#1
Posted: 2/28/09 at 12:18am
Getting things out of the way -
TDF seat: row K mezzanine, all the way to the side. Moved down to the 2nd row mezz during the intermission, all the way to the side.
Stage door: Rupert Everett was out by 10:50; Angela Lansbury followed shortly after; Christine Ebersole shortly after.
Curtain up at 8:05; intermission at 9:10. Curtain down at 10:40.
Now that we've gotten through what all the posters here care about, I'll fill you in on the show.
A competent, safe, reverent, museum-piece production of what's possibly one of the best constructed plays ever written. The laughs are there, but because Michael Blakemore is so respectful, the creakiness of Noel Coward's script is all too apparent.
The actors are giving competent performances, exactly what you would expect from a group of old pros such as this. This isn't the situation where the cast only looks good on paper - they look good on stage, as well. Chemistry is startlingly apparent; pacing will pick up as previews go on. Rupert Everett was the surprise hit of the night; he knows how to play to the balcony and not to the cameras. Christine Ebersole and Jane Atkinson are delightful. Angela Lansbury was disappointing - she needs to take it a lot more over the top. And the four of them, when Everett broke character and dropped an F-bomb in the second act, you can tell they're having a helluva time.
And they need to mic Lansbury, as well. And they need to get the lighting cues down.
The highlight, by far, though, was Ebersole's pre-recorded vocals of Noel Coward tunes during the interminably long scene changes. They really should release them on disc.
TDF seat: row K mezzanine, all the way to the side. Moved down to the 2nd row mezz during the intermission, all the way to the side.
Stage door: Rupert Everett was out by 10:50; Angela Lansbury followed shortly after; Christine Ebersole shortly after.
Curtain up at 8:05; intermission at 9:10. Curtain down at 10:40.
Now that we've gotten through what all the posters here care about, I'll fill you in on the show.
A competent, safe, reverent, museum-piece production of what's possibly one of the best constructed plays ever written. The laughs are there, but because Michael Blakemore is so respectful, the creakiness of Noel Coward's script is all too apparent.
The actors are giving competent performances, exactly what you would expect from a group of old pros such as this. This isn't the situation where the cast only looks good on paper - they look good on stage, as well. Chemistry is startlingly apparent; pacing will pick up as previews go on. Rupert Everett was the surprise hit of the night; he knows how to play to the balcony and not to the cameras. Christine Ebersole and Jane Atkinson are delightful. Angela Lansbury was disappointing - she needs to take it a lot more over the top. And the four of them, when Everett broke character and dropped an F-bomb in the second act, you can tell they're having a helluva time.
And they need to mic Lansbury, as well. And they need to get the lighting cues down.
The highlight, by far, though, was Ebersole's pre-recorded vocals of Noel Coward tunes during the interminably long scene changes. They really should release them on disc.
Updated On: 2/28/09 at 12:18 AM
