Airline Highway pre-Broadway run at Steppenwolf

[AwesomeDanny]

Posted: 12/27/14 at 2:03am

I'm surprised nobody has commented on this production yet. Lisa D'Amour's new play has been getting great reviews (raves from both the Chicago Tribune and the Chicago Sun-Times), and word-of-mouth seems to be very positive.

To give some context, the story is of a run-down community on the outskirts of New Orleans--not a place where you'd find many tourists. Their mother figure, Miss Ruby, is dying and has requested to have a lively funeral before she dies so that she can experience it (a la "Tuesdays With Morrie," although further comparisons would be difficult to find). The set is a parking lot in front of the motel in which most of the characters live. The first act shows preparations for the party, and the second act is the party.

I attended the second preview, and it was one of those times when it felt like not just seeing a play but attending an event--there was a lot of excitement and curiosity in the atmosphere. And the play is huge--the set is massive and gorgeous, and there are 23 people on the stage at one point.

The script is really remarkable in its portraits of so many multifaceted characters. Some trims need to be made (particularly to the 90-minute first act), but the orchestration of dialogue, especially at the party with so many conversations going on at once, is very well done, and Joe Mantello's staging is very effective at shifting the focus and allowing the story to come through clearly. It makes sense for a piece of this size to have a director with a lot of experience in musicals.

But the real delight, like in most Steppenwolf shows, is in the acting. It hasn't been announced yet if the entire cast will transfer with the play, but they really should. K Todd Freeman in particular is giving an award-worthy performance, and Judith Roberts as Miss Ruby really shines when she finally takes the stage. Young actresses Caroline Neff and Carolyn Braver are perfectly cast and are giving the finest performances I've seen from them. Pretty much all of the principles have big moments in the spotlight with beautiful monologues.

From what I remember, opinions on Detroit were across the board. This play may find similar detractors, but it has more of a focus and a more linear storyline to follow. The pieces bear strong thematic and structural similarities, but I found Airline Highway to be the stronger work. There was a standing ovation from the entire house at the performance I attended, which is much rarer here than in New York.

Has anybody else here seen it? I would love to hear other thoughts on the show as I imagine there have been some changes in the past few weeks.

[mpd4165]

Posted: 12/27/14 at 12:14pm

I saw it last week and was most decidedly not a fan of the play. In particular, the "revelations" revealed near the end came off incredibly forced and I didn't buy for a second these characters would speak this way. I did appreciate the work done by K. Todd Freeman and Caroline Neff, but the first act alone lacked so much around the return of Bait Boy that I kept hoping Miss Ruby would hurry up and breath life into the events surrounding her living funeral. I adore Judith Roberts in her small role on Orange is the New Black, but Miss Ruby was not nearly as impactful a character I was hoping she would be, considering the entire event of the play is built around her. I'm unsure what I was supposed to take away from her monologue near the end as well, was it supposed to be insightful about the people gathered at this motel? For that matter, what was D'Amour trying to say about these people with the device of the girl played by Carolyn Braver, who's appearance also reads shoehorned into the play as a way to allow the audience an "outside" view into this world? I'm trying to see what MTC saw in this play that convinced them to bring this to Broadway.

[RippedMan]

Posted: 12/28/14 at 2:11am

I think the pictures look incredible and the sheer scope of it seems kind of dazzling. I'm sure excited to see it. I missed Detroit - I kept expecting it to go to Broadway - so I'm super excited to see this. The set looks incredible!

[GilmoreGirlO2]

Posted: 12/29/14 at 2:18pm

I saw this a couple of weekends ago and was also very disappointed. I had read “Detroit” (hadn’t seen it) and really enjoyed D’Amour’s writing in that play, but it just doesn’t cut it in this show.

Unfortunately, my overall impression is that the show was just plain boring. Lots of characters telling stories that just didn’t hold my attention. It was clear that each of these stories were supposed to hold deep meaning, but the clear intention of the playwright trying to push that deeper message seemed to overshadow what she actually wanted us to take away from these moments. I was hoping that with the party in the second act would come some more interest, but the show just never clicked for me.

