Anyone going to the first preview of NEXT FALL tonight? — Page 2

Spoiler:

So they're all dead then?

Someone PM me to confirm.

I tend to agree with WAT and Whizzer on most things. They just talked me out of seeing the show during my trip the end of April. I was on the fence but the descriptions of some of the cliches have me looking for something I'd enjoy more.

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Kad- I was just being sarcastic with the "Our Town" spoiler. Of course it's a well-known classic, and that's why if they're going to use it as a metaphor throughout the play they should assume the audience is familiar with it or find another metaphor. There's no need 15 minutes before the end of the play to recap the plot of "Our Town." (Especially as they had been making references earlier like Luke playing the stage manager and Adam thinking he was really the stage manager that you would have had to be familiar with the play to get.)

It kind of reminded me of "The Starry Messenger" when Matthew Broderick recounted the entire plot of La Traviata to make an analogy. The whole point of using these well known stories is so that you don't have to explain them!

singtopher- I see your point about Butch wanting to scare Luke out of coming out to him, but that would mean he is aware that his son is gay and just doesn't want to actually have to deal with it. A minute earlier he just heard Luke slip and call Adam "babe," and I don't take Butch to be a stupid man, so I'm sure deep down he knew. I just feel like calling the guy in the picture a ni**** and fag was a bit of overkill for shock value.

I don't think there was any significance to the couch. If it had been in every scene maybe something could be read into it, but I just thought they couldn't afford another set piece and the couch would have to double in the apartment and the hospital.

I agree with you about the drug use though. In fact, I felt her character was all over the place really. It seemed like in every scene she was a slightly different person. We find out so many flaws (she left Luke when he was young, did time) that the pills were an unnecessary distraction that never went anywhere.

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Jordan-

I've always respected your opinions on the board, and continue to do so. I just completely disagree with you on this one.

Just because something is a reality doesn't mean it's mutally exclusive with being a cliche when used in a play, film, etc. There can be cliched plays about the Holocaust, racism, war, or any other serious subject. Just because a playwright has good intentions doesn't mean piece has to be good.

You're right that the reality is many gay partners have trouble seeing their loved ones in the ER. The problem is this issue has been brought up so many times now in gay-themed mediums that it appears to be more of soap box cliche meant to preach to the choir.

It's been a while since I've watched it, but I believe in the pilot episode of Queer As Folk there is a scene where Melanie is denied access to visit Lindsay in the ER. That was in 2000, and I'm sure it wasn't the first time this was brought up. For me, after a decade seeing this brought up everytime gay characters come in contact with a hospital makes it a cliche and insults the actual problem.

I couldn't help but think of a different gay-themed play that (spoiler) ends a hospital: Falsettos. I know it was written in a different time, that show doesn't fall into any of these cliched pitfalls. In fact, for a show about a man dying of AIDS, the musical never mentions the term once!

A friend of mine who was there last night too was texting me after the show saying he thought the play had flaws and his friend thought it was a shallow script, but despite this he thought it was important that a show like this was being staged. I very much disagree with this sentiment. There are much better gay pieces of theater that could be shown to a wider audience. I actually feel insulted that as a gay man I should support anything gay-themed that's packaged for mass consumption.

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No, not at all. If you are going to do something that's been discussed before though, you are going to have to take a fresh look at it.

I think about the movie "Life is Beautiful" and what a wonderfully different take on the Holocaust that movie took. After SO many movies, plays, books and countless other things had mediums had been used to present the Holocaust to others, here came a movie in the late 90s that had something new to say.

The playwright is credited with writing on "Brothers & Sisters" and "Next Fall" seemed like an episode straight from that TV show, with a little QAF and Dawson's Creek thrown in for good measure. That's what made it cliche for me. It was bringing up real issues, but in a phony, been there, done that way.

I'm not trying to convince you start disliking the show or deny that you weren't moved/got something out of it. If people are moved then I'm glad for them. Last year I LOVED "Irena's Vow" and sobbed through that first preview. I know many of the critics and some friends who thought it was trite and cliche.

I guess I'm only expressing why this didn't work for me, and ultimately why I was disappointed that I wasn't able to support a new gay play. Shows like "Angels in America" and "Falsettos" have done so much in reaching gay issues to a wider audience. Not every play with a overall good message is necessarily a well-written play, and "Next Fall" unfortunately falls into that catagory for me.

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