KING LEAR Previews- Page 3

[Robbie2]

Posted: 3/3/19 at 10:12pm

https://www.interviewmagazine.com/culture/glenda-jackson-and-meryl-streep-nearly-tear-everyone-apart?fbclid=IwAR33Fwd-voxcFXC8A3sV-9axIjmqtp3Bg_O9hmj62n2UeXp48xb2CiEsY4g

[LarryD2]

Posted: 3/4/19 at 11:31am

Matt Rogers said: "RippedMan said: "2 hours without a break?! Have you never seen a movie. "

Have you never noticed how you can leave your seat at a movie and return without causing much disruption? Try leaving a center section of. a Broadway show for a pee mergency. Not so easy.



"

How often do fully grown adults have "pee mergencies"? Go to the bathroom before the show starts and don't excessively drink during. Simple as that.

 

[Alice147]

Posted: 3/4/19 at 11:47am

I'm excited to hear what people think of this - I saw her London King Lear a couple years back and liked it, and originally assumed this was a transfer of that (obviously I was incorrect!) 

Ruth Wilson as Cordelia and the Fool really caught my attention, too - unfortunately I live in the UK so will have to live vicariously through all your reviews! 

[carolinaguy]

Posted: 3/4/19 at 11:54am

LarryD2 said: "Matt Rogers said: "RippedMan said: "2 hours without a break?! Have you never seen a movie. "

Have you never noticed how you can leave your seat at a movie and return without causing much disruption? Try leaving a center section of. a Broadway show for a pee mergency. Not so easy.



"

How often do fully grown adults have "pee mergencies"? Go to the bathroom before the show starts and don't excessively drink during. Simple as that.

"

If you're taking a prescribed diuretic for blood pressure or some other condition, it's not quite that simple.

[JSquared2]

Posted: 3/4/19 at 2:48pm

carolinaguy said: "If you're taking a prescribed diuretic for blood pressure or some other condition, it's not quite that simple."

 

Well I'm sorry then, but with all due respect you have 2 choices --- either stay home and skip this particular show, or buy a box of Extra Strength Depends.  

[JSquared2]

Posted: 3/4/19 at 2:48pm

carolinaguy said: "If you're taking a prescribed diuretic for blood pressure or some other condition, it's not quite that simple."

 

Well I'm sorry then, but with all due respect you have 2 choices --- either stay home and skip this particular show, or buy a box of Extra Strength Depends.  

[GeorgeandDot]

Posted: 3/4/19 at 2:53pm

I don't think directors are working their play around the audience's bladders. I think that's the least of their worries.

[RoyiG]

Posted: 3/4/19 at 6:42pm

I went Saturday night. I was super excited going into it and unfortunately left feeling a bit let down. That said it was super early previews so hopefully things pick up over the next few weeks!

The good: A+ acting from Jackson, Houdyshell, Pedro Pascal and Ruth Wilson- the latter in particular doing amazing work as Cordelia/The Fool.

I personally enjoyed the Philip Glass live orchestrations and did not find them distracting.

Michael Arden as Cornwall's aide and his signing for and to Russel Harvard. It was a different choice but it worked for me!

What needs work: The costumes! Lear's first costume was an ill-fitting suit that left Jackson looking a bit like Charlie Chaplin and as such kinda killed some of the power visually of seeing her onstage as the King; Elizabeth Marvel was dressed in what seemed to be a castoff from a Renaissance fair, didn't really fit with the rest of the costuming on stage (though I'd be hard pressed to say what exactly it was the designer was going for). During the final scenes Cordelia and her crew were dressed in stereotypical "guerilla" outfits (she in head to toe black, the men in camo)- I get what they were going for but again it just didn't really gel with what other people were wearing.

The fight choreography. The final showdown between Edmund and Edgar was so poorly choreographed that people around me were quietly giggling- definitely no tension or excitement there.

I don't want get too critical because it's still such early days, but my overall impression was that very fine actors were kind of left adrift by the direction an some questionable design choices. My best friend loves King Lear and knows it very well and during intermission he leaned over to me and whispered "Honestly... I'm not really sure what's going on up here!"

[RippedMan]

Posted: 3/4/19 at 7:17pm

Can anyone speak to WHAT those choices are? I mean everyone's saying "it's not bad, but not great," but there's not a lot of specifics? 

[Matt Rogers]

Posted: 3/4/19 at 7:59pm

GeorgeandDot said: "I don't think directors are working their play around the audience's bladders. I think that's the least of their worries."

