"Thoreau" review thread; break a leg you guys!

[FindingNamo]

Posted: 11/9/06 at 10:33am

Just so we can keep track of all "The Night Thoreau Spent in Jail" reviews I figured we could put them all in one thread! Newsday's is already up, which is weird, I thought reviews were embargoed til curtain.

But the good news is, it's mostly positive!

"The cast is not without its appeal. And somehow does its best with what it has to work with. But it's no use pondering what the Weislers would have done with Walter Bobbie directing, this is the 'Thoreau' we have, and like the man himself, we'll make the best of our meager rations."

[Calvin]

Posted: 11/9/06 at 10:43am

Theatremania is mixed to negative:

"Henry David Thoreau once said, 'As if you could kill time without injuring eternity.' Well, get out the bandages, because eternity must be hemorrhaging this morning after the snoozefest last night.
***
"There were a few shining moments, such as when the ghost of Ralph Waldo Emerson appears to read passages from Michael Medved's Right Turns.' But the sets and acting is too dreary, and dare I say, transcendental to hold even the most willing audience's attention. Emerson said to simplify, simplify, simplify. He didn't say, 'Strip bare and let rot.'"

eta: But I like these a lot better when Margo does them.


Updated On: 11/13/06 at 10:43 AM

[FindingNamo]

Posted: 11/9/06 at 10:49am

Call me a "glass half full" Polyanna if you will, but I would definitely call that mixed to positive!

[Calvin]

Posted: 11/9/06 at 10:53am

That's true. I mean, the reviewer might have said he didn't like it, but he came out of there quoting Thoreau and Emerson. He even led the story with a quote, which any journalist will tell you is the absolute best way to start any story for publication. So obviously, although he doesn't want to admit it, he was shackled by a heavy burden, and the production touched him and made him whole.

[Kringas]

Posted: 11/9/06 at 10:56am

[Calvin]

Posted: 11/9/06 at 10:58am

Another rave!

[SueleenGay]

Posted: 11/9/06 at 11:01am

Last night the Xenia High School Players performed “The Night Thoreau Spent in Jail.” Written by playwrights Jerome Lawrence and Robert E. Lee (with extra material by Mark “Dakin” Manley), the play was performed far from the eyes of the world-renowned theater epicenter of Manhattan, reaffirming the beliefs of the show’s main character, transcendentalist/environmental/sexy bad boy rebel, Henry David Thoreau.
Xenia’s production was directed by Mark “Dakin” Manley and performed in the Joseph McCarthy Little Theatre. About 9 of the 150 seats were filled as the cast of 17 acted on the simple set, designed by technical director Mark “Dakin” Manley. A level platform, two benches, a few scraggly, barren trees, and the mind’s imagination were the only tools used to create the scenes. Working with the small stage the JoMac/PAC provides seemed not to be an issue for this show. Thoreau was a critic of technology, questioning its benefits. Therefore, simple sets and costumes were only appropriate because of his beliefs and the fact that his night of incarceration was in 1846 – decades before theatres had the abilities they have today. So the stunning use of a gigantic chandelier and the deus ex mechanical helicopter (don’t ask, just GO) are an added unexpected surprise and won’t easily be forgotten by the 5 people remaining in attendance during the second act, although a better ventilation system might have prevented a few of the cast members from passing out on stage. Lighting by Miss Stacy Chanticleer, was used to differentiate day and night by making it lighter (for day scenes) and darker (for night scenes), and a fog machine added drama and sexual energy during a scene in the second act in which Henry roams Walden looking for someone to share his "special kind of love".
As the title would suggest, “The Night Thoreau Spent in Jail” is about the single night Thoreau, played by young but physically impressive Travis Matson with not much talent but a stomach as hard as granite, was incarcerated for failing to pay taxes. He refused to pay his taxes because he would be supporting a United States government that was fighting an unjust war against Mexico in 1846. In the pre-show speech to the audience, Mr. Manley made it very clear that he “IN NO WAY SUPPORTS THE USE OF CIVIL DISOBEDIENCE IN ANY WAY SHAPE OR FORM AND ONLY CHOSE THIS PLAY TO GIVE HIS STAR AN OPPORTUNITY TO SHOW OFF HIS RANGE AS AN ACTOR (AND HIS IMPRESSIVE PHYSIQUE.) ALL WARS DECLARED OR NOT DECLARED BY OUR GOVERNMENT DESERVE OUR FULL AND UNQUESTIONING SUPPORT.”
The use of songs in this production (added at the director’s discretion) makes this a most enjoyable evening. Particularly moving and effective were the songs “In My Own Little Corner” (from Cinderella), On My Own (from Les Miserable) and especially the rousing “One” (from A Chorus Line), which had nothing whatsoever to do with the play, but brought the audience to it’s feet, nonetheless.

[Bluemoon]

Posted: 11/9/06 at 11:10am

I'm enjoying this far too much.

