#3
Posted: 10/1/18 at 5:36pm
I saw this on Friday and thought Stockard was outstanding. I'm mad she isn't on Broadway to garner a Tony Nomination for her performance!
The play itself is a bit of the run of the mill family drama, but it is very funny, especially the dinner in Act 1. I loved the layered dialogue with the older man talking about mushy peas!
I thought Hugh Dancy did a nice job with his two characters, and the overall ensemble was solid. But again, its a juicy part for Stockard and she digs right in!
#4
Posted: 10/1/18 at 7:55pm
I'm seeing this on Saturday and I'm so excited. Can't wait to report back, I'm a big fan of Stockard and haven't seen her perform live in ages.
#7
Posted: 10/15/18 at 10:25am
If you're seeing this for Stockard Channing, you won't be disappointed but the play itself isn't too great. It is a run of the mill "family gathers, secrets revealed" play that really amounts to nothing. Nothing is very surprising, and at the end, all of the drama felt unearned. It could be 90 minutes but it runs 2:20.
The set and lighting are great.
A little swash, a bit of buckle - you'll love it more than bread.
#8
Posted: 10/15/18 at 10:38am
Channing is the reason to see the show -- she's commanding and captivating, as usual. Dancy also turns in a good performance. I found the play itself questionable, particularly in that it seems to suggest that the main character's dedication to her career and her activism was a vice. It seemed kind of dated and misogynist, since I can't imagine the same set of situations being written as a play about a male protagonist.
#9
Posted: 10/15/18 at 10:49am
LarryD2 said: "Channing is the reason to see the show -- she's commanding and captivating, as usual. Dancy also turns in a good performance. I found the play itself questionable, particularly in that it seems to suggest that the main character's dedication to her career and her activism was a vice. It seemed kind of dated and misogynist, since I can't imagine the same set of situations being written as a play about a male protagonist."
Great point. The whole thing seems to say that you have to sacrifice your family and children to be successful as a woman. You cannot have it all.
A little swash, a bit of buckle - you'll love it more than bread.
#10
Posted: 10/15/18 at 12:06pm
I’m not sure that’s 100% true. I think it’s a choice she made, or rather it’s who she is. She just preferred her work life to family life. It could have been about a man, but then it wouldn’t exactly be newsworthy.
#11
Posted: 10/15/18 at 12:20pm
jbird5 said: "I’m not sure that’s 100% true. I think it’s a choice she made, or rather it’s who she is. She just preferred her work life to family life. It could have been about a man, but then it wouldn’t exactly be newsworthy."
I don't know
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when Trudi says that the reason the sons weren't mention in the memoir is that it was too tough for Kristin to write about them, that makes me think that she felt she had to choose career or family.
A little swash, a bit of buckle - you'll love it more than bread.
#12
Posted: 10/15/18 at 4:36pm
"You can not have it all. You can not have it all. And this notion that you can have it all, you can't have it all. I've had a wonderful life, I've had a wonderful time, but I haven't had it all. Do what you do best. People say I've had it all but they don't see that they have 5 children while I haven't. I knew at an early age that it I was going to devote myself to the theatre, to a business, I had to be one tract. Most people don't see that. They think they can have both. I don't think you can. I don't think you can. At least I can't. I haven't got it by nature- at all. I mean if I had an opening night and the children had the measles, I would want to strangle the children, I would." Katharine Hepburn
#13
Posted: 10/28/18 at 6:41pm
I found the play very effective and entertaining. I felt the whole cast was very good (unlike Mother of the Maid which felt like an amateur production aside from Glenn and Kate.) I didn't think it was misogynistic. I think it showed how women are vilified if they want to have a voice AND a family. Stockard's character lived in a time where her husband could penalize her for wanting more than motherhood and he did. She felt, even from before she met her husband that she wanted to have a voice and be an activist. Society told her she could not have both.
We see that she is a groundbreaking female art historian that paved the way for others. The somewhat dim and earnest Christian girlfriend of her son (who was remarkable) makes this clear when she sees so little females on the library with art history books. Her telling Kristin she needs to forgive herself is beautiful. A younger woman having empathy and understanding for a woman who made different choices in a different time.
I enjoyed the Virginia Woolf/August Osage county feel of the first act. Everyone was marvelous.
"The sexual energy between the mother and son really concerns me!"-random woman behind me at Next to Normal
"I want to meet him after and bang him!"-random woman who exposed her breasts at Rock of Ages, referring to James Carpinello
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