she's a no chip!
I'm going tonight, too. Like Carrie Pipperidge, I hope I acclimate to the aroma of gutted raw fish. Such are the perils of being both a Jackman and Butterworth fan.
I'm back from tonight's performance and the play is a bit of a mind fvck. I feel like it didn't even fully hit me until I was walking home; my brain still processing the piece, as the surreal world Butterworth created collided with the melange of costumes roaming down 9th Ave.
It's hard to discuss the text without spoilers, so I'll comment on the physical production and the acting first. The stage is set up not fully in the round, but more like Lady Day/Spelling Bee. Jackman's Cabin juts out into the center of the theater like a runway. Lanterns and candles are lit in the cabin, but the audience is kept in such a darkness creating both an immediate intimacy with the characters and stark sense of isolation.
The characters are simply called The Man, The Woman and The Other Woman. Cush Jumbo was excellent as The Woman, finding lots of humor in the first half and shifting to the more dramatic material in the later portions quite well. Laura Donnelly is the only one who transferred from the London production and was more subdued, but gave a nice scene near the end.
I've got to give it to Jackman for taking on a part like this. It's nice to see a star take a risk and originate a role, rather than show up in a safe, well-trodden revival. He's not relying on his charisma and flashy smile. He's really pushing himself and what was a fine performance tonight could grow into something great over previews. The highlight of his performance was a monologue about the first fish he ever caught.
Hugh basically never leaves the stage and each scene alternates between him and each of the women. Slight? SPOILERS ahead...
At first I thought the two women were existing in two parallel stories, but it soon became clear that they weren't. Then I thought they were each playing different women through the years at the cabin. Then I thought they were both one woman and then I was convinced they only existed in Hugh's mind by the end.
I think there's lots of room for interpretation. The play is laden with symbolism and the dialogue has lyric often eerie quality. If you're looking for a straight-forward narrative you will walk away very frustrated.
END SPOILERS
I wish I could see it again because I think a lot more could be absorbed on a second viewing. I think I'll just have to settle for reading a copy of the play, but I'm glad I saw it and I'm sure will be thinking about it all weekend.
Marie: Don't be in such a hurry about that pretty little chippy in Frisco.
Tony: Eh, she's a no chip!
I wasn't in the Riverbank seating section so I can't say for sure...it seemed liked they were right up in the action, which I think would be exciting. You will occasionally have the backs of the actors turned towards you.
I was sitting in the curve of the oval with basically a straight on view on the cabin. It gave me a great stage picture, but if your goal is to be as close to the actors as possible then the Riverbank is the way to go.
Marie: Don't be in such a hurry about that pretty little chippy in Frisco.
Tony: Eh, she's a no chip!
Well, cost sort of determined my choice of the riverbank. I'm right on the corner of the stage in the front row, so I guess I'll find out.
As for actor's back, so will the people who paid a lot more behind me, so that's just the nature of the staging. OK, you've confirmed that this is something worth seeing, as opposed to a ticket worth flipping, so I'm out of this thread until after I see the show in December.
Thanks for the review!
Updated On: 10/31/14 at 11:19 PM
Perhaps readers of Field and Stream might find something of interest in this play, since it discourses knowingly about such matters as the thrill of the catch, the use of baits and lures, and the migratory patterns of sea trout. In all likelihood, though, they would probably be happier using the exorbitant cost of a ticket to buy a sturdy new fishing rod to go with a couple of worms they could dig out of the ground for free.
Interspersed between the fishing lessons is a thoroughly moribund, gimmicky "mystery" love story, that proved not of the slightest interest. Personally, I preferred the fishing lessons. It's all portentous, pretentious, and terribly, terribly dull. Adding even further to the overall gloom is a brooding Yeats song that recurs as a mournful leitmotif throughout the proceedings. As if the play weren't doleful enough on its own.
Yes. They have a hoodie, t shirts and a mug from what I saw. There might have been a magnet and key chain that I didn't see. Will update if there is more stuff.