THE FRONT PAGE Previews- Page 3

[BroadwayLuv2]

Posted: 9/23/16 at 11:40am

"
A friend of mine rushed on the second day of previews. $50, subject to availability. Not sure if it's one or two tickets per person, as she got the last one they had.

"

Did she mention where the seating was located? 

Thank you!

[mattmarkowski99]

Posted: 9/23/16 at 1:07pm

Are they selling any merchandise? Thanks!

[SamIAm]

Posted: 9/23/16 at 3:03pm

You are right that the banter is obnoxious as are the reporters. That is exactly the point. This play hearkens back to the late 20s and early 30s and reflects a time when the good old boys on the print beat were hard drinking, competitive and cut throat and would do anything to get the scoop on the other guy (oh, wait that pretty much describes the  media of today :) 

It is a revival and a period piece and, as the play moves forward, the personalities and motivation of this group drives home the point that they don't really care about the truth, about Molly (the down on her luck hooker with a heart of gold) or anyone else. 

Hildy has been around a long time and the reason he wants to walk out is exactly because of this pressure cooker, highly competitive, truth-be-damned environment. 

In these days of all action, tech theater, the length and pace of the first act may be unexpected, but when you combine the cast with a chance to look back at the way things were (the relationship between reporters, City Hall an the police, etc.) it is a play worthy of revival. 

[supersam1026]

Posted: 9/23/16 at 3:04pm

I checked in with the box office a little while ago to see what was up with rush/ SRO.

It is $50 for "whatever is left" the day of, and then $32 for standing room after that. They had standing room available tonight. I'm going to Heisenberg tonight, so can't do it, but I'm going to go tomorrow morning to make an attempt for the evening show. I'll let you all know how it goes and I hope this helps all those who are interested!

EDIT: I did rush this morning (9/24), got there just after 9:30 and was 10th in line. About 20 people when BO opened at 10. Seemed to be selling rush and SRO for both shows. I managed to grab a $50 rush ticket for Orchestra B 13, slight partial view. Looking forward to it!

Updated On: 9/24/16 at 03:04 PM

[mufish]

Posted: 9/24/16 at 1:16pm

I stopped by the box office on my walk from the train to my hotel. Probably about 11:30 or so - was able to get standing room for tonight. Based on the discussion happening at the other window, they had 4 seats left for tonight (one pair, two singles).  Guessing those were left to be sold at regular price for the time being, or they do have a set allotment of actual rush tickets. 

[BroadwayLuv2]

Posted: 9/24/16 at 5:29pm

I stopped by the theater around 130 today and got 2 SRO tickets.  Box office attendant said they had a few left.  Looking forward to the show tonight!

[broadwaydevil]

Posted: 9/24/16 at 6:25pm

I rushed this today. I got to the box office just as it opened and was maybe 25th in line. The rush tickets were $50 and I was told by the box office attendant that it was "partial view." I was a bit miffed by the idea of paying $50 for a partial view rush seat but bit the bullet. I have no clue why they are calling these partial view. I was in the 7th row, house left in the middle of the row and the view was perfect. Pretty sure everyone around me (including people on my left) paid premium for the tickets and the box office just says they're partial view when really they are whatever that is left. For $50, it was perfect.

Now, the play itself. It's a bit of a slog, particularly in Act I, as has been mentioned. The opening minutes are a ton of fun with all the characters bantering but there's only so long this can work and I think this tested my patience a bit too long.

Slattery does a wonderful job with a great part and it was such a joy watching Jefferson Mays at his best in a delightful role chewing the scenery. They need to keep casting this man in everything. Holland Taylor and Sherie Rene Scott make the most of their small parts but they certainly felt underused. Still, it was a joy to see them on the stage. I also enjoyed John Goodman in his role. When Nathan Lane finally arrives, he brings the house down. The role is perfect Lane material, it's almost as if the role was written for him.

The play itself feels dated and I'm not sure how well it holds up. It's not an all-out farce and it's never hilarious, but there's also not enough plot to make it a suspenseful or insightful drama or character study. That said, it was a great vehicle for assembling a wonderful cast and I'm glad I experienced it. The set and costumes were both gorgeous and this was absolutely opening night ready.  

I should also mention this was sold out today and SRO was offered in addition to rush. When I got to the box office window I was given the option of rush of rush or standing room for $37. This is likely going to be a tough ticket and I doubt they hold anything back for rush so I'd rush soon if that's your plan.