Yeah because 3 hours and 45 minutes with only one intermission sounds like a really pleasurable audience experience. 

[WldKingdomHM]

Posted: 3/4/19 at 9:05pm

Intermission now. Show started at 7:02. Glenda, Ruth, and Jayne are great, but the rest is a hot mess. They need to rethink the set, costumes, and the orchestra. This could be a beautiful show .... hmmmm

[Play Esq.]

Posted: 3/4/19 at 9:09pm

[novel idea]

Posted: 3/4/19 at 9:20pm

Didn’t make it past Act one tonight.

Was very excited to see this, but I knew we were in for a disaster when it started and the sets and costumes were clashing, mismatched, and truly hideous.

The first scene is inaudible because the musicians are overpowering the actors - Sam Gold obviously doesn’t trust the beautiful language and the power of the actors - the show is scored as if it were a movie, unnecessarily, and distractingly so.
His staging is stilted, unnatural, and uninspired.

Elizabeth Marvel is over the top per usual -

Kate Wilson is simpler than Marvel, but still not good. Uncomfortable and a little lost.

Pedro Pascal is absolutely unwatchable; overwrought, most of the time inaudiable, until he screams for no reason. Acting with a capital A.

Glenda Jackson is powerful but seems to be doing a performance she “perfected” a couple of years ago in London - no spontaneity or danger, just “work”.

Don’t bother with this one. A major let down.

[Lavieboheme3090]

Posted: 3/4/19 at 11:12pm

The king is mad, and we are bored.

Wow, I was so excited for this production, and what a let down.

Sam Gold has truly managed to suck any tension, sakes, or humor that are all to be found in Lear, and has replaced them all with basic stage pictures and a "score" by Philip Glass.

While Lear is the title character, there are still many other characters in Lear that play very important parts. Everything about their introductions are so rushed that we have absolutely no reason to care about them. Pedro Pascal truly whispered his opening soliloquy, thus none of the actual plot of what he is doing for the rest of the play was set up with any sort meaningful way. And the other supporting actors don't make out any better.
I've seen other people commenting on the set being a unit set, which shouldn't be a problem, and somehow....
I didn't think it was possible, but Sam Gold has managed to make a unit set cumbersome. Everything was basically blocked in straight lines, and it swallowed the voices of the actors.
The costumes are just nonsense.
And as we neared the end, as the story is supposed to ramp up, the pacing, blocking, music, and storytelling all SLOW dooooooooown to crawl.

Howl. Howl. Howl.

It's a shame this is the production of Lear with Glenda Jackson we got.

[WldKingdomHM]

Posted: 3/4/19 at 11:21pm

Elizabeth was channeling some weird NJ Housewife. WTF was going on with her ? Let’s not talk about that ...



Spoiler



Weird Peter Pan hanging scene. Everyone in the left side on the mezz was laughing.
I felt bad for Glenda. She could prob do the whole show solo and it would be 10000 times better. Such a disappointment.

[SomethingPeculiar]

Posted: 3/4/19 at 11:23pm

I don't want to jump to conclusions, but if this doesn't find its footing and gets poor reviews, what's winning Best Revival?? The only two we haven't seen yet are All My Sons and Burn This; this season has had some good revivals but not great revivals. I always had this penciled in for Best Revival because Jackson + Gold + Rudin seemed unbeatable.

All My Sons 
The Boys in the Band 
Burn This 
King Lear 
Torch Song 
True West 
The Waverly Gallery 

[VotePeron]

Posted: 3/4/19 at 11:26pm

SomethingPeculiar said: "I don't want to jump to conclusions, but if this doesn't find its footing and gets poor reviews, what's winning Best Revival?? The only two we haven't seen yet areAll My SonsandBurn This;this season has had somegoodrevivals but notgreatrevivals. I always had thispenciled in for Best Revival because Jackson + Gold + Rudin seemed unbeatable.

All My Sons
The Boys in the Band
Burn This
King Lear
Torch Song
True West
The Waverly Gallery"

Oklahoma! will win the combined Best Revival category. 

[GeorgeandDot]

Posted: 3/4/19 at 11:31pm

These reports are truly terrible. They have about a month of previews right? Maybe they can turn this into something bearable by then.

[The Day Off]

Posted: 3/4/19 at 11:47pm

I actually quite enjoyed the production tonight. Certain moments were lacking, but overall I thought it was an energized evening and the length didn't really bother me as much as others.

