JOURNEY'S END is a must-see

[AC126748]

Posted: 2/11/07 at 6:07pm

I just returned from today's matinee of JOURNEY'S END. It was only the fifth preview performance, but this show is running smoother and tighter than almost any other show in town. The play was written nearly 80 years ago, but you'd think it was written yesterday. It holds up so incredibly well. There isn't a weak link among the cast, and I feel wrong singling any one out, but I would give Hugh Dancy the Tony right now. I can't imagine anyone else this season matching the level of intensity and brilliance he has reached on the stage of the Belasco.

If you have the opportunity to see this, go. I know I can't wait to go again.

[Julian2]

Posted: 2/11/07 at 6:15pm

I'm glad to hear its doing so well. I have a really odd attachment to this show, because when I went to NY for the first time this January, I stayed at the Alogonquin, which is just down the street from the Belasco. So, whenever I went out walking I had to pass the marquee.

[WithoutATrace]

Posted: 2/11/07 at 6:18pm

I saw the fourth preview last night and really enjoyed it as well. The acting is superb all around and the play is very well written. The ending is extremely powerful (don't want to give it away), but I got chills.

[folkyboy]

Posted: 2/11/07 at 6:22pm

i concur! i loved it! :) there were a lot of people who left because it was "too dark" for their eyes. i had no problem at all but i think it's very intelligent theatre. i would recommend not going if you're expecting some dancing cats on the stage or someone singing "A New Argentina" or something.

it's dark on the stage because it's set in a trench! durr...

but ooh yes! very moving!

[AC126748]

Posted: 2/11/07 at 6:25pm

Folkyboy-

Prior to the show starting, the usher assigned to my section was complaining to another usher about how boring the show was. He kept saying it was too dark, and it was stupid that the show only has one set. How unprofessional and rude.

[neddyfrank2]

Posted: 2/11/07 at 6:28pm

The show was dark or the stage was dark?

[folkyboy]

Posted: 2/11/07 at 6:29pm

the stage is dark. they use a candal-lit setup to give you the feeling you're in the trenches

[AC126748]

Posted: 2/11/07 at 6:30pm

The show is dark too in subject matter. Most war dramas are.

[Julian2]

Posted: 2/11/07 at 6:33pm

Prior to the show starting, the usher assigned to my section was complaining to another usher about how boring the show was. He kept saying it was too dark, and it was stupid that the show only has one set. How unprofessional and rude.

That's dreadful! Probably just bitter cause he couldn't get a job at Mamma Mia.

Updated On: 2/11/07 at 06:33 PM

[Calvin]

Posted: 2/11/07 at 6:35pm

"Intense" was the word I kept hearing as I left the theatre last night. If I may piggyback my review on this thread:

Following its highly praised run of "Awake and Sing!" last season, the Belasco Theatre is now housing another theatrical treasure from the early 20th Century. R.C. Sherriff's "Journey's End," last seen on Broadway during the pre-war Roosevelt administration, is now in previews at the theatre in preperation for a Feb. 22 opening.

The play takes place entirely in a gritty dugout underneath the British military's trenches at Saint-Quentin, France during World War I. The officers, including first-in-command Capt. Stanhope (Hugh Dancy) housed there are waiting through the unsettling quiet prior to an imminent German offensive that all know is just days away. Stanhope hasn't had much of a break from the trenches in three years, and as a result, is volatile and drinking heavily. The fatherly second-in-command, Lt. Osborne (Boyd Gaines) is one of the few who can give him comfort, but the recent addition of a worshipful childhood friend, 2nd Lt. Raleigh (Stark Sands) gives Stanhope renewed concern about what the war made him become.

The fresh-faced Raleigh is surprised upon arrival with the slow pace in the trenches, thinking that war meant nonstop frenzy and battles. The waiting, however, is the most mentally difficult part, so much that one officer, 2nd Lt. Trotter (John Ahlin) takes to filling in circles on a chart to mark every hour of the six-day stay the men have in the trenches.

As such, the play is largely dependent on suspense and tension, and David Grindley's direction, straight from a successful run of the show in London, masters that in the show pacing. One of the most enthralling scenes involves Raleigh and Osborne trying to relax in idol chitchat in the final minutes leading up to a dangerous mission. Nothing that they're saying is of any substance, yet it's entrancing because of the quiet countdown going on in the back of the two men's minds.

Despite being something of a prototype for the later deluge of war dramas, "Journey's End" still seems fresh and free of cliches. Yes, some of the characters are what later became war script stereotypes -- the cowardly 2nd Lt. Hibbert (Justin Blanchard), the somewhat indifferent Colonel (Richard Poe) and the shabby cook Private Mason (Jefferson Mays) -- but even they don't seem so here. More remarkable is the lack of a villain. Even the opposing German army is treated sympathetically here, as Osborne talks about their assistance as the British tried to remove a wounded man from the trenches.

Obviously, this show should find a new resonance thanks to the increasingly unpopular war in Iraq. That largely will be the projection from the audience, however. Sherriff, himself a World War I veteran, might not have been a big fan of war, but "Journey's End" is more of an acknowledgement of the horrors of war on which people taking any side of the debate should be able to agree.

