THESE PAPER BULLETS @ Atlantic Theatere Co.- Page 2

[mailhandler777]

Posted: 11/30/15 at 5:58pm

There was also an adlib last night to Camryn Manheim that was in the audience. I forget who the character was that was walking down the stairs. He stopped and looked at her and said you could be on tv. 

[HogansHero]

Posted: 11/30/15 at 6:06pm

@vintage "If that's all you took away from what I wrote, Hogan, I'm not going to bother arguing with you."

It is not all I took away from what you wrote. I was just commenting on the few things you said that were not well founded. No reason to argue about them unless you think I am wrong about any of them (which seems unlikely).

[GreasedLightning]

Posted: 11/30/15 at 6:50pm

Does this really have its eye set on Broadway? To me, this screams open-ended Off-Broadway run but I just can't see it faring well on Broadway. Maybe it's just me. 

 

Regarding the Queen in the back of the house: I noticed before taking my seat a sheet of paper taped to the seat in the back of house right that had something like "Please leave this seat empty as it is used in the production" typed on it. 

 

One particular moment that I could not stand in the show was that during one of the confusing and never ending penthouse party scenes in Act One, one of the featured male actors (his name escapes me at the moment and I don't have my Playbill near me, but he had the lampshade on his head during this scene) kept tugging at his button-down shirt and talking into a headpiece microphone. He did it constantly throughout the entire scene and I couldn't figure out why they had him doing it so much. It got very annoying. 

[VintageSnarker]

Posted: 11/30/15 at 7:45pm

One particular moment that I could not stand in the show was that during one of the confusing and never ending penthouse party scenes in Act One, one of the featured male actors (his name escapes me at the moment and I don't have my Playbill near me, but he had the lampshade on his head during this scene) kept tugging at his button-down shirt and talking into a headpiece microphone. He did it constantly throughout the entire scene and I couldn't figure out why they had him doing it so much. It got very annoying. 

 

If we're thinking of the same thing then I think that character...

 

Click Here To Toggle Spoiler Content

was one of the spies. The lampshades have microphones/recording devices hidden in them and he's reporting back to whoever is listening at the other end at headquarters.

 

[GreasedLightning]

Posted: 11/30/15 at 8:10pm

Thanks, Vintage. That is what I figured, but the night that I saw it he was doing it so often and so obviously it became annoying and distracting to watch. 

[macnyc]

Posted: 11/30/15 at 9:22pm

Also, to add to what Vintage said about the audience participation, while the TV reporter is walking the aisle picking out "celebrities," she is followed by a videocamera operator who is catching everything on two large screens. It could be fun if you have audience members who are into it and ham it up for the camera, but the night I went, the people who were chosen just looked embarrassed. 

[nasty_khakis]

Posted: 12/2/15 at 4:19pm

I saw this last night and wow. It was bad. Just, just bad. Justin Kirk was EMBARRASSINGLY bad (and I normally like him) with his accent near painful, constantly zoning out, not committing on ounce to the physical bits, seemingly going up on lines and just making them up, and constantly winking at the audience after lines. I would understand if those winks were done by more people or with a H2$-style light or sound cue, but they fall flat. At the very end for the final song he just started ad-libbing "come on acronystic t-shirtted people in headphones! take away this cheap futuristic-looking Ikea furniture!" That may be in the script, but he looked annoyed almost apologizing to the audience.

 

Most of the cast was just...fine. I only seemed to laugh at the actor playing the "George" of the group who deadpanned everything. The Beatrice was also pretty winning, really committing to her physical humor in a way that Kirk didn't. 

For a third time go at this show they reeeeeeeally don't know what works and what doesn't. There are way too many unnecessary lines and plots. The detectives only exist to be a Deus ex Machina at the end, and SURELY there's an easier way to resolve the whole dirty photo business. There really isn't any cohesive direction with people talking at full volume all at once during many moments. Even when people would be exiting through the house, they'd keep talking in full voice even though actors on stage were continuing on with the scene. To be perfectly honest if I saw this show put on by college students with a literal cardboard set it may have faired much better. These were professionals who looked like they were barely trying to write, direct, dance, or act.

[neonlightsxo]

Posted: 12/2/15 at 4:22pm

nasty_khakis, that part that you call an ad-lib is indeed in the script, as it was the same at the performance I saw.

I've said before that I really like the show so I don't feel the need to defend it again, but what you're complaining about with Justin Kirk is just the way he's playing the character. His "zoning out" and "not committing" is part of the choices he made with the role, which is why he plays him that way throughout.

[nasty_khakis]

Posted: 12/2/15 at 4:57pm

I actually disagree. There's playing passive, laid back, not caring about anything, etc etc and flat out NOT CARING as an actor. Tonally, he wasn't in the same play as a single other person on that stage and may as well have been cold reading the script. I completely got from him "I'm bad and I know it. I'm sorry you guys." I've defended Kirk as an actor before. I don't hate his Pryor as much as most and I liked him a lot in Weeds and Other Desert Cities, but this time he just fails. 

Part of why I thought it was an ad-lib was he had trouble spitting it out and literally rolled his eyes as he said it. Also, there were really no other moment like that in the entire piece. I was always confused by the crew members coming on in plaid sight, especially in the moments where they walked out, handed mics, and just stood there watching in the back of the stage. Maybe the director should incorporate them and acknowledging them more throughout. 

[macnyc]

Posted: 12/2/15 at 5:35pm

I did enjoy this more than some other people, but I'm wondering why the show hasn't been tightened up more, given that this is its third production. Surely the creatives would have heard by now that the script needs some serious trimming, that extraneous plot lines can be excised, for the betterment of the show.

 

I liked Justin Kirk!

