CAINE-MUTINY

[NYUstud]

Posted: 5/3/06 at 11:57pm

Please run out and see this show. I just saw the Wednesday matinee today, and it was amazing. It is some of the best acting I have seen on Broadway in a long time. Îeljko Ivanek is truly one of the greatest actors of our time, and his work in this play (escpecially his ACT monologue) is captivating and brilliant. David Schwimmer gets off to a slow start in Act 1, but gives a heart felt performance with his monologue which closes act 2. It is also brilliantly written, and the words are so meaningful and articulate. It is so so good, and I can't say enough about it. Everyone is amazing, please go, please go!

Updated On: 5/4/06 at 11:57 PM

[donna_darko_23]

Posted: 5/4/06 at 12:32am

I really wish I could see this (but living in Wisconsin is a problem...). I was really sad to see that it was close to bottom of the list for both grosses and capacity.
Updated On: 5/4/06 at 12:32 AM

[munkustrap178]

Posted: 5/4/06 at 12:33am

I though it was good too. A little slow moving and slightly bland, but Ivanek is just BRILLIANT.

[nomdeplume]

Posted: 5/4/06 at 12:38am

Just saw it tonight. It needs to work on its timing, especially of getting the witnesses on and off the stand and preferably without entrance and exit applause for each witness. It would be good if they direct it to avoid that as it creates these awkward moments which I felt interfered with the pacing of the show and would also take you out of the moment. You've already got the majority of the play stuck in a courtroom with most people just sitting, and it's stiltifying to turn it into individual witness scenes with the applause intervals.

I'm all for applause for the actors, just at the end of the play. By the way, catch a glimpse of the court reporter. He's really on top of his game in accurately reflecting the stenographer's technique. There are no small roles, especially on Broadway.

[ShbrtAlley44]

Posted: 5/4/06 at 12:44am

Ah, Zeljko... siiiigh... what a fabulous man.

Nom, I absolutely noticed the steno. He was excellent! I agree about the timing. It almost seems like a comedy at times - Zaks' forte, but it doesn't really work here. He's directed it so that the actors are delivering lines right on top of each other, almost like a boxing match, and the result is inevitably comic. I think that probably explains a lot of the random applause, though some of it is for the more dramatic work. However, it's amazing that Ivanek gets applause not only on his exit, but right after he finishes the monologue. The audience sits there, stunned, for a moment, and then breaks into applause. Brilliant.

Glad you enjoyed the show, NYstud!
Updated On: 5/4/06 at 12:44 AM

[papalovesmambo]

Posted: 5/5/06 at 10:07am

this post contains spoilers!!!

i wondered going into this show how it would be received by a modern audience. anti-semitism is not the lurking spectre that it was in the mid-50's. sure it's still there, but at the time this show first arrived, not long (5 years) after gentlemen's agreement played out the ugliness under the surface of american life and before ed murrow took on tailgunner joe's the anti-semitic fueled huac hearings, anti-semitism was much more in the public eye. not to mention the twist that turns the show on its head. how would a modern audience, at a time of war, an increasingly unpopular war, react to the seemingly quaint notion of patriotism as embodied by barney greenwald? i'm not sure i got an answer from the audience i joined last night at the shoenfeld.

sure, they cheered david schwimmer as soon as he got onstage (thanks to the staging that allowed him to goad them into doing so). yes, they applauded zeljko's descent into madness (which i felt ended with him a bit too broken, but that's just a personal preference, his performance was remarkable either way). but i didn't feel the sense of shock that i expected at certain points. i didn't feel the indignation. i think part of that was due to schwimmer's performance, another hangdog, woe is me, rote schwimmer characterization. i didn't think his performance did justice to the character and because of that some of the points of the play were softened and or missed entirely.

how much of what i felt, or didn't feel, in the audience was a result of the performances and how much was a result of a modern audience's cynicism, i'm not sure.

i enjoyed the production, but then i'm a sucker for a military court-room drama. tim daly gave an underrated performance. i haven't really heard much about him in this production but i think he's really the glue that holds it together. without him, you'd have schwimmer and joe sikora (look at me, i'm a dumb guy...until i'm not that dumb) standing around waiting for zeljko.

as far as the comedy, i think it's intentional. lightening up the mood for sucker punches and allowing these characters to not be completely dour for two acts. the script is dark enough, let a little light in once in a while.

