THE HEIDI CHRONICLES Previews

[Jeffrey Karasarides]

Posted: 2/23/15 at 3:42pm

Previews start tonight! Who's going?

[Cupid Boy2]

Posted: 2/23/15 at 11:44pm

Anyone on the board have the chance to attend tonight's preview?

[Auggie27]

Posted: 2/23/15 at 11:50pm

Very curious to hear how the play lands in 2015. So many of the archetypical issues in the shorthanded, mostly comic scenes, have been recycled since (sitcom, romcom films, other plays) it will be fascinating to hear how the first exploration all works now. The tone isn't entirely consistent, with some satire blending necessarily with earnest drama. I saw three Heidi's, including Joan Allen, my favorite still Mary McDonnell, the most emotional and fullest. I still believe the male roles are devilishly difficult to get right, another open question about the revival.

Updated On: 2/23/15 at 11:50 PM

[Stagejoy101]

Posted: 2/24/15 at 6:58am

I saw the first preview last night with my 24 year old daughter and we both loved it! I was pleasantly surprised to find that it felt very current, not dated at all. It took me back to my past, but my daughter found so much she could relate to today. Elisabeth Moss brings a fresh take to Heidi, a little softer than Joan Allen, but she captures your heart. I agree that the two leading male roles are tough. Bryce Pinkham as Peter and Jason Biggs as Scoop are tackling the roles well. Still work to be done, but it was only the first preview! I may have to go back after the show opens.

[LarryD2]

Posted: 2/24/15 at 10:00am

I went last night. It's a strong production, with a superb cast. There are no weak links, but there is one obvious star turn: Bryce Pinkham as Peter. Think awards.

Despite people tripping over themselves on this board to say how "dated" the play was going to be, it feels as fresh, alive, and necessary as if it was written yesterday.

[dave1606]

Posted: 2/24/15 at 10:40am

I was there last night, and agree, that it is a very strong production, thanks in largely part to a great cast and Pam Mckinnon's direction. The set, using a turntable and projections, keeps thing moving at a brisk pace which I think is essential to a show like this.

Elizabeth Moss is excellent as Heidi. She is a great anchor through the show, and handles the character well. The immediate star coming out of this, though is of course Bryce Pinkham. He has consistently been one of my favorites, and here he walks away with the show. I would hope that come Tony time he is remembered.

Jason Biggs is fine, but didn't make a big impression on me. Tracey Chimino sadly doesn't have the largest part, but makes her scenes count.

Overall I am going to be the dissenter and say that I did find this play to be a bit dated. I think the idea of what feminism is has changed quite a bit since 1988, and the play even in its best production just doesn't have the impact that it did back in 1988.

[Lavieboheme3090]

Posted: 2/24/15 at 11:29am

I was there last night, and having seen Patricia Arquette's Oscar speech the night before I thought the play was an interesting examination of have far we have come and how far we have to go. I didn't feel that the material was particularly dated, we are still having the conversation of "can women have it all?" "YOUR generation did that vs. OUR generation does this."

I think the direction is really wonderful providing the audience that didn't live through this time period with little flashes of pop-culture and news to give us a time and place, the ensemble is connected and full, and Elisabeth Moss handles the transformation of Heidi through the decades effortlessly.

Great night out and fantastic first preview.

[GreasedLightning]

Posted: 2/24/15 at 11:37am

So, so excited to hear this. I picked up a ticket to this in mid-April not knowing much about it and then heard all of the doubt about it on here. Very glad to hear that the production is in great shape and I am now very much looking forward to it!

[Kad]

Posted: 2/24/15 at 12:23pm

This is one of my favorite modern plays and I'm very glad to hear it's in such good shape- especially Bryce Pinkham. That role is the highlight of the play for me.

[hachot]

Posted: 2/25/15 at 12:35am

hmmm. saw Heidi tonight. Very much enjoyed it, especially the performance of Elisabeth Moss, who has a firm grasp on the evolution of the character and is incredibly effective and moving in the monologues. Jason Biggs is excellent and I think Bryce Pinkham will eventually realize the character of Scoop but right now appears a little tentative. Nonetheless, I think many in the audience really liked his performance. The play is both funnier and more substanial than I remember it; I wonder of it's ultimate appeal to women since the lady who came with me was fine with it, but considerably less taken with it than I was. I would give it a 8 out of ten, she told me she would give it a 7 out of 10. This was only the second performance, so obviously the pace will tighten and the performances will get better. Loved the soundtrack and the set design. Overall, I'd recommend it.

