LINDA VISTA Previews- Page 2

[nasty_khakis]

Posted: 9/26/19 at 12:05pm

bwaylyric said: "Saw it this evening, and really enjoyed it. Act one was interrupted by someone sneezing very loudly as if a lion was sneezing. There were about 10 sneezes maybe ten seconds apart. It was accompanied by some laughter and shushes from the audience and someone calling for the house manager."

The sneezing fit was insane. He apparently refused to leave. 

I guess I'm the lone wolf who reaaaally didn't care for this play. It seemed very "get off my lawn" on the main character/Tracy Lett's side. Lots of rants about "things today" and genuinely unlikable people. That's fine, I don't need plays solely about people I'd get lunch with, but I genuinely didn't care for any of the performances either.

I kept wondering what made this woman fall in love with this man in the space of a month that devastated her so. He was absolutely garbage to her every single time they showed them together so I didn't get any glimmer as to why she liked him. She has a speech on their first date about how she sees how kind he is, but his actions showed no kindness. In the same way, I don't get why he fell so hard so fast for the younger girl. She's also always atrocious to him and seemed to be lying about everything.

Maybe I'm just not so into straight older white men style comedy which is where most of the jokes seemed to be coming from and that's fine. I think I'm just in a place personally right now where I don't need to see one more play/movie/tv show about a middle aged guy complaining about how life's not fair.

[jds2001]

Posted: 9/26/19 at 4:55pm

I have a ticket for D-107 that I've had forever (I'm a 2ST subscriber). Should I attempt to change it? Is it that bad of a view? I'm 5'10" so I think I'll be fine, but anyone who's seen it I'd love to hear.......

[JSquared2]

Posted: 9/26/19 at 4:58pm

jds2001 said: "I have a ticket for D-107 that I've had forever (I'm a 2ST subscriber). Should I attempt to change it? Is it that bad of a view? I'm 5'10" so I think I'll be fine, but anyone who's seen it I'd love to hear......."

Forever?  Didn't 2ST just move in to the Helen Hayes last season?

 

[Zion24]

Posted: 9/26/19 at 5:00pm

jds2001 said: "I have a ticket for D-107 that I've had forever (I'm a 2ST subscriber). Should I attempt to change it? Is it that bad of a view? I'm 5'10" so I think I'll be fine, but anyone who's seen it I'd love to hear......."

I would think you would have trouble seeing some of the horizontal scenes on the bed (wink) though except for the explicit nature of those scene, you wouldnt be missing much plot wise.

re the above poster- i dont think this play consists of a white man complaining that things arent fair. its about a self destructive mess who fools himself into thinking life isnt fair. i didnt find him heroic or sympathetic at all. and i think his falling for the younger girl is a part of that- he self destructively went for something shiny and new. (i do agree that had she been played a little more charismatically it might have worked a bit better....)

 

[jbird5]

Posted: 9/26/19 at 7:51pm

Being 26 is all the charisma she needs. Nuff said.

[Zion24]

Posted: 9/26/19 at 10:10pm

well thats the point, no? i think he would have seemed less like an ass if she were more likable. that shes a brat sorta underscores his spiral. at least thats how i saw it.

btw that we are even having this discussion is a testament to Mr. Letts. 

[jds2001]

Posted: 9/26/19 at 11:03pm

Forever? Didn't 2ST just move in to the Helen Hayes last season?

"

OK, so not exactly forever. If you must be pedantic, I acquired the ticket on June 17 (just looked through my records). Much prior to knowing anything about the set.

[wolfwriter]

Posted: 9/29/19 at 12:32am

Pashacar said: "Went last night with high expectations and was disappointed to have a pretty different reaction from most of you in this thread.

Found the characters extremely underwritten, the women especially, and many performances stiff  All in all I was entertained enough for the 3 hours, but it didn't add up to much– it's not a disaster, but to meit certainly isn't a great play either.

Without giving away too much, we just get Wheeler doing his same cynical schtick over and over with different people, and the little justification we get for it near the end is anemic and unsatisfying. Then the resolution, if you can call itthat, is deeply cliched,borderline cringeworthy.

Just back from this and agree with everything Pasahcar said.

The first act was mostly funny, but my companion and I shrugged at intermission and wondered what the point was. The second act is more serious, dull and repetitive. An editor would have helped to make this 90 minutes and find a point beyond Tracy Letts' therapy session. Much of the acting is stiff and, at times makes you cringe (not in a good way).

Being a playwright, I tend to watch plays from the writer's POV. In this case, it didn't help, since so much of the dialogue, especially the out of place political digs at Trump et al, are not organic to the characters. It pulls one out of the play when it's the playwright speaking, not the character. I don't care what Tracy Letts thinks. I care what his characters think.