And, Kringas, you're simply the best.
Updated On: 11/9/06 at 11:10 AM

[robbiej]

Posted: 11/9/06 at 11:42am

Did you guys read Matthew Murray at Talkin' Broadway? Vicious. Why doesn't he like ANYTHING????

"Mark Manley has done to Robert E. Lee what General Grant did to another Robert E. Lee..."

[SueleenGay]

Posted: 11/9/06 at 12:02pm

I know, Robbie. I mean everybody doesn't like something, but nobody doesn't like Lawrence and Lee.

[bwaysinger]

Posted: 11/9/06 at 12:21pm

I'm still waiting for a review of Capathia Jenkins' appearance onstage at the 11 o'clock spot to sing "Big Black Woman" to a distraught Thoreau, thereby uplifting his spirits and leading him out of his "wilderness" and, perhaps, setting up shades of Walden Pond.

[robbiej]

Posted: 11/9/06 at 12:30pm

I heard it was...what's the word? Oh yeah...'greasy'.

[bwaysinger]

Posted: 11/9/06 at 12:38pm

I don't know, Robbiej. There's something about a large negress, gamely kicking and showing off her oddly-pearly whites while belting out a full-throttle gospel number appropriately written by a non-colored person that just makes my knees jolt.

[FindingNamo]

Posted: 11/9/06 at 6:12pm

OMG, I'm shocked so many reviews are up already. Don't ANY critics wait until opening night anymore?

I'm on absolute pins and needles for the New York Treason Times to weigh in.

[FindingNamo]

Posted: 11/9/06 at 10:49pm

UGH! The Treason Times review is up and it's a completely totally unfair pan (not personally having seen the show) with the obligatory love letter to Yvette Williams as the Mother. Sometimes I wonder if the Times critic ever likes ANYTHING, other than exactly one female performer per cast, or just the stuff that appeals to the screeching elite.

And then just at the moment when the audience drifts close to catatonia thanks to the dullard-like direction by somebody who appears not to actually understand the play he's directing, that is if he ever even read it, drifts on the incandescent Ms. Williams to show everyone why God invented the theatre. Her realistic portrayal fairly sparkles not only in comparison to everyone else around her on stage, but to many actors currently working in a professional capacity. That the rest of the cast has been so horribly served by their director is patently obvious to those with eyes and ears (and in the case of one particular sad casting choice, noses), the fact that Williams through sheer force of will transcends these limitations in a play about a famous transcendentalist is not only thematically apt, it's a frigging miracle."

I don't even know that that last part means! It seems like it's sort of nice but it's probably really mean. You know how those New Yorkers are, always being "deep."

Chins up, cast! You KNOW the audience will spread the good word the second they're done with your much-deserved standing O!

Updated On: 11/9/06 at 10:49 PM

[JustAGuy]

Posted: 11/9/06 at 11:28pm

Thank you all for posting these reviews. Does anyone know if they sign at the stage door? I'm thinking about going, but only if they like sign, and don't sneak out a side entrance or something. I hate that. I mean they owe it to the public to like sign and stuff, we're the ones who made them what they are.

P.S. Did like that Yvette Williams like understudy Idina sometime. I think I saw her when Wicked played Dayton...but I"m not sure cuz she didn't sign.

Updated On: 11/9/06 at 11:28 PM

[FindingNamo]

Posted: 11/9/06 at 11:36pm

I don't think she has yet, but supposeably she's amazing.

[etoile]

Posted: 11/10/06 at 1:43am

Alas, I was so looking forward to Danny posting something during intermission.

Any official press or red carpet photos yet?

[DG]

Posted: 11/10/06 at 2:56am

Please God let someone save this thread - as evidence that creation is alive and well on this board.

Kringas, I must add my thanks for your special brand of contribution.

Posted: 11/10/06 at 8:57am

I hate to dream, but with reviews THIS good....Wouldn't it be AMAZING if this production could transfer to Broadway? And if it did, wouldn't IDINA be amazing as Throreau?

[FindingNamo]

Posted: 11/10/06 at 9:00am

Barring that (I'm afraid to dream!), how about a cast recording like they used to do of plays? From what I've seen of the pre-production blurb, written by somebody who called his own work "stunning," the liner notes on the CD would be AWESOME.

[Kringas]

Posted: 11/10/06 at 9:09am

A most singular listening experience, if you will.

[JustAGuy]

Posted: 11/10/06 at 9:12am

Oh Wow!!! What an amazing idea, I mean like Idina is amazing and she would be amazing in anything. I've seen her in Wicked like 12 times and she was amazing. And she signs too. Is there a good part for Tay? It would be amazing if they could like play boyfriend and girlfriend or something like that would be so cool. Can we start a petition to have it moved to Broadway? What's everyone's favorite song from this show?

[SonofMammaMiaSam]

Posted: 11/10/06 at 9:12am

Corinescorner.com gave it four chopsticks!

Posted: 11/10/06 at 4:49pm

thsideserves a recordingevery broadway show deserves to be recorded like lestat and good vibrations.


That's for you Bryan!