ECLIPSED Previews
ECLIPSED Previews
#1ECLIPSED Previews
Posted: 2/23/16 at 12:01pm
Previews begin tonight for the Broadway premiere of Danai Gurira's Eclipsed, starring Academy Award Winner Lupita Nyong'o and directed by Liesl Tommy!
So who's going tonight?
#2ECLIPSED Previews
Posted: 2/23/16 at 1:35pm
I will be there Thursday.
#3ECLIPSED Previews
Posted: 2/23/16 at 1:58pm
My biggest question for anyone going is how they've adapted the set. At the Public, most of the play took place in and around a single set piece which served as the small hut (house? shack?). I'm wondering they've made the hut bigger to fill the stage, or whether they've kept it the same size and just added more space around it. Either way there seems to be drawbacks.
GreasedLightning
Broadway Legend Joined: 2/11/14
BroadwayConcierge
Broadway Legend Joined: 7/24/15
#5ECLIPSED Previews
Posted: 2/23/16 at 6:23pm
It's almost Gentleman's Guide-y, with the smaller set/stage on/within the larger stage.
RippedMan
Broadway Legend Joined: 8/14/05
#7ECLIPSED Previews
Posted: 2/23/16 at 10:41pm
Interesting. It actually looks pretty similar to the set at the Public. I feel like they must have changed some aspect of the dimensions though. The stage at the Public felt very small to me. I like the design for the show, personally.
#9ECLIPSED Previews
Posted: 2/23/16 at 10:49pm
It is, to be fair, about as small a space as you could hope for on Broadway.
#10ECLIPSED Previews
Posted: 2/23/16 at 11:54pm
I'm just getting home from the first preview and the production appears to be in very good shape. The acting is uniformly strong and although the text is interesting I think the performances are more of the draw here than the actual play.
Surely many people will make comparisons to Ruined, which I found to be a superior play to Eclipsed. I felt more emotionally connected to Ruined's characters and there was a greater momentum to the plotting. The two acts of Eclipsed almost felt like two separate plays with things coming together at the end. I do think it was smart to leave the men off-stage (along with the horrors the women had to endure).
Saycon Sengbloh, who is always wonderful, gave the best performance of the night, with Pascale Armand's Bessie a close second. All five women are given some great moments though.
Given the buzz on this one I went in with very high expectations and expected to be wowed. Perhaps this worked against me tonight as it never quite reached exhilarating heights, but being very, very good ain't bad either.
#11ECLIPSED Previews
Posted: 2/23/16 at 11:57pm
I went to look up the play this week and had completely forgotten I saw a production of it a few years ago at the Kirk Douglas Theatre in California. I remember nothing about the play other than the dialects were difficult to understand.
#12ECLIPSED Previews
Posted: 2/24/16 at 12:09am
My ear did have to take a minute or two to adjust to the accents and syntax of the dialogue. There were times when it took all of my concentration to make what was being said, but mostly I got used to it.
#13ECLIPSED Previews
Posted: 2/24/16 at 12:43am
Aw, I was hoping you would love this show as much as I did, Whizzer. Interesting to hear what you thought about the different acts. I suppose there's more "comedy" in act one (although that's really not an appropriate word) but the tone seemed pretty even.
The two major moments I remember being destroyed by were The Girl's act two monologue with Wife #2 and Bessie's "you can go" speech. Are these moments still gut-punching.
How was the intimacy - it was quite a small production at The Public and I wonder how it feels in a larger theatre with virtually the same set. Someone brought up the moment where Lupita basically pointed a gun at the audience's face - about 5 feet away at the Public and thought it would get lost in a larger house. However, I was in the last row when I saw it and was floored.
Good the hear the performances are still incredible. I look forward to hearing more thoughts. Hope stories like this will continue to come to Broadway. Really powerful stuff.
LightsOut90
Broadway Legend Joined: 5/2/14
#14ECLIPSED Previews
Posted: 2/24/16 at 1:29am
did they end up keeping on Stacey Sargent as an understudy? loved her when I saw her at The Public.
#15ECLIPSED Previews
Posted: 2/24/16 at 1:46am
LightsOut90 said: "did they end up keeping on Stacey Sargent as an understudy? loved her when I saw her at The Public."
Unfortunately not! I liked Ms. Sargent as well.
The understudy for Helena/Rita: Adeola Role;
understudy for The Girl: Ayesha Jordan;
understudy for Maima: Joniece Abbott-Pratt, Ayesha Jordan;
understudy for Bessie: Joniece Abbott-Pratt
#16ECLIPSED Previews
Posted: 2/24/16 at 7:26am
Sally, although the first act had more humor and the second act focused on more intense situations the bigger difference for me was in which characters each act focused on. Act one was about the ways #1 and #3 integrated #4 into the fold; it was like Big Love: Liberia. I assumed the other two roles were going to be very small and this would essentially wind up being a three person play. Helena and Bessie are warm and have good senses of humor, despite their situation. Act two shifts the focus onto the two minor characters from act one, sidelining Helena and Bessie for a good deal of the action. Rita and Maima bring more conflict and tension to The Girl, and she herself has become wholly unrecognizable. Each situation really could have been its own play: sister wives attempting to survive together and women joining the warlord's army in order to survive and at what grave cost.
I was in the mezz so I think some of the intimacy may have been lost, but the performances were definitely big enough to fill the theater.
#17ECLIPSED Previews
Posted: 2/24/16 at 7:34am
I can't wait to see this!
Gurira is having an amazing season as a playwright. Isn't the Atlantic also doing one of her shows?
All this and still she has time to be a total bad-ass and end up
making out with Rick
#18ECLIPSED Previews
Posted: 2/24/16 at 10:46am
Does anyone know if they have rush tickets for Eclipsed? If so, how much are they?
Esther
Stand-by Joined: 2/27/05
#19ECLIPSED Previews
Posted: 2/24/16 at 11:23am
Isn't the Atlantic also doing one of her shows?
Not Atlantic. Playwrights Horizons is doing Familiar
#20ECLIPSED Previews
Posted: 2/24/16 at 11:27am
phan24 said: "Does anyone know if they have rush tickets for Eclipsed? If so, how much are they?
"
$39 student rush!
jpiedrafite
Understudy Joined: 12/5/12
#21ECLIPSED Previews
Posted: 2/24/16 at 12:59pm
How high is the stage? Front row tickets are available at a discount for a performance I'm looking at.
LightsOut90
Broadway Legend Joined: 5/2/14
#22ECLIPSED Previews
Posted: 2/25/16 at 4:08am
Jshan05 said: "phan24 said: "Does anyone know if they have rush tickets for Eclipsed? If so, how much are they?
"
$39 student rush!
"
jesus, the average rush ticket was like $25 when i moved here 5 years ago, the inflation is absurd.
#23ECLIPSED Previews
Posted: 2/26/16 at 12:38am
jpiedrafite said: "How high is the stage? Front row tickets are available at a discount for a performance I'm looking at."
I SECOND THIS QUESTION.
@z5
Broadway Legend Joined: 11/30/15
#24ECLIPSED Previews
Posted: 2/26/16 at 12:39am
Anyone know if LN has been signing at all afterwards?
#25ECLIPSED Previews
Posted: 2/26/16 at 12:57pm
I saw this last night. The five actresses in this are simply incredible. I found the play itself to be in very solid shape, however, I think act two is much stronger than act one. Act one seemed to meander a bit, and it wasn't really clear what direction the story was going in. Act two was probably one of the most intense hours I have spent in a theatre - it was harrowing. I think the play could use some trimming, but overall this is a very good play.
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