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| Mother Play is an embarrassment (spoilers) | |
| Posted by: workerbee 10:53 pm EDT 04/30/24 | |
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| Every second was predictable. There is no insight. The writing lacks retrospect. It is shallow. The mother tells her kids that she never wanted to be a mother over and over again, and each time it is delivered the exact same way. No cumulative understanding accrues as the play should unfold but doesn't. Lack of craft pervades. Jim Parsons is totally wrong, he tries to play it for laughs, the pain and sensitivity of the character is lost. This is not a good play. Tina Landau tries to create filler but it can't give the play complexity. | |
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| re: Mother Play is an embarrassment (spoilers) | |
| Posted by: NeoAdamite 02:12 pm EDT 05/01/24 | |
| In reply to: Mother Play is an embarrassment (spoilers) - workerbee 10:53 pm EDT 04/30/24 | |
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| Obviously there were many experienced playgoers, including myself, who found more than enough to make for a compelling evening. I'm sorry you didn't. Perhaps having heard "I have no son" from my own mother made it easier for me to get drawn in? Yes, the first time the brother's dialog was underscored by "Pavane for a Dead Princess" it was clear where his story was going. I didn't mind, it wasn't the subject (the way it was with The Inheritance). In any case, I found this portrait of a pathological narcissist precisely drawn and, fortunately, warmer than its subject. I didn't know Vogel's personal history before seeing the show, perhaps that made a difference? |
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| re: "Obviously there were many experienced playgoers, including myself, who found more than enough to make for a compelling evening" | |
| Posted by: Dale 07:11 pm EDT 05/01/24 | |
| In reply to: re: Mother Play is an embarrassment (spoilers) - NeoAdamite 02:12 pm EDT 05/01/24 | |
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| Explain the break dancing cockroaches and the seven minute version of "Moon River" | |
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| re: Mother Play is an embarrassment (spoilers) | |
| Posted by: duckylittledictum 07:53 am EDT 05/01/24 | |
| In reply to: Mother Play is an embarrassment (spoilers) - workerbee 10:53 pm EDT 04/30/24 | |
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| Totally agree. A real head scratcher. The reverence/affection for the playwright and the actors runs very deep, however misguided. | |
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| re: Mother Play is an embarrassment (spoilers) | |
| Posted by: RAR85558 01:32 am EDT 05/01/24 | |
| In reply to: Mother Play is an embarrassment (spoilers) - workerbee 10:53 pm EDT 04/30/24 | |
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| Thank you for spreading the truth. I cannot believe the reviews and the nominations for this show. It is a crime that Jessica Lange is back on Bway, and this is what she is doing. And Jim Parsons appears to have walked in from a different show. He is not good in this. There wasn't a moment in the show that was interesting or incisive. It was a joy to see it end. Indeed, an embarrassment. | |
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| re: Mother Play is an embarrassment (spoilers) | |
| Posted by: OJaffee 01:19 pm EDT 05/01/24 | |
| In reply to: re: Mother Play is an embarrassment (spoilers) - RAR85558 01:32 am EDT 05/01/24 | |
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| I expected Micheal Imperioli or Will Keen before Parsons. Easily. | |
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| Olivier! Olivier! | |
| Posted by: WaymanWong 09:11 pm EDT 05/01/24 | |
| In reply to: re: Mother Play is an embarrassment (spoilers) - OJaffee 01:19 pm EDT 05/01/24 | |
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| It's especially surprising that Keen didn't score a Featured Actor nomination, especially since he WON the Olivier for the same role in ''Patriots.'' But he's not alone. Hiran Abeysekera won the Olivier for ''Life of Pi'' in London, but the Tony nominators passed him over for his Broadway debut. Kyle Soller won the Olivier for ''The Inheritance,'' but he wasn't nominated for a Leading Tony. Instead, his co-star, Andrew Burnap was, and won! |
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| Olivier, but not Tony | |
| Last Edit: BroadwayTonyJ 09:02 am EDT 05/02/24 | |
| Posted by: BroadwayTonyJ 08:56 am EDT 05/02/24 | |
| In reply to: Olivier! Olivier! - WaymanWong 09:11 pm EDT 05/01/24 | |
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| Two completely different groups of voters came to different conclusions. Not hard to understand really. Look how different the opinions are on ATC. Some people here love (or like) Hell's Kitchen and Back to the Future, others here absolutely hate both shows. Should the Tony nominators vote for actors simply because the Olivier nominators chose them or should they evaluate them based on what they themselves experienced seeing their performances on a Broadway stage? |