[Auggie27]

Posted: 2/25/15 at 7:01am

These reports have certainly put to rest (for me) the idea that the play simply doesn't work as it did, sociopolitically and dramatically. I suppose in the era of "mansplaining" the central relationship between Heidi and Scoop has an interesting resonance, since he is both deeply invested in this woman and patronizing as hell at times, right up to the end, a strength of Wassterstein's storytelling. I suspect that aspect hasn't dated the play, as one might've suspected projecting ahead in '88 to '15. Just my passing thought.

[WhizzerMarvin]

Posted: 2/25/15 at 7:35am

I was there last night too and shocked by how not dated it felt. Much of this is due to Pam MacKinnon's pitch perfect direction. The fluidity that she has given the piece is just what it needed; both MacKinnon and Sam Gold are proving time and again that they are masters of the transition, with Heidi Chronicles and Mysteries of Love & Sex currently shining examples of their work.

The acting is uniformly strong, especially Bryce Pinkham who is KILLING it as Peter. I mean easily one of the best male performances of the season, and yes it is a no-brainer Tony nomination. Pinkham is not only wildly funny, but he has laced his performance with hints of pathos and poignancy that gave me chills in his final scene. Stellar work.

Elisabeth Moss is turning in quite a performance herself, especially at the first preview. I enjoyed her in Speed the Plow, and she got better as each replacement Bobby took over. By the time William H Macy stepped in she destroyed him.

Heidi is a different beast- she is in every scene and has a hefty monologue or two to deliver; her speech at Miss Crane's School was excellent. She handles the demands of catapulting through 25 years of Heidi's life with ease. Nothing is forced and I rooted for her to succeed every step of the way.

Tracee Chimo and Ali Ahn give great and often hilarious support.

Jason Biggs is the one slightly weak link in the production. It's not that he's giving a bad performance, but when you're sharing the stage with Pinkham and Moss you better be on your toes. In fairness, he does have the most difficult role. He's finding the laughs, but in a way he's too likeable. He should be a little more insufferable at times. I have complete faith that MacKinnon will be able to pull out the proper performance.

John Lee Beatty's set is impressive. A turntable and drops appear and disappear as each scene jumps ahead. It's very impressionistic and creates a memory play atmosphere. I enjoyed the projections during the scene changes too.

This is one of the bigger surprises of the season. I walked in with low hopes and walked out a believer.

[Luv2goToShows]

Posted: 2/25/15 at 7:50am

Great to hear such positive feedback, it will be my first time seeing it and I am really looking forward to it.

As always thanks for your post WhizzerMarvin TrinaJasonMendel and the others, as well.

[Mr. Musical]

Posted: 2/25/15 at 9:05am

I was also there last night. I agree that it was very good, but it definitely can use some tightening. Some scenes really dragged, despite strong direction and performances. I am guessing this will improve as previews go on. I really liked the design and fluidity of the scene changes.

Like others said, Pinkham was the true standout in a universally strong cast. I've never been a big fan of Jason Biggs, but think he was well cast and did a good job considering it was only a second preview.

The show ran about 2 hours and 40 minutes and the theater was one of the emptiest I've ever seen on Broadway (I was in the mezz, so couldn't see the entire orchestra). The mezz center was pretty full, but much of the sides were empty. In what I could see of the orch, there were definitely empty seats. I hope word of mouth picks up on this one, because it was a very strong show and deserves to be seen.

[Jeffrey Karasarides]

Posted: 2/26/15 at 4:10am

Nice to hear all these reports so far. Did anyone else see it yesterday?

[tmbyru]

Posted: 2/26/15 at 6:57am

Saw the play last night and fell asleep. I don't know what show you guys are seeing, but I was bored, thought the acting was blah, and the show was extremely dated. Everyone in my group kind of felt the same way. One wanted to leave at intermission. The guy in front of us got up and left after a couple scenes into the second act.

[ray-andallthatjazz86]

Posted: 2/26/15 at 1:43pm

Thank you for that review, Whizzer. I was curious to read how Moss' performance compared to her somewhat polarizing turn in SPEED-THE-PLOW. I think she is absolutely divine on TV and film (just this past year she delivered a fantastic turn in the little-seen THE ONE I LOVE), so I am happy to hear she is handling herself so capably on stage in a role that I imagine is more difficult to play than some people assume. I've taught this play within the past couple of years and I am in the camp of people who find its take on feminism a bit dated (I prefer the sharpness of something like TOP GIRLS much more), but as the recent A RAISIN IN THE SUN revival proved, there is nothing like a great director to make you rediscover a play you had dismissed as "dated." Glad McKinnon is it for THE HEIDI CHRONICLES. I really hope I can get to see this.