Updated On: 9/24/16 at 06:25 PM

[A Director]

Posted: 9/24/16 at 7:26pm

A review of the last revival of The Front Page

November 24, 1986

STAGE: 'THE FRONT PAGE,' AT THE VIVIAN BEAUMONT

By FRANK RICH

AS everyone who's seen ''The Front Page'' knows - and is there anyone who hasn't seen ''The Front Page''? -it's one play that will never receive a negative review in a newspaper. That's because Ben Hecht and Charles MacArthur wrote about newspaper people as newspaper people liked to think of themselves and still do, no matter that humming computer terminals have replaced rattling typewriters, that the discovery of a ''love nest'' rarely merits an extra anymore, or that cities like Chicago no longer have eight dailies engaged in cutthroat competition for the big scoop. ''The Front Page,'' to borrow from Shea Stadium parlance, is newspapering like it oughta be. Not even a critic as uncompromising as Joseph Cotten's Jed Leland in ''Citizen Kane'' would be so foolish as to question the work - part farce, part melodrama, all cartoon - that is the Rosetta stone of his and his colleagues' romantic self-image. 

To see Hecht's and MacArthur's 1928 valentine to the press now, in Jerry Zaks's attractively cast and appropriately slam-bang revival at the Vivian Beaumont, is also to appreciate it as a play. Well, not as a play exactly - but as an efficient machine (once cranked up) for manufacturing mirth. As Walter Kerr memorably wrote on the occasion of the last Broadway appearance of ''The Front Page,'' in 1969, plays of this American vintage were meant to be machines: ''A play was like a watch that laughed.'' As recent revivals have demonstrated, ''The Front Page'' still ticks louder and faster and funnier than equivalent Broadway contraptions manufactured a decade (''You Can't Take It With You'' or two decades (''Arsenic and Old Lace'' after it. 

One knows that the old thing is going to work at Lincoln Center early on, when Jeff Weiss, the Off Off Broadway maverick who went legit last season in the Kevin Kline ''Hamlet,'' appears as Bensinger, the man from The Tribune. Bensinger is the fussbudget of the newsroom at the Chicago Criminal Courts Building -that dread animal, a neat reporter who thinks of himself as a poet, no less. Mr. Weiss, his mouth razor-blade-thin, simply can't wait to pull out his bottle of disinfectant and zap any offending germ in the vicinity of his roll-top desk. He does so with a snap of the wrist so wicked it could induce whiplash. When subsequently mocked by colleagues for his prissiness, he responds with an ''Oh shut up!'' - withering and yet defensive - that Jack Benny might have admired. 

Arriving minutes later, but no less welcome, is Richard Thomas, the Hildy Johnson of this outing. Mr. Thomas, a benign presence, is not the obvious choice for the role of a brash star reporter who enters ''stinko'' and soon thinks nothing of trading his prospective mother-in-law (the formidable Beverly May) for the story of a condemned anarchist's jailbreak. But as he's proved several times on stages in several cities in recent seasons, Mr. Thomas isn't the juvenile he's mistaken for - he seeks out acting challenges and rises to them. 

Affecting a mustache and an all-purpose Windy City ethnic accent, he soon becomes the swaggering mug required, far more desperate to please the managing editor he's supposedly just quit forever, Walter Burns, than the fiancee whom he's promised to meet at the 11:18 P.M. train for New York. (The usually thankless role of the fiancee is played by Julie Hagerty, whose determined appeals to reason in the face of chaos make humorlessness a howl.) Once John Lithgow's Burns joins Mr. Thomas in Act II, the real marriage of the evening is complete. Whether the tall Mr. Lithgow is trying to detain the deserting Hildy by tossing him on the floor (''At a time of war, you could be shot for what you're doing!'', or sadistically plotting Bensinger's humiliation, or feigning sentimental enthusiasm for Hildy's marital plans (''I was in love once, with my third wife'', he provides comic ruthlessness of a high style. Be assured, too, that Mr. Lithgow delivers the play's immortal curtain line with such bravura finality that one can easily forgive the Beaumont's lack of a curtain. 

