All My Sons Previews

[Mike Barrett]

Previews begin April 2 at the American Airlines Theatre. Anyone going?

[mar6411]

I believe previews for All My Sons begin on April 4. Previews for Ink begin on April 2.

[n2nbaby]

Yes, previews do start on the 4th.

I am seeing this in the 6th thanks to access10 and I’m quite excited. I’ve never seen a production of All My Sons and this has been such a dynamite season for plays.

[Mike Barrett]

My apologies you’re right, April 4th! Got all the preview dates mixed up. Exciting either way, please report back! I too, have never a production so this may be my first.

[uncageg]

Seeing it next week and really looking forward to it. I love Annette Benning.

[DoTheDood]

n2nbaby said: "I am seeing this in the 6th thanks to access10 and I’m quite excited. I’ve never seen a production of All My Sons and this has been such a dynamite season for plays."

Heeey same, on the same day too. I was honestly shocked when I first heard of the access10, can't believe I'm seeing a show for $10.

[broadway86]

I have a ticket for 4/20, excited to see Bening and Letts.

[hveasey]

I have high hopes for this. My tickets aren’t until June though.

[HGorn]

Anyone going tonight?  Curious to hear how this is

[ErmengardeStopSniveling]

broadway86 said: "I have a ticket for 4/20"

{whispers} nice

 

[bjh2114]

HGorn said: "Anyone going tonight? Curious to hear how this is"

I'll be there tonight.

[broadway86]

ErmengardeStopSniveling said: "broadway86 said: "I have a ticket for 4/20"

{whispers} nice
 

Yaaaasssss

[HGorn]

Based on what's available now it's not looking too good for this one 

https://imgur.com/a/JGGwFIV

[DoTheDood]

HGorn said: "Based on what's available now it's not looking too good for this one

https://imgur.com/a/JGGwFIV"

Honestly I got a really good seat (I think) from access10 and that wasn't that long ago (less than a month ago), and they were still selling most of the seats for Saturday. Not sure what this means for the show.

[n2nbaby]

DoTheDood said: "n2nbaby said: "I am seeing this in the 6th thanks to access10 and I’m quite excited. I’ve never seen a production of All My Sons and this has been such a dynamite season for plays."

Heeey same, on the same day too. I was honestly shocked when I first heard of the access10, can't believe I'm seeing a show for $10."

Make sure you say hi, I love meeting fellow BWW members!

 

I am a little surprised how poorly this is selling, I expected Benning to be a large draw. 

[LightsOut90]

wondering if the recent behind the scene bruhahah might have turned some people off of this one, also we just had a major revival what 10 years ago?

[GeorgeandDot]

I love the actors involved, but Jack O'Brien's attachment made me avoid this like the plague. I'll wait to purchase tickets until I hear about how it is. I'm sure others are doing the same.

[haterobics]

LightsOut90 said: "wondering if the recent behind the scene bruhahah might have turned some people off of this one"

Any brouhaha makes me cautious to buy in advance, when waiting and seeing has no consequences for most shows...

[Jeffrey Karasarides]

I don't know if the performance is over yet, but does anyone have anything to report?

[Robbie2]

GeorgeandDot said: "I love the actors involved, but Jack O'Brien's attachment made me avoid this like the plague. I'll wait to purchase tickets until I hear about how it is. I'm sure others are doing the same."

 

I Love Benning but the same here...We'll wait. Jack ruined my excitement for this when I heard he was Directing.

[haterobics]

Jeffrey Karasarides said: "I don't know if the performance is over yet, but I'll be leaving this post here for anyone to give their first preview report."

I think people could sort out how to post them without this, no?!

[Jeffrey Karasarides]

^Clearly, that wasn't what I intended.

[bjh2114]

Just got home from the first preview. This one is tricky. I'm not sure if I'm just being super picky because I really like the play or if the whole thing really was blander than I would like.

I'll start with the good. Ben Walker is fantastic as Chris. He gives a really thoughtful performance (and this is coming from someone who has never been a big fan of his). For me, he was the clear standout. I thought the design elements (the set in particular) were nice, though some of the costumes seemed like strange choices. Also, I wanted Larry's memorial tree to be more exciting.

Annette and Tracy are good but not great. They both didn't give me what I wanted in Act 1, but they brought more in Acts 2 and 3. I'm hoping they'll both sharpen up their choices after tonight's first preview. 

As someone who liked Francesca Carpanini in The Little Foxes, I have to say I was very disappointed with her Ann. She delivered her lines like she was reading them off the page, and she really never seemed present. Honestly, it reminded me a lot of the Katie Holmes interpretation from ten years ago. She had some solid scenes towards the end of the play, but everything else fell a little flat.

I thought the supporting cast (with the exception of a cheerful Jenni Barber as Lydia) was pretty terrible. In particular, Nehal Joshi as Frank was fairly awkward.

And then the truly bad. Hampton Fluker as George gave a performance that was full of... choices. I hope that this being the first preview of his Broadway debut means that he was overcompensating due to nerves or excitement, but if he doesn't reign that performance in, he's going to get eaten alive by the critics. His performance screamed "I am trying to find the DEPTH of my charactAH!"

I think O'Brien's direction could be deemed bland, but I don't think it's offensively bad. This is certainly better than the 2008 production, but it was missing the crackle I wanted. I'll be curious to hear what others think. I could see other people having COMPLETELY different takes on this one since it feels like a lot could be sharpened during the preview period.

Also, the show ran 2 hours and 20 minutes including a 15 minute intermission after Act 1 and a 3-minute pause after Act 2.

 

[WhizzerMarvin]

With All My Sons another season has come to a close. Its final offering is certainly respectable, if never quite thrilling.

I know people seem scared to see this based on the director replacement drama/Jack O’Brien’s involvement, but honestly this barely felt directed at all. It’s an extremely straightforward and accessible production of the play, the kind you would see at a college or standard regional theater. I would have to pull out my copy of the Miller’s works to verify, but it felt like the actors simply followed the stage directions to the letter (Kate enters stage right, crosses the chair and pours a glass of grape juice for George type stuff). Basically this is the anti-Ivo production, and given the two extremely, I’ll gladly take this one.

Without the director having much vision, this leaves everything in the hands of the actors. The last revival was all about Katie Homes- remember how the press went wild when Tom was in the audience!- and this time around it’s all about Bening. I thought she was very good, especially in acts two and three. This is the perfect type of role for her.

Letts is fine, but I preferred Lithgow’s performance from the last revival. The latter had a streak of guilt and frailty under all the lies and bulster that I found very affecting. Letts is like a steamroller, which makes the ending come a little out of left field this time around.

I do like All My Sons as a play a lot (there’s Chekhov, Ibsen and Greek tragedy all rolled into one and delivered via Miller’s fine prose), but along with View From the Bridge and Williams’ Cat and Streetcar, it sometimes feels like these are the only four American plays ever written. I guess it’s like comfort food- and who doesn’t like mac and cheese or grilled cheese and tomato soup?- but at this point, if you’re going to mount another production, shouldn’t there be a point of view?

Of course the third act will always be moving as the secrets come tumbling out and the truth must be reckoned with , but when the secrets are already known, a pedestrian production with fine acting rarely will rise above “good.”

[bjh2114]

^I fully agree with this assessment, Whizzer. Would you agree with me that this seems to make Waverly Gallery the frontrunner for Best Revival?