I thought Julian Ovenden was fine but Lily James was truly awful. Gillian Anderson started out really rough but seemed to tone down the overacting as the play went on. Or maybe she was just overacting less than everyone else was so the bar was low.
Saw it in London in March- of 6 plays in 4 days- absolutely the worst- sterile and empty and an expensive waste of time. However, Company, Come From Away, Tina and the others more than made up for this colossal waste of time.
I saw it in London a couple weeks ago and the NT Live broadcast this past Monday. I have to say, the broadcast doesn’t quite give the picture of what I saw on stage. I really loved it live, though I wonder how much of that has to do with never having seen the original film. Thought Gillian Anderson and Monica Dolan (who just rightfully won the Olivier for her work here) were particularly excellent and enjoyed Lily James more in retrospect once we find out her real motivations. Wasn’t huge on some of the staging-meets-film moments, but overall found it a thrilling night of theatre. Worlds better than Network, in my opinion.
The broadcast, on the other hand, felt incredibly stilted and full of overacting. Didn’t love the men seeing it live either, but they came off especially schmaltzy on film. Lily James falls into this trap as well. Many of the more over-the-top acting moments read so much better coming from a stage, one of the usual complaints I have with these broadcasts.
I was at the NT Live screening at the Beekman last night and wow what a boring evening.
Aside from Monica Dolan and Stanley Townsend everyone was incredibly dull. I appreciated the use of the video cameras in the vanity and bathroom mirrors, but otherwise it felt unnecessary and obtrusive.
It only truly felt alive during the scene with Eve and Karen in the ladies room and then the scene with Eve and Addison towards the end.
The underscoring throughout was really tedious. The longer musical pieces though were fine, but the rest wasn't needed.
I think the pre-show stuff (the talking about upcoming broadcasts and the short film introduction) was actually closer to 15-20 minutes. The whole evening was 2 hours and 20 minutes. After about a half hour I was really hoping for an intermission, but no it just kept going. (Probably should have researched that beforehand.)
joined:1/9/16
joined:
1/9/16
Posted: 5/8/19 at 12:09am