Hillary and Clinton previews

[novel idea]

Caught the show the other night -

It was a fiiiinneee evening - the play belongs Off- Broadway - it definitely just doesn’t feel like a Broadway caliber play.

I was mostly bored and was very relieved it came in under 90 minutes.

The biggest issue is that there is absolutely NO set - which forces so much CONTRIVED staging - unnatural staging, crosses, blocking, entrances, exits - they would be having intimate scenes and sometimes be standing 30 feet from each other. Reminded me of some of the awful staging in Frozen’s book scenes with the sisters: a giant stage, no set, and 30 feet in between them.

There were constant moments where the actors just looked uncomfortable because they were on an oddly raked stage with no environment to help ground them.

I absolutely worship Laurie Metcalf - but couldn’t help but feel this is the EXACT same performance we have seen from her for the last couple of years in the EXACT same theatre.

Laurie and John do absolutely NOTHING to suggest they are Bill and Hillary, so when Obama comes onstage and he is a full blown SNL impersonation, I couldn’t help but wonder if I’d be more interested to see Laurie have played Hillary a LITTLE more like the real Hillary Clinton, just so I didn’t feel like I was in a disjointed production where she was reprising her performance of Nora in Dolls House. I think it would have kept the audiences interest a bit more.

I didn’t HATE it, but like Gary, I can’t safely recommend to anyone.

[Zion24]

I saw the 5th preview and she did the same mic shtick.

i enjoyed this production because each actor was perfect. its a very thinly written show that would fall completely flat without perfect performances. This crew rises to the task, especially Metfcalf. None of them are doing impressions (except maybe Obama...) but they all feel authentic. Worth seeing, esp for TDF prices.

[Midnight Radio]

Having seen the first preview, I am pretty shocked that they haven't had the actor playing Obama tone back the impression. His performance felt like he was in a completely different production, and it was distracting.

[OKBroadwayFan]

Midnight Radio said: "Having seen the first preview, I am pretty shocked that they haven't had the actor playing Obama tone back the impression. His performance felt like he was in a completely different production, and it was distracting."

Agree totally!

[chanel]

Can anyone who's seen the show comment as to whether daughter Chelsea Clinton is mentioned at any point?

[Alfie6]

chanel said: "Can anyone who'sseen the show comment as to whether daughter Chelsea Clinton is mentioned at any point?"

*****POSSIBLE SPOILER******

She is mentioned when Hilary is talking about the day Bill told the family about his affair and Chelsea was very upset. She is also mentioned in regards to being with her boyfriend on Christmas- 

Those are the only times I recall

[chanel]

Thank you.

[henrikegerman]

Nothing lifeless about what's happening at the Golden.

One can only guess what this play might be in lesser paws.  But it doesn't matter.
As for the here and now it is nestled firmly, gently in the hands of masters.  The result is marvelous, hilariously funny, extraordinarily moving and superbly evocative.

What does it evoke? 

Just about every feeling - positive, negative, annoyed, idolatrous, sympathetic, weary, you name it - anyone and everyone has ever had about the Clintons.  All the fantasies and all the nightmares; the hopes, the suspicions, the projections, 

If like me you found A Doll's House 2 to be an enjoyable lark (at the very least), then, like me, you may just fall in love with Hillary and Clinton.

Hnath's inspired premise provides just the right distance from our own prejudices - positive or negative - about the Hillary and Bill we think we know, only to afford us an objectivity that could only come from exiling them/us from their/our/"this mortal coil." 

That's the ingenious premise  The ride Hnath takes us on from there is splendid. A fever dream blistering, magical and cathartic.

Metcalf is giving the performance of her life.  To those who've seen in her recent triumphs (I proudly admit she has never and could never do any wrong for me, but...) too much signature LM schtick, this performance will almost certainly redeem your esteem. 

Lithgow, looming, gigantic, equal parts hurt and menace, matches her every inspiration.

Orth, an audience-whisperer, makes a game nice guy.  When he's done playing nice with these two, watch out World - this or any other!

