FOT Forum
FOT Community => General Discussion => Topic started by: crumbum on December 31, 2008, 01:29:48 PM
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I saw it last week while visiting NY and I want someone who knows theatre (I know there are a few of you on this board) to explain the fuss to me. I very rarely go to plays so I have little to compare it to, but I read so much insane hype that I guess I was expecting a life-changing experience.
What I got was an extremely well-crafted, fairly engrossing black comedy about a wacky family. Sure, the final act had some tragic weight to it, but still... is it really, as I've repeatedly heard, the best thing that's been produced in the past few years?
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is it really, as I've repeatedly heard, the best thing that's been produced in the past few years?
No. This is. http://www.stannswarehouse.org/current_season.php?show_id=9 (http://www.stannswarehouse.org/current_season.php?show_id=9)
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I enjoyed "August: Osage County," but I did not think it was the super-play everyone else was raving about. A lot of it felt like a superficial soap opera.
Also, the high point is the end of the second act. The third act was a major let-down. If it had ended after the dinner portion, it would have been much better in my opinion.
That being said, there was a lot to love. The acting was top-notch. Much of the dialogue was wonderfully vicious...making Neil Labute characters seem like Teletubbies.
Long and short: If you go in with normal expectations, you are going to be blown away. If you go in thinking it is the play to end all plays, you will be majorly let down.
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That pretty much sums up my reaction, although I didn't have a problem with the final act. Showing the consequences of the characters' actions gave the whole work a more tragic dimension (though I could have done without the blackout singsong at the very end -- it was a cheap effect). But I agree that the finale of the second act was the high point.
Supposedly Michael Shannon (of 'Bug' fame, also now in Reservation Road) was going to be in the cast but had to drop out -- I assume he would have played Little Charles. Although the actor currently in the part was fine, he seemed a bit innocuous. Michael Shannon could have brought some welcome creepiness to that role.
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You guys are all 100% correct, though I couldn't muster the interest to go check out Black Watch. I used to be on the email list for all the literary managers of the big theaters in the US and Canada, and one of them saw it in Chicago and gushed that it was "the future of the American theater!!!" which it hopefully is not. I wish I could say that I quit the list after that, but I stayed on for another six months and quit after a stupid argument over Arthur Magazine. Oh theater, what are we gonna do with you?
Here is something I learned: when there's a play "everyone" is raving about, only see it if it's free. Most theater critics are boring idiots who despise innovation of any kind. Some of them are stuck in the 1950s, some in the 80s, but few mainstream critics have made it past 1992, culturally speaking. Asking friends is almost always better. Barring that, Time Out NY and the Village Voice usually have good taste. Also, there are a handful of theaters where you can take your chances -- almost anything at Soho Rep is going to be great, and PS122 and The Kitchen are kind of like WFMU -- hit-or-miss, but invariably interesting, and when they hit they're awesome.
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] and one of them saw it in Chicago and gushed that it was "the future of the American theater!!!" which it hopefully is not.
The future of American theater is holograms.
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The future of Cirque du Soleil maybe.
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Here is something I learned: when there's a play "everyone" is raving about, only see it if it's free. Most theater critics are boring idiots who despise innovation of any kind. Some of them are stuck in the 1950s, some in the 80s, but few mainstream critics have made it past 1992, culturally speaking. Asking friends is almost always better. Barring that, Time Out NY and the Village Voice usually have good taste. Also, there are a handful of theaters where you can take your chances -- almost anything at Soho Rep is going to be great, and PS122 and The Kitchen are kind of like WFMU -- hit-or-miss, but invariably interesting, and when they hit they're awesome.
I'll be sure to follow that advice next time I come to town.
At least I got to sit near Heather Graham.
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] and one of them saw it in Chicago and gushed that it was "the future of the American theater!!!" which it hopefully is not.
The future present of American theater CNN is holograms.
FIX-ed.
I thought it was a pretty good play, but I go to the theatre so rarely (sorry Grote) that I can't really judge one way or the other. Prezbo from the Wire was in it when I saw it, which was definitely entertaining and snicker-inducing.
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Actually this gave me an idea for a play, sort of like Frost/Nixon, except it's a drama about the historical hologram discussion between Wolf Blitzer and Will.I.Am.
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Actually this gave me an idea for a play, sort of like Frost/Nixon, except it's a drama about the historical hologram discussion between Wolf Blitzer and Will.I.Am.
1. Add a love story between them.
2. Turn it into a movie.
3. Wait 10 years.
4. Turn it into a sanitized Disney animated musical
5. Then, apparently, you are automatically granted a Broadway show, from what I understand.