Building The Wall with Tuni and Badge Dale

Got a chance to see it this evening. Pretty powerful.

It is in previews and is in good shape. Once they settle in I can only imagine how much more of an impact it will have.

For those who do not know, this show has had multiple productions playing, I thin two, simultaniosly around the country as part of the National New Play Network.

I knew who Ms. Tuni was and have always wanted to see her onstage. Most of her character's (Gloria) dialouge is asking Dale's character, Rick, questions. But he may be a ticking bomb and she has to be careful. Once settled in, she will nail it. You can feel it.

I immediately wondered how Mr. Badge Dale decompresses after his performance. It it pretty powerful and a slow burner. By the end he has just sucked you right in and leaves you almost breathless. You could hear a pin drop for the whole 80 minites.

It is some heavy stuff with a light sprinkling of humor and some omimouse music. It takes place 2 years from now in a jail questioning room. Rick is in jail for doing some awful things at a jail facility with illegal immigrants. I think it is safe to say that for the most part, Republicans may not like it. And the show does not "directly" slam Republicans. That's about all I can say without giving things away.

I suspect we will get more shows dealing with the present political climate. Glad the the 2 I have seen so far have been well done. JMO

I saw the Curious Theatre's production of it in Denver a couple months ago. I have somewhat mixed-to-negative impressions about it. One the one hand, the main premise is extremely powerful and raises such a good point. However, I thought the story was unnecessarily hyper-sensationalized to make this point. I thought this was actually detrimental to the very valid point being made. Also, I felt like the professor who interviews the prisoner is written all wrong. In the version I saw, she seemed hot-headed and incredible argumentative. I thought much of the play felt like another AC360 panel, even though it is so much more. So I think it has promise, but I think it needs a lot more work, and I think the characters need refined.

Updated On: 5/17/17 at 04:54 PM

Anyone else see this show? Worth checking out?

Closing a little over a month early, I hadn't planned on seeing it but I think it's interesting to see that the interest in this kind of thing might be a tough sell. I wonder if this translates over to Julius Caesar at all at Shakespeare in the park.

https://www.broadwayworld.com/article/Robert-Schenkkans-BUILDING-THE-WALL-to-Close-Early-Off-Broadway-20170602

Badge Dale is the son of legendary Broadway dancer Grover Dale.