Updated On: 12/3/15 at 05:35 PM

[scripps]

Posted: 12/2/15 at 6:12pm

nasty_khakis, I was there last night and agree with you especially regarding that weird breaking of the fourth wall at the end. I wondered if that was all adlibbed, and adlibbed poorly at that, as well. I also agree that the "George" of the group fared best, he's the only performer that elicited a few laughs from me. 

The music breaks are cute but the biggest laugh of the night was during the talk back where a woman asked why all of the songs were Beatles ripoffs. Where was this woman for the past 2 hours and 40 minutes?!

Honestly, this reminded me a bit of SOMETHING ROTTEN! with the constant easy references that only manage to exhaust my patience. Is this looking toward a commercial transfer? It looks like a bit of money was spent on this production. I don't see how that would be possible without replacing the director and cutting this down to a more manageable running time!

And regarding Kirk, I love him but didn't think this was a terribly good fit for him regardless of the part being written with him in mind. Maybe things will improve in the coming weeks, but if this is the third production, good luck with that ...

 

Updated On: 12/2/15 at 06:12 PM

[RippedMan]

Posted: 12/3/15 at 1:29am

Hm... kind of curious to see this. I think the mistake they made was, at least in the casting breakdowns, they needed actors who could play guitar. But it sounds like they could have just played to recorded music and mimed the whole thing and just got actors who know farce, etc.

[HogansHero]

Posted: 12/3/15 at 8:58am

if there is a shortcoming, it is not in the acting. Your blind "coulda" is tantamount to suggesting a musical should be cast with the best actors without regard to ability to sing because they can just lip synch. There are plenty of actors, including these, who are triple/quadruple/quintuple threats.

[neonlightsxo]

Posted: 12/3/15 at 9:18am

I agree with Hogan. The acting/the actors that they cast are NOT the issue here. The issues people are having problems with seem to be book/direction related.

[nasty_khakis]

Posted: 12/3/15 at 9:40am

scripps, he was the only one that actually made me laugh out loud. I was the one who guffawed loudly after he agreed that the "raised infection" joke was good. I also giggled at his smile while backing out of "Paul's" spotlight at the end.

[VintageSnarker]

Posted: 12/3/15 at 11:55am

Humor is subjective and all that but I thought all the actors were fine and again, Beatrice (Nicole Parker) and Ben (Justin Kirk) were my favorite parts of the show.

[ClydeBarrow]

Posted: 12/16/15 at 5:58pm

neonlightsxo said: "It was well reviewed at both Yale and the Geffen."

 

I'm curious as to how it could have been well-reviewed in its previous incarnations and received so poorly once landing Off-Broadway. Here is the BWW review round up. I agree with a lot of what these critics are saying. Some of the highlights being:

 

Charles Isherwood, The New York Times: "These Paper Bullets!" becomes exhausting as Mr. Jones piles on the complications...What has most crucially gone missing, unfortunately, is any depth of feeling in the main characters

 

Frank Scheck, The Hollywood Reporter: Unfortunately, These Paper Bullets! is not a musical, but rather a laborious farce, uneasily combining satirical riffs on The Bard with tired spoofing of The Fab Four. Since both ideas have been done to death over the years, there's little that's fresh here, although admittedly plenty of energy is expended in the execution...Awkwardly interpolating bits of Shakespearean verse, the show wears thin very quickly, with the overstuffed, convoluted plot further burdened by the generally witless dialogue.

 

Matt Windman, AM New York: It sounded like such a great idea...Alas, "These Paper Bullets!" is such a meandering mess that it is hard to believe that Off-Broadway's Atlantic Theater Company agreed to produce it in the first place...The main problem lies in Rolin Jones' labored, overlong script, which uneasily combines lines from the original text with colloquial language...Jackson Gay's direction is not so great.

 

[Tom5]

Posted: 12/16/15 at 6:24pm

Close knit home town critics. Always take their notices with a large helping of salt.

[mamaleh]

Posted: 12/16/15 at 6:55pm

It seemed to me that those critics also had some good things to say about the play that the poster omitted.  While it is admittedly overly long, I found much of enjoyably silly.  Maybe one has to be in a giddy mood for optimal enjoyment. In any case the Beatles-esque songs were very listenable, and j found the evening worth the $20 admission.  

[CurtainsUpat8]

Posted: 12/28/15 at 11:08pm

What a tedious evening in the theatre. Absolutely unbearable. By the middle of the second Act I was ready to run out of the exit.

The cast is not to blame. Many of the them are very talented. The production values are HIGH. Someone spent a LOT of money on this.

I blame the Atlantic for bringing this awful piece of crap to NYC. So it came from Yale Rep. So what? The book was awful. AWFUL. Unbearable. Th direction was AWFUL.
I agree with the NY Times. By FAR the best part of it was when the Quartos played. I like all of the songs. I liked they were playing the instruments live. I liked everything about the music. Yes the vocals could have been louder but that is a minor complaint compared to the rest of this awful evening.

I feel sorry for the talented actors but STAY AWAY. STAY FAR AWAY from the LONG, boring, mess.

[FindingNamo]

Posted: 12/28/15 at 11:12pm

Justin Kirk was EMBARRASSINGLY bad

 

Par for the course.  The world's first and only unlikable Pryor Walter.

[stevenycguy]

Posted: 12/28/15 at 11:17pm

A few fun moments in Act II where you have the queen in drag and the wedding, but overall way too long.  Would have worked far better as a 90 minute show with major cuts to the plot, but more songs.  Was an exhausting evening in the theater. Not recommended.

[scripps]

Posted: 12/28/15 at 11:29pm

I caught this AGAIN tonight. Knowing its shortcomings going in, I actually kinda enjoyed myself but was disappointed that I wasn't Elizabeth Taylor and was seated next to Sean Connery instead.