IRENA'S VOW Reviews- Page 3

[MiracleElixir]

Posted: 3/30/09 at 1:01am

"Every silver cloud...


I think you've got silver in the wrong spot in that adage."

Yikes, banged that out quickly. Corrected.

[April Saul]

Posted: 3/30/09 at 1:05am

I don't know the history of this particular feud, but WOT saying he despises Isherwood--who ain't posting here--is hardly the same thing as Elixir calling WOT an "arrogant, bitchy theater queen" for doing it. Elixir, unless you're Isherwood's distant cousin or paid defender, could we possibly debate issues here without ripping each other to shreds? And WOT, I'm expressing my own disappointment with Isherwood's review of Irena's Vow on the other board without getting the crap beaten out of me; feel free to join me over there!

[MiracleElixir]

Posted: 3/30/09 at 1:16am

For the record, I know WAT (not WOT, April, get your acronyms right), and have met him. I'm not going purely based off of board-posted comments. And he's hardly "getting the crap beaten out of him" for being disappointed with Isherwood. No one's "beating the crap out of him" and he never once expressed "disappointment" or gave an "opinion."

Believe it or not, it's quite possible to have conversations with people you disagree with, where one can be polite and civil, and have mutually beneficial discourse where we can share and exchange varying opinions and often gain insight into the other person's perspective. In fact, I think one of the great things about this board is just that, that people can share and debate opinions. What WAT did/does is something much more vicious/destructive/counterproductive.

He said Isherwood was SO WRONG and that he "despised" him because he didn't like Irena's Vow. Considering there's a number of folks on here that also weren't so hot on the show, how can you not comprehend why his arrogant, ignorant comments might make them angry?

Go have fun "on the other board" with WithoutATrace. We'll be just fine over here without you.
Updated On: 3/30/09 at 01:16 AM

[TheActr97J]

Posted: 3/30/09 at 1:17am

Tovah was very good, but with all the other great female performances this year, in no way would I call her performance Tony-worthy. I'd love for the award to go to Marcia Gay Harden.

[MiracleElixir]

Posted: 3/30/09 at 1:24am

I'm with you TheActr. I LOVED Scott Thomas, but I preferred Gay Harden.

[ray-andallthatjazz86]

Posted: 3/30/09 at 1:26am

I think Isherwood gives very detailed reasons as to why he thought it was a badly-written play. Here's the whole review:

"I was 18, my dear children, when the Russians overran our position," she says, "and I was taken by nine Russian soldiers into the forest and beaten and raped by them. ... I had never been ... unchaperoned with a boy before. ... That was my first date."

Date? The term is a little jarring, and it is just the first of many unseemly moments in Mr. Gordon?s rendering of a life story encompassing unimaginable suffering. This history deserves attention and respect. The name of Ms. Opdyke, who died in 2003, appears next to Oskar Schindler's on the wall honoring the Righteous Among the Nations in Jerusalem. But as compressed into 90 minutes of stage time, Irena?s personal tragedy and inspiring courage are mostly cheapened into suspense-driven melodrama.

http://theater2.nytimes.com/2009/03/30/theater/reviews/30irena.html

Updated On: 3/30/09 at 01:26 AM

[TheActr97J]

Posted: 3/30/09 at 1:29am

In my opinion, the way the material was presented didn't really give Tovah the chance to do any real emotional heavy lifting. The fourth wall-breaking narrative structure never allowed her to disappear into the character and just be alive onstage in the character's skin.

Gay Harden did just that. She was alive and full of subtlety, complexity, and nuance. Irena's Vow affords Feldshuh very little opportunity for that, but bless her, she does her very best in spite of the weakness of the play.

[WithoutATrace]

Posted: 3/30/09 at 1:31am

April Saul, thank you for your comments. It was so nice meeting you at the performance of THE SAVANNAH DISPUTATION that we saw and I hope to run into you again at the theater in the future.

IRENA'S VOW really needed glowing reviews in order to keep it afloat. I'm not sure how long it will last now that the Times panned it, but hopefully the marketing team will make one last effort (and a first effort) to get people to buy tickets to this show.