[papalovesmambo]

Posted: 5/5/06 at 10:20am

oh i agree it's still bad, undi, but i think at that time it was worse because it was still just being acknowledged. it was really getting exposed at that time, hence my "lurking spectre" comment.

[Gothampc]

Posted: 5/5/06 at 11:46am

If Îeljko Ivanek isn't nommed for a Tony for this, there is no justice.

David Schwimmer was much better than I expected him to be. I agree with the others that it's a slow start, but by the final monologue he is great.

Tim Daly didn't impress me much. I really expected a more nuanced performance from him. I never really got the sense he was a real person.

[ShbrtAlley44]

Posted: 5/5/06 at 1:28pm

Gotham, I got that sense from most of the characters in the show. Didn't like Joe Sikora at all - I thought he was terrible, though much better while on the stand - and all the witnesses seemed like stock characters.

[LeaGirl]

Posted: 5/5/06 at 1:35pm

I don't normally consider myself a "courtroom drama" kind of girl, but this shoow REALLY impressed me.

I was engaged the whole time - and I was impressed with David whom I thought... well I thought he'd be less comfortable and in control of the situation.

I agree about the applause thing - though at some points the audience just seemed moved to applause after someones testimony was over and I don't know if there is much you can do about that.

Overall, I loved it and would reccommend it to anybody who enjoys a good, solid little evening of theater. I'd never read the play (unlike my co-worker who saw it and enjoyed it as well) but lack of familiarity with the material didn't seem to hurt. As it shouldn't.

[MargoChanning]

Posted: 5/5/06 at 1:43pm

I was very underwhelmed by Schwimmer who's acting lacked focus and nuance and stature, like one might expect in a second rate regional production of this play, not on Broadway. Every effect felt manufactured and self-conscious. It's hard to believe he's an experienced stage actor because he looked like a novice to me. Same with Sikora. Ivanek was terrfic as usual (as were most of the others).

I was thinking who would be better in the Schwimmer role -- it's a very long list -- and Mark Ruffalo came to mind. Can you imagine the kind of intensity and spontaneity he'd have brought to that character?

[ShbrtAlley44]

Posted: 5/5/06 at 1:47pm

Margo, I hear that Zaks' direction is throwing a lot of the actors - they aren't really allowed to bring a lot of nuance to the characters because they have to deliver the lines so quickly (Zeljko is the exception). I think Schwimmer has a lot of potential but I think he's in need of more in-depth direction. Months before the show started he had already made copious notes and done research, so I definitely think he wants and has the potential to do better.

[Pinguin]

Posted: 5/5/06 at 2:31pm

HA, I was talking to a friend who really liked the show (less so Schwimmer who he thought was miscast) but when I asked him about Tim Daly the first thing he said was, "He's very tall."

:0)

[munkustrap178]

Posted: 5/5/06 at 2:33pm

With a better director, this show has the potetial to really be something great.

[ShbrtAlley44]

Posted: 5/5/06 at 2:36pm

I agree, munk. It's just not Zaks' forte.

[munkustrap178]

Posted: 5/5/06 at 2:42pm

What, theatre? I agree.

[ShbrtAlley44]

Posted: 5/5/06 at 2:52pm

Hee. Well, I did mean a drama such as this, but hey...

[Gothampc]

Posted: 5/5/06 at 2:55pm

I agree that the director was a wrong choice. Who should have directed? Maybe Robert Falls?

[ShbrtAlley44]

Posted: 5/5/06 at 3:27pm

Scott Ellis? He's good with large male ensembles (ETA: I just realized how wrong that sounded) and did a great job with 12 Angry Men.
Updated On: 5/5/06 at 03:27 PM

[andyf]

Posted: 5/5/06 at 3:50pm

So, I saw that red post and was wondering if I could remember my HTML...

Unfortunately I hit "Post Message" the second time, instead of "Preview" so yeah... Carry on.

Updated On: 5/5/06 at 03:50 PM

[Thesbijean]

Posted: 5/5/06 at 4:40pm

Seeing Caine tonight for the 2nd time, cannot wait...

[little_sally]

Posted: 5/5/06 at 6:35pm

This thread is definitely making me want to see this show. I adored Zeljko Ivanek in The Pillowman (great work, totally underrated for that role) and I'm so hoping he gets nominated for a Tony. He's so deserving. Such a great actor.