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Could anybody who sees Year of Magical Thinking please post...

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#1

Could anybody who sees Year of Magical Thinking please post...

Posted: 3/6/07 at 9:46pm

...and let us know how long it is, whether there's an intermission or a student rush, and most of all, if Vanessa is terrific or not? Trying to get to see this one soon and looking for any info I can get!
#4

re: Could anybody who sees Year of Magical Thinking please post...

Posted: 3/6/07 at 11:16pm

No intermission, according to an e-mail I received the other day regarding late seating. I'm going tomorrow night.
"You travel alone because other people are only there to remind you how much that hook hurts that we all bit down on. Wait for that one day we can bite free and get back out there in space where we belong, sail back over water, over skies, into space, the hook finally out of our mouths and we wander back out there in space spawning to other planets never to return hurrah to earth and we'll look back and can't even see these lives here anymore. Only the taste of blood to remind us we ever existed. The earth is small. We're gone. We're dead. We're safe." -John Guare, Landscape of the Body
#5

re: Could anybody who sees Year of Magical Thinking please post...

Posted: 3/6/07 at 11:19pm

An early rave.
http://showshowdown.blogspot.com/
"You travel alone because other people are only there to remind you how much that hook hurts that we all bit down on. Wait for that one day we can bite free and get back out there in space where we belong, sail back over water, over skies, into space, the hook finally out of our mouths and we wander back out there in space spawning to other planets never to return hurrah to earth and we'll look back and can't even see these lives here anymore. Only the taste of blood to remind us we ever existed. The earth is small. We're gone. We're dead. We're safe." -John Guare, Landscape of the Body
#9

re: Could anybody who sees Year of Magical Thinking please post...

Posted: 3/7/07 at 9:13pm

A friend of mine saw it last night and hated it. He said Redgrave didn't move from her chair the entire performance and Didion's script was longwinded and self-indulgent. Don't shoot the messenger.

Updated On: 3/7/07 at 09:13 PM

#11

re: Could anybody who sees Year of Magical Thinking please post...

Posted: 3/7/07 at 10:48pm

I'm sort of glad it wasn't on TKTS and I saw BATB instead. Although I missed an opportunity to see her live, I am told by others who were there for the first preview that it is dull and repetitive.
"The Spectacle has, indeed, an emotional attraction of its own, but, of all the parts, it is the least artistic, and connected least with the art of poetry. For the power of Tragedy, we may be sure, is felt even apart from representation and actors. Besides, the production of spectacular effects depends more on the art of the stage machinist than on that of the poet."
--Aristotle
#12

re: Could anybody who sees Year of Magical Thinking please post...

Posted: 3/7/07 at 11:47pm

I just got home from tonight's show. I was totally drawn into it and thought Redgrave was mesmerizing. I had great seats, so it felt like a very personal experience, as if a friend was sharing her most private thoughts.

This is a different kind of show, not so much "entertaining" as it is a shared introspection into how one person reacted to a major loss. If you've never been there, or perhaps react in a different manner, Didion's words and Redgrave's performance may seem respectively self-indulgent and boring, I suppose, but as someone who is still dealing with my own demons of loss, I felt the words gave voice to things I've felt but not verbalized. And Redgrave made the experience resonate.

Again, it's not for everyone. But I found it to be one of the most special experiences I've ever had at the theater. Came home, in fact, and bought another pair of tickets.
Sueleen Gay: "Here you go, Bitch, now go make some fukcing lemonade." 10/28/10
#13

re: Could anybody who sees Year of Magical Thinking please post...

Posted: 3/7/07 at 11:54pm

Just got back as well, and I echo iflitifloat's comments. Redgrave was mesmerizing, and her performance made up for a weak (but definitely not boring) script. Didion is obviously not a playwright--her text reads like an extended New Yorker article--but overall it was a most worthwhile evening of theatre. I was moved to tears several times. Vanessa Redgrave can do anything.