Like many good newspapermen, Burns regards politicians as his sworn enemy, and this ''Front Page'' is especially acerbic in its portraits of the bumbling, platitudinous Chicago officials who cross him. Richard B. Shull, forever wincing as if life were one long embarrassing encounter with a whoopee cushion, plays the incompetent sheriff ''Pinky'' as the exact kind of backroom ''moron'' that he's called - moronic enough to permit a jailbreak but not so stupid that he neglects to hire his relatives at city expense for the search party. The scene in which he and Jerome Dempsey's windbag Mayor try to bribe Bill McCutcheon's slow-witted, reprieve-bearing gubernatorial messenger is as clownish as any scenario on the Watergate tapes. 

Indeed, dated as the Hecht-MacArthur portrayal of newspapering may sometimes seem - one does hear rumors these days of reporters who have actually bettered the play's going pay scale of $70 a week - its cynical view of the political circus remains pertinent. The ward heelers of ''The Front Page'' lie and pander to voters as shamelessly as contemporary pols and are as adept at exploiting capital punishment and radical conspiracies to self-aggrandizing ends. Nearly every scene bristles with the still-extant realities of politics in an urban society of racial and class divisions. 

Mr. Zaks properly maintains a frisky tone, even so. ''The Front Page'' is not foolproof - witness the logy 1974 Billy Wilder film version -and it really must move. Mr. Zaks keeps everyone running, although one might question whether he needs a set deep enough to accommodate a marathon. Tony Walton has designed a cigar-hued newsroom within a mammoth gray courthouse - a handsome edifice whose imposing size and gloom smack a bit of Marienbad. Both the designer and Mr. Zaks conquered the Beaumont's problematic stage more resourcefully when their ''House of Blue Leaves'' passed through last spring in transit to Broadway. 

Aside from the usual lulls during the by-now ritualistic plot exposition and resolution, the evening's only other significant blemishes are both anachronisms: the opening invocation of a Frank Sinatra recording of ''Chicago'' is more redolent of 1960's Las Vegas than of the 1920's Chicago found in Willa Kim's nostalgic costumes, and, worse, only wimpy amounts of tobacco smoke becloud the poker-playing reporters of the Lucky Strike era. Not the least of the romantic newsroom notions propagated by ''The Front Page,'' after all, is that one becomes a newspaperman precisely because it's hazardous to one's health. THE BIG SCOOP THE FRONT PAGE, by Ben Hecht and Charles MacArthur; directed by Jerry Zaks; set by Tony Walton; costumes by Willa Kim; lighting by Paul Gallo; sound, Otts Munderloh; production manager, Jeff Hamlin. Presented by Lincoln Center Theater, Gregory Mosher, director; Bernard Gersten, executive producer. At the Vivian Beaumont, 150 West 65th Street. 

McCue...Trey Wilson; Endicott...Bernie McInerney; Schwartz...Lee Wilkof; Murphy...Ed Lauter; Wilson...Charles Stransky; Kruger...Ronn Carroll; A Woman...Amanda Carlin; Frank...Philip LeStrange; Bensinger...Jeff Weiss; Woodenshoes Eichorn...Jack Wallace; Diamond Louis...Raymond Serra; Hildy Johnson...Richard Thomas; Jennie...Mary Catherine Wright; Mollie Malloy...Deirdre O'Connell; Sheriff Hartman...Richard B. Shull; Peggy Grant...Julie Hagerty; The Mayor...Jerome Dempsey; Mr. Pincus...Bill McCutcheon; Earl Williams...Paul Stolarsky; Walter Burns...John Lithgow; Tony...Patrick Garner; Carl...Michael Rothhaar; Policemen... 

Richard Peterson and Patrick Garner.

[South Fl Marc]

Posted: 9/24/16 at 8:26pm

Thanks for the great reminder of a perfect production. I can't believe anyone could be better than Thomas and Lithgow and the rest of the cast. If there are problems with pacing in the first two acts of this new revival, the problem is the production.  The play is flawless.

[jayinchelsea]

Posted: 9/25/16 at 9:52am

I am now totally confused. Which part is Nathan playing? Is he Walter? Is Micah Stock playing Hildy? Would greatly appreciate someone posting a cast list from the playbill or wherever. Frankly, the producers have been very secretive about casting, other than listing all the actors above the title. Audiences will be mightily disappointed that Nathan doesn't enter until the end of Act 2. I keep thinking of the film HIS GIRL FRIDAY, and how perfectly cast, written and played it was, and how fast-moving it was. I saw this back in the day, with the great Robert Ryan as Walter and Bert Convy as Hildy.

