IMPRESSIONISM first preview reviews?- Page 3

[Mister Matt]

Posted: 3/4/09 at 10:36am

Festen...I'm still so upset over what happened to that show.

Seriously, can anyone give an articulate explanation why they hated this challenging (if admittedly flawed) work? or shall we keep posting blanket statements, hyperbolic adjectives and synonyms for "bad"?

Be thankful it's not a musical, where those sort of responses are considered completely acceptable reviews.

[DavidMattingly]

Posted: 3/14/09 at 2:07pm

Does anyone know who did the awful painting of the old couple on the park bench? It looks like a bad amateur painter did it, and I found it weird how the last section of the play revolved around such an ugly painting. The poster for the show was done by Craig Nelson, who was one of my painting teachers in art school, and I wondered why they just didn't get him to to a new painting for the show--he could have produced a better painting of the same subject with the paintbrush stuck up his nose!
Also, the photo that is the center of the play, or a half a boys face with an out of focus tree behind him, was an obvious photoshop sandwiching of 2 different photos. The highlight on the boys face was white, while the sky behind him was yellow, showing it wasn't a single photo. Again, it plays a pivotal part in the play, but was such a bad picture that I didn't see why anyone would want to have it. When Joan Allen is first show the picture, she is moved to tears, and I wondered if she was maybe looking at another picture. There is very little that is moving in the picture other than to wonder why it was chosen.
Overall, it was a play about art written by someone who seemed to know very little about art, or running a gallery. Two very talented actors trapped in the middle of a jaw-droppingly bad play.