I think the biggest problem is that none of the characters are particularly likeable. Not that they are necessarily unlikable, but I didn’t feel at all invested in any of them. The impression I got is that we are supposed to see how these people, who many in our society would normally just write off, are actually superior to those in higher classes (in a sense of understanding and experiencing life on a different level). But, the only quality that D’Amour seemed to use to justify this was the fact that they are poor, not because of who they are as people, their values, how they lead their lives, etc. I also found many of the characters to be caricatures, which probably was one of the reasons I was hindered from truly caring about them (especially K. Todd Freeman’s character).

The production itself is fine. I wasn’t particularly impressed by anyone’s performance (Carolyn Braver felt particularly phony and Caroline Neff, whose character I think we are supposed to sympathize with most, never made me feel an ounce of anything). And, while I’ve never seen any theatre company that does overlapping dialogue better than Steppenwolf, the talking over each other in this show felt forced and muddled. I always thought Steppenwolf was particularly good at having these moments of chaos while still making sure the bits of conversation the audience needed to hear were heard, but, in “Airline Highway,” when these moments occurred, I really wasn’t able to hear much at all.

I agree with Hedy Weiss’ comment that too often (especially during Miss Ruby’s monologue) it felt more like the playwright speaking than the character. It seemed obvious what D’Amour wanted us to take away from the play, but she didn’t develop her characters or story enough to support those messages.

The set is wonderful. It’s unbelievable how realistic it is. Truly, it was much more interesting to look at the set than the goings-on with the characters, most of the time.

I do wonder how this will be received on Broadway. I don’t think it’s selling all that well here, despite the good reviews, and the audience I was in attendance with gave a very tepid response. I couldn’t count the amount of jokes said onstage that were met with silence from the audience – it got to a point I felt bad for the cast.

Steppenwolf is one of my favorite companies here, but this was definitely a miss in my book.

[mpd4165]

Posted: 12/29/14 at 2:35pm

I'm right there with you GilmoreGirl02. Physically, the production is great...but I just didn't CARE about what was happening.

[drewmangroup]

Posted: 12/30/14 at 11:07am

I saw it last week and really enjoyed it. It didn't hook me until the second act, but I was holding out faith that it was that your of play. It reminded me of Detroit in that you have a scenario wherein eschewing responsibility and indulging in sex, drugs, and alcohol can seem like the good life. Then, in an unforeseen moment, those notions are turned on their head.

They sell $20 tickets day of at the box office and this doesn't seem to be selling well. I got a great aisle seat in the orchestra. Other discount options are all listed on their web site.

[tgrabon2]

Posted: 12/30/14 at 12:28pm

Detroit at Steppenwolf was a favorite of mine. Airline Highway unfortunately is not. There was too many angry characters living at or just hanging around the Hummingbird Motel. I sat through both acts but couldn't wait to check-out. Act 2 is stronger than Act 1.

[RippedMan]

Posted: 12/30/14 at 5:22pm

Did it get good reviews in Chicago? I hope they work on it between productions.

[broadwaybelter]

Posted: 12/30/14 at 5:27pm

It got a rave from the Chicago Tribune:
REVIEW: 'Airline Highway' at Steppenwolf Theatre

[KJisgroovy]

Posted: 12/30/14 at 5:40pm

It got excellent reviews from all the major sources. Though the Tribune review was very positive, I wouldn't quite call it a rave.

There's a collection of all the reviews at the link.


Theater In Chicago

[RippedMan]

Posted: 12/31/14 at 1:47am

Oh. So I can't imagine anything will be changed.

[GilmoreGirlO2]

Posted: 12/31/14 at 11:08am

I wouldn’t say it got “excellent” reviews from all the major news sources. The notation next to the Sun Times review on the Theatre in Chicago link is incorrect – if you click on Hedy’s review, she listed it as “Recommended,” not “Highly Recommended.” And, if you read the review, I get an overall feeling from her that, while she admired the ambition put into the play, the actual execution didn’t work for her.

