BIRTHDAY CANDLES Previews — Page 2

GiantsInTheSky2 said: "What is the blocking/staging like for this? Would love to snag a cheap seat (aka box seat or rear seats) but want to make sure I miss as little as possible."



I didn’t sit in a side seat so I can’t speak to how the view was, but I can tell you a few things:

I sat in the box seats for “The Real Thing” and the view was noticeably restricted. But this play’s staging is fairly shallow, so it might be better. The cake-baking happens slightly upstage on the house-right side - so it might be safer to sit far house left than house right? There’s some business with the stage-right door that you might miss, but better to miss that than the kitchen stuff.

Better to pick a rear seat though, IMO. The American Airlines is one of the more intimate theatres on Broadway. I’ve sat in the rear mezzanine many times and it’s always been fine.

I’ll admit i am not the biggest Debra messing fan and i only saw the show because I saw it for $20 on today tix an hour before the show today, but…I’m glad I did. Heartfelt and funny, messing at least deserves a Tony nom.

Now the performance by the user screaming to everyone as they walk in “this is your warning, if I see your nose I will escort you out” was a bit much

Saw this today and really liked it. It's nothing revolutionary, but it was really solid. I laughed quite a bit through the first three quarters and I just could not contain my crying for the last quarter. Basically, everything after the big bag of candles is spilled (to keep it as spoiler-free as possible), I was just GONE for! Definitely some serious catharsis.

Debra was wonderful, but I thought everyone did a great job! The people who had to significantly age up characters did a good job with that and the people who had to switch a bunch of times did a good job with that too.

I also loved the set! The kitchen did exactly what it needed to and all the hanging bits were cool. I liked the moon-cycle especially.

nativenewyorker2 said: "Now the performance by the user screaming to everyone as they walk in “this is your warning, if I see your nose I will escort you out” was a bit much"

I was JUST about to write up a comment about this guy. I f-ing HATE him!!!! He's been at a couple of Roundabout shows I've been to and he's just the WORST. He's the ONLY mask enforcer at the 50-ish shows I've been to since re-opening that's like this. Every other enforcer that I can remember has been nothing but respectful. Maybe a bit stern and they definitely get a bit more stern if it's a repeat offender, but he is the only one who just SHRIEKS at people for doing nothing wrong. I have been a camp counselor, a babysitter, a Sunday school teacher, and a teacher's assistant. One thing I most certainly know is that you must give respect to earn it. I guess I just want to know who hurt him? What made him like this?



ALSO, I have to take issue with Roundabout's food and drink policy. I'm not sure why I don't remember it from Trouble or Caroline, but they have a ban on ANY food or drink IN THE BUILDING and made people throw out perfectly good food and dump out perfectly good water. The COVID policy listed on their site just says that food and drink aren't allowed in the theatre. It says nothing about forcing people to throw away perfectly good food. Another example of a lack of trust and respect for your audience. I know they don't want people eating or drinking in the theatre, but with Screamo giving their "warnings" and theoretically being there to enforce policies throughout the show (although he did nothing about the lady behind me constantly taking her mask off entirely to COUGH) I don't think it would be an issue to let me keep my pack of fruit snacks or my water.

Updated On: 3/20/22 at 08:02 PM

Definitely agree with the awful food and drink policy. I've been to many theaters pre- and post-pandemic and none were like today's. First the security guard warned people as they walked past the box office that no food or drinks allowed. I had a hunch they were actually going to be serious about this so I did some reshuffling of the bakery pastries from my bag to my jacket pockets (bought them right before going to the theater and had zero intention of eating it in the theater - it's breakfast for this upcoming week). If they were going to be so strict, they need to let people know ahead of time. Glad I rearranged my food because they rummaged through my bag and made me throw away my perfectly good, unopened bottle of water.

Also saw the usher you guys are talking about and the other ushers who were rude escorting people out before the theater doors officially opened at 2;30. The tone of their voices are not how I would expect someone in customer service to treat people.

I like Debra Messing but the play didn't do much for me. The lady next to me fell asleep a few times.

I have an extra $10 ticket for this evening if anyone is interested?

I suppose this is the kind of play you'd call a "tear-jerker". It's no masterpiece but, well, I cried, so I guess that's an endorsement. It's certainly better than the logo suggests. Props to set designer Christine Jones for using the American Airlines well. It's hard to make that theatre seem intimate.

@ClydeBarrow,

I agree with your criticisms to a certain extent (I mentioned in my 1st post that the literal "plot" was probably the weakest thing about this play). But I think where it was salvaged for me is in the ACCUMULATED effect of all those things....

This was really bad, you guys. Like… really bad. Writing, almost all of the performances, direction: bad. Felt like I was being gaslit bad. ClydeBarrow’s review couldn’t be more dead on.

If I can save one person 100 minutes of their life, this post will have been worth it.

EDIT: I did the TodayTix rush and got mezzanine D 133 and 134, so at least the seats were good and cheap.

Updated On: 3/23/22 at 10:21 PM

The whole show is built around Messing and her character and I think she very much delivered, and can easily see a Tony nomination for her - which might be it’s only sure one (though I’d toss a nickel for the set design, as it does use the space quite well). She never leaves the stage for the entirety of the play (to my recollection), so that’s a feat in and of itself. I found her very much heartbreaking at the end when she is talking about passing down her traditions while lapsing in and out of lucidity since everything and everyone she has loved has long since departed and that’s all she has left to cling to.

The play is definitely of the TV Movie/Hallmark Channel variety for sure, but that doesn’t necessarily mean it’s poorly written. I thought the pacing of the play was perfect in a very elegant way and not once did I felt like the action sagged and dragged. Jelks and Colantoni have good supporting turns as her friends/lovers. (TBH, knowing André Braugher was originally supposed to be in Jelks’ role, I couldn’t imagine that have actually working having seen the play now.)

Its not the next Pulitzer Prize winner for Drama and I don’t think it tries to be. It’s a nice, low-impact, easygoing dramedy and my friend and I very much enjoyed it.

It's not Hallmark, It has some real depth to it,

akhoya87 said: "I started off not liking this - the dialogue at the beginning (intended to draw laughs) felt a little lazy and cheap. Lines that appealed to a certain kind of humor, I guess - not my own (and I think for some of the lines, about half of the audience agreed).

I liked it by the end. Predictably poignant, as one would expect out of a story about life and loss. I thought the use of repeated dialogue to convey the transition of time was quite effective, although at times I felt like I was being hit over the head with it.

Messing's performance was terrific - felt like opening night, not first preview. John Earl Jelks took a little bit to warm up, but was devastatingly good by the end; if you see this, you'll know which scene I'm talking about. Same with Susannah Flood - was a little cold as her opening character, but she was terrific in facing the demons of one of her later characters. Veronica Mars's dad (sorry, Enrico Colantoni) was a delight to watch.

I wasn't a huge fan of the penultimate scene. As JBroadway posted above, there's a focus on rituals and traditions - and I think some of that was lost in the penultimate scene."



I saw this yesterday, and I second all of this! I really did enjoy it, though it hit quite personally at times and so I found myself crying quite a bit. Definitely could hear a good chunk of the audience sniffling in the last 30 minutes or so (as someone else mentioned, largely after the candle spilling scene.) Really happy to have seen it, it was definitely cathartic.