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Fairview at SoHo Rep

LightsOut90
Broadway Legend
joined:5/2/14
Broadway Legend
joined:
5/2/14
Fairview at SoHo Rep#1
Posted: 6/13/18 at 3:08am

Caught this tonight and let me just say, its a STUNNER if you liked Octaroon you are going to love this brilliant meta-theatrical play and without getting into detail, the ending is one of the craziest things I've experienced in the theater and ended with audience members yelling at each other and actors

 

walk run swim, knock someone out to get a ticket the less i say the better, go into this one with as little info as possible. 

Updated On: 6/13/18 at 03:08 AM
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newintown
Broadway Legend
joined:3/3/10
Broadway Legend
joined:
3/3/10
Fairview at SoHo Rep#2
Posted: 6/13/18 at 8:35am

There is something that potential audience members may want to know before buying tickets.

 
Click Here To Toggle Spoiler Content

At the end of the show, all white members of the audience are more or less forced to leave their seats, bags, etc. and stand on the stage to be looked at by some of the cast (who go into the house). The yelling that the OP mentions may have been between those who didn't want to participate and the cast. It's a very jejune conceit, clearly the work of a young playwright who thinks that they're being provocative and cutting edge. I found the entire evening to be tiresome and pretentious.

 

LightsOut90
Broadway Legend
joined:5/2/14
Broadway Legend
joined:
5/2/14
Fairview at SoHo Rep#3
Posted: 6/13/18 at 9:31am

newintown said: "There is something that potential audience members may want to know before buying tickets.

 
Click Here To Toggle Spoiler Content
At the end of the show, all white members of the audience are more or less forced to leave their seats, bags, etc. and stand on the stage to be looked at by some of the cast (who go into the house). The yelling that the OP mentions may have been between thosewho didn't want to participate and the cast. It's a very jejune conceit, clearly the work of a young playwright who thinks that they're being provocative and cutting edge. I found the entire evening to be tiresome and pretentious.

fun fact you are actually very wrong it was two women of color who were engaging with the actors
additionally you aren't FORCED to do anything as several older patrons chose to do last night, if you found it to be tiresome and pretentious you missed the ENTIRE point of the show and for that I feel sorry for you. 

 

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newintown
Broadway Legend
joined:3/3/10
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joined:
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Fairview at SoHo Rep#4
Posted: 6/13/18 at 10:21am

Do they pay you well at Soho Rep?

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AC126748
Broadway Legend
joined:7/15/06
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joined:
7/15/06
Fairview at SoHo Rep#5
Posted: 6/13/18 at 1:13pm

The "surprise" here hardly seems original. It sounds like a variation on what Taylor Mac has been doing for years.

"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
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VotePeron
Broadway Legend
joined:5/2/13
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joined:
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Fairview at SoHo Rep#6
Posted: 6/13/18 at 1:39pm

This sounds awful to me. I don't like audience participation in any form, ever. The only times I've felt it done right is The Great Comet, where you knew you were in a safe, warm space and wouldn't be messed with. 

LightsOut90
Broadway Legend
joined:5/2/14
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joined:
5/2/14
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little_sally
Broadway Legend
joined:1/15/04
Broadway Legend
joined:
1/15/04
Fairview at SoHo Rep#8
Posted: 6/18/18 at 8:27am

What's the running time?

A little swash, a bit of buckle - you'll love it more than bread.
JBC3
Broadway Star
joined:4/9/17
Broadway Star
joined:
4/9/17
Fairview at SoHo Rep#9
Posted: 6/18/18 at 9:24am
little_sally said: "What's the running time?"



NYT review says 2 hrs.

annang
Featured Actor
joined:10/9/16
Featured Actor
joined:
10/9/16
Fairview at SoHo Rep#10
Posted: 7/4/18 at 9:20pm

newintown said: "There is something that potential audience members may want to know before buying tickets.

 
Click Here To Toggle Spoiler Content

Thank you so, so much for this. I was so excited about this play, and now I know that I simply can’t attend. I really wish they’d warn people. It’s an accessibility issue for many theater patrons with disabilities, if nothing else.

In related news, anyone who wants to buy a pair of face value tickets to Fairview on 7/10, PM me. The entire run is sold out, so I’d love to see them go to someone who can enjoy them.

 

Relevance81491
Leading Actor
joined:2/11/16
Leading Actor
joined:
2/11/16
Fairview at SoHo Rep#11
Posted: 7/5/18 at 7:04am

When I did the $1 Sunday (arrived an hour before they started selling, and I believe I was one of the last to get a ticket) about two weeks ago they added a line about "if you are physically able" to the "experiment".  Hearing about the ending made me nervous, but I wound up rather enjoying this one.  I applaud Soho Rep's continued commitment to emerging and unique voices and artists.   

Out of a desire to see what would happen, I declined the invitation to participate in the experiment and do not feel as though I was singled out 

Relevance81491
Leading Actor
joined:2/11/16
Leading Actor
joined:
2/11/16
Fairview at SoHo Rep#12
Posted: 7/5/18 at 7:04am

When I did the $1 Sunday (arrived an hour before they started selling, and I believe I was one of the last to get a ticket) about two weeks ago they added a line about "if you are physically able" to the "experiment".  Hearing about the ending made me nervous, but I wound up rather enjoying this one.  I applaud Soho Rep's continued commitment to emerging and unique voices and artists.   

