BIG LOVE at Signature Theatre- Page 2
BIG LOVE at Signature Theatre
BIG LOVE at Signature Theatre#25
Posted: 2/6/15 at 1:11pmSaturday evening performances are at 8:00pm - check before posting, RippedMan.
Broadway Legend Joined: 8/14/05
BIG LOVE at Signature Theatre#26
Posted: 2/6/15 at 10:52pm
Y'all are just so freaking nice. Really appreciate all you do.
Anyway, saw the show tonight. It started late, a little past 7:30 and we were done near 9:15, so it's a long sit. And I felt every minute of it.
The show is so uneven. It's staged incredibly. How Landau orchestrated this chaos is pretty great. But I think the text/plot is rather boring. There's lots of verbose talk about men vs. woman and blah blah blah. It didn't really feel like any fresh take on the subject. And the 'plot" doesn't really go into motion until the last 15 minutes. It's a beautiful mess of a show. I loved the design and how they opened up the space. It really is an experience, especially the climax near the end. But when the chaos wasn't happening or people weren't singing and they were simply standing and delivering a monologue, I was bored. They aren't really characters you get to know on a person level and they're rather boring people. I get that it's absurdist theatre, and I actually grew up on the stuff, so I guess that's why I'm at ends with it. I love it and hate it. My favorite playwright is Ionesco, but I know how his plays can get pretty terrible pretty quick. I"d totally recommend it, especially for the price. But it's an odd little mess of a piece.
BIG LOVE at Signature Theatre#27
Posted: 2/7/15 at 1:57amWell said RippedMan. I think I was less enthused than you more of the ttme... there were moments of grace, but they were moments. The production itself; the set, the direction, the all the visual elements were 1st rate. The play itself????.... What? (hear that long and nasally). Not a fan. Friend took a snooze. Saw a couple of people climb to get out. And yes, the cast deserves indefinite physical therapy after doing that show 8 times a week.
BIG LOVE at Signature Theatre#28
Posted: 2/8/15 at 9:32am
I saw this Friday night. I liked it, I didn't love it. It was super weird and was quite possibly as exhausting to watch as it was to perform. Everyone in the cast was exceptional. I felt like I was either getting a little bored (during the monologues) or I was overwhelmed (during the scenes where a million different things are happening at once). I'd recommend it for people who enjoy non-traditional theater, who enjoy things where you don't quite understand what is happening all the time. There is a little singing and a little dancing (Bobby Steggert doing pelvic thrusts making me both uncomfortable and happy at the same time). I'm thinking about going again near the end of the run.
If you're thinking about going, definitely sit near the back, there is a lot happening on the sides of the theater that I either had to strain to see or missed sitting in the second row. I had never been to this theater but it's tiny and I'd say for this production you miss more sitting in the front.
BIG LOVE at Signature Theatre#29
Posted: 2/8/15 at 11:16am
I feel like the majority of people in this thread are being overly nice. This play is HORRIBLE. The monologues are endlessly boring and say nothing. It's staged really nicely but I feel like it's wrapping a turd in a beautiful package. I'm actually confused because I've seen several plays in this space and they all feel like the people seated in the front section are missing out on a lot.
The cast is either really good or really bad. Rebecca Naomi Jones was obviously the standout for me and I was shocked that we got to see so much of her. I just wish there was a solo number for her like other characters got. I thought the gay character was handled extremely poorly and borderline offensive.
There was a woman in front of me who was dead asleep for most of the show and I envied her because she didn't have to suffer through it.
Broadway Legend Joined: 11/9/04
BIG LOVE at Signature Theatre#30
Posted: 2/8/15 at 5:04pm
I loved every minute of it. From the brilliant staging, to the fearless performances, to Mee's gorgeous poetry.
The play is far from HORRIBLE. Charles Mee is not for everyone. He does not write traditional plays.
I'm not being "nice". When the performance finished this afternoon, I bought a ticket to return later in the run. Simply wonderful.
