FAR FROM HEAVEN first preview?- Page 2

[CurtainPullDowner]

Posted: 5/9/13 at 11:52pm

Does anyone have the inside info if this scheduling was planned so they could shut down for a couple of months, Kelli pops out a beautiful baby and then they open on the Broadway?
And this opens up Mrs. Anna?

[AC126748]

Posted: 5/10/13 at 8:43am

What's the current running time?

[WhizzerMarvin]

Posted: 5/10/13 at 8:46am

It was about 2:15/20 with an intermission.

[sing_dance_love]

Posted: 5/11/13 at 6:39pm

Saw this last night and agree with much of what has been said. Far From Heaven is one of my favorite films, Grey Gardens has one of my favorite scores, and Kelli O'Hara might be my favorite actress...so there was a lot to be excited about for me.

Luckily, the show is lovely and Kelli really is in fantastic form. The style of the music fits her voice perfectly, and completely agree about her fully-formed characterization.

Anderson is excellent, Pasquale fine, though with a character with a lot less depth to work with.

The score is unconventional, more like a jazz opera. But with so many lovely melodies and a fascinating complexity. I really loved the way certain moments from the film were musicalized ("Miro", "Tuesdays, Thursdays", among others) in surprising and moving ways.

It definitely still needs some investigation, and tinkering with the pace, smoothness of the action, and incorporating the design with the themes and material, but that's what previews are for.

I'm very interested to see how this show develops and what the next step will be after the Playwrights run.

[RippedMan]

Posted: 5/12/13 at 3:01am

Strange but on the Playwrights website it says every performance is sold out. That true? Lame. I guess I hope it goes somewhere after they are done with it. Although, I guess it won't be for a while with her pregnancy?

[notabb]

Posted: 5/12/13 at 5:58am

I'd keep my eyes open for a one week extension. I'd doubt there'd be more and the tickets would probably go fast but it would give people who were shut out another chance. Playwrights did let subscribers know they expected it to sell out . It's worth seeing. The score is beautiful.

[jv92]

Posted: 5/13/13 at 2:25pm

I wish I could say I loved this show, but aside from Kelli O'Hara and some gorgeous music and lyrics, it was the very definition of a "Why?" musical. What was a wonderful film, and worked beautifully onscreen floundered onstage. I think the fault is the book, and the tone. I'm not saying that the story shouldn't take itself seriously, but part of the charm and delight of the film was the fact that it was an obvious "pastiche" of Sirk and the type of films he made. No so here. Everything is taken so seriously and everything feels so somber-- no thanks to the truly ugly set.

However, despite my very mixed reaction, I really cannot wait to hear the cast album should one get made. Kelli was so "right" for this part, and the score was up to the GG standard, particularly the last 3 or 4 numbers in the first act.

[mamaleh]

Posted: 5/13/13 at 2:51pm

Saw the matinee yesterday. I hadn't realize so much of the dialogue is delivered operatic recitative style. The lush music fits the story well, although I would have liked an upbeat song for a bit of relief, especially in Act II. O'Hara, Pasquale and Johnson are in gorgeous voice, and the acting is just as good. At the talkback, some of the audience (including me) indicated that we felt the ending was too abrupt. The creatives said they were going to put in changes that address that issue during this week.

[jv92]

Posted: 5/13/13 at 3:00pm

I wish I had stayed for the talk back, but I just didn't have the time. I saw Frankel and Korie hanging out in the aisle at the end of the show, so I'm sure they would have had enlightening things to say. It was an ambitiously beautiful score despite my misgivings.

[Owen22]

Posted: 5/13/13 at 6:19pm

I saw this on Friday and have just been too, well, bored to offer up a critique. When it became clear that the creatives weren't going to attack the adaptation in the way I wanted them to I hoped there was something that would pull me in. That never happened.

With the single exception of Harry Connick Jr, why is it that Kelli O'Hara, as lovely as she is, can never generate heat of any kind of real chemistry with a male costar? And this time was worse than most (South Pacific has such a romantic score, it could sorta replace the requisite combustibility). Isaiah Johnson is not nearly handsome enough but that would be okay if he wasn't so boring and flat in the role of Raymond, or at least had some sexual click with O'Hara. Why would she dare everything to be with this man?

