Anna In the Tropics

[thirdrowcenter]

Posted: 11/11/03 at 11:39am

Has anyone else seen Anna In the Tropics? I saw it this week end. The ensemble cast was excellent, particularly David Zayas, Priscilla Lopez and Victor Argo. Jimmy Smits (of TV fame) was in the show also and I guess he's the box office draw. The drudgery of the job of hand rolling cigars was made less tedious by the "lector" who reads works of literature to the workers. It's worth seeing.

[thirdrowcenter]

Posted: 11/11/03 at 11:48am

I didn't make the show sound all that stimulating. Well, there's sex and violence in it....okay, that's more exciting than just reading literature to cigar rollers.

[StateOfJade]

Posted: 11/11/03 at 12:10pm

It IS worth seeing. Jimmy Smits and Daphne Rubin-Vega had some real chemistry going on... The story's basically about these people who work in a cigar factory, and they hire a lector to read for them while they work, and he chooses the story, 'Anna Karenina,' and it's about how the two sisters get wrapped up with the story, and how it starts relating to their own lives.
The ending was a tad bit upsetting...One of those 'What if' things. Definitley see it, though!

[skingdom]

Posted: 11/11/03 at 12:26pm

It is not good in my opinion. Jimmy Smitts is the best of the male actors, the other two are quite weak. It is hard to hear some of the actors sometimes, and I think the way that they have paralleled Anna Karenina to their own lives is far far too blatant. I did like the girl who plays Marela. She was cute, and I enjoyed seeing Priscilla Lopez perform. I am shocked that this play won the Pulitzer though.

[thirdrowcenter]

Posted: 11/11/03 at 8:22pm

I disagree with you about the actors being weak (other than Jimmy Smits). I thought Smits was the weakest in the entire show. David Zayas is a powerhouse of an actor. I saw him in "Our Lady of 121st Street" and, of course, in "Oz" and the man has great presence on stage.
Sometimes I find in the beginning of a show, that I have trouble hearing and I start thinking about getting those earphones next time and then suddenly I am hearing just fine. I wonder why that happens.
I don't know what the criteria is for winning a Pulitzer so I can't say whether or not it was deserving of one. All I care about is being entertained.

[Al Dente]

Posted: 11/12/03 at 9:07am

I'm seeing it on Fri, so I'll let you know what I thought.

[Al Dente]

Posted: 11/16/03 at 5:11pm

Here is my review. I did enjoy the show. I don't think that it's for the majority of the *fans* on this board. It's very sophisticated and poetic (not an insult) but it warrants a longer attention span than is required for musical theater. There are lines of diaglogue and many monologues, that are filled with depth and beauty. The actors, for the most part, were strong. John Ortiz and Vanessa Aspillaga were wonderful. Jimmy Smits cuts a rather imposing figure on the stage and is riveting. He and Daphne Rubin-Vega do have wonderful chemistry but her acting did not blow me away. It was fine, just not on par with some of the other *actors* on the stage, particularly, Aspillaga. Priscilla Lopez was struggling with the comedic aspects of her role and many of her jokes fell flat. It has an unexpected ending, which is rare nowadays. All in all I enjoyed it and would recommend it. But again, it's geared towards a more mature audience.

[Alex the Cat]

Posted: 11/16/03 at 7:35pm

Thanks for the review, Al... I'm seeing it on Saturday, and looking forward to it. The best shows I've seen this year so far have been the 'mature' plays, not the musicals (except Avenue Q, which is also kind of mature I guess)... I really enjoyed 'Retreat From Moscow' and 'Golda's Balcony', and as I'm a huge Tolstoy buff I'm looking forward to this one too. Maybe it's just my mood- not really up for those happy happy 'Everything's Coming up Roses' type of shows :)

[GladysBumps]

Posted: 11/16/03 at 10:06pm

Well I mean, the literary connection, the Cuban thing, the interesting historical hook about the lectors and cigar factories. I found it rather sweet, albeit just the sort of weak PC tea the Pulizer committee cottons to. Smits looking like a million bucks in that white suit, without doing a star turn, serves the play beautifully and it's wonderful to see Priscilla Lopez has developed into such an accomplished actress, ('cause we all love "Morales," don't we?). "Take Me Out," a far superior piece of work, now has the distinction of joining "Whos Afraid Of Virginia Woolf?" on the Pulizer loosers list. Now, I ask you . . . Updated On: 11/17/03 at 10:06 PM

[Alex the Cat]

Posted: 11/23/03 at 4:40pm

I saw this yesterday, and I was very disappointed in it. Can't see how this won the Pulitzer... I thought the writing was poor, actually, as well as much of the acting, the directing, the stage direction... The characters are not developed at all- there's really no explanation of why Daphne Rubin-Vega's character falls for Jimmy Smits' character (other than the fact, apparently, that he's Jimmy Smits). All the women swoon all over him from the time he gets off the boat.

I did not see the connection at all to 'Anna Karenina', which is a book I love... other than the fact that Anna was a woman in an unhappy marriage who had an affair, I didn't see any parallels. Much of the dialogue is over-written and at times downright silly; there were several places where the audience laughed when a line was not intended to be funny. Jimmy Smits' lector is only in about half the scenes- at other times he's often sitting on a stool at the back of the stage, inexplicably, while other scenes are played out. I never understood what the motivation of his character was, and I didn't feel that Smits knew what it was either. Vanessa Aspillaga's constant drooling over him was downright irritating and I felt her performance was completely over-the-top. The only bright spot I thought was David Zayas, who I also saw and enjoyed in 'Our Lady of 121st Street'. There was a hint towards the end of the show of something sinister occuring between Aspillaga and Zayas, but this is one of several sub-plots that is never explained or pursued.

I noticed the ad in today's NY Times really plays up the sex aspect of this show- Brantley's review really salivated over the 'sexual chemistry', which was highlighted in extra-big letters in the ad. If this is the selling point of the show, that's unfortunate- it could have been so much more. Sex is just sex if you don't have a reason to care about the characters.

If you want to see a well-written play about infidelity and how even a good marriage or relationship can unravel, save your money on 'Anna' and go see 'Retreat From Moscow', which is far better... Updated On: 11/23/03 at 04:40 PM

[thirdrowcenter]

Posted: 11/23/03 at 8:09pm

Alex I also thought David Zayas was the best thing about the play and ditto on Our Lady of 121st Street. I can't say I didn't enjoy Anna in the Tropics, however, I too, would recommend Retreat From Moscow over this show.

[Al Dente]

Posted: 11/23/03 at 8:14pm

I guess I liked it a bit more than you Alex but I do find many of your points more than valid.