[adamgreer]

Posted: 9/25/16 at 10:00am

He's playing Walter, according to Playbill. 

http://www.playbill.com/personlistpage/person-list?production=00000153-c23e-d547-a75b-fb7ee95d0000&type=op#oc

[jayinchelsea]

Posted: 9/25/16 at 10:31am

I love John Slattery, but isn't he a bit old to be playing Hildy? He's only a few years younger than Nathan, and certainly reads older. But hey, glad to hear other posters think he's really good.

[Valentina3]

Posted: 9/25/16 at 11:29am

Slattery is still extremely attractive, and has a formidable stage presence (nothing like Lane but still). Surely that'd help his Hildy. Excited to catch the show in a few weeks!

[Whateverjsays]

Posted: 9/25/16 at 11:32am

The more Slattery we get the better

[JayElle]

Posted: 9/26/16 at 12:31am

Goodman in a hoodie and Nathan Lane in a polo shirt....neither look right and not costumes from show, tho the fedora is.

[JayElle]

Posted: 9/26/16 at 12:43am

Greased Lightning.... Jack Lemmon and Walter Matthau played the main roles in the early 1960's movie. Cary Grant and Rosalind Russell did the movie but retitled it "His Girl Friday" in 1940. That's available for free on Hulu.  The Grant/Russell movie changed the roles.  Hildy Johnson was played by Russell as Grant's ex-wife.  

The Jack Lemmon/Walter Matthau movie is available on Amazon and free on YouTube. That version played the roles like the current play.

The original play and the current B'way show has John Slattery playing Hildy and Nathan Lane in the role that Grant played. But the rest of the movie/play comparison is the same.

I saw it last Thursday. The theater does sell merchandise, but nothing special.  They are also very anal about late arrivals.  They WILL NOT seat anyone once the show starts.  They put a notice in the playbill that if you leave your seat during a performance for any reason, they WILL NOT let you go back.  Obviously, the cast doesn't wan't the distraction.

There are two intermissions of about 10 minutes each with 2 hrs 45 mins total.  Most complained it was too short to get to bathroom/drinks/etc.  Also most complained the first  of the 3 acts was slow and tedious.  The nature of the staging prevented doing the show as a two act play.  Nathan Lane was his typical great self, but he didn't come on until the 3rd act.

[YouDon'tClimbTrees?]

Posted: 9/26/16 at 3:57pm

How is Robert Morse doing in this play?

[DramaTeach]

Posted: 9/27/16 at 12:31am

Robert Morse has a pretty small, but comical cameo.  In total, he's probably on stage for 7 minutes.  A lot of people have talked about Nathan Lane being the life of the show, but I disagree.  John Slattery is the one on stage the most and has a natural ease and energy that won me over.  The only one I didn't really enjoy was Peggy/Penny (that's how much of an impression she made on me).  I felt like there were so many opportunities for her to make her lines funny and still have heart, but it all fell flat.  

 

The show itself leaves a lot to be desired.  Sure, there are still issues with corrupt politicians and media trickery today, but there were lots of jokes that don't resonate.  It was a fine night out but an ultimately forgettable show.  Multiple sets of people around me actually left at the various intermissions.  That's taking it too far, but not my favorite show of the season.

[YouDon'tClimbTrees?]

Posted: 9/27/16 at 8:31am

Thanks for the response! I wanted to see this because of Robert Morse. I saw him in Tru years ago and loved it. Of course, my favorite is How to Succeed in Business Without Really Trying. He's amazing but I was wondering how he'd be doing on stage now that he's around 80. I'm very glad he's still funny and working!

[BrodyFosse123]

Posted: 9/27/16 at 10:33am

Jack Lemmon and Walter Matthau played the main roles in the early 1960's movie.

 

They starred in the 1974 film adaptation directed by the legendary Billy Wilder.  It wasn't an early 1960s film.  

[BrodyFosse123]

Posted: 9/27/16 at 12:29pm

How is the view from Mezzanine Center, Row A?  Can you see perfectly over that banister?  I've only sat Orchestra level at the Broadhurst so might opt for these for THE FRONT PAGE.  

[BrodyFosse123]

Posted: 9/30/16 at 8:40pm

So now I can answer my own question (and help others, too): I sat in Mezzanine Center, Row A last night (Thursday Sept 29) and the view is perfect - no obstruction and though they are not mic'd, you can hear the actors clearly.  