[Seperite]

Posted: 2/27/15 at 1:10am

Either tonight was an off-night, or I have radically different tastes than most others on this board...

but whoosh. This one was a snoozer.

Very long (2 hours and 40 minutes!), quite dull, uninteresting, and filled with more name-dropping and period-specific references than It's Only a Play. I was lost. More importantly, I didn't care about the characters or believe their relationships, so it had close to zero resonance for me.

That said, I thought the acting was actually...excellent. Elizabeth Moss was superb, and both Jason Biggs and Bryce Pinkham were funny and entertaining (Biggs and Pinkham are not in about half of the scenes, and when they're off-stage is when the play is at its most dreadfully boring.) Biggs and Pinkham's performances were, however, mostly played on-the-surface...they were commenting on their characters more than they were fully inhabiting them. That works for the comedic lines, but made it hard to really feel or believe the deep, interconnected relationships that the characters are supposed to feel, and moments that were supposed to be intensely emotional felt hollow and empty.

It's a strange play...a series of vignettes (much like the Audience) rather than one with an actual story that progresses from the beginning to the middle to the end. The seemingly endless parade of references to events and personages of decades past completely removed me from the moment as I tried to understand who the people and events the characters were referring to were, and what their connection to the story was. An informal survey after the show among several people seated around me revealed much the same reactions. This is a sleek and professional production with beautiful sets and extremely able actors, but I doubt it will get positive notices.

One real positive: Elizabeth Moss is in virtually every scene, and that woman can really, really act.

[Auggie27]

Posted: 2/27/15 at 7:01am

Interesting to read the less favorable reactions. On the other board, someone commented that an MFA playwriting professor had said HEIDI is Exhibit A in what NOT to do in a contemporary play. I can't fathom anyone ever making such a blanket (and subjective) statement about a successful piece of writing and its impact, but nevertheless, if it's being held up by anyone as having a craft problem it's worth considering in light of those who are not engaged.

The play's reliance on the cavalcade motif, the sweep of time and merely playing catch-up with characters in new eras can feel tension-free. We can feel the absence of emotional suspense, which every play needs to drive us toward catharsis. Heidi's 11 o'clock spot aria of feeling stranded, the most famous speech in the play, suddenly takes the story, such as it is, far deeper; in effect, it reveals the grand design of the play's thesis. But it might be argued that Wassterstein doesn't set up the "problem" of the play that must be solved. Heidi has much to say, but sometimes she's lost in that epic sweep. She doesn't always drive the action but instead reacts, and annotates. There's where that tension ebbs and the stakes are not always apparent.

I'm not personally nitpicking here, just aiming to get under the comments of "boring" and sleep-inducing. Often those reactions accompany storytelling that doesn't feel built on those stated or dramatized stakes. I recall feeling the play literally lurch forward during the locker room speech, and perhaps even appreciate all that came before in a new light. Admittedly it's quite late. But if the play's heart and head are in the right place, its craft depends on creating a theatrical collage rather than setting a character in search of a strong, identifiable goal, perhaps the result more muted and less persuasive than some plays.

For what it's worth, the play had its detractors in the 80s. I can recall a particularly intense discussion about it one night at a restaurant, with someone connected to the original production who (unfairly) felt forced to defend it. Some people felt it a rarefied portrait of an elitist/privileged white upper middle class woman's plight Lite (surely, post Arquette's backstage speech, part of the discussion in 2015). Per comments above, people sometimes felt there just wasn't sufficient (traditional) story.

Updated On: 2/27/15 at 07:01 AM

[Seperite]

Posted: 2/27/15 at 8:07am

You hit the nail on the head, Auggie (and articulated your critique far more eloquently than I ever could!)

One of the most striking flaws of the piece, in my opinion, is that up until Heidi's "11 o'clock number," I didn't feel like I had any sense of who this character was at all. Sure, she was in every scene and had plenty to say, but the writing makes her come off as more of an observer of the events in her life than a participant -- or, at least, a participant that we get an opportunity to know and feel and empathize with. As a result, the big emotional reveal in the speech at the end feels entirely out of place and unearned.