Broadway Legend Joined: 7/9/12
BIG LOVE at Signature Theatre#31
Posted: 2/8/15 at 6:02pm
"Charles Mee is not for everyone. He does not write traditional plays."
That's probably a very true statement. Some of you may recall that Signature did a previous season long focus on Mee back around 2007 in their old theater. I saw QUEENS BOULEVARD. It was, and I promise you I am not exaggerating, the worst piece of theater I have ever seen on a professional stage. Jumbled, silly, amateurish. I would never see another Mee play even on a comp but clearly there are some people here that like him and the style of his plays.
Broadway Legend Joined: 8/14/05
BIG LOVE at Signature Theatre#32
Posted: 2/8/15 at 6:54pmSure, he rights some pretty sentences, but he doesn't actually SAY a whole lot. The same points are reiterated and reiterated. Maybe a stronger cast of actors could make me support the work, but it honestly felt like a musical with a crappy book.
Broadway Legend Joined: 11/9/04
BIG LOVE at Signature Theatre#33
Posted: 2/8/15 at 7:16pm
You should read more of Mee's stuff, or browse his website. A lot of what he encourages is casting of opposite gender, opposite race, those with disabilities, etc. The plays may reiterate the same point, but they do so through different perspectives, bringing you to a common goal.
I find his plays to be beautiful messes. Bizarre, touching, funny, infuriating, frightening, a whole lot more. I've always really loved his stuff. BUT it is by no means a traditional, linear play.
Broadway Legend Joined: 6/5/09
BIG LOVE at Signature Theatre#34
Posted: 2/8/15 at 8:53pm
Stupid, clumsy, unfunny, boring, and assertively, insistently, aggressively obnoxious.
To call it amateurish would be giving a bad name to amateurs.
Truly, an embarrassment.
Updated On: 2/9/15 at 08:53 PM
Broadway Legend Joined: 2/9/04
BIG LOVE at Signature Theatre#35
Posted: 2/8/15 at 9:24pm
Well, Mr. Fun put in his two cents, I guess.
I'm seeing it Friday. IPHIGENIA 2.0 was one of my favorite productions of the last ten years or so. Looking forward to it.
Broadway Legend Joined: 8/14/05
BIG LOVE at Signature Theatre#36
Posted: 2/8/15 at 11:08pm
I'm all about interesting casting ideas - except this play doesn't do that - they have stock gay characters, stock "hot guys" who are rather dull, crazy "lesbian" characters who are always the heavier girl, etc. So it seems like they're not really thinking outside the box this time around.
And I'm all about interesting casting ideas and employing different actors, but I want the material to be good. Not just the idea.
BIG LOVE at Signature Theatre#37
Posted: 2/9/15 at 12:38amI was there tonight. This is brilliant, but clearly not for everyone. I heard murmurs beforehand from people who were there for "that girl in American Idiot" and because "I might have a thing for Bobby Steggert". What a treat for them to see this cast tackle incredibly tricky material. Tina's ensemble is clearly having a blast growing these beautiful characters. Chuck Mee gives you a text and endless choices. I'm sadly not surprised that people are throwing shade on these performers who are just now finishing ONE WEEK living as these amazing and layered people.
Broadway Legend Joined: 2/11/14
BIG LOVE at Signature Theatre#38
Posted: 2/9/15 at 12:41amShoot - I have front row tickets. Will I miss THAT much?
BIG LOVE at Signature Theatre#39
Posted: 2/9/15 at 7:19amThe front row is fine. Occasionally some action takes places on the sides, behind you, but it isn't much at all.
BIG LOVE at Signature Theatre#40
Posted: 2/9/15 at 8:11amCan someone tell me the name of the song Bobby Steggert sings?
Broadway Legend Joined: 5/15/03
BIG LOVE at Signature Theatre#41
Posted: 2/9/15 at 8:14am
"Stupid, clumsy, unfunny, boring, and assertively, insistently, aggressively obnoxious.
To call it amateurish would be giving a bad name to amateurs.
Truly, an embarrassment."