I didn't hate this at all and it has some worthy elements. I liked the turntable set. and the music. Unfortunately, the sum of the parts don't make an interesting, revelatory or effective, whole.

PS: Kudos to the woman in front of us who couldn't wait til she got out of the theater to eat her Chinese food (at least, we think it was Chinese food). Oy.

Updated On: 9/29/19 at 12:32 AM

[jbird5]

Posted: 9/29/19 at 6:43am

Some idiot took a flash photo during the nude scene at the Matinee. I didn’t see them escorted out. They may have been just made to delete the photo.

[jagman1062]

Posted: 9/29/19 at 11:31am

JDonaghy4 said: "Pashacar said: "Went last night with high expectations and was disappointed to have a pretty different reaction from most of you in this thread.

Found the characters extremely underwritten, the women especially, and many performances stiff – really surprising given Letts' talent and that most of the cast has been with this piece for two professional productions already.Cora Vander Broek's scenes were the most engaging for me, especially her final appearance. All in all I was entertained enough for the 3 hours, but it didn't add up to much– it's not a disaster, but to meit certainly isn't a great play either.

Even though I liked it, I dont disagree with this. Its a play about a messed up dude and the universe around him. Except for Vander Broek, no one else does much of anything interesting. Its the strength of that story and those performances that carried the play for me. (Stiff is the perfect word for the rest of the cast- it felt like their fourth preview, and not as if they had all played these roles many times before)."

I saw the play last night, and I agree with both of you.  I enjoyed it and had some good laughs, but at a couple of points in the show I couldn't wait for it to be over.  In some ways, I didn't think the play was totally cohesive because I didn't fully understand Wheeler's motivation.  I don't think he was a total jerk, but he was just a 'messed up' up guy doing the best he could being emotionally stunted.  There were scenes where the actors were just reciting lines at each other than actually engaging in in-the-moment dialogue which caused me to cringe.  I actually noticed it more with Barford, who I did not think gave a tour de force performance (I think Vander Broek does give the best performance in the cast).  Granted, I saw the matinee performance of The Great Society, so I had just seen a very good play with a great performance by Brian Cox, so perhaps I'm not being fair to Linda Vista, but I can't see Linda Vista winning many awards come Awards season.  

BTW, I sat in D2 on the aisle in the orchestra.  At 5'8" I had no problem seeing the action on the stage except I didn't see anyone's feet (and I live to tell the tale).  The people in the very first row did seem to have some difficulty seeing the action from what I could tell.

 

[StageStruckLad]

Posted: 9/29/19 at 5:09pm

Even 4th row center seats were less than ideal last night, and I’m fairly tall. I wouldn’t recommend sitting closer than 6th row or so. The stage is very high. Wasn’t it also high for Straight White Men?

[SouthernCakes]

Posted: 10/1/19 at 10:34pm

I was front row via rush & it is very high - presumably because of the turntable and it’s probably the same physical production from Chicago, and LA.

I have to say I was very taken with this. I found it overall very interesting. And I think to say it doesn’t add up to much, is kind of what Letts was saying. The two male leads have this great scene in the locker room about how you’re just going to do what you’re going to do and that’s how life works.

I found the unraveling If Wheeler quite impressive and thought he gave a masterful class. I was front row and could see the tears streaming down his face, and thought his physicality was impressive.

Overall I thought the show was quite good and interesting and no weak links in the casting. Loved the use of the turntable, but the show almost felt too small for the space.

Def recommend it.

[Cape Twirl of Doom]

Posted: 10/2/19 at 10:52am

I saw the show over the weekend. Excellent performances all around, especially by the lead, and I found it to be both very funny and disturbing. My only problem was that I have no idea what about Wheeler was supposed to be attractive to women. I found him to be an insufferable smug ass. The girl, OK I guess she gets a free place to live, but the other woman was actually in love with him, and I can't understand why.

[Pammylicious]

Posted: 10/2/19 at 10:53am

IIjbird5 said: "Some idiot took a flash photo during the nude scene at the Matinee. I didn’t see them escorted out. They may have been just made to delete the photo. "

 

I was that that idiot and it was not a flash photo. Know your facts. I silenced my phone but NOTIFY NYC flashes when your phone is silenced. After the show I schooled the head of security and he thanked me for telling him of the app and downloaded it. 

 

.

