Thanks- I'm very much looking forward to seeing Rachel Weisz on stage. She's one of the best film actresses working today, and despite being an Oscar winner I think she's massively under appreciated.
Marie: Don't be in such a hurry about that pretty little chippy in Frisco.
Tony: Eh, she's a no chip!
Whizzer will fill us in, I'm sure, but every production I've seen has run about 90-100 minutes. There is no intermission.
"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
I have no idea about rush, but I did a quick search yesterday to see when the earliest I could find the cheapest rear mezzanine seats and it seems like unless I want to go to a Wednesday matinee I'll have to wait until the first week of December.
"Thanks- I'm very much looking forward to seeing Rachel Weisz on stage. She's one of the best film actresses working today, and despite being an Oscar winner I think she's massively under appreciated."
Funny, that same exact thing was said about Juliette Binoche when she did Betrayal back in 2000. I was so excited to see it, but could barely stay awake. Perhaps the biggest problem was I was way up in the balcony (American Airlines Theatre) and trust me, her fine film acting skills just didn't project that far -- at all. I loved the play, but thought the production was so slow and tedious and never had any theatrical emotion.
Patash, I agree, and I was sitting further to the stage. Binoche is a great film actor. At least in Betrayal, she did nothing for me on stage. I'm almost tempted to call what she did there over underacting.
I'm back from the first preview and don't have many strong emotions about the play either way. I don't think I'll ever love the text, but this is a totally respectable and well-acted production. I think people who bought a ticket to see Daniel Craig will be disappointed as he has the smallest and least interesting of three roles.
I found Rafe Spall to be very good, especially in the final scene. He's charismatic and quite handsome. He and Weisz have good chemistry, and the scenes with the two of them were the most enjoyable.
I liked Weisz, but the role isn't very flashy and I wish there was more for her to sink her teeth into.
The set and lighting are both wonderful. They capture the simplicity and economy of the language and really become an extension of the text. The scene changes are fluid and the underscoring is lovely.
The play is so quiet and intimate that I wish I had been watching a movie instead of seeing it on stage. Given the subject matter there isn't any bombastic yelling or melodrama; you're not going to find Emily Thorne and Olivia Pope taking any pages from the Betrayal handbook!
The play is not told in chronological order, and the interest comes in noticing the lies and inconsistencies the characters tell each other as the play progresses.
I don't think this is going to set the world on fire, but it's above board and professionally done.
Marie: Don't be in such a hurry about that pretty little chippy in Frisco.
Tony: Eh, she's a no chip!
These stunt plays/musicals that go backwards in time--- who wants 'em or needs 'em?
The acting is good, with Rafe Spall making the strongest impression in the play's best part. The direction eschews fireworks; the design fluid and functional, if not particularly attractive.
The saddest part of the whole enterprise is the disappointment it will inevitably engender in those who paid big bucks first and foremost to see Daniel Craig. This is the second time that Craig has chosen a vehicle--- and here, a part --- that would be sure to let down his fans. Hugh Jackman in Craig's other ill-advised outing, and Julia Roberts in hers did the same. Doesn't anyone think about the public before putting these things on? Other than their money, that is?
The plays they chose were all duds, none of which displayed these stars to their advantage, and none of which held the slightest possibility of pleasing their fans.
Wait...they removed the sky-diving scene? Sacrilege. Someone take my tickets now.
"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