A terrific TALK RADIO

Thank you for posting your thoughts. I am seeing it next Saturday, the 24th, can't wait.

this sounds amazing!

i hated history boys...don't know why.

Trace, you HATED "Awake And Sing" and "The History Boys"?!?!

wtf?!

Here is a list of recent plays that I enjoyed:
Doubt
Journey's End
The Coast of Utopia Trilogy
Vertical Hour
The Odd Couple
Seascape
The Lieutenant of Inishmore
Faith Healer
Shining City
Festen
Losing Louie
Rabbit Hole
Three Days of Rain

Yes, I know a lot of these were panned by critics, but I enjoyed them. I'm really looking forward to The Year of Magical Thinking and Deuce this Spring.

I'm just upset that the show the critics raved about as the best play ever (History Boys), I absolutely despised and couldn't wait for it to end. I just couldn't see what they were raving about. (same thing with Awake and Sing and Well)

Updated On: 2/18/07 at 01:08 PM

Just saw this tonight, and I will say quite honestly what thought was overpowering my mind as well as a group of friends of mine when we left the theatre.

"Liev Schreiber is INCREDIBLE!" I say this to point out that, at least for me, the jury is still out on whether I loved the play or not, but having witnessed Schreiber's performance I almost don't care about the plays flaws. I agree with newphilosophygirl that he is one of the best theatre actors out there and his performance here will certainly solidify that if it hasn't been already. [SPOILERS AHEAD, but not really]

As for the play, I have never been exposed to this work by
Bogosian, and I'm not sure if I can effectively put into words why I left the play a little confused but I'll try. I think my only issue is I was confused as to whether the play was meant to be more of a comment on society or truly about this man's life. A)If it was to be about society, although entertaining, it was extremely pessimistic and kind of offputing for me B) If it was truly a play about Barry and how this job had changed him, and not for the better, I needed more of a point of reference of who he was before besides the short testimonials given in the audience addressed monologues by his friends and coworkers. (Didn't like the audience addressing by the way, sometimes it is very effective, but not here)

Stu and Linda's characters seemed a little underdeveloped for me, I didn't understand why they wouldn't have walked out long before now.

Sorry if I'm rambling, but these are just thoughts I'm spouting off the top of my head having just seen it a few hours ago. The criticisms and questions I raise are still up in the air for me. I could wake up tommorrow and have filled in the holes, but if any of you have any more insight or can help me out, please do.

All in all, I believe this is a must see. In addition to the performances by Schreiber (Sebastian Stan is also a standout if there can be another), the set (although simple) is amazing and the staging is top notch.

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Don't know about them, I had an emergency and had to leave immediately after the show. I did however meet the kid who plays Kent (who almost steals the scene he is in with Liev) on the street yesterday and he was as sweet as can be!

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>>Just out of curiosity, did anybody stage door the show? I was just wondering how Liev Schreiber and Peter Hermann are.<<

My girlfriend and I stage doored after last Saturday night's performance. Schreiber (with Naomi Watts at this side) came out relatively quickly. While Ms. Watts headed straight into their car, Liev stuck around for a few minutes. I'm usually too intimidated to talk to anyone but he was very kind to my girlfriend. She basically gushed at how great he was in Talk Radio and Glengarry and he seemed genuinely thankful. He signed for everyone who was there (surprisingly not that many) and went on his way. He often in the press comes across as difficult to work with but he is very respectful to his fans.

Sorry, nothing to report on Peter Hermann

Updated On: 2/22/07 at 11:59 AM

Jordon Catalano,

I have edited my post for clarity. I didn't mean to imply that he comes off that way at the stage door. However, the press often paints that picture of him. For example, just read the latest issue of New York Magazine (The Fashion special with him on the cover.) He even admits it himself in the article.

I saw the show last night and like most of you, I LOVED IT -- and I'm still troubled (in the good way) by a lot in it, so please forgive if this isn't all fully formed...

First, I must agree with sidjones09: Liev Schrieber is probably giving the performance of the season. (Although, that honor probably goes to Christine Ebersole in GREY GARDENS, but that's a musical and she is a woman, so, there you are.) At any rate, he is stunning, and it frightened me how much he made me identify with this self-destructive soul.

And yes, AC126748, Stephanie March performs that monologue amazingly -- and I think it is only going to get MORE AMAZING as time goes on. (Love your Tina Fey avatar, btw)

I'm still amazed by how compelling it was to just sit and watch Liev take listener's calls over and over -- and how much darker, sadder, and scarier it all got with each new call.

The confusion sidjones09 has about whether the play is about society or the shock jock's life is interesting. He is the window on society -- the way in which Bogosian shows us, the audience, ourselves. The main character to my mind is, in a way, the callers -- us, the audience. But I don't think the play is pessimisstic so much as cautionary and timely. The play could have been written yesterday and SET in 1987, rather than written then.

But how awesome is it that so many revivals of plays are so damned good and legitimately WORTH SEEING...?! (GO see JOURNEY'S END, in addition to TALK RADIO! Equally wonderful...)

I just hope we get more NEW plays by new playwrights IN ADDITION to the much-welcomed revivals...

"La Pedi" provides the voices for many of the female callers and like the rest of the (largely) off-stage voice-over actors, she is pretty great. [POSSIBLE SPOILER TO FOLLOW...] I'm not sure, but I believe it was "La Pedi" who does the call-in as the woman who is afraid to stick her hand down the garbage disposal. Very funny stuff...

I have a thing for Forbidden Broadway Alumni.
If you think Pedi is good you should see Simard.
Pedi is hysterical!