Mantello's status as one of the great stage directors of our time, long contended, is no longer subject to cavil.

Hnath has a knack for combining earthly comedy and quantum physics.  At times this play seems like Copenhagen rewritten by Yasmina Reza.  But at the end of the glorious evening, it ain't that... it's a unique work by a great new voice in our theatre. 

He has also given Metcalf two remarkable monologues sure to beguile any audience and inspire any actor.

Bravo! Brava! Bravi!

[pacificnorthwest]

henrikegerman said: "Nothing lifeless about what's happening at the Golden.

Thanks for such a detailed, lively review. You've pushed this back into the "need to see" category for me.

[Synecdoche2]

Show ran only 1:20 last night.

[henrikegerman]

pacificnorthwest said: "henrikegerman said: "Nothing lifeless about what's happening at the Golden.

Thanks for such a detailed, lively review. You've pushed this back into the "need to see" category for me."

You're welcome, Pacficnorthwest.  I posted before reading some of the more recent (p)reviews on this thread.  So I apparently am the lone raver.  Surprised.  And apparently some think Laurie is doing the same thing she did in recent performances - I don't see that at all, but anyway...
 

 

[hveasey]

Saw this last night and enjoyed it quite a bit although it wasn’t incredible. Both Metcalf and Lithgow give excellent performances, but that’s to be expected.

The writing is just good and would fail in the hands of worse actors but there were some great moments and little that made me cringe. I do wish the show had dispensed with the explanation at the beginning as it creates an odd start but it does tie back in later so I get why it’s there from a plot perspective.

After reading some of the comments about the actor playing Obama, I was pleasantly surprised by him. It didn’t feel like a parody or mimic performance although he definitely was closer to the real Obama than anyone else in the cast was to their real life counterparts.

[stevo3041]

Rushed today, Wednesday, for the matinee - didn't get there until about 10:30AM (rushed another show first) - got Row 6, Center Orchestra, dead center seat.  Never been so happy.  Couple next to see spend $179 on their seats.  Loved the show - Metcalf is always AMAZING.

And to the one who was asking about Chelsea - they never mention her by name, only by "daughter"

Also - I didn't get much of a Obama vibe when he came on stage - so maybe he has toned it back a bit based on comments/reviews?

[Sally Durant Plummer]

I saw it tonight and loved it.

Laurie Metcalf is extraordinary and I would be happy to see her win a third consecutive Tony for this. As someone who adores Hillary, I think she masterfully acted Hnath’s script and was able to convey the essence of Hillary Clinton without being a Amy Poehler or Kate McKinnon impersonation. It certainly added to the sense of humanity for me - so often when we get portrayals of real people who are SUCH a part of the zeitgeist, they feel cheapened. Not Metcalf. A brilliant actress.

The other actors are all wonderful as well, and Lithgow in particular conveys Bill with a certain gravitas someone who doesn’t have memories of the Clinton Administration has never associated with 42. The other roles are slight, but impeccablly portrayed. I smell noms for both leads, and as I said I’m hoping for a Metcalf win.

I understand the feeling that the play is missing just a little something. I agree slightly in Act II that it feels like the play doesn’t know what to do after Barrack exits. However, the actual ending is a powerful combination of imagery and language that will remain with me for a long time.

I think the play as a whole is a meaningful expression of the double standard women are faced with. I think what’s most incredible about the piece, centering on a woman’s place in the family and the country, is that is focuses on perhaps the most hated woman in the country. And the woman that most people feel ENTITLED to hate. The play doesn’t pretend that Hillary Clinton is a perfect woman or candidate, but it does explore the sexism she has to face every step of the way while many far inferior men waltz into the Oval Office. In a way, the only chance we have to humanize Hillary Clinton is to approach her not as a candidate, or as a wife in the public eye, but as a character in a play. And that allows those of us who dislike her to perhaps reconsider what she has had to go up against in a new light. At least, I hope it does.