The cast assembled here is first-rate, particularly Broadway veteran Gaines and up-and-coming star Dancy. Gaines is a solid, dignified presence, and Dancy is equally fiery and fragile as the tortured leader. All the principals excel at the appropriately layered performance of the surface light-heartedness and the underlying anticipation. This particularly stands out following the scene in which one of the characters dies, and the action jarringly jumps to a raucous and bawdy celebration in the dugout. The melancholy beneath the occasion is obvious to the audience even if it isn't to Raleigh.

There were a few accent inconsistencies among some American cast members that easily should be worked out by the end of previews. The set is appropriately dank and dark. From a technical standpoint, the show also is in great shape. It's quite telling that a few beats stretching for several minutes, including the distressing ending, are carried successfully by little more than lighting and sound effects to an actorless stage. The curtain call also is handled in a way as to not break the tension reached by the play's end.

[neddyfrank2]

Posted: 2/11/07 at 6:36pm

Do they use real lights or just candles? Also pardon my ignorance but which was is this?

[Calvin]

Posted: 2/11/07 at 6:37pm

Oh, and the stage is VERY dark. There's a lot of complaints about that on ATC right now, saying it's difficult to see from the mezz or rear orchestra.

I was in the first row of the mezzanine and had no problems seeing faces.

[wickedrentq]

Posted: 2/11/07 at 7:08pm

Wonderful review Calvin! I couldn't agree more.

I mentioned this on a thread about the first preview, but I'll just reiterate it was a wonderful, intense show, and I too thought it spoke volumes about the show that I sat watching an actorless stage, just seeing lights and hearing noises knowing all that was going on was people were controlling/playing lights and sounds, yet it was such an intense, eerie moment--the play just captured me.

I was pleased with what they did at the curtain call, but still, I wish they could have taken an even riskier step to not have the curtain call--I think this is one of the few plays that would very much benefit from that, but I guess it's just so rarely done these days.

To think if the play ended with that last scene of just the sounds and the lights I thought would have been brilliant and have an extremely strong impact.

Nevertheless, it was a great play, even at the first preview.

[April Saul]

Posted: 2/11/07 at 7:09pm

I agree, this play was wonderful. However, having spent the first half of it sitting up in the mezz and the second half in third row center seats, I have to stress that proximity in this one is really important. It's easier to zone out from high up; from down in front, you feel like you're in the trench with these guys, and by the end of the play I was in tears. There's a wonderful discount code through BroadwayOffers that was sent to me by the Public Theater, where you can get $25 seats. My friend tried to use it last night on the computer, and didn't call up anything great, but today stopped by the box office and was offered all kinds of things in the first few rows of center orchestra. With this show, especially because the dim lighting makes it hard to see the facial expressions of the actors from a distance, closeness really helps...

[purpleprince101]

Posted: 2/11/07 at 7:10pm

i like the curtain

[Caroline-Q-or-TBoo]

Posted: 2/11/07 at 7:11pm

just saw a production of this at Houston's Alley Theater and I was immensly affected. it's a fantastic play and the alley's production was first rate.

if a community theater in Texas can put on such a brilliant production, i can only imagine how brilliant this broadway production is

[Piercemn]

Posted: 2/11/07 at 7:17pm

I am so pleased to hear that it's as good as you all say. I saw it in London three years ago, on the same day I saw Diana Rigg in Suddenly Last Summer. Journey's End was an amazing evening of theatre, one of the best shows I've seen in over 40 years of theatregoing and it was never boring, never tiring. The script is brilliant and really holds up well, and the curtain call blew me away.

The next day I went to Cambridge to visit a friend, and while there, got to see the place in Chariots of Fire where they ran around the quadrant at King's College. It tied in so closely to the great loss of the British during World War I.

Journey's End, is, indeed, an unforgettable theatre experience. It is certainly a must-see.

[AC126748]

Posted: 2/11/07 at 7:19pm

Threadjacking my own thread...

Was that the production in which the brilliant Victoria Hamilton played Catharine? If so, details please!

[NJgirl]

Posted: 2/11/07 at 9:19pm

If attendance isnt all that great yet...why are they excluding almost all of the Center Orchestra from the discounts I've seen posted???
I want to buy from TDF or with some sort of discount code..but am leary if its hard to see with the lighting from farther back or off to the side as I've been reading. I'm a world war 1 and 2 history nerd and really want to see this show.

No chance of anyone sending me that 25 dollar discount code?

[AC126748]

Posted: 2/11/07 at 11:10pm

Go to BroadwayOffers.com and put in this code: JENPT25.

[shesamarshmallow]

Posted: 2/12/07 at 2:24am

I'll be so amazingly happy if Hugh Dancy wins the Tony. I really need to get over to NY before this closes... but I won't. STUPID SCHOOL.

eta: Wait, is this an open run?

Updated On: 2/12/07 at 02:24 AM

[mallardo]

Posted: 2/12/07 at 2:33am

Yes, it's great theatre but don't give Hugh Dancy the Tony just yet. Wait until you see Frank Langella as Nixon - THAT is one of thr great performances of our time.

[folkyboy]

Posted: 2/12/07 at 9:24am

right, i felt so strongly about Dancy's performance too. but i have to remind myself of all the other shows that are going to be coming out soon.

i think it IS an open run, marshmallow

[shesamarshmallow]

Posted: 2/12/07 at 10:40am

Awesome. I hope to catch it this summer, then...

[Calvin]

Posted: 2/12/07 at 12:22pm

I don't think it's an open run, as the posters say "limited engagement." Playbill has it listed as closing July 1.