What do the first two and a half hours of the piece tell us about the 'truth' of the character? That she likes art? That she wishes female artists were given their due? That she has an uncontrollable urge to sleep with a guy who treats her like crap? That's about it. Despite being on stage for virtually every moment of the play, we don't get a deep enough sense of who she is and what drives her to feel connected and moved by the Big Speech. In fact, I would argue that despite their significantly less stage time, the audience is given more of an opportunity to connect with, get to know, and commiserate with, the two male characters than they do Heidi. Petrone and Rosenberg's sense of disconnectedness from the world, their loneliness and sense of discontent, is more acutely conveyed and, consequently, felt, by the audience than Heidi's, so their developments at the end of the play feel more impactful than Heidi's. I can surmise that the piece was a deeply personal one for Wasserstein, and that the vignettes and anecdotes depicted felt meaningful to her because they probably represented and encapsulated moments from her own life that felt significant. But as a work of drama, it didn't do much to bring those of us who didn't have such experiences in.

I will say this, though: Moss acted the hell out of that speech. As a piece of acting, considered in a vacuum, that was an incredibly tense, raw, and affecting moment. If she delivered that monologue as her audition for a part, she would nail the role. It was only in the context of an otherwise un-moving play that the speech felt out of place and unearned.

[WhizzerMarvin]

Posted: 2/27/15 at 8:28am

I personally loved the format of the piece. It was like a chronologic mosaic that built up to the payoff of her big speech. It made me think of Boyhood in many ways and this could be the Womanhood version.

I agree that Pinkham lit up the stage, but one of my favorite scenes- Susan's group meeting that Heidi attends in college- had neither male lead in it, and I found it fascinating.

[MartyO49]

Posted: 2/27/15 at 11:16am

Saw it last night and agree that Pinkham and Moss are giving excellent performances. Jason Biggs lacked charisma and his performance was flat as as a melted ice cream cone. I thought the play held up well although it did not have the immediacy that it had in the original production. I wish Wendy was alive to tweak it. There was a Bert Lance reference that fell flat. Also, I felt Elizabeth Moss deserved a solo curtain call but this is a memorable evening for both younger theatergoers and baby boomers like me

[BwayGeek2]

Posted: 2/27/15 at 1:01pm

I'm seeing this next week and i can't wait!

[LarryD2]

Posted: 2/27/15 at 8:36pm

Interesting to read the less favorable reactions. On the other board, someone commented that an MFA playwriting professor had said HEIDI is Exhibit A in what NOT to do in a contemporary play. I can't fathom anyone ever making such a blanket (and subjective) statement about a successful piece of writing and its impact, but nevertheless, if it's being held up by anyone as having a craft problem it's worth considering in light of those who are not engaged.

Either that, or--more likely--it's a case of personal biases dressed up as legitimate criticism. Really, that's what about 99% of "Never do this"/"Exhibit A" statements made by supposed "experts" are. I'd advise any thinking person to cover his ears whenever he hears someone offer an opinion that begins with "X is Exhibit A of why you should never do this".

(Auggie, I'm sure your fine points are far more thoughtful and detailed than those of the person who prompted you to think and write them.)

[Someone in a Tree2]

Posted: 2/27/15 at 11:43pm

I was so enjoying reading the above discussion of the play-- it inspired me to stop by the TKTS booth tonight and grab a seat-- 5th row center section on the aisle.

I remember being very moved by the original Broadway production with Joan Allen and its evocative set by Tom Lynch. Now I'm scratching my head wondering what on earth I found so moving back in 1989. Elizabeth Moss and especially Bryce Pinkham are both superb in the new cast, but I'm at a loss as to what happened to the script in the intervening 25 years. It just seems like a travelogue in a VH-1-style Behind-the-Music mode, with every other sentence littered with awkward references to the pop singers, political scandals and buzz words of the year at hand. Cartoony stereotypes of lesbian anarchists, Southern Belles and A-type career girls crowd Heidi away from center stage in scene after scene. By the time Heidi gets to her big moment halfway through Act II, the only thing that comes across the footlights is how frustrated she is to have to choose a path based on one of those pathetic archetypes. God knows the cliche-ridden costumes don't help, nor the utterly UN-evocative set designs of the usually brilliant John Lee Beatty. If John Lee can't even find the poetry that's supposed to be onstage, than we're really in trouble. Oy.