Quick thoughts:

Glenda Jackson was good, but certainly not the best thing about this production. I'm surprised to hear she's played this role before because I was not bowed over by her performance.

Elizabeth Marvel and Aisling O'Sullivan were quite good in my opinion. (Marvel does need to project more, however.) I enjoyed their costumes, as I believe most of the audience did. (Marvel walks in wearing a red coat and the audience certainly expressed some excitement over it.) 

Ruth Wilson was very good as well. I enjoyed the double casting of the roles. 

Jayne Houdyshell falls in the same category as Glenda (although she has not played this role before). She certainly wasn't bad, but wasn't captivating. 

The supporting actors really shined tonight. I didn't love the set, but I do think the lighting and costumes were stunning. I didn't mind the score either, as others have in the messages above.

I'm quite surprised at the reactions expressed above, as I'd put this at the top of the play revivals this season (that have begun performances thus far). I will certainly look back in the board history, but was what the overall opinion on Gold's HAMLET?

This was my first production of LEAR and I was a big fan. The question of "what was the concept"... has me thinking. I don't know if there was a "concept", but for the first time I felt like I was "in the know" seeing a Shakespeare play for the first time cold. Everything was clear and expressed well to me. 

Interesting to see what the critics will think. 

[Miles2Go2]

Posted: 3/4/19 at 11:54pm

This was high up on my anticipated 2019 productions, but these early reports have let all the air out my balloon. I actually took it off my wish list just now. It was very unlikely I’d make it back to NYC before it closes anyway, but based on the unanimous early reports, this sounds unfixable even if they do have a month to do so. There’s other things I can do with my time and money when I’m in NYC, including seeing tons of other shows. I was really rooting for this production. I’ll just keep my glorious memories of Glenda in Three Tall Women.

As far as frontrunners for best revival, I’m hoping The Waverly Gallery takes the prize. It was simply one of the greatest things I’ve ever experienced. Ditto for Elaine May.

[LesWickedly]

Posted: 3/4/19 at 11:58pm

Miles, think you got your point across yesterday when you said the same thing.

[WhizzerMarvin]

Posted: 3/4/19 at 11:58pm

Well, Jane Cox’ lighting has a few very beautiful moments, but as for the rest, well it’s not great.

Jackson is commanding, but she gets lost in this mess of a production. Ruth Wilson has some nice moments as The Fool/Cordelia and John Douglas Thompson comes out unscathed, even if it’s the first time I’ve ever seen him not make an impression.

I know it’s early previews, but I did not care for Pedro Pascal (Edmund) or Sean Carvajal (Edgar) tonight at all, and Lear really falls apart without a strong Edmund moving the plot along and an Edgar that adds emotional weight.

Any fight scenes, death scenes or blinding scenes were poorly staged and so drawn out. The blinding was painfully dull (and not much blood); Edgar and Edmund fought slower than molasses in a pit of tar.

But I don’t want to pick on the actors. One man is to blame for this and that is Sam Gold. As they sing in The Producers, “What he did to Shakespeare, Booth did to Lincoln!” King Lear is a tragedy, but the tragedy is not supposed to be the production taking place on the stage, unless this is some meta take on the tragedy of tragedy, in which case bravo!

The whole thing is lifeless and even when Jackson or Wilson attempt to light a spark and get a little kindling burning, Gold comes along with a bucket of water to put it out. I can’t for the life of me figure out why Jackson had to compete with a string quartet every time she spoke, but she did. The sets and costumes are hideous. It’s just a very unsatisfying night at the theater and that’s a shame.

[\_(•_•)_/]

Posted: 3/5/19 at 12:07am

Oh man. Do you see anything getting nominated?

[Miles2Go2]

Posted: 3/5/19 at 12:15am

LesWickedly said: "Miles, think you got your point across yesterday when you said the same thing. "

Thanks for being so interested in what I say that you apparently read it twice. You know no one is forcing you to. Of Course, if you read my last three posts on this thread you’ll see I went from hopefully anticipation to disappointment (with the show staying on my list, but moving down it) to completely moving the show completely off my list plus answering SomethingPeculiar’s question. So there is subtlety there, but who knows, maybe that’s lost on you. 

Updated On: 3/5/19 at 12:15 AM

[WhizzerMarvin]

Posted: 3/5/19 at 12:18am

Jackson will be nominated, but maybe the sole nomination, much like when Sally was the only nomination for Gold’s Menagerie.