[Pashacar]

Posted: 10/2/19 at 11:01am

Pammylicious said: "I was that that idiot and it was not a flash photo. Know your facts. I silenced my phone but NOTIFY NYC flashes when your phone is silenced. After the show I schooled the head of security and he thanked me for telling him of the app and downloaded it."

Why have your phone out so that something like this could happen? Pretty rude if you ask me.

[Roscoe]

Posted: 10/2/19 at 11:07am

Pammylicious said: "I was that that idiot and it was not a flash photo. Know your facts. I silenced my phone but NOTIFY NYC flashes when your phone is silenced. After the show I schooled the head of security and he thanked me for telling him of the app and downloaded it."

Of course, if the phone had been entirely turned off altogether, you know, the way the recorded announcement that plays before the show says they should be, the situation might not have arisen at all.

 

Updated On: 10/2/19 at 11:07 AM

[Pammylicious]

Posted: 10/2/19 at 11:16am

TPashacar said: "Pammylicious said: "I was that that idiot and it was not a flash photo. Know your facts. I silenced my phone but NOTIFY NYC flashes when your phone is silenced. After the show I schooled the head of security and he thanked me for telling him of the app and downloaded it."

Why have your phone out so that something like this could happen? Pretty rude if you ask me."

The phone was in my zippered pocketbook and the lights came through the zipper and side. The announcement at the beginning was silence your phones not turn them off. And it was not a vocal one an usher walked up the aisle with a placard. 

[Roscoe]

Posted: 10/2/19 at 11:24am

Maybe people who have apps on their phones that cause them to emit very bright lights unexpectedly, bright enough to leak through the zipper and side of a pocketbook, would do better to turn their phones off altogether when going to the theater.

[SouthernCakes]

Posted: 10/2/19 at 11:30am

Airplane Mode has never failed me.

Cape, I see your point, but, for me, I could see the attraction. She’s a life coach, he’s a mess. Maybe she thought she could fix him? Maybe she liked that he let his guard down a bit around her. But also, realistically, age is a factor. No ones getting younger.

[UncleCharlie]

Posted: 10/2/19 at 1:10pm

Pammylicious said: "I was that that idiot and it was not a flash photo. Know your facts. I silenced my phone but NOTIFY NYC flashes when your phone is silenced. After the show I schooled the head of security and he thanked me for telling him of the app and downloaded it."

If you have an app that can go off like that during a play and you know that beforehand, turn your phone OFF. It's just unbelievable how you think your self-righteous explanation justifies it. 

[Mark Waltz]

Posted: 10/2/19 at 1:17pm

I saw the Saturday matinee from the front mezzanine. I thought the first act was very funny and laughed from the opening conversation between the two friends discussing everything from Ali McGraw to who the greatest film directors ever were. (It made the inclusion of "Barry Lyndon" on the TV screen in the second act opening as quite appropriate.) The sex scenes and nudity were rather gratuitous and unnecessary, and it prompted some older man in the same aisle as me to start to make some very strange noises. This same man decided that he would become the Greek chorus in the second act and loudly began to comment on everything going on, Nobody near him would shush him (I think they were all together), so all I could do was roll my eyes. I'm just glad he was up the stairs long before I got to the same aisle to get out, otherwise I might have given him the stank eye.

The second act seemed far too long, and because of a few minutes late start, it was 4:50 when I got to the lobby to exit. Nevertheless, while it's not a perfect piece of theater, I did relate to the types of conversations going on, and along with everything else, I'll certainly never forget it. The karaoke sequence had a bit of a nostalgic feeling for me as many years ago, I spun the discs at a bar which had a karaoke night, and the performers acted exactly like the regular customers who thought they were stars from the moment they were handed Mr. Microphone. 

[Calcifer2]

Posted: 10/2/19 at 1:34pm

Just a heads up for those who didn’t see it on the grosses thread that there are free single tickets available for most performances this week through Culture Pass (available through your NY Public Library card).

[cknick]

Posted: 10/2/19 at 1:36pm

Can anyone else say if rush tickets through TodayTix have generally been front rows? Not keen on the high stage, but I'm thinking of trying for this over "The Rose Tattoo" which seems to be a lackluster production.

[JSquared2]

Posted: 10/2/19 at 1:41pm

cknick said: "Can anyone else say if rush tickets through TodayTix have generally been front rows? Not keen on the high stage, but I'm thinking of trying for this over "The Rose Tattoo" which seems to be a lackluster production."

Avoid Rose Tattoo at all costs!

 

[cknick]

Posted: 10/2/19 at 1:42pm

JSquared2, so I'm gathering. I'm a HUGE Williams fan, so missing one of his plays on Broadway is sad - but for a short trip to the city, I want every show to count!