Disgraced Previews — Page 2

Thanks Followspot for the answer on Tony eligibility.

I wonder about "It's Only A Play" as well - since it is supposedly completely re-written. Would that make any difference?

Not to hijack this thread, so I'll add more about Disgraced. I was seated (via TDF) on the side, 5 seats off the aisle, on house right of the Mezz, one row from the back. I had a good view, but going too much further to the right, you would not be able to see the right side of the stage very well - if at all (forget about the Right Boxes!). And some action does happen over there. I think you could sit farther from the center if you are house left. I assume it would be the same in the orchestra.

RippedMan - Yes, it's produced in associated with LCT, so LincTix are available as well as a rush.
Theatregoers Can Get Disgraced for $32; Rush Policy Announced

It's Only a Play has not been entirely rewritten. The jokes have been updated but that's about it.

Caught the show tonight. Thought it was good, but not great. I loved the pacing, the fact it's one act that truly flies by because of its tightly written dialogue, but that's it.

I can't seem to enjoy plays that leave me disliking every character. *SPOILER* Except for Jory, in this case, I could care less about the others. Especially Amir. *END SPOILER* So many moments where I thought, "I get it. I get it already!"

My honest opinion is that this play seems more to be one that is better when read rather than better on the stage. I feel that in 10, 20 years from now this is play can serve as an academic commentary on the US in the early 2010s. Other than that, I question its Pulitzer win.

It's worth a visit for those interested. Maybe it's just not my cup of tea.

I admit to preferring to see a musical anytime over a play. But, my friend had an extra ticket and we both loved the show. We sat in the balcony in the 3rd row on the side and had no issues seeing anything. It felt intimate and we could hear every word. I didn't know anything about this story or that it won a Pulitzer. All I knew it had Josh Radnor. Josh did a fantastic job and the other stand out was Karen Pitman. For a show set in Manhattan in 2014, the author nailed the way people really speak. It could not make for a more timely discussion about race and Islam. The lead actor was also excellent. I didn't love Gretchen Mol, but I think her part is the least well written of the leads. Definitely worth your time and not a star vehicle.

MILD SPOILER. I was there last night. I love the play on the page (MusicandPassion: we may agree), and have read it a few times over the past year. Last night's performance was a crushing let-down for me, not because I knew what takes place and how horrific the turns are (the verbal ones the most unsettling to me, and they are shocking and brutal), but because I find this production so lacking in needed fire and focus. Pittman and Radnor are the most vivid and compelling, and each scores the most points in the set piece dinner scene that defines the play. They each make the lobbed accusations wounding and deeply personal, setting forth the highest stakes. But Mol and Dhillon are disappointing. Dhillon's take on Amir is very sitcom superficial, which initially I believed a provocative sleight of hand strategy, so that the devastating turns land with great unexpected power. But he merely gets louder and jumpier; the tightly coiled man who enters the party ready to detonate is only indicated, not fully embodied. I won't dissect or spoil the much discussed denouement, except to say it is rendered with too much obvious choreography and not enough unleashed fury. Less would be more, if less was twice as intense. We should gasp. I have a lot more to say, but don't want to bash a powerful play I so admire. My opinion is already the minority. I hope it does well. I am sorry the original cast didn't come to B'way intact.

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Updated On: 10/5/14 at 01:05 PM

Hanabana, I sat in the front row via LincTix. It was a little close for my preference but you won't miss anything. It's just really close.

I agree with Auggie. I was at yesterday's matinee, and while I liked the play I found the acting of the 2 leads to be incredibly stilted, as though they were doing a table read for the first time. I thought Dhillon was the most guilty of this, especially in the first scene. The 3 supporting actors fared much better. To me, the fire that's necessary in the third scene felt very staged and very forced. It didn't have the natural sizzle of, say, the recent Virginia Woolf revival. I was missing that spark for most of it.

I kept getting "box seats" through LincTix, but eventually found a front row seat. I'm excited!

neonlight and WhizzerMarvin, thank you for your replies. I just booked the front row seat for a bit later this month! I am usually more of a musical person, but I've heard great things about this show, and I'm so glad to have found out about Linctix (wish I knew about it before). Very excited!

BJH nailed it: it (still) feels like a table read. The performance has inherent intelligence, and the actors find the pockets of wit. Yet the emotional underbelly is absent. This is a story with the highest of stakes: cultural/religious identity, life-altering office politics, and immigration/homeland security run amok. Reducing its weight to serve a kind of facile, all-too-breezy "style" undermines its very core and minimizes its uniqueness. The famous third scene should be so packed with ready-to-detonate moments. Yet it feels rushed, not lived in, merely indicated. I would love the director to simply allow some deadly silence to permeate the proceedings after some of the toxic remarks land. Everything is played with the same sort of sit com rhythm. You come away feeling as if you heard it played at twice the speed. I say this having read the script. And the play has been presented on the page with a kind of free verse format for many of the speeches. The playwright clearly "hears" some of these arias of revelation as very special pronouncements. But they are sped through, sometimes with increased volume, often with a kind of tossed off brio, that does nothing to involve us. I don't think the two leads are quite up to it. But director Senior could help them simply by asking everyone to slow down and listen. Only Radnor really takes the time to hear everything said. And listen to what this play is saying! I've disturbed by how off this production feels. It's a reminder of how any text on the stage is in the hands of the interpretation.

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Good thing-the boxes in that theater are horrible. When I was in one for another show there, I was able to move to a different seat (the theater wasn't full so the usher re-seated me).

Actually, I saw this production from a box and the view was surprisingly fine. I would say that 98% of the production is unobstructed. Like Whizzer said, so much of the production is performed downstage center, so no obstructions there. A box wouldn't have been my first choice, but for this production, it's not that bad.

Thank you to those who mentioned LincTix! I had never heard of that before. I got a front row seat for December.