JERUSALEM
JERUSALEM
#1JERUSALEM
Posted: 4/10/11 at 1:37amI saw this show tonight and all the hype of this production totally escaped me. Mark Rylance is playing almost the exact same character from LA BETE, with all sorts of ticks and bits that have nothing to do with what his character is saying on stage. The script is a poor imitation of Sam Sheppard with obscure nature symbols and endless monologues, we didn't get out until almost 11pm. I don't understand how this show got to Broadway.
After Eight
Broadway Legend Joined: 6/5/09
April Saul
Broadway Legend Joined: 2/17/06
#2JERUSALEM
Posted: 4/10/11 at 9:58amSometimes I feel like this board is as polarized as the two political parties in this country. I wasn't as wild about Jerusalem as the London critics, but I liked it and thought Rylance was wonderful. To each his own, but there is something between adoration and loathing...
#3JERUSALEM
Posted: 4/10/11 at 10:06am
I'd like to know what it is about Rylance that makes the critics so moist. The man walks on stage in anything and immediately it is the best performance of the decade or of the century. I've seen his plays and think he's a great actor. But I've never felt like I'm watching a once in a lifetime, I'll be able to tell my Grandkids about this, performance.
#4JERUSALEM
Posted: 4/10/11 at 10:06am
I can see why you ask about its viability on Broadway, and agree about this being wildly overpraised in London.
But - how can anyone say that Rylance is playing the "exact same character"? Earlier this season he was exhuberant with self-delusional optimism, a foppish bore who was too ignorant to realize the absurdities of his self-importance, obsessed with how people viewed him. He was a COMIC character. In JERUSALEM, the character may be misguided, but he has self-awareness and doesn't give a damn how people view him. In LA BETE, he considered himself the center of the universe, in JERUSALEM he considers himself a victim of the universe.
Same character? And you really have seen both performances?
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#6JERUSALEM
Posted: 4/10/11 at 11:49amYes, I really saw both performances and I saw a "comic" walk the minute he stepped on stage in Jerusalem and the same sort of "comic" walk in later scenes in La Bete. It was the same halting, breathy voice production, with childish sticking out of his stomach (granted in Jerusalem he had a limp) but if you think that those two characters were wildly different, I would like you to see work by some of our talented regional theatre actors here in the U.S. who can't get work on Broadway stages. They actually have a few more tricks up their sleeves.
SeattletoNYC
Swing Joined: 4/4/11
#8JERUSALEM
Posted: 4/10/11 at 12:16pmNo, not insane, just a difference of opinion, which is what makes the theatre world what it is. I was with other friends who felt the same as I, as those who walked out of the the show before the third act, in row P. You have some really talented actors there in Seattle, too, I would have preferred to see Bob Wright or Dennis Arndt in that role.
vegas2
Featured Actor Joined: 12/5/09
#9JERUSALEM
Posted: 4/10/11 at 4:15pmI can certainly understand a difference of opinion about the overall quality of the play, but I am baffled that anyone could fail to distinguish Rylance's character in Jerusalem from his character in La Bete. There's not the remotest resemblance. After seeing him in both of these plays, I have become a huge fan. If he and Geoffrey Rush ever appear in a play together, I will dissolve into a puddle.
#10JERUSALEM
Posted: 4/10/11 at 5:38pmJust as baffling is the reaction that Mark Rylance didn't use the exact same vocal tone for both shows, the slightly lisping stutter when he got excited, the barking rhythms, the clipped falling inflection; they sounded the same to me. For two such different characters, I didn't see a transformational interpretation of Rooster in Jerusalem as opposed to the fop in LA BETE. Friends assured me that he was quite different of BOEING BOEING, which I did not see. I'm all for being moved by a theatre artist and championing productions, however, his work I just did not believe in either show. And while, I'm glad to hear that others appreciated it, I'm just not on that bus.
#11JERUSALEM
Posted: 4/10/11 at 7:15pm
I just got back from today's matinee and thought his performance was exceptional. Definitely a performance I'll remember and, if my grandkids ask me, a performance I will tell my grandkids about. Did I see some glimpses of his characters from BOEING BOEING and LA BETE? Yes. But only glimpses and only because it is, after all, the same actor. Were they the same performances, however? Not even remotely.
The production altogether is really just fantastic. Some of the American actors need some serious dialect coaching, but it didn't ruin their performances for me. I loved the play itself as well. All around, thought it was great. As did my friend who was with me.
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#12JERUSALEM
Posted: 4/10/11 at 7:53pmI also saw today's matinee and loved the production and Mr. Rylance's performance. He has such intensity, I don't know how he manages to do that eight times a week. I didn't see La Bete, but I did see Boeing Boeing and didn't notice similarities between Rylance's performances in that play and Jerusalem.