As for the Tony, I'm still pulling for Tovah, but has anyone not gotten glowing reviews and still won the Tony Award in the past? Did LaChanze gets across the board raves for THE COLOR PURPLE? (or is it unfair to compare plays to musicals?)

[TheActr97J]

Posted: 3/30/09 at 1:36am

Hate to be a parade-rainer, but Tovah is a very big long shot to win the Tony.

[WithoutATrace]

Posted: 3/30/09 at 1:41am

"Hate to be a parade-rainer, but Tovah is a very big long shot to win the Tony."

So is Marcia Gay Harden. I'd much rather see Scott Thomas win over Gay Harden. While Scott Thomas got better reviews, her show is no longer running. However, that didn't stop Julie White from beating Angela Lansbury two years ago...so anything can happen.

[everythingtaboo]

Posted: 3/30/09 at 1:43am

Isherwood is pretty spot on, I have to say.

As I mentioned in another thread, the story is quite powerful, but it's definitely a case of "tell, not show". I was terribly moved by the story, and Tovah's performance, and Irena's daughter, but not much else.

I wish the reviews had been better, but the show was simply not deserving of it as a piece of theatre, and despite the tale being told, it needs to judged based on the theatrical experience. And with that, I agree with Isherwood.

[MiracleElixir]

Posted: 3/30/09 at 1:45am

Gay Harden got universal rave reviews. Her show will still be running come awards-time AND a financial success. And it's a "showy" role -- a big actor's showcase that also brings home whatever "emotional" payoff the play has. And she's an Oscar winner who's giving a performance completely unlike any role she's ever played before.

I'm certainly not saying she's a lock to win, but at this point, I think she's the pretty obvious front-runner.


Updated On: 3/30/09 at 01:45 AM

[TheActr97J]

Posted: 3/30/09 at 1:46am

In what alternate dimension is Gay Harden a long shot?

[KingKong]

Posted: 3/30/09 at 1:46am

The same one where Story of My Life was a good show.

[WiCkEDrOcKS]

Posted: 3/30/09 at 1:51am

I hate how catty people get on this board for no reason.

WAT likes the shows he likes, period.

You like the shows you like, period.

Anyway, I hope Feldshuh wins. Gay-Harden was fantastic but Feldshuh was brilliant.

[WithoutATrace]

Posted: 3/30/09 at 1:54am

Scott Thomas also got across the board rave reviews in a show that was also a financial success. She gave the performance of her career in THE SEAGULL.

Julie White won even after her show had closed...I'm just saying that anything is possible.

...and yes kingkong, THE STORY OF MY LIFE was an excellent show...

[TheActr97J]

Posted: 3/30/09 at 1:56am

Rocks, I'm genuinely curious as to the reasons why you thought her performance was "brilliant"? I guess I just don't see it.

[WiCkEDrOcKS]

Posted: 3/30/09 at 2:27am

After thinking about it, I thought Scott Thomas gave a better performance. But Feldshuh totally inhabited the role of Irena. She was onstage the entire time, never missed a beat, ran the gamut of emotions in an incredibly believable way, and just helped the story come across as all the more believable and powerful.

I don't really know how to describe what I loved about her performance, it just stayed with me for days.

[dramamama611]

Posted: 3/30/09 at 2:37am

"Story of My Life was an excellent show"

Bwahahahahahahahahahahahahahahahahahahahahahhahahahahahahahahahahahahahahahahahahahahahahahahahaha!

Sorry. HAD to be said.

[MiracleElixir]

Posted: 3/30/09 at 3:11am

"I hate how catty people get on this board for no reason.
WAT likes the shows he likes, period.
You like the shows you like, period."

WiCKED, saying something like this implies that we're all just getting catty because we disagree, and ignores the fact that one person in particular is making nasty, definitive proclamations, calling people who disagree with them "wrong" and talking of despising people because of a review they wrote. No one (except that person) is getting catty simply because someone else feels differently than them.

Just because you happen to agree with that person and the supporters of the show, I'd still think you would be able to see/understand the differences between his attitude and everyone else's (btw, referring to WAT as 'WAT' and me/kingkong/whoever as 'You' kind of makes it clear who you're specifically bitching about, not just 'people' in general).



