When you're reading words for 1 hour 45 minutes, it takes a special kind of actor or actress to make those words come alive for the audience. Sadly, this was not the case with last week's cast. You will likely be as bored out of your mind as I was. The playwright tries to inject some humor into the reading of letters back and forth with some things like "Woman has an asthma attack", but last week's cast completely missed the point. Last week's actress simply let out a whimper of a cough that was barely audible, and she thought that constituted an asthma attack? Another actress could have been clutching at her chest, raising her hands in the air, grabbing her throat in pain, falling down in the chair, ANYTHING to wake up the catatonic audience. But instead we hear a mild cough that lasted a half a second???? Seriously? What a totally dry and uninspiring reading of these lines last week.
It reminds me of Love Letters, where the first cast was extremely boring and put me to sleep. Then I saw it with Carol Burnett, and everything changed for the better. Carol Burnett was an actress who made the words come alive on stage, and I really felt like these were her words. I felt the pain, the humor, etc. It felt like a true story that was flying by. Carol Burnett did much more than simply read words on a sheet of paper; instead, she inhabited the words and kept the audience enthralled. I wish they'd invite Carol Burnett for Dear Elizabeth, and I'd see it in a second. Sadly, last week's cast completely sucked the life out of the show and made it a very long 1 hour 45 minutes.
Updated On: 11/6/15 at 11:36 PM