 

Play runs like a well-oiled machine.  They are insanely strict about no seating once play begins and if you get up you won't be able to be seated.  Act 1 started at 8:05pm sharp.  Act 1 ended at 9pm.  Act 2 began at 9:05pm.  Act 2 ended at 10pm.  Act 3 started at 10:05pm and ended at 10:45pm.  

 

LOVED IT!  Even with the small stage time many had, it was so worth it.  

[bwayphreak234]

Posted: 9/30/16 at 8:43pm

Just two five minute intermissions?!

Updated On: 10/1/16 at 08:43 PM

[Dancingthrulife2]

Posted: 9/30/16 at 10:36pm

“A well-plotted, terrific farce” —Jarethan

“Some of the most fun I've had in a Broadway theatre in a long time”  —bct14972

“Like a million bucks” —WhizzerMarvin

“It's a solid evening” —mikem

“His (Nathan Lane) performance is sharp and crisp, and he brings the play to a measure of life” —After Eight

“John Goodman is very good. John Slattery is excellent” —Sam52

“When Nathan Lane finally arrives, he brings the house down. “ —broadwaydevil

“Nathan Lane was his typical great self” —JayElle

“John Slattery...has a natural ease and energy that won me over” --DramaTeach

“Runs like a well-oiled machine.” —BrodyFosse123

Pull quote is so much fun!!!!!

 

Updated On: 9/30/16 at 10:36 PM

[macnyc]

Posted: 10/1/16 at 9:23pm

A friend and I had a fun time at the matinee today. The (almost) three hours went by at a good clip.

She rushed for us and got to the box office at 8:30. She was the third person on line. The two young women ahead of her wanted standing room. When my friend got to the box office she was told the show was sold out, but that she could have two partial-view seats in the front orchestra on the far left side. They were $57 each.

She was in B13 all the way to the left, and I was right behind her in seat C15. I thought my seat was fine except that there is a window on the left wall of the stage that plays a role in the proceedings. Over the course of the play various things and people go in and out of the window. We couldn't see what was actually happening at those times, but of course we could figure it out. It accounts for only a small percentage of the action, though. So if you're offered the seats, I would take them! It's nice to be close, and I thought the staging worked fine, even from an angle.

Funny thing: I was slightly amused toward the beginning of Act 1 when Jefferson Mays, sporting a jaunty fedora, received entrance applause. I thought it was a bit odd because I didn't think he was that well known. It turns out that many people in the audience thought he was Nathan Lane! In fact, at the end of the show, a woman sitting near us commented to us that she was surprised that Lane was playing two roles! We explained to her that Jefferson Mays was playing the other role. We had been chatting with her and knew she was a theater buff, so I was a bit surprised she thought it was Lane. I guess the hats are to blame!

Similar entrance applause erupted for Dann Florek as the mayor later on in the show. Maybe he's well known from his long tenure on Law and Order, but I have a feeling he was also mistaken for Lane. The audience was primed for their Nathan fix!

Anyway, I was there for Slattery, and he didn't disappoint. I thought he commanded the stage and was very effective in what is basically the largest role.

As far as the rest of the cast: Lewis Stadlen is always good, and I liked David Pittu also. Robert Morse's part is very small (but crucial), but he read too old for the part, alas. (He's 85.) And it pains me to say that because I am so fond of him and loved him in How to Succeed and Mad Men. But when his character says that he has two children in high school, I had to suppress a giggle.

I agree with other posters who said that Micah Stock's role seems dispensable. He wasn't that funny, and the accent was annoying. Holland Taylor was a hoot. I always enjoy her. Sherie Rene Scott as the hooker was very good, and I liked Halley Feiffer too. 

John Goodman made a great sheriff, and was the butt of a couple of good jokes. Yes, Lane was great and upped the energy level, but to me Act 2 had been building up anyway. Lane was the icing on the cake.

The set was very handsome and I didn't get tired of looking at it, which is usually my problem with a one-set show. My friend and I both were worried, though, that the actors would trip over the numerous telephone cords that was hanging off the table in the center of the room. Luckily that didn't happen! The lighting and sound were fine. I had no problems hearing anyone, except in the very beginning when the newsmen are talking over one another, and one of them on the far left side is strumming a banjo and singing. Luckily, the banjo playing didn't continue too long. 

I really think the play held up very well, which I didn't expect, and I credit the performances and Jack O'Brien's direction. Highly recommended!
 
 

Updated On: 10/1/16 at 09:23 PM