"Scott Thomas also got across the board rave reviews in a show that was also a financial success. She gave the performance of her career in THE SEAGULL."

Okay, this is getting ridiculous. I know you like making definitive, "pull-quote" type broad-sweeping proclamations, but I am sincerely wondering how many different performances of Scott Thomas you've ACTUALLY seen, to be able to make the statement "the performance of her career". Which of her other great performances have you seen: The English Patient? I've Loved You So Long? Tell No One? Four Weddings and a Funeral? Gosford Park? Bitter Moon? Angels and Insects? How many have you even heard of?

I'm not going to say "The Seagull" simply ISN'T her best performance (though she's great, I personally don't think it's her absolute best), but I will say, sometimes just using an adjective will do. You don't always need to say something is the MOST ______ or BEST _______ or ONE OF THE MOST ________. Hyperbole gets really old, especially when you're declaring something the BEST of a career largely made up of performances/films you haven't seen.

Updated On: 3/30/09 at 03:11 AM

[Smaxie]

Posted: 3/30/09 at 7:32am

Getting back to the reviews...

Bergen Record is Negative

http://www.northjersey.com/entertainment/stage/42110482.html

"Irena's Vow," which opened Sunday at the Walter Kerr Theatre, has a powerful, inspiring story to tell. It's a real shame that the telling is so pedestrian.

The play, written by Dan Gordon, is based on the true World War II story of a young Catholic Polish woman named Irena Gut, who, while working as a housekeeper for a German major, hid 12 Jews ? and later a 13th, a newborn ? in the cellar of the officer's home.

There are moments when tension ? the constant fear of discovery, the knife's edge on which the resourceful Irena has to balance ? seeps through. But, mostly, the play proceeds flatly on its formulaic way, revealing only the story's surface.

[Smaxie]

Posted: 3/30/09 at 7:35am

The Daily News is mostly Positive. Three stars out of five.

http://www.nydailynews.com/entertainment/arts/2009/03/30/2009-03-30_irenas_vow_provides_shelter_from_the_stu.html

It's an amazing story and Gordon, who wrote the screenplay for the biopic "The Hurricane," and director Michael Parva tell it in a workmanlike fashion. But there are some very tense moments.

Feldshuh ("Golda's Balcony") is dynamic and powerful as an ordinary woman who does an extraordinary thing and found a life in the United States.

[Smaxie]

Posted: 3/30/09 at 7:40am

New York Post is Negative, two stars out of four.

http://www.nypost.com/seven/03302009/entertainment/theater/promise_isnt_fulfilled_162019.htm

The noble intentions of "Irena's Vow" -- which opened yesterday at the Walter Kerr after a successful off-Broadway run last fall -- and the emotional punch it packs are beyond question. Its achievements on purely theatrical grounds are not.

These are complex, fascinating issues because they pit personal ethics against collective safety. But each time, Gordon quickly sums up the pros and cons, announces the outcome, and glides on to the next cloak-and-dagger episode.

This approach certainly makes for zippy pacing, but it prevents an in-depth investigation of murky moral concerns.

In any event, ambiguity isn't really the point here. The point is Irena/Tovah, and the show is entirely built around both the character and the actress. Feldshuh gives her all, of course, but the constant emphasis on Irena and her quasi-saintly behavior also leeches out conflict and drama.

[MiracleElixir]

Posted: 3/30/09 at 7:43am

"It's an amazing story and Gordon, who wrote the screenplay for the biopic "The Hurricane," and director Michael Parva tell it in a workmanlike fashion."


Wow! I didn't actually know that this shared a writer with "The Hurricane," but that totally makes sense. Both are formulaic, fact-stretching delivery systems for great true stories, anchored by strong performances.

Incidentally, can anyone recall recent, non-celebrity-driven plays that survived/outlasted mixed-negative reviews? I'm sure there have been some, but none are coming to mind...

[Yankeefan007]

Posted: 3/30/09 at 8:00am

Shoving the topic aside for a brief second:

This thread is brilliant. Best thing I've ever read, no question, and I really think that anyone who thinks otherwise should be shot right now.

Okay, back to the topic at hand.