After Eight
Broadway Legend Joined: 6/5/09
#13JERUSALEM
Posted: 4/10/11 at 8:16pmI thought Mark Rylance was brilliant in Boeing-Boeing. I did not care for his performance in La Bete, a very bad play, but I feel he was misdirected in that one. In Jerusalem, I saw a gifted actor with masterful technique but I was always aware that he was acting as opposed to being the part. I had the same problem with Douglas Hodge's performance in La Cage.
#14JERUSALEM
Posted: 4/11/11 at 12:09am
What a puzzling intellectual conundrum this play is. I saw it this afternoon and was engrossed by it. I'm still digesting it, and I'm sure some of the nuances escaped me, but overall, I thought it was an incredible well done play, and I found Rylance to be nothing short of brilliant.
Also, James Early Jones was two rows behind me, and I'm almost certain he heard me tell my friend on the way out that Rylance would win the Tony easily because there "won't really be any competion."
Updated On: 4/11/11 at 12:09 AM
sorano916
Broadway Legend Joined: 8/6/08
#17JERUSALEM
Posted: 4/11/11 at 2:19am
"Some of the American actors need some serious dialect coaching, but it didn't ruin their performances for me."
I have a feeling about who this might be pointed more towards... They have a dialect coach for the entire cast since even the British actors need to get the dialect/accent from that area of England down. During the rehearsal period in London, they traveled to that area and talked to the locals, even recorded how they spoke.
Unfortunately, for a certain actor, the way he normally speaks sometimes gets in the way of the accent, I've noticed. However, I've also overheard English audience members comment on how good his accent was. *shrugs*
Updated On: 4/11/11 at 02:19 AM
Noel&Cole
Leading Actor Joined: 11/10/07
#18JERUSALEM
Posted: 4/11/11 at 8:44am
I just did not understand the fuss over this show. Mark Rylance was giving a performances that was good but seemed to be saying "look at me, I am such a brilliant actor with superior technique". He seemed to be serving Mark Rylance above all else. This worked in LA BETE since he was playing an actor who was so impressed with himself and preferred to act his plays alone. That was the character. In JERUSALEM I felt like I sat through hours and never understood the point.
Are American audiences liking this play?
Q
Broadway Legend Joined: 11/3/05
After Eight
Broadway Legend Joined: 6/5/09
#21JERUSALEM
Posted: 4/11/11 at 1:17pm
To Noel and Cole:
"I just did not understand the fuss over this show. Mark Rylance was giving a performances that was good but seemed to be saying "look at me, I am such a brilliant actor with superior technique". He seemed to be serving Mark Rylance above all else. This worked in LA BETE since he was playing an actor who was so impressed with himself and preferred to act his plays alone. That was the character."
I agree with you wholeheartedly.
"In JERUSALEM I felt like I sat through hours and never understood the point."
It's not the point that's the problem. It's the play. It's just plain lousy.
"Are American audiences liking this play?
Well, certainly not this American. Nor the ones sitting beside me. Nor the ones falling asleep in the row ahead of me. Nor the ones behind me who voiced their displeasure quite categorically.
But other audience members gave it a rousing response. But one has to remember that that is proper snob hit protocol, and if ever there were a snob hit, this is it.
#23JERUSALEM
Posted: 4/11/11 at 2:23pm
"OMG. We get it!!!!! You hate it. You have a right to. But you are constantly reminding us how much you hate it. It's getting like Kyle4 and Women on the Verge."
Seriously. It's annoying, After Eight, and you're adding nothing to the conversation. You're just repeating the same negative comments over and over again, and they're not even slightly insightful negative comments either. "It's lousy." "People in front of me fell asleep."
And compounding everything is your bitchery - which is a trademark of those who feel left out, or that they're not 'getting it' - attacking those who DO like it as "snobs" or just going along with groupthink.
Personally, with JERUSALEM, I was bracing myself for something I would appreciate more than enjoy, but found myself pleasantly surprised by how engrossing the play itself is (much of this is, admittedly, due to Rylance), and how affected I was by it when it was over. Been thinking about it a lot in the last few days, and have plans to return.
Updated On: 4/11/11 at 02:23 PM
#24JERUSALEM
Posted: 4/11/11 at 3:05pm
But one has to remember that that is proper snob hit protocol, and if ever there were a snob hit, this is it.
Right, so everyone who enjoyed it and gave an ovation was doing so because they're sheep, following some sort of "protocol"? Thanks for being my shrink, telling me why I feel a certain way. Who knew one could get free psychiatric services on BWW!
Look, I get the feeling of frustration when everyone else seems to love a play and you dislike it. I feel the exact same way about most of Tom Stoppard's plays, which bore me to tears. But, I don't discount or discredit those that enjoy it or were able to get something out of it. And I certainly don't think that the people who enjoyed were doing so because they want to feel "intelligent" or "snobby."
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