Peace for Mary Frances

[LxGstv]

Posted: 5/15/18 at 9:25pm

Has anyone seen this yet? It started previews on the 8th of this month with opening night scheduled for the 23rd.

I’m going at the end of the month, curious to hear reports!

[#1Elphie]

Posted: 5/20/18 at 6:19pm

I didn't like it. It was 2 hours and 35 minutes of a family being awful to each other. None of the characters were likable, I just didn't care, and I didn't see the point. I had high hopes because it has such a fantastic cast, and the actors did their best with the material, but it still was disappointing. 

In another thread someone asked about the obstructed view seats. At today's show, rows A and B and the house right section of row C had covers over all the seats. I was in D 101 and I'm posting a photo of my view. I had a good view of the bedroom, but I think anyone sitting in the first three rows would have a hard time seeing Lois Smith in the bed (where she was for almost the whole play). I would avoid the first three rows if they are for sale, because I think you'll miss a lot. I really don't know why the bedroom is raised so high. It doesn't seem necessary, and it just prevents them from selling a big chunk of seats. 

[Between 7th and 8th]

Posted: 6/3/18 at 9:21am

My god. Now I’ve seen many New Group productions, most which leave me mixed to negative. (Their plays are often terrible. Their musicals fair much better.) However, this one is by far the worst production of theirs I have seen. It’s one of the worst plays I’ve seen all around. Very curious what The New Group saw in this play and its playwright, who is still a student studying playwrighting. (This must be very exciting for her, but I also feel bad because... what a first impression.)

They have completely gutted the first few rows of the Alice Griffin in the Signature Center for one of the most ridiculous, obstructive sets I have seen. God bless that cast for running up and down that small staircase for two and a half hours. I was grateful to be sitting in the balcony and would advise anyone who feels like they need to see this to sit up there. (I have already advised all of my enemies to do so.) The set is well decorated, but it’s entirely too much and is just literally obstructive. Look at the price points to buy a ticket... it’s wild.

The lighting was actually very nice. The only consistent element of this production. So there’s that.

The performances... are across the board awful, or unmemorable. I do sympathize with them, as the writing is so sloppy, uninteresting, and quite frankly irritating at times. I had no clue about ANY of the relationships onstage and could never tell what the characters were thinking. (Not in a good, suspenseful type of way. More of a confused, bored type of way.) J. Smith Cameron and Melle Powers come off best. The rest... were pretty terrible. God bless Lois Smith. I hope she got to nap for a little while laying in that bed. I know half of the people in the balcony joined her in sleep heaven tonight.

(Also... can someone explain to me what those final moments in Act One were about? That entire fight was too much and got a few laughs.) This was one of the few moments my friend and I were confused about... and we just decided they weren’t important because they were never discussed again in the play.

The staging... I love Ms. Neugebauer, but she clearly phoned this one in. I mean, I was in the center and I missed some of the action. An entire couch/wall was just offstage and only visible from the side section. Why even bother? I just don’t get it. Besides that, the staging was fine. Nothing new.

The writing was just so sloppy and honestly, I already forgot about half of the show. So many questions... Act One was boring. Act Two was annoying. I’m not even going to get into specifics because it doesn’t matter and this review is already too long for this show.

I’d like to cap this mess of a review with two of my favorite moments tonight:

-As I was in the lobby, the actor’s friends were all giving the best performances of the night saying the show was wonderful and “riveting”. I hope they can snag a Drama Desk/Obie nom?

-As I was leaving the theatre, an actress from the show (I won’t say names...) was begging to be let into the wine and spirits store next to the Signature that was closed/locked. “I work next door!” was used. I don’t blame her... I’d need a drink too after a two show day.

Updated On: 6/3/18 at 09:21 AM

[The Pecan Sandies]

Posted: 6/3/18 at 10:25am

I saw yesterdays matinee and thought it was fine. I disliked their previous 2 plays, Downtown Race Riot an Good for Otto, so my expectations were very low. My family has been in the situation portrayed in the play a few times unfortunately, so I connected to the struggle which may have helped hold my interest. I don’t think any of the performances were terrible but I don’t believe any of them really stood out either. I agree that j Cameron smith and Melle powers come off best. I also liked the actress playing the granddaughter with the baby(I can’t recall her name)

The show ran 2.5 hrs but could easily be cut down to 90 minutes. While the show held my interest most of the time, there is so much useless dialogue in this show that many of the scenes drag. Why do we need to know the one granddaughter is a successful actress? Why is the male hospice worker there at all? Why do we learn about the families Armenian background in the 2nd act? All of this information is just there and serves no purpose whatsoever.

I agree with the previous poster that the ending of act 1 was ridiculous and unnecessary and I will also add that I thought the last scene was strange too. Of all the people to give the last line to, why the brother?

At the end of the day I didn’t feel like I wasted my time or my money but overall it was just mediocre