THE PLAY THAT GOES WRONG Previews

[10086sunset]

While I appreciated the effort and commitment from the cast, my thoughts echo the comments made earlier by wonderfulwizard11.

I went Friday night and found the majority of the crowd to be laughing. That said, there was a fair number of people sitting in my section who left at intermission.

[Kinky Boy]

"Never mind - got front center mezz tickets using Telechargeoffers.com discount. :)"

how much did you pay?

I don't have a problem with a thin story as long as its funny!

[Kinky Boy]

anyone think this will be up on TDF soon? Do shows go on tdf the day of the performance?

[macnyc]

TDF doesn't usually sell same-day performances. It's usually at least the day before. Yes, I think this will be on TDF. 

[Valentina3]

Kinkyboy - I paid $100 with service charge (original price was $150) for each ticket. They have $70 for $100 tickets from 4th row in mezz, and balcony seats are anyway very cheap to begin with.

[Kinky Boy]

is the balcony a bad seat?

[wonderfulwizard11]

I sat in the balcony- the seats are far away, but as long as you aren't on the extreme right or left they're fine, especially for the price. 

[10086sunset]

Kinky Boy said: "anyone think this will be up on TDF soon? Do shows go on tdf the day of the performance?"

 

It was up to TDF last week.

I think its likely to return.

[Bobster159]

Is it substantial: no. Did I laugh my arse off: yes. Put me in the love camp. I saw it in London (with a replacement cast) and enjoyed it, just caught it again in NYC and if anything enjoyed it even more. There's little by way of depth, but the sheer inventiveness is kind of incredible. Every time I thought they'd run out of ideas they found a new way to surprise.

The balcony's v. high and I missed details I caught in London (where it's in a much smaller theatre) but for $30 I'd happily sit there again. You do lose some of the tech guy's stuff though so that was definitely a minus.

[IronMan]

I saw this tonight- well, I guess I only saw about 20% of it.  I had comps, and my seat was D13 on the extreme house left.  I could see NOTHING of nearly all the physical bits- no door, no mantel, no painting...I could hear actors enter, but couldn't see them unless they came downstage center or far stage left.  I couldn't guess why a (stage manager character?) suddenly appeared to be covering for another actress. There must be few things more annoying than a farce where many bits go on for 5 minutes when all you can see are an actor or two standing stage left watching the action, but I can't think of anything right now. There were also light poles blocking sightlines when by chance I could actually see the performers.  

I found a house manager before I left at intermission and told her that I dared her to sit in those seats and not get as angry as I was. And I wasn't the only person complaining about the hideous sightlines.   If I'd have paid, and I could have made a quiet exit without having the entire row get up to let me out, I would have left 5 minutes in and demanded a refund. 

As for the show itself, meh.  What I could see wasn't any better than a camp skit. There did seem to be a lot of laughs, but then, those laughing could see the stage. Maybe it's really funny, but I will never know. 

[ggersten]

Sightlines were/are an issue in London as well.  At least London has theatremonkey to help guide you.  

[the.hard.part]

Seating wise I would definitely avoid orchestra left.

I sat mezzanine left seat 5 and was good, the left box is utilized as the stage manager's space so was able to see that.

 

Too far left you miss the stage manager, picture, door etc. Too far right would cut off the study so center or just off center is the sweet spot for this.

[quizking101]

I sat front row on the aisle for $25 last night, and boy, that flash sale they had was the best impulse purchase I have ever made. 

I usually hate these kind of shows for two reasons:
1) They try to perform with some degree of seriousness
2) The actors sometimes aren't up to snuff with acting in a farce, and it messes with the pacing.

The rest is spoiler alerted (although it may have been divulged already).

 

Click Here To Toggle Spoiler Content

From the moment we got on line outside, the cast was out there acting manically with the patrons. Once we were seated, the entire time we are waiting for the performance to start is the pre-show, with the actors trying to set everything up and frantically pacing around the set and theatre. It really gives it that crappy, low-budget community theatre vibe.

The show started late (naturally) by about 8 minutes, and the director character had some solid jokes in the beginning referencing a box office snafu and "hoped that the 617 of you here tonight would be okay with our little play instead of *ahem* Hamilton"...said with an almost John Cleese kind of deadpan.

Then the show kicks off and is truly unrelenting and assaultive in the slapstick and farce of the genre and pretty much goes for the full show. Don't look for any sort of plot here, because if you do, you are really kind of missing the point.

Even at the intermission, the director character came up to me and asked me if I saw a "large, yellow man", and I pointed him toward the snack bar, only to have him dragging the yellow man and the butler back to the backstage, with the butler screaming "BUT I JUST WANTED A BAG OF M&Ms!"

Now that you have read the spoiler at your discretion, I'll conclude.

By the end, I was so winded from laughing and cringing and gasping and everything else that results from a visceral reaction. I had an utterly fantastic time, and it doesn't really have the sexual overtures or coarse language of NOISES OFF, so this actually makes for a great family show.

STAGE DOOR: They all came out and were incredibly sweet, signed and took pictures. They also mentioned to tell our friends and others because "we don't want to get sent back to London early". Also, Arthur, the stage door manager, is just a totally awesome guy to shoot the breeze with while you wait.