I love the score of Grey Gardens. And this score is no Grey Gardens. It has that horrible sung-recit/off Broadway musical/faux Sondheim/ thing going on that sorta spoiled Giant (though LaChuisa himself pioneered that sound). Sometimes a song would finally find its footing and I could actually sit back and relax and fall into the play's world. That happened rarely.

Michael Grief is just not a great director. He's competent, yes. But why would he just basically copy the set of Next To Normal, a very current show, and think that that kind of industrial look with projections would cut it in a show set in a 50's that supposed to reflect a florid and lush living style? Its horrible.

Its also 2 hours and twenty minutes and 86 bucks I'll never get back.

Updated On: 5/13/13 at 06:19 PM

[jv92]

Posted: 5/13/13 at 6:37pm

I don't think Grief is brilliant, but I do think he's done good work. I was disappointed in his visual approach, and of course, the set designer's, too.

[Auggie27]

Posted: 5/13/13 at 11:11pm

Were these the sets/projections used at Williamstown? A style determined to (help) define the show? I'm curious, too, that the material didn't inspire more traditional approach to design. Not that such a framework is required, only that it wasn't considered. The film is unique homage in that every aspect is heightened, yet eschews wink-wink, self consciousness. Its lushness of design matches its richness of emotional expression, but without the distancing patina of camp. I'm guessing -- please, making a leap -- that the concern in moving to the stage was to find a theatrical equivalent, a point of access that allows some distance from the material, so that the recreation of the 50s isn't so spot-on, so literalized. The style of the film addresses Sirk's tone, sensibilities and content/sociological obsessions. The musical must take on these components in another art form, with a shorthand that's already highly stylized (i.e. people sing their feelings). Maybe the concern was: too much of a good thing. Let the stylized world speak for itself through story and character, without the distracting overlay of design decisions that might further diffuse what's grounded in emotional truth. Sirk, deconstructed, doesn't have a parallel in the theater.

Updated On: 5/13/13 at 11:11 PM

[RippedMan]

Posted: 5/14/13 at 2:29am

I agree, I dont' think he's a great director. He can pull together a pretty picture, but is there any emotional depth? I don't know.

[moviegod]

Posted: 5/14/13 at 4:45pm

I am dying to see this but now can't find tickets. Does anyone know where I can find resellers online? Tried StubHub and nothing. Also, do rush tix work if everything's supposed to be sold out?

[elmore3003]

Posted: 5/15/13 at 5:15pm

I saw it last Friday: it was like two and a half hours of watching paint dry: meandering notes in search of a melody or tunes that went no where, no drama, and a total bore. I thought the cast, except for the kids, was very good, but it had lousy direction and an ugly set. Thank God Mary Stout showed up occasionally to provide some laughs.

[WiCkEDrOcKS]

Posted: 5/16/13 at 2:38pm

The entire run is sold out! http://playbill.com/news/article/178042-Playwrights-Horizons-Run-of-Far-From-Heaven-With-Kelli-OHara-and-Steven-Pasquale-Is-Sold-Out

[newintown]

Posted: 5/16/13 at 3:05pm

Sadly, I have to join those who found this a total shapeless bore, and boring and ugly to look at to boot. Frankel and Korie are taking themselves very seriously with this one, when they need to have some fun instead.

Very disappointing, as I did love Grey Gardens.

[SFFrontRow]

Posted: 5/16/13 at 4:42pm

Seeing this at the Sunday matinee on the day it opens (opening is the evening performance). Have to say I was afraid I would not be able to get a ticket but was lucky enough to get one on the day they finally started selling to non-members (after delaying the date once or twice). Luckily for me, this aligned with my annual Spring trip to NYC.

A little surprised about the comments on the set. Being at PH, I assumed a more workshop feel, but pics I saw from the WTF seemed to really evoke the ambiance of the film (fall hues, nice lighting, beautiful costumes) - but I can only guess pictures dont translate the actual feel of the production. Did anyone who saw it at WTF think it got the ambiance that was so predominant in the movie?

As for projections, I think that sometimes accomplishes what an actual designed set may not with a sparse set theater piece and kind of evokes memories of my 50's childhood (albeit my INFANT and TODDLER childhood - STOP LAUGHING). That frozen in time and place feeling of a still photo or (lucky for me) home movies.

If anything, it is always exciting seeing a production early in its life and then to see how it grows and expands as it progresses to a larger and larger theater space.

