The Tempest

[Here I Am]

Posted: 5/28/15 at 12:37am

 Was anyone waiting on line at Central Park yesterday morning for this? I'm very curious to see how early people started lining up. Thanks! 

Also, any reviews from the first preview?

[E.Davis]

Posted: 5/28/15 at 12:41am

It got rained out.

[Here I Am]

Posted: 5/28/15 at 12:46am

That's terrible! Did anyone wait on line  or was it cancelled from the morning? 

[AntV]

Posted: 5/29/15 at 6:21am

Saw this Thursday night and there was no rain or stops at all. I thought it was a fantastic production with great acting.

They still had a large stack of tickets less than 30 minutes to curtain where the standby line would be with no line at all so anyone was able to just walk up and get a ticket.

[nycgogetter]

Posted: 5/29/15 at 2:33pm

Seriously, during first week of previews, or any day with a chance of rain, walking up at 45 minutes prior to curtain can almost always lead to a seat.

[Monty12112]

Posted: 5/30/15 at 6:35am

Very excited to see this, does anyone know what is a good time to get to the park if waiting on line for a Saturday?

[ClydeBarrow]

Posted: 6/2/15 at 11:27am

"Very excited to see this, does anyone know what is a good time to get to the park if waiting on line for a Saturday?"

If you go early enough in the run you wouldn't have to get there super early. I would also recommend doing the Public lottery. I did it on Friday and everyone except for maybe 3 people won. It's a quick in and out unless you just really love being in line for hours. Also if you want to score the better seats I would recommend doing the standby line later in the day. These are usually the subscriber and donor seats that aren't used and much better than the normal distribution. On Thursday the line was somewhat long at 7 but almost half were given tickets by 7:15-7:30. Didn't stick around for the rest but I bet the majority made it in.

[ClydeBarrow]

Posted: 6/2/15 at 11:43am

There hasn't been much talk about this one on the boards and I'm not sure if it's because of the bad weather or because it's a bad production. 

Let me preface this by saying that this was my first exposure to the text (I know I'm such a bad theatre gay). I thought there was a bit more of a fantastical element to the play especially based on previews for the Julie Taymor version but this sh!t was sooooo boring. After seeing OUR LADY OF KIBEHO and loving it, I also thought Michael Grief would work some of that stage magic here. Act 1 is completely flat and dull while Act 2 has some flourishes but nothing that really drew me in. The lighting was pretty sh!t too.

The set was atrocious. It's basically some giant panels with pictures of waves across them and some scaffolding with a catwalk in the center of the stage. This is the first time I've seen such a short set and it left a full view of the castle and all the people on it which I found rather distracting. If the play is set on an island then you don't really get that from the few tiny rocks on this massive stage. 

I thought most of the acting was pretty abysmal. It's my understanding that Sam Waterston has been in productions of the play before but I wasn't getting it. To me he didn't really have a grasp of the language and after this and GRACE & FRANKIE I'm beginning to think he can no longer act. Jesse Tyler Ferguson was playing it way too broadly for laughs and it felt very jarring compared to the rest of the cast. 

There are some original songs written for the show which don't really add much (aside from length) but I enjoyed very much. Michael Friedman wrote them so duh.

I understand that this is a free production but it all felt very cheap. Not really much to enjoy here and kind of a waste of time. Thankfully I didn't line up in the morning for tickets.

[ClydeBarrow]

Posted: 6/5/15 at 12:07pm

Bump. Anyone?

[MusicAndPassion]

Posted: 6/5/15 at 12:46pm

I caught the show last Friday via the virtual lottery and I thought it was fantastic, especially for it's second complete preview. It's my understanding that Act II was rained out on the first night.

