supersam, you were far too kind! :) This play was, in a word, atrocious. I wasn't sure what to expect going into the theater tonight, but my friends and I kept telling ourselves, "If we know one thing it must be better than The Anarchist, right???" Well, to compare the two is like comparing two 1-15 football teams. They both stink, possibly for slightly different reasons, but the records are still the same.
I don't know if it was a character choice or if Pacino just wasn't comfortable with the script, but there was a lot of mumbling and fumbling going on. I realize that he had about 95% of the dialogue and much of the first act consisted of him repeating the same story over and over again on the phone to different people, but the under-preparedness certainly didn't do the material any favors.
A good 75% of the play is Pacino sitting on a couch or pacing his apartment and talking on the phone. He talks to his lawyer, his girlfriend, hotel staff, people in the political sphere, airplane company employees and he just drones on and on and on with each of them. No one really becomes a character as we listen to these one-sided phone conversations and the topics discussed get repeated and rehashed till you can't stand it anymore.
Pacino's character is in the process of purchasing a $60 million private jet from a Swiss company. The tail number was supposed to be a Swiss code, but the company placed a US code on plane instead. The plane was supposed to fly directly from Europe to Toronto, but it had to make an emergency landing in the US and because it was registered with a US code he is being charged with a $5 million sales tax. I could go on with the "plot," but really why bother.
The last 10 minutes did show some minor signs of life. Like there could be a play buried deep in the tangled mess, but the final moments were so absurd that I almost burst out laughing.
I often think it a fool's errand to guess what others in the audience are thinking, but supersam is right- you could feel how excited the audience was welcome Pacino to the stage, and then like the air being slowly let out of a balloon you feel the excitement deflate and turn to befuddlement and/or hostility.
I feel for Pam MacKinnon. How are you supposed to direct a play where a man talks on a phone for two hours? There is another character on the stage and they barely interact!
After this production is over I assume this play, much like The Anarchist, will never be seen again.
Marie: Don't be in such a hurry about that pretty little chippy in Frisco.
Tony: Eh, she's a no chip!
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