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| re: Olivier, but not Tony | |
| Posted by: WaymanWong 12:35 am EDT 05/03/24 | |
| In reply to: Olivier, but not Tony - BroadwayTonyJ 08:56 am EDT 05/02/24 | |
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| ''Two completely different groups of voters came to different conclusions.'' Duh! So much for stating the obvious. |
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| re: Olivier, but not Tony | |
| Last Edit: BroadwayTonyJ 09:07 am EDT 05/03/24 | |
| Posted by: BroadwayTonyJ 09:00 am EDT 05/03/24 | |
| In reply to: re: Olivier, but not Tony - WaymanWong 12:35 am EDT 05/03/24 | |
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| If it's so obvious, why does your previous post state that it's "surprising" that different groups of nominating voters come to different conclusions when voting. Comparing the results of two different groups of voting nominators is like comparing apples to oranges. Just saying. IMO, that is definitely obvious. |
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| re: Olivier, but not Tony | |
| Last Edit: WaymanWong 03:32 pm EDT 05/03/24 | |
| Posted by: WaymanWong 03:25 pm EDT 05/03/24 | |
| In reply to: re: Olivier, but not Tony - BroadwayTonyJ 09:00 am EDT 05/03/24 | |
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| Because there IS a history of Olivier winners and nominees who have come to Broadway, hoping to repeat their acclaim and receive awards attention. Recent Olivier-winning plays from London that then won the Best Play Tony: ''Harry Potter,'' ''The Ferryman,'' ''The Inheritance,'' ''Leopoldstadt,'' etc. Conversely, Tony-winning musicals that went on to win the Olivier: ''The Book of Mormon,'' ''Kinky Boots,'' ''Hamilton,'' ''Dear Evan Hansen,'' etc. Among performers, Eddie Redmayne won the Olivier for ''Cabaret''; he just got a Tony nomination earlier this week. Nicole Scherzinger and Tom Francis just won the Oliviers for ''Sunset Blvd.''; I'd be shocked if the two of them weren't at least Tony nominees in '25. Being an Olivier winner/nominee is no guarantee of Tony success, or vice versa, but sometimes performers get prizes/nominations on both coasts. Chances are, if you're an Olivier winner/nominee, or a Tony winner/nominee, you've probably got a flashier role than others that's awards bait. |
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| I’m surprised it got a best play nomination. | |
| Last Edit: dramedy 11:13 pm EDT 04/30/24 | |
| Posted by: dramedy 11:13 pm EDT 04/30/24 | |
| In reply to: Mother Play is an embarrassment (spoilers) - workerbee 10:53 pm EDT 04/30/24 | |
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| I thought patriots was much more interesting and relevant. But I only saw four broadway plays this season—jaja, mother play, stereophonic and patriots. | |
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| re: I’m surprised it got a best play nomination. | |
| Posted by: WaymanWong 11:42 pm EDT 04/30/24 | |
| In reply to: I’m surprised it got a best play nomination. - dramedy 11:13 pm EDT 04/30/24 | |
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| Here's a case where the Tony nominators should've cut back to only 4 slots for Best Play. I thought ''Mother Play'' and ''Patriots'' were both boring. I would've been happier to see Jessica Lange, Jim Parsons and Celia Keenan-Bolger in a revival of ''The Glass Menagerie'' instead. |
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| re: "I would've been happier to see Jessica Lange, Jim Parsons and Celia Keenan-Bolger in a revival of ''The Glass Menagerie''..." | |
| Posted by: Dale 07:13 pm EDT 05/01/24 | |
| In reply to: re: I’m surprised it got a best play nomination. - WaymanWong 11:42 pm EDT 04/30/24 | |
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| Parsons wouldn't have made a very good Amanda... trust me! | |
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| Some 'Glass' reflection | |
| Posted by: WaymanWong 09:14 pm EDT 05/01/24 | |
| In reply to: re: "I would've been happier to see Jessica Lange, Jim Parsons and Celia Keenan-Bolger in a revival of ''The Glass Menagerie''..." - Dale 07:13 pm EDT 05/01/24 | |
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| Parsons could've been a good Tom. But who'll play the Gentleman Caller? It seems like Jonathan Bailey and Nicholas Galitzine are cast in everything! | |
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| re: I’m surprised it got a best play nomination. | |
| Last Edit: ShowGoer 07:42 am EDT 05/01/24 | |
| Posted by: ShowGoer 07:41 am EDT 05/01/24 | |
| In reply to: re: I’m surprised it got a best play nomination. - WaymanWong 11:42 pm EDT 04/30/24 | |
