JITNEY Previews
JITNEY Previews
#1JITNEY Previews
Posted: 12/28/16 at 8:14am
Previews begin tonight for the long-awaited Broadway premiere of August Wilson's Jitney!
So who's going?
#3JITNEY Previews
Posted: 12/28/16 at 8:25am
I'm going next Sunday. This is the only one of Wilson's plays I haven't seen on stage, so I'm beyond excited to finally complete the cycle. The cast for this production is top notch, and friends who saw Ruben Santiago-Hudson's previous staging of the play at Two River Theater (in which several of the current production's actors appeared) say he really handles the text well.
"You travel alone because other people are only there to remind you how much that hook hurts that we all bit down on. Wait for that one day we can bite free and get back out there in space where we belong, sail back over water, over skies, into space, the hook finally out of our mouths and we wander back out there in space spawning to other planets never to return hurrah to earth and we'll look back and can't even see these lives here anymore. Only the taste of blood to remind us we ever existed. The earth is small. We're gone. We're dead. We're safe."
-John Guare, Landscape of the Body
Phantom4ever
Broadway Legend Joined: 9/17/07
#4JITNEY Previews
Posted: 12/28/16 at 8:46am
I'll be there tonight! I'll report back on my trip thread
#5JITNEY Previews
Posted: 12/28/16 at 12:12pm
So excited to hear the buzz coming out of tonight! To anyone going, please report back here! And, enjoy! :)
BroadwayRox3588
Broadway Legend Joined: 10/5/16
Phantom4ever
Broadway Legend Joined: 9/17/07
#8JITNEY Previews
Posted: 12/28/16 at 8:32pm
Intermission. A finely acted and altogether brilliant production. Wilson's words crackle and explode off the stage. Sitting in the front row, I had a checkers piece roll off the stage and land next to me. At intermission, several ushers and stagehands asked me for it, but I gave it to the first stagehand who got onstage when the house lights went up.
These actors inhabit these characters so fully. Eagerly looking forward to act 2
#9JITNEY Previews
Posted: 12/28/16 at 9:26pm
Phantom, thanks so much for the Act 1 coverage! I'm assuming the stage height isn't obstructing your view from your seat - on the aisle?
Looking forward to a full report! :)
Phantom4ever
Broadway Legend Joined: 9/17/07
#10JITNEY Previews
Posted: 12/28/16 at 9:36pm
I was right on the center aisle front row. The stage is severely raked and downstage is at about chest level I would say----- very low stage indeed. I could have watched another 3 acts of that show. I was sad to see it end.
#11JITNEY Previews
Posted: 12/28/16 at 10:34pm
This is the type of show you walk out of lamenting that there isn't a Tony Award for Best Ensemble; maybe as an alternate solution they could create a new category this year for best actor in Jitney?
I can say without a second of hesitation that this is the best Broadway show I have seen thus far this season. I mean, I LOVED Jitney tonight. The acting! The dialogue! The direction! The frickin' detail in the dilapidated tile flooring on the set! No detail was too small to overlook and the brilliant Ruben Santiago-Hudson pulled everything together perfectly, creating lovely, organically flowing scenes. I fully agree with Phantom4ever that I could have sat through another act.
I truly loved the entire cast, but the great John Douglas Thompson damn near stole the show in his confrontation with Booster at the end of the first act. He is such a natural, such an effortless performer, and yet at the same time you can feel the grandeur of his performance filling the theater.
Michael Potts is another standout as Turnbo, who must speak more lines of dialogue than anyone else in the play. Another actor could have easily become tripped up in this role, especially at a first preview, but either Potts has played this part in a previous production or he was born to play it.
Andre Holland, Anthony Chisholm and Keith Randolph Smith were all excellent as well in their supporting roles. The play is so balanced that everyone gets their chance to shine without eclipsing any other actor.
Can MTC just hire Santiago-Hudson to put on the whole cycle, one per season?
There have been so many celebrity deaths as of late and so much anger and strife in the political arena that it's nice to be transported so completely at the theater and forget about all that for an hour or two.
Marie: Don't be in such a hurry about that pretty little chippy in Frisco.
Tony: Eh, she's a no chip!
Theater3232
Featured Actor Joined: 10/16/10
#12JITNEY Previews
Posted: 12/28/16 at 10:49pm
How long is the show?
Updated On: 12/28/16 at 10:49 PM
UncleCharlie
Broadway Legend Joined: 6/26/16
#13JITNEY Previews
Posted: 12/28/16 at 10:55pm
Wilson's plays are so well written, so well structured, so well textured, you have to work pretty hard to screw them up. And with a company featuring a number of Wilson "regulars" and a director who is the foremost interpreter of his work today, an outstanding production was all but guaranteed. Can't wait to see it. Just wish someone would put on a production of King Hedley II so I can finally complete the cycle.