I will definitely be seeing it again. A master class in acting.
"You travel alone because other people are only there to remind you how much that hook hurts that we all bit down on. Wait for that one day we can bite free and get back out there in space where we belong, sail back over water, over skies, into space, the hook finally out of our mouths and we wander back out there in space spawning to other planets never to return hurrah to earth and we'll look back and can't even see these lives here anymore. Only the taste of blood to remind us we ever existed. The earth is small. We're gone. We're dead. We're safe." -John Guare, Landscape of the Body
#15

re: Could anybody who sees Year of Magical Thinking please post...

Posted: 3/8/07 at 12:04am

I was captivated, mesmerized, moved and I can't stop thinking about it.

I was there tonight, as well. I was drawn to every word, and followed each graceful and stunning movement of Ms. Redgrave's.

At times I felt as if we were the only two people in the theatre and she was speaking directly to me.

"Two drifters off to see the world. There's such a lot of world to see. . ."
#16

re: Could anybody who sees Year of Magical Thinking please post...

Posted: 3/8/07 at 12:06am

At times I felt as if we were the only two people in the theatre and she was speaking directly to me.

I felt the exact same way. Redgrave created such an intimate, personal mood.
"You travel alone because other people are only there to remind you how much that hook hurts that we all bit down on. Wait for that one day we can bite free and get back out there in space where we belong, sail back over water, over skies, into space, the hook finally out of our mouths and we wander back out there in space spawning to other planets never to return hurrah to earth and we'll look back and can't even see these lives here anymore. Only the taste of blood to remind us we ever existed. The earth is small. We're gone. We're dead. We're safe." -John Guare, Landscape of the Body
#18

re: Could anybody who sees Year of Magical Thinking please post...

Posted: 3/8/07 at 12:15am

Can't wait to see it. If iflit and Addy loved it, I will, too.

not shocked that Roxy passed on this one...brilliance isn't his thing.
"If you are going to do something, do it well. And leave something witchy." -Charlie Manson
#19

re: Could anybody who sees Year of Magical Thinking please post...

Posted: 3/8/07 at 12:21am

I read the book a while ago, but it seems to me that although the medical stuff was referenced, it wasn't belabored on stage... It would be difficult to tell her story without going there at all.
Sueleen Gay: "Here you go, Bitch, now go make some fukcing lemonade." 10/28/10
#21

re: Could anybody who sees Year of Magical Thinking please post...

Posted: 3/8/07 at 12:38am

By the way, for those who are so inclined, I noticed through the window at Junior's (where my friend and I ate after the show) that Ms. Redgrave does do the stage door thing. She didn't come out for a good hour after the show though, so if you want an autograph, be prepared to wait in the cold.
"You travel alone because other people are only there to remind you how much that hook hurts that we all bit down on. Wait for that one day we can bite free and get back out there in space where we belong, sail back over water, over skies, into space, the hook finally out of our mouths and we wander back out there in space spawning to other planets never to return hurrah to earth and we'll look back and can't even see these lives here anymore. Only the taste of blood to remind us we ever existed. The earth is small. We're gone. We're dead. We're safe." -John Guare, Landscape of the Body
#23

re: Could anybody who sees Year of Magical Thinking please post...

Posted: 3/8/07 at 10:04am

Doesn't surprise me that the goal is shared intimacy rather than creating "theatrical size", as Hare did in DOLOROSA. The content doesn't lend itself to Ms. Redgrave roaming the stage, as if in THE SEARCH FOR SIGNS... or Billy Chrystal's evening. This is clearly a different take on one-person shows, and I am actually relieved that it's not full of "theatrics" that would likely seem tacked on.

Is she wearing a mic?
"I'm a comedian, but in my spare time, things bother me." Garry Shandling
#25

re: Could anybody who sees Year of Magical Thinking please post...

Posted: 3/8/07 at 8:01pm

It didn't sound like she was using a mic. VR is old school; she knows how to project.
"You travel alone because other people are only there to remind you how much that hook hurts that we all bit down on. Wait for that one day we can bite free and get back out there in space where we belong, sail back over water, over skies, into space, the hook finally out of our mouths and we wander back out there in space spawning to other planets never to return hurrah to earth and we'll look back and can't even see these lives here anymore. Only the taste of blood to remind us we ever existed. The earth is small. We're gone. We're dead. We're safe." -John Guare, Landscape of the Body

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