"Fichandler, who was unable to attend, was honored with a moving tribute by her former students -- including Danny Pino '00 (Cold Case) and Manoel Felciano '04 (Sweeney Todd) -- who saluted her extraordinary career in the way she taught them -- by performing."
Did anyone else see today's matinee? I thought it was kind of strange, especially compared to the performance I saw in mid-previews. Moss seemed much stronger, with more vocal flexibility and presence (you go, girl!), and Piven seemed more truly emotionally "lost" in the third scene, as he claims he is. And Raul - boy, I thought I'd be the last person to say this, Raul seemed like he needed to catch a train, or something. Very, very fast, and "going through the motions" in the entire first scene. He redeemed himself in the third scene, but I wouldn't say it was one of his better, or at least most consistent, efforts.
ETA: Richard Schiff (Toby from WEST WING) was in the audience.
Updated On: 11/19/08 at 09:31 PM
Jeremy McCarter of Newsweek, writing about the Mamet shows currently on Broadway, thinks all the actors fail at grasping the balance of Mamet's dialog, his "word-music", with one shining exception:
"Why, then, does the show thrive? Listen closely to Raul Esparza. The young star of musical theater all but sings the role of the craven producer, flickering from deadpan comic understatement to high, excited shrieks. He brings to Mametspeak the verbal flair you'd expect from an actor who spent the past two years slaloming through the rhythms of Sondheim and Pinter."
He goes on to say:
"This isn't to say that song-and-dance men alone can be trusted with these roles. But it can't be a coincidence that the only Mamet performances in the same league as Esparza's lately were by actors famous for their skill with heightened language: Liev Schreiber, who paused on the route from Henry V to Macbeth to play a salesman in "Glengarry Glen Ross," and Chiwetel Ejiofor, who brought to the film "Redbelt" the gifts that led London critics to call him an Othello for the ages. With this Shakespearean pedigree in mind, the producers of the next Mamet revival may want to apply a more exacting standard during casting, one offered by another writer-director with strong opinions about the actor's craft: "Speak the speech, I pray you, as I pronounced it to you," says Hamlet, "trippingly on the tongue.""
I saw that production of GGGR and was disappointed by Schreiber because his voice didn't carry very well and I could hardly hear him from the rear mezz. The movie however, I love love love.
Just wanted to pop into this thread and say I went to see Raul Esparza in Speed-The-Plow last week and now I 'get it'! Not a fan of Entourage or Mad Men (or of much TV in general tbh), so Raul's name carried more weight with me anyway, but I didn't expect to be so mesmerized by one actor out of a company of three. I found the second act really sagged without his presence, but this just heightened the climactic tour-de-force he delivered in Act III. Wow! Consider me a convert.
He also came straight down from stage to collect for BC/EFA in the lobby afterwards. He was incredibly gracious, spent time talking to every single person who wanted to exchange words with him, signed and took pictures for everyone who wanted and was just one of the most genuinely approachable Broadway actors I have ever encountered.
When I was in Times Square on the day I was due to fly home from NYC, I swung by the theatre again, met him going in and wished him all the best for the Tony awards next year. I really hope he finally wins (and this comes from a DHP fan who was over-the-moon two years ago)!