Swimming in the Shallows- Page 3

[luvtheEmcee]

Posted: 7/1/05 at 10:08am

Michael Arden is doing a Twyla Tharp show??

P.S. I think he looks fantastic.

[aspiringguy715]

Posted: 7/1/05 at 11:44am

P.S. I think he looks fantastic.

I have to add fantasmagorically adorable!

[boatsintheghetto]

Posted: 7/1/05 at 2:30pm

when do you have to buy rush tix 2 hours before? im working on convincing my parents when we go up on the tenth to see altarboyz but they wouldnt be seeing it too so it would be soo much easier if i could just go there and be able to get tix when the show is starting. but i doubt thats possible its just hard w/ it altheway up in 76th street or whatever

[luvtheEmcee]

Posted: 7/1/05 at 2:45pm

ONE hour before.

[boatsintheghetto]

Posted: 7/1/05 at 2:49pm

k thanks!!! thats much easier!!

[Tarnished_Angel]

Posted: 7/2/05 at 5:08am

I apologize if asking this is not allowed. (I'm a newbie) But I was wondering if any one that will be attending the show would be able to pick me up a playbil? I of course would cover all costs.

[dancingthrulife04]

Posted: 7/2/05 at 7:33am

I might be ushering there again tomorrow, not sure which show yet.

[luvtheEmcee]

Posted: 7/2/05 at 11:15am

Tarnished_Angel, there aren't really regular playbills at the show. There are three-fold little pamphlets with the bios and things. Hopefuly that makes sense... if not I can take a picture of mine so you can see what I'm talking about.

[Tarnished_Angel]

Posted: 7/2/05 at 6:07pm

luvtheEmcee thanks for the info. :) I get what your saying. :)

dancingthrulife04 you get to usher at shows? Do you get a chance to enjoy the show or do they keep you pretty busy?

[luvtheEmcee]

Posted: 7/2/05 at 7:05pm

I think it's on a volunteer basis, and you probably do get to watch the show.

[BwayBoy25]

Posted: 7/2/05 at 7:23pm

broadway.com didnt like this show but the NYTimes reviewer said pretty good things about it...interesting

[luvtheEmcee]

Posted: 7/2/05 at 7:25pm

I think the Broadway.com review was the only one that was so decidedly negative. If my memory serves me correctly, Newsday gave it a nice one as well.

Posted: 7/2/05 at 7:28pm

Am going to tonight's performance.

[luvtheEmcee]

Posted: 7/2/05 at 7:30pm

I'm curious to know what you think, Jose'...

[Trisky]

Posted: 7/2/05 at 8:54pm

I was at the show last night and right before the lights went down, the house manager sat the two ushers down in two seats, so I imagine that's a general rule of thumb.

As for the show itself, and I realize that this might just be my Michael bias, but he was clearly the best thing about the show, for me anyway.

I think what kept me removed from it as a whole was the atrocious attempts at accents. I spent so much time focused on how bad they were that I couldn't really lose myself in the scene or story. The people who didn't sell the characters with the accents came off decidedly better to me, than the people who did.

That, and there was a lot of yelling. I didn't understand the yelling.

Overall, I think the piece has a lot of genuinely funny moments and, minus the accents, a lot of solid performances. The pacing worked for me as well and that's important in a show, when scenes go on too long or aren't given enough time to breathe, I get frustrated. I didn't feel that with this show.

However, I'm still not sure why Nick was in love with a shark. Or if the shark was half man or full shark. Or a man with a shark fin. Or what.

Updated On: 7/2/05 at 08:54 PM

[luvtheEmcee]

Posted: 7/2/05 at 9:00pm

Re: The Shark -

I was reading something where Adam Bock was talking about how he came up with the idea for Swimming in the Shallows. Apparently he has another play about several gay men who are saved by a shark, I think. This idea came from a sort of "what if..." as to what might happen if one of these guys happened to fall in love with the shark.

I've said this before, and there are also several Logan Marshall-Green interviews floating around that address this, but it's not meant to be taken literally. There are many ways you could consider it, for example - is the shark a shark? Is he a person? Is he a gay shark, or just a shark? CAN a shark be gay? And hey... what's the point of this, because after all, he's just a shark. I think the point of the shark isn't meant to be what he is or what he isn't, but that this play is a story about love, and the universality of love. To Nick, it doesn't matter that this guy is a shark, it matters that they're in love. I think in order to "get" it, you have to go into this expecting it to be one of those types of experiences by which we consider theatre to be some entity that's about suspending all beliefs, and accepting what you're given.

Updated On: 7/2/05 at 09:00 PM

[Trisky]

Posted: 7/2/05 at 10:11pm

I'm able to "get" it fine, thanks. What I'm saying is that any piece of writing worth its salt, be it performance or otherwise, doesn't leave a gaping hole that wide for its intended audience to fall into. Sure the shark could be an allegorical symbol representing any number of ideas. It could also just as easily have no deeper meaning other than Nick falls in love with a literal shark which dilutes whatever message is being presented about love being universal and looking deeper within.