Out of a desire to see what would happen, I declined the invitation to participate in the experiment and do not feel as though I was singled out 

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JBroadway
Broadway Legend
joined:4/6/12
Broadway Legend
joined:
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Fairview at SoHo Rep#13
Posted: 7/5/18 at 11:56am

Relevance81491 said: "When I did the $1 Sunday (arrived an hour before they started selling, and I believe I was one of the last to get a ticket)"

 

Can you please say more about this? How many tickets did they give out? Do you know how early the earlier people got there? 

LxGstv
Broadway Star
joined:11/22/16
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joined:
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Fairview at SoHo Rep#14
Posted: 7/5/18 at 7:16pm

annang said: "newintown said: "There is something that potential audience members may want to know before buying tickets.

 
Click Here To Toggle Spoiler Content

 

 

Thank you so, so much for this. I was so excited about this play, and now I know that I simply can’t attend. I really wish they’d warn people. It’s an accessibility issue for many theater patrons with disabilities, if nothing else.

In related news, anyone who wants to buy a pair of face value tickets to Fairview on 7/10, PM me. The entire run is sold out, so I’d love to see them go to someone who can enjoy them.
"

 

 

Is the ticket still available? I’ve sent you a PM.

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JBroadway
Broadway Legend
joined:4/6/12
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joined:
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Fairview at SoHo Rep#15
Posted: 7/9/18 at 12:04am

I did the $1 Sunday line today. 

This play blew my f*cking mind. I'd be lying if I said I loved every moment of it, but holy crap it's an incredible experience. I smell a Pulitzer. 

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JBroadway
Broadway Legend
joined:4/6/12
Broadway Legend
joined:
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Fairview at SoHo Rep#16
Posted: 7/9/18 at 12:05am

I did the $1 Sunday line today. 

This play blew my f*cking mind. I'd be lying if I said I loved every moment of it, but holy crap it's an incredible experience. I smell a Pulitzer. 

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RippedMan
Broadway Legend
joined:8/14/05
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Fairview at SoHo Rep#17
Posted: 7/9/18 at 12:59am

I'm so tired of the campy gay character being the comedic relief. Pass. 

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JBroadway
Broadway Legend
joined:4/6/12
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Fairview at SoHo Rep#18
Posted: 7/9/18 at 1:04am

RippedMan said: "I'm so tired of the campy gay character being the comedic relief. Pass."

 

I'm sort of confused. Are you talking about...

 
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The man who plays a woman toward the end of the play?

Because that's not how I interpreted that at all. It's campy, yes, but him being a "campy gay character" seem very far from the point of that moment, and I'd hardly call it comedic relief when a large portion of the play is fairly comedic in tone, and that character/moment is a fairly small part of the show. 

annang
Featured Actor
joined:10/9/16
Featured Actor
joined:
10/9/16
Fairview at SoHo Rep#19
Posted: 7/9/18 at 10:16am

LxGstv said: "annang said: "newintown said: "There is something that potential audience members may want to know before buying tickets.

 
Click Here To Toggle Spoiler Content

 

 

 


Thank you so, so much for this. I was so excited about this play, and now I know that I simply can’t attend. I really wish they’d warn people. It’s an accessibility issue for many theater patrons with disabilities, if nothing else.

In related news, anyone who wants to buy a pair of face value tickets to Fairview on 7/10, PM me. The entire run is sold out, so I’d love to see them go to someone who can enjoy them.
"





Is the ticket still available? I’ve sent you a PM.
"

 

 

 

Tickets sold. Thanks all. 

bear88
Broadway Star
joined:4/26/16
Broadway Star
joined:
4/26/16
Fairview at the Berkeley Rep#20
Posted: 10/20/18 at 3:39pm

The play has moved west, to the Berkeley Rep. I saw it the other night. The local critics loved it. I respectfully dissent. There's no way to describe what I think didn't work without spoiling the play. 

 
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There wasn't the audience drama described above, or in Sara Holdren's review. Instead, it was all very organized and civilized and, in my view, unearned. (It was a predominantly white, older audience.) Monique Robinson, as Keisa, does a fine job giving the speech that calls white audience members up to the stage. But Fairview just wasn't effective enough to make me, a white male, feel uncomfortable enough - and I was on the stage at the end, squinting at the lights to follow Robinson as she walked through the audience. (Squinting into the lights, while sitting at one of the "dining room" chairs, was actually the play's most disquieting effect.)

The first act is clearly fake, though well-acted and unsettling in the obvious sense that something isn't quite right - and the audience is waiting for the play to take a left turn. The musical shifts play a role in this, as does a family dance routine that felt more unsettling to me than the over-the-top material that follows.

The second act, a silent replay of the first with white characters having a cluelessly racist conversation, is a bore - in part because only infrequently is there a connection between what we're hearing and what we're seeing. The "white" characters' dialogue doesn't really bite, and when one woman starts talking about wishing she could be African-American if she had to change races because she loved her African-American nanny, it's pretty easy not to take the entire enterprise seriously.) The third act sees the white actors intrude onstage and chaos ensue. It's not a good sign when the Beastie Boys' "Sabotage" gets played, and that wasn't surprising at all.

Playwright Jackie Sibblies Drury tosses out some interesting ideas, but it felt like she only really has a first act and an ending. The sense of danger described in the reviews and comments on the Soho Rep incarnation of the play was lacking in what I saw. My assumption is that the conclusion prompts some people to forgive the play's flaws, but I didn't think it made enough of a connection between that speech and the events beforehand.

Updated On: 10/22/18 at 03:39 PM