Hillary and Clinton was a momentously worthwhile evening for me. I went in expecting a “Veep” style political satire but it was much more. I love “Veep”, and I love Selina Meyer, but we all know she’s a monster. We want her to say and do the most horrible things because that’s the world Frank Rich has built. In the nuanced and horrifying world we live in, it’s nice to have a play that explores Hillary’s humanity - and embraces her virtues and flaws - in their entirety. And perhaps we understand her flaws to be virtues and her virtues to be flaws in the end. Some of them, at least.

[haterobics]

If I want to see this on the cheap, are they selling boxes or anything? Or does anything happen worth being more centered for?!

[henrikegerman]

Right on, Sally Durant Plummer.

And you rightly think at least some of us with more ambiguous feelings feeling about Hillary, and what’s more also about Bill, might find in this play a probing yet tender challenge to our entrenched assumptions, particularly about Hillary and who she is.

I did. I found the play provocative, cathartic and even eye opening. It got me reconsidering a great many things. It by no means sanitizes Hillary Clinton. It illuminates her.

That illumination becomes her. And beguiles me.

[dphibbs94]

haterobics said: "If I want to see this on the cheap, are they selling boxes or anything? Or does anything happen worth being more centered for?!"

Either rush tickets or TDF are going to be your best bet. 

[haterobics]

dphibbs94 said: "haterobics said: "If I want to see this on the cheap, are they selling boxes or anything? Or does anything happen worth being more centered for?!"

Either rush tickets or TDF are going to be your best bet."

My only available slot is a Saturday night, which hasn't been on TDF, and I'm not getting into the area until noon... that's why i was wondering if the boxes might be an option, and whether they would be an issue as far as visibility.

[east side story]

Metcalf deserves it all. A third consecutive Tony is not out of the question. The entire production sparkles.

[BenElliott]

I really enjoyed this. Metcalf and Lithgow are two of my favorite actors so getting to see them work alongside each other was a real treat.

I don't really want to talk about the themes of the play because, in this sort of play, it feels like a spoiler. It's a truly interesting work however that gives a human perspective to perhaps one of the most hated women in the world. It takes place in 2008 during the primaries, in a hotel room, in an alternative dimension. No one attempts an impression and yet they all seem to embody the essence of the person they're playing perfectly. The set is simple, yet beautiful, and very effective. It's a wonderfully creative piece.

I wouldn't be mad at all if Metcalf won a Tony for this. However, I still think Elaine May gave the best actress performance. I think John Lithgow should be put in supporting actor. While he is somewhat of a co-lead, he feels supporting to Hillary's story.

[Jordan Catalano]

Oof. I really disliked this. Just got home (the show ran about 1:18 so I guess they cut a lot). The performances were all fine but what the hell was the point? It just seemed like a muddled mess of a script that wanted to tell a story that didn’t need to be told. These are not antiquated historical figures, where we have to make up facts about them to come to some conclusion or understanding about their motivations. Why make up a story about them? And can someone explain the choice to not have either of them look/sound like the real life people they’re playing, yet we get an Obama impersonator? I feel like this was a Freshman student exercise in writing a political play, where the winner would get to meet Clinton backstage or something so they wanted to write something to make her feel better about her loss.

And this is all coming from someone who worked his ASS off in 2016 for Clinton. But as a play, this was just confusing and I feel she deserves better.

[haterobics]

Jordan Catalano said: "I feel she deserves better."

That's sort of on brand for her then, no?

[Jordan Catalano]

That’s the damn truth.

[Tom5]

   Had Hillary And Clinton been written by Gore Vidal I might have at least considered buying tickets. He might at least have had something penetrating and trenchant to say about the two.

[poisonivy2]

I kind of don;t get the point of this play? If you want to hear the voice of Bill and Hillary both are active on twitter and Instagram (particularly Hillary). Both do plenty of interviews and speeches.  Both are smart articulate people who have no trouble telling their own story. 

This play sounds almost sounds like fanfic.