Has anyone seen Johanna Day in AUGUST yet??
Has anyone seen Johanna Day in AUGUST yet??
#1Has anyone seen Johanna Day in AUGUST yet??
Posted: 10/18/08 at 3:28am
I'm dying to hear anything about her performance. I have tickets to tonight's (10/1
performance, so I'll most definitely be posting my review. But I'd like to ruin the surprise for myself ahead of time.
As you can tell, Christmas mornings for me are unbearable.
#2re: Has anyone seen Johanna Day in AUGUST yet??
Posted: 10/18/08 at 10:52amI did, and I thought she was phenomenal. I worried that the show wouldn't be as great as I remembered when I saw the original cast, or that Day wouldn't be able to fill in the footsteps of Amy Morton (who so completely owned that role). But I thought Day was fantastic, and really made the part her own.
#3re: Has anyone seen Johanna Day in AUGUST yet??
Posted: 10/18/08 at 11:18amCan you elaborate a bit more? I am particularly interested to see if she kept the same sort of acidic, rough tone that Amy Morton gave Barbara. How did she play the dinner scene? How about her reading of the now-famous Act II closing line? How about the "eat your fish" scene?
"Some people can thrive and bloom living life in a living room, that's perfect for some people of one hundred and five. But I at least gotta try, when I think of all the sights that I gotta see, all the places I gotta play, all the things that I gotta be at"
#4re: Has anyone seen Johanna Day in AUGUST yet??
Posted: 10/18/08 at 11:56amYeah, is the "I'm running things now!" close to Amy's. If the rest of her performance is bad, I won't care as long as that line's brilliant.
#5re: Has anyone seen Johanna Day in AUGUST yet??
Posted: 10/19/08 at 10:20amAmy Morton's "I'm running things now!" gave me chills. How was Michael's performance as Little Charles?
#6re: Has anyone seen Johanna Day in AUGUST yet??
Posted: 10/19/08 at 10:57amI just gasped and my mouth dropped open at the end of Act II. I would love to see the new cast.
Just give the world Love.
#7re: Has anyone seen Johanna Day in AUGUST yet??
Posted: 10/19/08 at 2:52pm
Saw Johanna last night. I'm not going to go into too much detail, but here's the gist.
As soon as she entered, you could tell she hasn't gotten into the style of writing yet. Letts writes in a very conversational manner, a manner that everyone on that stage understands but her. She plays everything as if any moment she could turn around and apologize for it. Not even remotely powerful enough. Also, when her voice gets low or she tries to raise it, she gets into this weird Madame Morrible-esque kind of grunt. I don't know how else to describe it. Also, she just does not get the relationship with Violet. She comes in and embraces her mother like they're as close as can be. It throws off the rest of the action. She played up the jokes in the fight between her and Bill too much towards the end of Act One, but I could see glimpses of a great performance when she dropped the "shmacting."
Now, Act Two. Still wasn't getting the conversational cadence of the dialogue, but she was at least turning in a better performance. Her fight with Bill in this act was MUCH better. Still played up the jokes a little bit, but she settled into the rhythm and it was really good. However, she took a step back when she confronted Jean about watching TV. I can't put my finger on it, but she just seemed too nice. Barbara is supposed to be pushing her daughter away and yet Johanna was yelling like my mother would if I forgot to throw an empty soda can away. Whatever. The dinner scene. She wasn't dominant enough and Barbara became forgettable. Her fight scene was fantastic though and somehow made it look less choreographed than Amy did. Then came... THE line. Her "SHUT UP!" showed some promise. I was hopeful. Now... lower your voice, add some gravel to it, and say "Nom nom nom. I'm a monster and I'm going to eat you!" That's roughly how Johanna said "I'm running things now!" Awful. Laughable, even.
Act Three faired much better. MUCH better. Her performance here was reminiscent of Amy's, but not in a copying kind of way. Her only issue was that she sounded like she was losing her voice, but her voice is naturally a little raspy, so I guess that's alright. If only she could have played the rest of the play with this kind of intensity, she would have achieved something really great and really made the part her own in a very positive way.
Overall, I was kind of disappointed. If you're going to go see it, wait until she's started to discover more about her character and her relationships. I think she'll get better. She's proven herself to be a great actress, so I'm sure the performance will improve.
Michael was excellent as Little Charles, Scott was great as Sheriff, Dee was... bleh as Ivy. Saw her as Karen and loved it. Not so hot as Ivy. Until the third act. She was quite intense at the end of the third act.
#8re: Has anyone seen Johanna Day in AUGUST yet??
Posted: 10/19/08 at 3:10pm
Thanks for your thoughts, ColorTheHours048. I was wondering how Amy Morton's replacement was going to be. Obviously whoever comes into this role has some pretty big shoes to fill.
I went to Amy Morton's last performance so I probably won't be seeing the play again until much later. That performance was also the last day for Jim True-Frost and Sally Murphy. I thought Jim True-Frost was an excellent Little Charles. He is a really fine actor. I actually saw Dee Pelletier as Ivy when she was the understudy. I had the same opinion you had about her. She was "bleh" until Act 3.
#9re: Has anyone seen Johanna Day in AUGUST yet??
Posted: 10/19/08 at 3:13pm
VeryNY, I went to see Amy Morton's last performance as well. Since Sally Murphy and Jim True-Frost were leaving as well, you could tell there was a sort of weird chemistry on stage. When Madeleine Martin came out of the stagedoor, a friend of hers was waiting for her, and Martin told her it was a horrible show to do since everyone was so sad throughout the whole thing.
It was my second time seeing the show, and Morton was just as brilliant. Her scenes with Estelle Parsons were a highlight of course, but this time around I really enjoyed the scene with the three sisters quite a lot. Nothing can match her "I'm running things now!" though.
Thanks for the detailed review on Johanna Day, ColortheHours. I was thinking of seeing her in the role, but now I'm not so sure.
"Some people can thrive and bloom living life in a living room, that's perfect for some people of one hundred and five. But I at least gotta try, when I think of all the sights that I gotta see, all the places I gotta play, all the things that I gotta be at"
#10re: Has anyone seen Johanna Day in AUGUST yet??
Posted: 10/19/08 at 4:10pm
How weird. I was at Amy's last, too.
I'd say you should still see it. Just give it a few weeks for her to get to know the character a little better. The rest of the cast is in great shape. Estelle was the best I've seen her last night. Johanna will improve, I'm sure of it. She was fantastic in "Peter and Jerry" and she was nominated for a Tony in "Proof." She's capable. This was only her first week. Yes, I was very disappointed, but I'll definitely be seeing it again since it's my favorite play and she's a very talented actress.
Updated On: 10/19/08 at 04:10 PM
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