An Act of God Previews

I'm really looking forward to seeing Parsons on Broadway. I didn't see him in Harvey and didn't want to miss out again.

This part isn't fully on-topic but I like to give credit when nice things happen. I was supposed to see this show next Saturday 5/16 as a mother's day gift for my mom. I bought the tickets month ago. We had something come up regarding care for my 93 year old grandmother and there was a no returns or exchanges policy. It took a couple of phone calls but between Telecharge and the Shubert organization, some nice people helped me out and allowed an exchange. I actually ended up getting better seats for $10 less each.

I'm going tomorrow and will comment over the weekend.

anyone?

For those of you who didn't see (or opted out of) emails from TodayTix, they are offering a lotto for preview performances of An Act of God!

Sorry, bjh! I don't think this will prove too difficult since it's not a part of the current Tony Awards sensation, but everyone here at least ought to have a fair shake.

Does anyone have any details on the lottery? How many tickets are given out for each performance? Any announcement on general rush or standing room tickets? I couldn't find anything.

Thanks for the info Piano Man!

Bumpin' ain't easy!

Can someone, anyone comment on this thread who has actually SEEN this?

I'm dying here, lol

someone that work there told me this is the general idea.

Potentially spoilers.

God has come down to earth in the form of Big Bang Theory star Jim Parsons (because he's likable without being too offensive) to deliver his new 10 commandments, and what better place then the most sinful place in the world......... Studio 54.

Its essentially 90 minutes of Jim as God sitting on a couch and delivering the new 10 commandments and defending his decisions of the last 1000 years and ultimately ends up taking a big stab at those that use religion to perpetuate hate and bigotry. He said story wise its not phenomenal but that its VERY VERY funny.

This is a really inconsequential little play. There's no real plot to speak of (God speaks through Jim Parsons to deliver 10 new commandments), but it's often funny. A lot of the jokes are, surprisingly, new to me. You'd think that the world had run out of Adam & Steve jokes, but the twist on that here is fresh and funny (and hardly any of the jokes are all that blasphemous; Book of Mormon, this isn't). The same can't be said of the few dramatic moments, but I'll get to those in a moment.

Jim Parsons is a funny guy. He has a cabinet filled with Emmys and other awards to attest to that. But he's not really playing a character here; he's playing himself. It's basically 85 minutes of scripted stand-up comedy. He's entertaining, and he's more than capable of carrying the show, but the show itself doesn't have much to it. It's an extended monologue delivered almost entirely from a couch set downstage center in front of a white staircase (the rest of the set is three circles that grow in size from the center, where rolling clouds are projected for most of the show, to encompass all the open space from floor to ceiling). I will say, though, that it's both shocking and entertaining to hear Jim Parsons say things like, "He was ripped, cut, hung like a fig tree, and a total power bottom." The biggest flaw in the script, however, is the inclusion of two sidekick angels.

Christopher Fitzgerald is Michael, and he spends much of the first half-hour or so wandering through the audience taking questions. This starts off innocuous enough, with silly questions like, "What came first, the chicken or the egg?" ("Neither, the rooster came first.") But it devolves into an attempt at drama that is completely unsuccessful, with Michael raging against God that children with cancer, war, slavery, etc., isn't fair, and God is a masochist for making people suffer. Then he pouts upstage on a staircase while God tries to explain that he's just "an a**hole" with "wrath management issues." Gabriel is only there to read out passages of the Bible that God claims are often misinterpreted, or to set up stories that relate thematically to the new commandments. It's a thankless, boring role, and I felt bad that Tim Kazurinsky just had to sit there and watch most of the show. Neither role has any real purpose, and also considering how charismatic Parsons is, they don't need to be there at all.

The last few moments of the show were the strongest, I think. There's a musical number that kind of comes out of nowhere, but Michael and Gabriel finally get a moment to do something as God's backup singers and dancers, and the special effects that end the evening are wonderfully realized.

If you guys have specific questions, I'll try to answer them the best that I can. My thoughts are still kind of scattered, just like the show was, so apologies if this doesn't make total sense.

WAAAIIIT!

There's audience participation in this?! Elaborate, please!

Very minimal interaction, nothing to the caliber of hedwig. Michael the angel goes down in the audience throughout the show and asks god questions that are supposedly from the audience. So he asks someone their name (let's say jim) and then Michael would ask god "Jim has a question for you- Which came first the chicken or the egg" Also there were latecomers last night so parsons had no problem calling them out. Essentially the whole show breaks the fourth wall, as parsons frequently addresses the audience.