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| “ I would've been happier to see Jessica Lange, Jim Parsons and Celia Keenan-Bolger in a revival of ''The Glass Menagerie'' instead.” I mean two of those three actors played those roles in Broadway revivals of Menagerie, one 18 years ago and the other a decade ago. And neither of those was even the most recent Broadway revival, with Sally Field, which was only a half dozen years ago or so. (Which doesn’t count the Judith Ivey off-Broadway revival at the Roundabout 14 years ago.) There’d been some early speculation the Amy Adams revival in London last year might transfer, but even though she sounded miscast and even before the reviews came out, I couldn’t help but think that play, good as it is, and even with all these different great performers taking it on, has by now just been overexposed. I would never say “let’s put a moratorium” on such-and-such play - but even Death of a Salesman has only had 4 major New York productions in the last half century, while Menagerie has had at least that many in thee past 2 decades. Quite apart from the reviews and the nominations, and even if it winds up being disappointing, I for one am very much looking forward to seeing this Tony-nominated cast in a new play by one of our important playwrights, as opposed to seeing some of them do roles I’ve already seen them play in 2005 and 2014. |
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| (and by the way Wayman…) | |
| Posted by: ShowGoer 08:19 am EDT 05/01/24 | |
| In reply to: re: I’m surprised it got a best play nomination. - ShowGoer 07:41 am EDT 05/01/24 | |
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| I know YOU know all of the above, and were presumably just making a joke to make a point. So if my post seemed dogmatic or snarky it was only for the sake of making my own! Also… I may as well address this to you, since when I wrote my post 24 hours ago about predicting the Best Musical nominees correctly, I didn’t mean to gloat or be a know-it-all; I was mostly just surprised I guessed right for one of the first times ever. For whatever reason (pandemic? the glut of newly opened shows?) I just had a gut feeling the nominators this year wouldn’t reach back to fill the category with departed shows, but for the record I truly wish there had been 6 or even 7 nominees, and that both Here Lies Love and Days of Wine and Roses had both gotten in (possibly over some of the ones that did, not all of which I’ve seen). I’m on the record somewhere here saying that personally I don’t think Here Lies Love is that much more of an actual musical than Illinoise is – nor do I think it worked quite as well at the Broadway Theatre, spectacular as it was, as at the Public years ago. But that’s only my take, and either way it doesn’t mean that the show itself and some of those performers didn’t deserve to be remembered along with the score and design elements. |
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| re: (and by the way Wayman…) | |
| Posted by: mikem 12:11 pm EDT 05/01/24 | |
| In reply to: (and by the way Wayman…) - ShowGoer 08:19 am EDT 05/01/24 | |
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| I also felt that Here Lies Love didn't work as well in the Broadway Theatre as it did at the Public. I think it's partially because the audience was so much larger that it kind of felt like we were being herded around rather than it feeling immersive like it did at the Public, at least for me. (spoilers) And I also thought the ending didn't work nearly as well. At the Public, the audience is standing and running around for the show, then at the end, the Marcoses are gone, and we all sit and it's kind of peaceful. I guess there was no obvious method for having the audience sit at the Broadway Theatre, but I think the effect of the end was really blunted by this change. ShowGoer, I'm kind of surprised that you don't think Here Lies Love is any more of a musical than Illinoise. My understanding is that the songs for Here Lies Love were written to tell a story, and I don't think it's a whole lot different from a lot of sung-through musicals. What elements do you wish that it had that it doesn't? |
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| re: Illinoise | |
| Posted by: ShowGoer 09:57 pm EDT 05/01/24 | |
| In reply to: re: (and by the way Wayman…) - mikem 12:11 pm EDT 05/01/24 | |