[somethingbypuccini 2]

Posted: 5/16/13 at 11:27pm

I just got back from the show. It wasn't the next Grey Gardens, and it certainly needs some work, but I really enjoyed it. The score is beautiful, and I thought the cast was wonderful. Kelli was radiant, I still can't believe she doesn't have a Tony. I would love it if she finally got one if this transfers. While I don't think the rolde is completely Tony deserving, i could see this potentially being a case of Kelli being honored for her entire body of work to this point. Clearly it's too early to judge though. The second act still needs some work. They rearranged some numbers from what was in the playbill, most notably putting "Picture in Your Mind" after "Tuesdays, Thursdays", but I feel like everything after the vacation still needs to be sorted out. There are some really wonderful moments, but it doesn't work as well as the rest od the show.
I think a major problem is the direction. It felt like the show didn't know exactly what it wanted to be. The sets show this most apparently. I've never seen the movie, but the musical seemed to hint at the humor and wink that everyone here has mentioned, but it never fully realized it.

Irrelevant sidenote, but when Kelli steps out of the top of the stairs in her blue party dress, did anyone else get flashbacks to Victoria Clark in Follies?

[newintown]

Posted: 5/17/13 at 8:25am

"...i could see this potentially being a case of Kelli being honored for her entire body of work to this point."

What, at 37, you're planning a Lifetime Achievement Award for her already?

In 13 years, she's been in 8 Broadway shows (not a bad number); but several of them were of dubious merit (replacement chorus in Jekyll & Hyde, chorus in that awful Roundabout Follies, the uber-flop Dracula, the flop-liked-by-a-few Sweet Smell of Success), leaving commendable success in only four shows (Light In The Piazza, South Pacific, The Pajama Game, and Nice Work If You Can Get It). If you care about such things, she has originated two successful new roles on Broadway thus far (and there's a valid argument that Nice Work isn't really a new role).

The gal is terrific, and her achievements are admirable; it just may be a decade too soon to start talking about being awarded for "her entire body of work to this point."

[sing_dance_love]

Posted: 5/17/13 at 9:21am

I don't think they meant a lifetime achievement award. I think the poster was referring to the situations where an actor wins an award and it is seen as an award making up for their previous losses in more exceptional roles. Where someone was "past due" and they award giving body is not only rewarding them for their work in this instance but their previous award-worthy work. Now, we'll never know if that's how people really vote, but that is the general perception of a few notable cases.

[AC126748]

Posted: 5/18/13 at 10:12am

If anyone is looking for tickets, they just released some online for pretty much every performance between now and next Sunday.

[Bettyboy72]

Posted: 5/19/13 at 9:31pm

I'm surprised at the negativity about the show. I thought it was glorious. The music is beautifully composed in a way that music for the theatre is no longer written. That is what I love about Frankel and Korie. This is not the bombastic "roof raisin'" scores of today. It is delicate, well crafted music written for musicians-not keyboards and synth.

The voices on that stage are sublime and at the top of their game. O'Hara, Pasquale, Anderson, and Johnson are gorgeous to listen to.

They adapt the film beautifully. The ache and melodrama are there, but restrained. I have no idea why people expect them to adapt the "Sirk-like" scenic elements of the film. That makes no sense to me. They adapt the story, the time and emotions terrifically,

To see Kelli O'Hara sing this score in this small theatre is a gift. Her voice is a treasure.

Get a ticket if you can and let it wash over you.

[jayinchelsea]

Posted: 5/20/13 at 10:34pm

Saw it in Williamstown and thought it was a touching but flawed show, but thought Kelli gave her best performance since PIAZZA. Seeing it next week, can't wait to see her again. Didn't think the show was quite strong enough for Broadway, but Kelli is worth the price of admission.

[SonofRobbieJ]

Posted: 5/23/13 at 12:44pm

Saw this on Sunday. This is, perhaps, the most extraordinary score I've heard in about a decade (Not since CAROLINE, OR CHANGE). The lyrics were very good, but it's the music that startles. The performances were terrific and it's very close to being a great evening at the theater.

BUT THAT SET. I've never seen a show so misconceived from a design perspective. newintown, I think there actually is a great deal of fun in the show...you just cannot see it because the show is bizarrely staged on the set from my college's production of THE ME NOBODY KNOWS. It's almost a fatal blow.