Years ago I stopped reading and or responding to any of your posts but I do have to ask. Why do you still go to the theatre?
Broadway Legend Joined: 6/5/09
BIG LOVE at Signature Theatre#42
Posted: 2/9/15 at 8:51am
Huss,
Unfortunately I've already read your post; but I'll follow in your former footsteps by not responding to your question.
In the future, I recommend you return to your previous manner of dealing with my posts in its entirety.
Stick with a winning formula.
Broadway Legend Joined: 8/14/05
BIG LOVE at Signature Theatre#43
Posted: 2/9/15 at 11:19am
Throwing shade? Hunty, we paid money to watch them perform. I don't think any of them were BAD, they just weren't particularly riveting. After about the 8th person was crying, I was a little over it. It's always more powerful to watch someone fight back tears than to watch someone simply stand there and cry. The emotions just felt forced. Especially when they "turn away" or "bow their heads" and cry. That's just an acting trick.
I kind of wish they had cast just actors instead of people who could sing. I think it would have added a kind of heartfelt humor to hear them singing these songs but not being pitch perfect. Like when they started singing "You don't own me" it was funny and entertaining and then they started belting and riffing and it just felt forced and weird.
BIG LOVE at Signature Theatre#45
Posted: 2/10/15 at 10:24pm
I did NOT care for this. Caught the show tonight, and while I respected it's ambition I found the play tedious and often painful. At times the play feels like a combination of performance art and/or some gender theory graduate at NYU's thesis.
It is a true kitchen sink play. Intense choreography, musical numbers, projections and gratuitous nudity. I must confess that I thought the staging of the wedding/wedding night was an inspired bit of lunacy.
What I found so frustrating is how much the play waffled on it's viewpoint. At first it seems like it is meant to be a tale of women empowerment as the three women reject their soon to be husbands and declare that they don't need a man. But then we get a speech from the men on how hard it is to be a man. By the end we've landed somewhere in the middle with SPOILER two husbands dead and one alive. It's as if now the play is suggesting that they need a man after all.
I can't deny that there were lots of risks that were taken, but I'm not sure many of them paid off. It is a credit to Rebecca Naomi Jones that she sells the material as well as she does, but I found the writing clunky and obnoxious. I also don't think the musical numbers are necessary, and were mostly jarring and (the worst offense of all) added time to the story.
What would have been much more interesting to me is if Rebecca Naomi Jone's character had gone through with the plan to kill her husband even though she loved him for the bond of her sisters.
Broadway Star Joined: 12/7/05
BIG LOVE at Signature Theatre#46
Posted: 2/10/15 at 11:07pm
I found this to be a very engaging reinterpretation of the classic Greek myth. I loved it from start to finish and definitely recommend it. Video screens, pop songs, excellent cast, and an all-out spectacular finale. The story was told so simply using modern language and so powerfully. I bet Big Love will extend (like so many other Signature shows).
Big Love was a fun show, and not at all like the absolutely horrible "Particle of Dread (Oedipus Variations)" which was one of the worst, most boring shows I had ever seen.
Understudy Joined: 8/20/08
BIG LOVE at Signature Theatre#47
Posted: 2/11/15 at 12:20amUh oh... didn't realize there is "gratuitous nudity". I'm taking my mother next Thursday. Can anyone explain?
Broadway Legend Joined: 8/14/05
BIG LOVE at Signature Theatre#48
Posted: 2/11/15 at 12:29am
I think Dave really hit it on the head.
And the nudity is in the beginning. Naked girl. Nothing sexual. Just nakedness. And there's some guys in underwear/shirts off.
BIG LOVE at Signature Theatre#49
Posted: 2/11/15 at 6:45am
It is a true kitchen sink play.
You're using that term completely incorrectly.
Uh oh... didn't realize there is "gratuitous nudity". I'm taking my mother next Thursday. Can anyone explain?
I would not call the nudity "gratuitous" in any way. Rebecca Naomi Jones is naked for a total of two minutes at the very beginning of the play.
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