"Come Back, Little Sheba" - 1st Preview Review (Possible Spoilers)

[Testing1232]

Posted: 1/3/08 at 11:53pm

Just got back from the 1st preview. Had a TDF ticket-- Orch, Row A, Center--- great seat !

Really enjoyed it, although it needs some tightening (understanding that its a 1st preview)

Set is vert cute, but some of the "in-act" set changes took a little too long. It almost looked like the staff missed their cue a few times.

As Doc, Kevin Anderson was good, although I liked him much better in "Death of a Salesman"-

Zoe Kazan was good as Marie, though a bit too perky, and the story never really explains how she ended up living with a middle-aged couple.

Rest of the cast is servicable in smaller roles.

Reason to go see this show is S. Epatha Merkerson, who plays Lola when an incredible amount of insecurity and vunerability.

You literally (at least I did) feel her pain when she speaks. She yearns for love and affection, and to go back in time to when she was young and pretty.

She flubbed a few lines early, but once again, 1st preview, and the entire cast seemed to be getting their sea-legs.

Definitely recommend it, and I will be going back in a few weeks to see it again !

[WithoutATrace]

Posted: 1/4/08 at 12:23am

I had never seen this show (or the movie) before so I had no idea what it was about going into it. I LOVED the show. I was capitvated the entire 2.5 hours. S. Epatha Merkerson was wonderful as Lola. I didn't care for Kevin Anderson very much...thought he was a bit one-note. The play itself is fantastic...I would highly recommend this one.

[LaCageAuxFollesFan2]

Posted: 1/4/08 at 12:25am

I saw it this evening as well and immensley enjoyed it.

One thing is for sure, Deanna Dunagan has some serious competiton in S. Epatha Merkerson. Her Lola is devestating in the best way possible.

The set was very appropriate for the story in giving it the sense of feeling jailed into a house.

It was just really nice to see a play that was written in such a simpler time. It took be about 10 minutes to put myself in that time period in this country, but when I did - it was worth it.

Anderson is good, and I'm sure will get even better is time - thought he was near perfect in Act 2.

All of the supporting players give very nice performances too, but this evening belongs to William Inge & S. Epatha Merkerson. It is such a well crafted piece that draws you in and in Merkerson's hands, Lola is trully heartbreak. As she calls for Sheba and then comes to a realization, your heart really aches for her and you just want to give her a hug.

[Testing1232]

Posted: 1/4/08 at 10:18am

<< All of the supporting players give very nice performances too, but this evening belongs to William Inge & S. Epatha Merkerson. It is such a well crafted piece that draws you in and in Merkerson's hands, Lola is trully heartbreak. As she calls for Sheba and then comes to a realization, your heart really aches for her and you just want to give her a hug.

One thing is for sure, Deanna Dunagan has some serious competiton in S. Epatha Merkerson. Her Lola is devestating in the best way possible.

>>

Totally agree !!! You could really feel her pain !

Amazing portrayal of Lola--- and to think, she is just going to get better !! Scary !!!

[Testing1232]

Posted: 1/4/08 at 10:18am

double post Updated On: 1/4/08 at 10:18 AM

[Testing1232]

Posted: 1/4/08 at 10:18am

triple--- Updated On: 1/4/08 at 10:18 AM

[Theatre101]

Posted: 1/4/08 at 11:03am

I'm seeing it tonight, can't wait. Sounds promising.

[Testing1232]

Posted: 1/4/08 at 11:28am

<< Anderson is good, and I'm sure will get even better is time - thought he was near perfect in Act 2.

>>

I thought the same thing -- I remember Anderson having to "grow" into his role in "Salesman" as well, but he ended up being very good !! I expect the same here !

Enjoy it, 101--- Excellent production

[jordangirl]

Posted: 1/4/08 at 11:46am

Cannot wait! I'm seeing it one Saturday this month (either the 19 or the 26) with my roommate from when i lived in DC. We'll both get up early and I'll go into the theater to wait for student rush tix while she rides the bus up. :P

[obsessedjb]

Posted: 1/4/08 at 11:48am

I think I'm going to see this on sunday night.

[Testing1232]

Posted: 1/4/08 at 12:28pm

Really cant wait to see it again, and have my entire office buying tix now !!

Just a note on the "rush"- not sure where the seats are, but they did have a few single (rush) seats left as late as 6:30PM last night. (house was pretty crowded, which was great to see !)

[LaCageAuxFollesFan2]

Posted: 1/4/08 at 1:17pm

I just had a very nice New York moment seeing this show. It was insainly cold last night, and it was just nice to see an old fashioned show like "Come Back, Little Sheba" in a warm theatre.

lol...thanks for induldging me

[Wanna Be A Foster]

Posted: 1/5/08 at 12:34am

I saw the show tonight. Of course it was only the second preview, so I'm going to give it the benefit of the doubt, but the pacing needs to seriously pick up. It was so very super slow. Daniel Sullivan was there watching tonight. I was sitting directly in front of Michael Pressman and his assistant, taking notes.

Is this the first play Michael Pressman has EVER directed?

From his bio, that appears to be the case. And from what is happening up on stage, it seems that the show was barely directed at all. It's as though he threw all of the actors up on the stage and let them all figure it out for themselves.