#14JITNEY Previews
Posted: 12/28/16 at 10:59pm
Whizzer, what a great idea to have Hudson do one play from the cycle each year for Manhattan Theater Club! I hope someone is drawing up the contracts even as we speak.
I'm seeing Jitney on Sunday and very excited!
HBBrock
Broadway Legend Joined: 6/11/07
#15JITNEY Previews
Posted: 12/29/16 at 7:57am
Whizzer - I've always loved reading your first and early preview reviews and just purchased two tickets because of your comments.
Updated On: 12/29/16 at 07:57 AM
Theater3232
Featured Actor Joined: 10/16/10
#16JITNEY Previews
Posted: 12/29/16 at 9:41am
The MTC website says it runs " 2 hours, 25 minutes, WITH 1 intermission ". Does the word WITH mean it INCLUDES the intermission, or it EXCLUDES the intermission? Did the 7pm show get out at 9:25pm?
VintageSnarker
Broadway Legend Joined: 1/30/15
#17JITNEY Previews
Posted: 12/29/16 at 9:48am
The 30 Under 30 tickets seem to be front row Orchestra and on the sides of the Mezzanine. Which option do you think would be better for this show?
#18JITNEY Previews
Posted: 12/29/16 at 10:37am
VintageSnarker said: "The 30 Under 30 tickets seem to be front row Orchestra and on the sides of the Mezzanine. Which option do you think would be better for this show? "
I was in the front row last night and it was a great view. The stage is somewhat high, but it didn't impede my view of anything. It was great being so close to this ensemble. Really wonderful show and I second everything that Whizzer said!
neonlightsxo
Broadway Legend Joined: 7/29/08
#19JITNEY Previews
Posted: 12/29/16 at 11:32am
"Can MTC just hire Santiago-Hudson to put on the whole cycle, one per season?"
Yes, please!
LxGstv
Broadway Star Joined: 11/22/16
#20JITNEY Previews
Posted: 12/29/16 at 12:12pm
Phantom4ever said: "I was right on the center aisle front row. The stage is severely raked and downstage is at about chest level I would say----- very low stage indeed. I could have watched another 3 acts of that show. I was sad to see it end.
"
This makes me wish I had gotten front orchestra instead of side mezzanine... oh well.
Phantom4ever
Broadway Legend Joined: 9/17/07
#21JITNEY Previews
Posted: 12/29/16 at 1:01pm
Yeah I don't agree with the poster saying the stage is somewhat high. It is very raked and extreme downstage is even with the front row's heads/chests. The only time you have to look up is when the actors are at extreme downstage and their shoes are inches from your chest. But that was once twice over the whole show for a few seconds.
#22JITNEY Previews
Posted: 1/4/17 at 7:18am
I will let Whizzer speak for me ( because I could never write that well !! )
Not even close ---
saw the show last night, and simply amazing ! Admittedly a bit biased, because I love Wilson, but this blew me away !! Didn't want it to end !!
#23JITNEY Previews
Posted: 1/4/17 at 7:18am
RI will let Whizzer speak for me ( because I could never write that well !! )
Not even close ---
saw the show last night, and simply amazing ! Admittedly a bit biased, because I love Wilson, but this blew me away !! Didn't want it to end !!
Edit: sorry for the double post --- just wanted to add that my TDF seat was great --- Orch L --- if I saw correctly, all reg orch seats are $140 !!??
#25JITNEY Previews
Posted: 1/4/17 at 8:13pm
HBBrock said: "Whizzer - I've always loved reading your first and early preview reviews and just purchased two tickets because of your comments."
Agreed. I find myself reading and re-reading Whizzer, before and after seeing those both on my list and not.
I was in NY last week and fortunate enough to land an excellent seat at the last minute through TodayTix. So very, very glad that I saw this and had the opportunity to shake hands and say thank you to R S-H for an outstanding production.
This is absolutely a must-see. I look forward to attending again at the end of the run.
Matt Rogers
Broadway Legend Joined: 10/4/04
#26JITNEY Previews
Posted: 1/5/17 at 11:43am
I agree with the other reviews. This is an excellent production of a very good play. However, i do have one major problem with it, and I'll discuss that below:
SPOILER IN
5
4
3
2
1
There is a famous old dramatic principle often referred to as "Chekhov's gun", and it goes something like this: If you show a gun in Act One, you'd better damned well make sure that it goes off in Act Two. Obviously, that doesn't happen here, and I'm really not sure why. A whole impending sense of dread is set up by the confrontation with the gun in Act One and I was certain that was going to lead to some sort of tragedy (with the gun) in Act Two, but that is basically abandoned in favor of the son/father conflict.
Maybe it's a matter of just so much drama being jammed into one play, but I just thought it was all a bit odd.
Still, it's a relatively minor quibble in a production that is so well acted and directed that it really makes you forget the outside world for two and a half hours.
A must see.