Nick could walk down the street and fall in love with a Toyota and it's not going to explain the expansiveness that love encompasses any more than him falling in love with a shark purports to do.

If one of the main trajectories of the three stories is that love is found in the shallows because at its core it's a simplistic concept and feeling that doesn't require so much explanation or overthinking, than having the shark go unexplained works against the point. Having to work to wonder if the shark is a metaphor or an actual thing seems to undermine the simplicity of the message.

Experimental does not equal provocative.

[luvtheEmcee]

Posted: 7/2/05 at 10:20pm

I didn't mean to imply that you didn't get it, or to sound mean. I meant it in general terms. Sorry.

I see what you're saying about the Toyota, and that it's an exaggeration. I mean, the shark is so clearly human-looking because he's got human feelings. Rather than just sticking him in a speedo and strapping a fin to his back, the creative team probably could've made him look more like a shark, and put a pretty different spin on the way the audience looks at the play. I think your point about it being "a literal shark" is exactly where that lies, and how literal he really is interpreted to be.

I don't know that having the shark go unexplained really counteracts the point of the simplicity of love, though. Because Nick has fallen in love with this guy, whatever he happens to be, and he is in love with him regardless of that. He's not looking for an answer, he's just accepting the fact that he's found love. He's not trying to explain it, but rather finding the simplistic emotion at the core of the situation he's found himself in.

Posted: 7/2/05 at 10:38pm

I found SWIMMING IN THE SHALLOWS by Adam Brock, as presented at the Second Stage, to be a winning short evening of theatre [less than 90 minutes]. It is expertly and imaginatively directed by Trip Cullman, well acted, and wonderfully theatrical.

[No spoilers here so feel comfortable reading ahead.]

The writing isn't always mature, but it is always engaging, lively, and sometimes unpredictable. The dramatic problem is the one created by Barb (Mary Shultz). Ms. Shultz does a fine comic turn with a keen emotional edge. Barb's dramatic problem is what keeps SWIMMING afloat. The other two stories are simply situational.

Logan Marshall-Green, as The Shark, deliver a very fine turn, too, and is another reason to see SWIMMING. He is quite accomplished and easily commands the stage even when silent.

I found another layer of comedy that is woven naturally into the piece to be the Baasten accents. The "baab" and "baab" that bounces back and forth between Barb and her husband, Bob, is funny.

For me, the most outstanding element of SWIMMING is its theatricality and the freedom it displays to ignore convention.

This is one of the surprisingly engaging natural comedies playing right now, and I would definitely recommend seeing it.


Updated On: 7/2/05 at 10:38 PM

[luvtheEmcee]

Posted: 7/2/05 at 10:53pm

Glad you liked it, Jose'.

[NYCBWAYFan24]

Posted: 7/3/05 at 12:35am

I saw the show this afternoon. What initially (sp?) attracted me to this play was Michael Arden. I saw him in Bare and thought he was amazing and I saw that he was doing this play so I wanted to see it. I'm normally not into plays more into musicals and I read up on SITS and it sounded interesting and I had no idea what to expect. I ended up walking out of that theatre LOVING the show and I will most def. be going back at least 1 or 2 more times to see it again before it closes in a few weeks. This is a show I most def. recommend! Really funny and the actors are great!!

[dancingthrulife04]

Posted: 7/3/05 at 1:13am

If anyone else is interested in ushering, Swimming i the Shallows ha sno more space, for the rest of its run I believe. Because I wanted to work tomorrow so I emailed the house manager, and he said that there was nothing open tomorrow, but if I wanted other dates for Birdie Blue to let him know because Swimming in the Shallows is full.

[CurtainPullDowner]

Posted: 7/4/05 at 3:30am

Again , I Love this Play!
and the fact that it can be seen by different people in different lights.
I feel one of it's strenghts is that is presents a wonderful sense of Friendship.
On the surface Nick, Donna, Barb and Carla Carla seem unlikely friends, but the idea that they all are able to care and disagree is what creates their friendships.
The women never question Nick falling in Love with a Shark, just that he is falling in love at all.
And the beauty of Mr. Arden's performance is that we as the audience don't either.
One of my favorite moments is when the shark asks Nick if he is afraid of him and Nick just says NO.
Right there we see that Nick is not a slut, but a Boy who gives and is not afraid to give, and his journey takes another turn at the end when he says to Barb, "It's not about just having 8 things is it?" ( sorry to misquote the wonderful Mr. Brock)
At that moment it is just about Loving, and shouldn't we all be that lucky?
ah, I love this play!
Please Go See it.


Updated On: 7/4/05 at 03:30 AM

[dancingthrulife04]

Posted: 7/4/05 at 7:26am

Curtain, that was very good.

[CurtainPullDowner]

Posted: 7/4/05 at 11:44am

thanks Dancing, and i wrote it in the middle of the night.
cause I was missing a good friend myself.