Waterson gives a great and calculated performance as Prospero. He (Waterson the actor and Prospero the character) clearly knows what he's doing throughout the show. His performance and delivery are strong and powerful. He has a stern personality in the start of the show, and he grows more within himself than externally. The final 30 minutes are a wonderful transition from the wedding to the final lines. I found myself mouthing the final few lines, as did the audience. Which brings me to the direction -

- Michael Greif clearly is directing this production for those who know The Tempest. I like the play, because it's not deep. It's not heavy. It's one of his few "I get what's going on because not much is going on" plays. It's very literal on many levels. It has heart, comedy, dark themes, and magic. It's a great culmination of what Shakespeare did in his career as a playwright. The staging of Prospero's final lines allows the audience (when I saw it) to appluad, thus, signaling the end of the show. There was a beat and when those who know the play recognized the final words, we applauded. Other stand out director moves include the initial start of the storm, the two characters who move about the audience aisles, anytime the storm ends, and the staging of the ensemble. 

Jesse Tyler Ferguson is great. He goes for the laughs, and is clearly a draw for the audience and production itself. The three characters in his brigade are excellent - again, a fine culmination of Shakespeare's festes and fools and drunks from his plays. 

Caliban, Ariel, and Miranda are fantastic. Where Waterson is in control of Prospero the entire time, these actors have been taken control by their characters. Their names escape my right now (apologies, apologies), however, their performances were excellent. Definitely gems for the Public as they continue with their Shakespeare in the Park tradition.

The set is cheap and blah. The levels are great, though!

Mind you, I have only caught The Tempest and last year's King Lear. This production is great, and anybody who is a fan of the play should definitely catch it!

[MusicAndPassion]

Posted: 6/5/15 at 12:46pm

Double post, sorry!

Updated On: 6/5/15 at 12:46 PM

[nicnyc]

Posted: 6/5/15 at 6:00pm

I love Shakespeare - I love Shakespeare in the Park & have seen every production since 1998 (when I moved the to area after grad school). I saw the production Thursday night -  Sam Waterston is excellent as Prospero and Chris Perfetti is exceptional as Ariel but I found the rest of the performances to be largely abysmal - and Jesse Tyler Ferguson is playing it too broad/not in keeping with the rest of the production and therefore not enjoyable.  I was particularly disappointed after feeling that Lithgow's Lear last year was one of the best ever.  Shakespeare in the Park is usually one of the highlights of my summer - but this is one of the only Park outings I truly didn't enjoy.  I hope others like it more than I did.  Here's hoping for better luck with Cymbeline - I've yet to see Hamish Linklater miss!

[wonkit]

Posted: 6/5/15 at 8:22pm

I am sorry that an earlier poster found TEMPEST to be "not deep." It is a wonderful play full of learning through emotion: Miranda becoming a woman, Ariel earning freedom, Prospero learning that being a father does not mean being a tyrant. If TEMPeST is too "easy" an awful lot is being lost. I want to see Waterston because he seems like he should be perfect for this part at this point in his career.

[Baiseur82]

Posted: 6/17/15 at 9:03am

Has anyone gone for tickets lately? How was the line? I am just trying to figure out what time I should arrive for tickets. Any thoughts or info would be greatly appreciated!

[brdway411]

Posted: 6/17/15 at 12:51pm

Went last week. It was an easy line. 

[wonderfulwizard11]

Posted: 6/26/15 at 11:54pm

I don't know if anyone has gone recently, but I managed to see this tonight and really enjoyed it. I'd never considered The Tempest to be one of my favorite plays, and while it still is a somewhat unsatisfying one by its end, this production is extremely well done throughout. I thought the direction and music were both excellent, and if the set leaves a little something to be desired, I thought the production conjured the world of the play well enough that my imagination and the language filled in the rest.

The cast was all very strong. Waterston took a bit of time to grow on me, but I thought his Prospero was very effective by the play's end. Danny Mastrogiorgio and Jesse Tyler Ferguson are very fun as Stephano and Trinculo, but the highlights for me were Chris Perfetti and Louis Cancelmi as Ariel and Caliban- very moving and powerful performances.

This also was the first time I've ever gone to Shakespeare in the Park, and it really is a magical experience. Today was absolutely gorgeous, and it's such a great communal kind of sharing to watch such a good production together as the sun sets. I can't wait to see more in the years to come!