After Miss Julie — Page 2

In regard to posting this three times, I apologize. I just wanted to get my immediate thoughts out right after the show so I did it on my phone. And then it reloaded the page three times in error. Lo and behold, it was not in error at all. Again, my apologies. At least you all figured out that you should only post on one.

Now... the show. I thought it was excellently done. I was very surprised. Marber's adaptation focuses more on the effect that power has. What does power mean? Where does it stem from? How much can it be bent until it breaks? And what is that breaking point? It's shown beautifully in a scene where Miss Julie orders John to kiss her shoe immediately after toasting his class. However, because the focus is so firmly on power and class, it makes everything else addressed in the play seem rushed and muddled. It volleys back and forth with melodrama quite a few times and it seemed inconsistent. Brokaw's direction didn't mend this flaw.

Sienna Miller makes an exceptionally strong debut. She starts out a little rough in the beginning, not really knowing how to carry herself or say the lines without sounding forced. But once she gets into the meat of the role (about 15 minutes in), she is superb. A very subtly nuanced performance. That will need to be broadened, as it works for film but not so much for live theatre. From fourth row center orchestra, though, it was excellent. Her transition from the first half to the second was a little jarring, but it will be smoothed out in the preview period.

Jonny Lee Miller was also great. Having never seen him in anything, I had no expectations. But he was indeed great. What I loved about him was that he made the moments where he wasn't speaking just as imperative to pay attention to as the moments where he was. What I mean is that what he wasn't saying was just as important as what he was saying. He suffers the most in the sections where the writing and direction are wonky. Like Miss Julie, John switches so quickly from one emotion to another that it gets ridiculous. But that is not the fault of the actor. It is so clearly the playwright and the director.

Marin Ireland, as others have said, fares the worst. I have the same problem with her in this as I did in RTBP. She's cartoony. She just can't seem to make a realistic choice. This trait is particularly evident in her first scene where her and John are talking. Not only that, but her accent is... atrocious. It needs the most work of anything in this production. Someone buy her a dialect CD, please. But her performance got better in the second half. What she does well is anger. And I was one of the many who applauded her exit. Not because of what she said to the other two or because I was happy she was gone, but because she finally got it.

The pacing needs a lot of tightening. I enjoyed the long stretches of pause just because, without it, we wouldn't be able to see into the minds of the characters. It took a cue from its naturalistic roots and made us view life instead of listening to a character tell us what they were feeling. I liked that. But the pacing elsewhere is kind of like a rollercoaster. Right on one second and lagging the next. It should move at a breakneck pace. And it will. I'm sure of that. But, overall, a truly electric production and a wonderful Broadway debut.

I'm in no position to comment on this production, as I haven't seen it yet (if I see it at all). However, at least in the Strindberg original, I don't think Julie is meant to be certifiably crazy from the get go -- she's definitely a neurotic, at odds with her situation and particularly her sexuality and at the end, she has no choice but to kill herself. Both sadism and masochism are part of her twisted makeup. Somewhat akin to Hedda Gabler, although they're two totally different characters. IMO.

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I saw the show tonight, with admittedly low expectations. I have never really been a fan of Roundabout's productions I have seen (Sunday is an exception, but it also had very little creatively to do with RTC).

I was thoroughly impressed. I thought the show was fully engaging from beginning to end and was a gritty human drama that felt fresh, and relatable, despite the source material being 125 years old. The three cast members were each superb, and I will disagree with others on here, as I found Ireland to go scene-to-scene with her co-stars.

It certainly wasn't life-changing, nor among the top tier of shows I have seen. However, it is certainly better than most of the vapid material that makes it to Broadway.

I also saw it tonight. I was not expecting much. I actually enjoyed it for the most part, especially when the drama started taking off. The ending puzzled me though. The performances were overall strong. Certainly worth $10 !

I agree with most of what's been said here. I thought the beginning was dreadfully slow- that first scene is very boring, but things do pick up. I did not enjoy the long pauses where nothing happened, either. Didn't mind the change in Sienna's performance in the last minutes, though the out of place laughter certainly made things awkward. Not a horrible show, but not great, either. Definitely worth the $10 I paid, but I'm not sure I need to go back and pay more.

I didn't really get why Marber felt like this needed updating. Much of the dialogue felt as if it had been lifted directly from the translation of Miss Julie that I read a few years back. Perhaps it makes more sense for a British audience. I loved Marin's performance, especially the extended sections without dialogue. She also had a more consistent accent than Sienna Miller.