[KJisgroovy]

Posted: 12/31/14 at 1:39pm

I would say it, and did say it.

I'm not sure what people mean when they say, "If you do this, then this." Do you think I didn't do that? Is it not possible someone has read the review and just drawn a different conclusion? I'm sorry to be a jerk about it, but I just find it deeply condescending when people say that. Like it's not possible for people to have a different interpretation than you, so they must just not be educated. Anyway. You're a lovely poster and I like you and I deeply appreciate your opinions on Chicago theater. I've got nothing but respect.

While I see what you're saying, I think her disagreement with the production is more with the politics of the show. I feel like she does this a lot, and I don't pay attention to it. All of her comments regarding the show itself are quite positive. She literally says the cast and acting "couldn't be better." She faults the play for it's lecturing, and says "isn’t there something terribly naive and simplistic about the belief that the souls of the dispossessed are innately nobler than those of the strivers?" There's a well documented conservative streak in her reviews, and it appeared to me that her objections related to being lectured about politics different than hers, not the production... or even the quality of the writing. That's just my take, obviously, and we're allowed to disagree. However, my take was informed... just different than yours.

[GilmoreGirlO2]

Posted: 12/31/14 at 3:01pm

Kjisgroovy, I didn’t mean to offend. When I said “If you read the review…” I was using the general term of “you” and never meant, specifically, you (and I meant “read” as an active verb as opposed to “read” in the past tense, which I realize sounds much worse with the latter definition). I completely agree that it’s possible for people to interpret reviews differently and never meant to assert that my interpretation was the “correct” one. Reading it now, I see how it could have come off as you took it, but, I promise, that was never my intention. I apologize!

And, I agree, I often find that when Hedy dislikes a show it is usually because she felt “offended” in some way, although I’ve never put it in the context of her having a conservative streak. But, now that you say it, I can think of some of her reviews off of the top of my head where she didn’t like the play itself and the first plays that spring to mind are of the more risque sort (Steppenwolf’s “The Qualms” and Goodman’s “Venus in Fur” immediately come to mind). I don’t always read Hedy’s reviews (I often find them to be more summaries than anything) and it’s interesting that I never caught the conservative streak before you point it out.

Thinking about Hedy’s critiques to “Airline Highway” through these eyes, now, I still agree with much of what she said, but perhaps the reason she takes issue with the lecturing and such is different from why I do. I didn’t take issue with the things that were being said, just that I didn’t feel like the story backed up these proclamations or gave us characters I cared for to feel the message of the play through instead of simply being told the message.

Again, apologies for any confusion. I never meant to assert my interpretation was better or more informed than anyone else’s and I’m sorry it came off that way.

[KJisgroovy]

Posted: 12/31/14 at 3:16pm

No worries! It was more a general complaint. I think that's a type of phrase people use that always grinds my gears a bit... and I think that was just my finally saying something. Haha. I'm bored and at work, so I suppose I didn't have anything better to do. I appreciate the time you took smoothing things out.

I think you're right to point out that Hedy is essentially a summarist, which always makes it weird when she expresses a real criticism. She doesn't really seem to like it when the upper-middle class way of life is questioned (or anything remotely negative about Israel). I haven't seen the play yet, so it may just be shoddy play writing,but based on her previous reviews and what she wrote here... it just seemed to me she didn't like the politics.

[LightsOut90]

Posted: 12/31/14 at 3:58pm

Most of the cast is transferring including Judith Roberts.

[AwesomeDanny]

Posted: 12/31/14 at 7:58pm

It really isn't worth arguing about a Hedy Weiss review. Remember when she thought that Wicked was anti-Semitic holocaust allegory?

[AwesomeDanny]

Posted: 12/31/14 at 7:58pm

(Double-post)

Updated On: 12/31/14 at 07:58 PM