The show needs seriously tightening up and DIRECTING. The performers seemed so misguided.

The acting was fine. Merkerson didn't amaze me the way she did for you guys. I thought she was just fine. Her Lola seemed to be in the same place from the beginning through to the end. And again, she seemed to have no direction as to what to do up there. She seemed like (pun unintended) a lost puppy up there.

Anderson's portrayal of Doc fared better, in my opinion.

And I thought Zoe Kazan was just lovely. This actress made choices, and they were distinct, and they helped move the story along, and keep the show from being stuck in the mud.

I pray that Daniel Sullivan gave some serious notes to Pressman tonight.

This production has the potential to be magnificent. But somebody needs to guide these actors (and stage crew, who I agree were late and slow on set moving cues) and get this machine in motion.

Pressman appears to have done nothing so far.

[RentBoy86]

Posted: 1/5/08 at 12:38am

How do you get to be an assistant director? haha. That's what I want to know.

[Yankeefan007]

Posted: 1/5/08 at 7:47am

Pressman is a well-known television director. It still boggles me how he was chosen for Sheba.

[Testing1232]

Posted: 1/5/08 at 10:53am

That was my biggest (and really only problem) with the show, WBAF-- the stage crew seemed to be in slow motion, and despite the nice music in the background, it seemed like forever to make the scene changes.

Can easily be corrected. Maybe some "Red Bull" ?

[stevenycguy]

Posted: 1/5/08 at 12:46pm

Quite a few people gave the show a standing ovation. The show was simply excellent; great acting and set. Without going into spoilers, you really felt for Lola in the 2nd act - especially during the dinner and with the long distance phone call she made. I found the pacing just about right - perhaps 5 minutes could be shaved off Act I, but that's about it. A touching, emotional story that took place in the 1950s. And without spoiling anything, I loved how the husband compared the two women to each other, right before the two men came (the last 2 men to make an appearance) in Act II - very interesting parallels between the two women. I'd highly recommend the show to others. All-around-excellent. A show I could definitely see more than once. Quite a lot of "eye candy" too - a few hunks in the show too!

[Wanna Be A Foster]

Posted: 1/5/08 at 12:48pm

Every Broadway show gets a standing ovation.

Only about a fifth of this audience stood last night anyway, but that's beside the point.

[LaCageAuxFollesFan2]

Posted: 1/6/08 at 10:29pm

Did anyone else get a chance to see SHEBA this weekend? I'm thinkig of going back either later this week or next week. I enjoyed it so much, and really want to see Ms. Merkerson's performance again. She really was incredible. They don't make um like this anymore!

[tomwingfield]

Posted: 1/7/08 at 9:18am

I can see why this is getting some attention: S. Epatha is terrific and this is a far cry from Van Buren, but she is undermined by the dated script and overdone production values. The set is totally incongruous with a midwestern town of the 1950s in that particular socio-economic class. The idea of alcoholism must have been riveting in 1950 as must have have the hopelessness of Lola's predicament. However, Kevin Anderson is very weak as the husband-- not the threatening menace Lancaster was in the movie or Philip Bosco was in the very good Roundabout production with Shirley Knight in 1984. Two very funny moments: after a lot of chatter about their very good china, when Daddy clears everything off the table in a rage, the plates bounced off the floor (as plastic always does). Instead of hearing the plates shatter, we got a couple of bounces which totally destroyed any dramatic tension. S. Ethapa should have come back in The Glass Menagerie or Raisin in the Sun -- what a terrific actress, but totally wasted in this production.

[Auggie27]

Posted: 1/7/08 at 9:41am

I'm 180 from the above post.

I think Anderson's work is radical, and freshly illuminates the tortured Doc. Rather than play a bullying brute, Anderson wisely uses his own boyish mien to show us the unerlying bewilderment -- how did he get where he is, with so little joy to show for it? -- that define this man's predicament. His fear of his own middle age is built into Anderson's being cast -- the young leading man is now on the cusp of older character roles, and rather than back away from that reality, Anderson embraces it and employs it to ignite Doc's anguish. When he talks of his long-lost youth, we can literally see how it's faded; the shadow across his face seems real, the fire dies in his eyes as he speaks. The boy inside the man is there, glimpsed, tellingly, when he flirts with Marie, or does card tricks for Lola (a particularly beautiful window into Doc's long-underemployed charm).

And rather than 'play' menacing, he wisely knows that it's Doc's words, not his weapons, that pose the biggest threat to this already damaged woman. When he unleashes his stinging assault on her, it's clear, as Lola says, that what he says cuts her down more than any axe could. Anderson's rage is intact, as is his potential for violence. But more importantly, we see how unexamined regret is toxic -- if it leads to violent acts, they are ultimately self-destructive ones.

I think this is a performance that will grow steadily over the next month, as Anderson finds even more nuances. Let the previews do their job; this performance may be one of the season's best.

Updated On: 1/7/08 at 09:41 AM

[hellzapoppin2000]

Posted: 1/7/08 at 12:41pm

I thought he was far too inward for Doc -- if it had been a film maybe any nuance Anderson gave it would be illuminating, but he just seemed weak and uninteresting -- no sexual tension between him and the girl. Does anyone remember the tv version with Olivier and Joanne Woodward? And Tom you are right: the bouncing plates were hilarious.