#1
Posted: 9/28/08 at 10:54am
Alright so I saw All My Sons was at 2pm on Saturday. I got to the theatre at 2:30 and the line was down shubert alley! There were paparazi, and all types of baracades. I have never been to the Schoenfield Theatre Before so I didn't know what to expect of the location of my seats, since I was second to last row. However its a GREAT theatre, with almost no bad seat. The set is bare-bones. No showcurtain, and just a large green square as the yard, upstage of that is the porch, no railings, no wall of house, just a flat surface made out of wood, and a door free standing there on the porch. Larrys tree is onstage D.S.R. And the back wall is just clapboard, nothing on it.
The entire cast walks out together, and dresses the stage, with chairs, tables, a radio, etc. John Lithgow holds up the All MY Sons script, and says "we will perform Arthur Millers, ALL MY SONS." John then reads the intro in the script "the play set is an american backyard, bla bla bla" and these words are projected onto the wall upstage. It then goes to blackout, and "ACTI" is projected on the wall. I'm not sure if its done in every production, however this version begins with the storm, knocking over Larrys tree, while Kate is standing in the back yard. The Lighting, Sound Design is SUPERB in this production, almost the entire production is scored to build tension, it works great here.
A few aspects that i respected but didnt understand were, there was no masking. The cast sat in chairs stage left and stage right when not on performing. When a neighbor came on stage did their stuff then left, when they got to the end of the playing space they stopped dead in their tracks waited three seconds, then continued off stage in slowmotion. Same for when any of the family members exiting through the door, into the "house" the door was see through so Kate Keller would go into the house, open the door walk in and face the upstage wall for like 3 seconds and then exit off stage. I took it as in the paues were the characters leaving their body, idk maybe you will be better to explain it when you see it.
Overall I had no problems with the performances of the 4 leads, but holy mother of god, did Dianne Weist blow the f*cking roof off of that place. I didnt need to take the bus home, because her energy blew us out of the theatre. Katie Holmes is FINE, no problems with diction, blocking etc. I was happy with her choices and it was strong for me. The father son relationship between John Lithgow and Patrick Wilson was fantastic! SO heartbreaking at the end of ActII!!
***********SPOILERS**************************
I had never read the play, nor seen a production before so when Keller when into the house for the last time i knew something was up by the staging. All the neighbors came back out on stage (5 neighbors were cast to only do this, and nothing else) and stood on the perimeter of the grass staring at the Kellers, and when he shot himself off stage, they all dropped their arms and bent over. That flew over my head of what that was all about, with the neighbors.
*********************END OF SPOILERS***************
I would recomdend going to this production, its to great to see a TRUE American piece of theatre, and then have a production of it with such a theatrical aspect in the tech.
The direction of this play is great. Overally I was thoroughly pleased with it. The final moment faded to black out, and left the audience silent for a good 10 seconds!
Best of Luck cast and crew!!!
The entire cast walks out together, and dresses the stage, with chairs, tables, a radio, etc. John Lithgow holds up the All MY Sons script, and says "we will perform Arthur Millers, ALL MY SONS." John then reads the intro in the script "the play set is an american backyard, bla bla bla" and these words are projected onto the wall upstage. It then goes to blackout, and "ACTI" is projected on the wall. I'm not sure if its done in every production, however this version begins with the storm, knocking over Larrys tree, while Kate is standing in the back yard. The Lighting, Sound Design is SUPERB in this production, almost the entire production is scored to build tension, it works great here.
A few aspects that i respected but didnt understand were, there was no masking. The cast sat in chairs stage left and stage right when not on performing. When a neighbor came on stage did their stuff then left, when they got to the end of the playing space they stopped dead in their tracks waited three seconds, then continued off stage in slowmotion. Same for when any of the family members exiting through the door, into the "house" the door was see through so Kate Keller would go into the house, open the door walk in and face the upstage wall for like 3 seconds and then exit off stage. I took it as in the paues were the characters leaving their body, idk maybe you will be better to explain it when you see it.
Overall I had no problems with the performances of the 4 leads, but holy mother of god, did Dianne Weist blow the f*cking roof off of that place. I didnt need to take the bus home, because her energy blew us out of the theatre. Katie Holmes is FINE, no problems with diction, blocking etc. I was happy with her choices and it was strong for me. The father son relationship between John Lithgow and Patrick Wilson was fantastic! SO heartbreaking at the end of ActII!!
***********SPOILERS**************************
I had never read the play, nor seen a production before so when Keller when into the house for the last time i knew something was up by the staging. All the neighbors came back out on stage (5 neighbors were cast to only do this, and nothing else) and stood on the perimeter of the grass staring at the Kellers, and when he shot himself off stage, they all dropped their arms and bent over. That flew over my head of what that was all about, with the neighbors.
*********************END OF SPOILERS***************
I would recomdend going to this production, its to great to see a TRUE American piece of theatre, and then have a production of it with such a theatrical aspect in the tech.
The direction of this play is great. Overally I was thoroughly pleased with it. The final moment faded to black out, and left the audience silent for a good 10 seconds!
Best of Luck cast and crew!!!
I'll have them clawing at eachother, like drag queens at a wig sale"