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| “ShowGoer, I'm kind of surprised that you don't think Here Lies Love is any more of a musical than Illinoise. My understanding is that the songs for Here Lies Love were written to tell a story, and I don't think it's a whole lot different from a lot of sung-through musicals. What elements do you wish that it had that it doesn't?” Let me be clear, Illinoise is a spectacular evening of theatre and dance, and must be seen. That said (and I’m glad I knew this going in) David Rooney at the Hollywood Repoter may have put it best (in a rave review): “ Stevens’ swooning melodies, both lush and ethereal, and lyrics that are whimsical one moment and piercing the next, only occasionally are interpreted literally. More often, the songs serve as abstract reflections of the stories being shared by the dancers.” That’s not really a musical, least not by my definition - the songs certainly weren’t written for the characters, since the arc of the stage show wasn’t even created until nearly 20 years after the album came out…. and yet the stage conceptualization and the plot they’ve come up with only occasionally reflects the arc of the original album. On top of which, the characters aren’t singing their thoughts- they’re dancing their feelings, while 3 different vocalists sing the original album up above. It’s not that they’re all working at cross-purposes, or that the two halves of the show don’t reflect and refract each other. But even more than your average jukebox book show, it still feels like a plot grafted onto a CD, that then has a live performance of that CD accompanying the dances that were choreographed to it It’s a hodgepodge that works so much better than it should, since the cast and Justin Peck put on a hell of a show. But on the whole it’s more somilar to when a Lincoln Center choreographer will stage a ballet of dances to one particular composer or composition than it is to the generally accepted definitions of musical theater storytelling. |
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| re: (and by the way Wayman…) | |
| Last Edit: WaymanWong 11:36 am EDT 05/01/24 | |
| Posted by: WaymanWong 11:32 am EDT 05/01/24 | |
| In reply to: (and by the way Wayman…) - ShowGoer 08:19 am EDT 05/01/24 | |
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| ''The Glass Menagerie'' is one of my all-time faves, so I saw Lange in the 2005 Broadway revival and Keenan-Bolger in the definitive 2012 revival. But I went into ''Mother Play'' with high hopes, knowing that I was seeing a NEW play by Paula Vogel, the esteemed playwright of ''How I Learned to Drive,'' and the anticipation of seeing Lange originate a role. Thus, it was with great disappointment that it turned out to tread the familiar territory of a domineering mother and her adult children. I understand it's based on Vogel's mother, but unlike Tennessee Williams' similarly semi-autobiographical ''Glass Menagerie,'' I didn't think Vogel found a way to translate it into something distinctively her own. Even its title, ''Mother Play,'' seems so blah and generic. |
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| Well. A few things. Spoilers | |
| Last Edit: dramedy 12:10 pm EDT 05/01/24 | |
| Posted by: dramedy 12:06 pm EDT 05/01/24 | |
| In reply to: re: (and by the way Wayman…) - WaymanWong 11:32 am EDT 05/01/24 | |
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| I had to look up 2012 GM to see it was cherry jones—not really CeliaKB revival. I did see that. I think it’s a mistake to say mother play is about Lange. I know the tony committee did and probably producers. But if an unknown actress played the mother, I think the daughter would be considered the lead as narrator of the show from first scene alone on stage to last words on stage (was she alone or was lange still there). And I really think the focal point of the play is the brother and AIDS. As soon as she opened the box and said it was her brothers belongings, I knew it was an aids play about her brother. There are many problems with the play starting with casting actors that are basically AARP members (CKB is 46) playing young adults and midlife mother. |
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| re: Well. A few things. Spoilers | |
| Posted by: JereNYC (JereNYC@aol.com) 04:12 pm EDT 05/01/24 | |
| In reply to: Well. A few things. Spoilers - dramedy 12:06 pm EDT 05/01/24 | |
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| "There are many problems with the play starting with casting actors that are basically AARP members (CKB is 46) playing young adults and midlife mother." The play takes place over several decades in the life of this family. You have to cast someone...I can't imagine any production casting multiple actors in all these roles (a la THE NOTEBOOK) to capture the characters as they age. You just have to go with it. It's not all that uncommon in theatre to see actors playing characters as they age over time. |
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| I would think actors in their 20s for kids spoilers | |
| Posted by: dramedy 04:58 pm EDT 05/01/24 | |
| In reply to: re: Well. A few things. Spoilers - JereNYC 04:12 pm EDT 05/01/24 | |
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| And 40s for mom. The son dies in his 30s from aids and parsons is in his 50s. I guess it’s a memory play for the daughter but did she remember her brother older than he ever would be? |
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