ELLING Previews

[Pammylicious]

Posted: 10/29/10 at 7:07pm

Starts next week....I have tickets to Thursday's show. Would like to hear some comments about it before. TIA

[Pammylicious]

Posted: 11/2/10 at 10:28am

BUMP....1st preview is tonight.

[bjh2114]

Posted: 11/2/10 at 11:19am

I'll be there tonight.

[Pammylicious]

Posted: 11/2/10 at 11:34am

Can you let us know how it was?

[jnthnxlent]

Posted: 11/2/10 at 11:46am

Yeah bjh, please let us know your thought after you see it. I have no idea what to think of this production until I hear some feedback.

[fiesta1]

Posted: 11/2/10 at 11:56am

I saw the play in London a few years ago, and really enjoyed it. I am curious to see how this NYC production will be.

[Jordan Catalano]

Posted: 11/2/10 at 11:59am

I only need to know because of my dog but does anyone who's seen the show in London have an idea of the running time?

[Luv2goToShows]

Posted: 11/2/10 at 5:21pm

Jordan, if you are serious, one of the London reviews stated the running time was 2 hours and 40 mins

There will probably be cuts and changes though, so who knows

ELLING
Adapted by Simon Bent
Directed by Paul Miller

Based on the novel by: Ingvar Ambjørnsen
Starring: John Simm, Adrian Bower
With: Ingrid Lacey, Keir Charles, Jonathan Cecil
Design: Simon Daw
Lighting: Mark Doubleday
Sound Design and Composition: Jack C Arnold
Running time: Two hours 40 minutes with one interval
Box Office: 0870 060 6632
Booking to 6th October 2007
Reviewed by Charlotte Loveridge based on 12th July 2007 performance at Trafalgar Studios, 14 Whitehall, London SW1A 2DY (Tube: Charing Cross)

[Jordan Catalano]

Posted: 11/2/10 at 5:44pm

THANK YOU. Yeah I needed to know so I could figure out if I needed to wear the dog out before the show if it was long. :)

[VernonGersch]

Posted: 11/2/10 at 9:45pm

while its only the first preview, very much looking forward to hearing everyone's thoughts on the show
i bought tickets to see it in 3 weeks...

[Yankeefan007]

Posted: 11/2/10 at 9:51pm

I'm going Thursday. Will be sure to report back.

[bjh2114]

Posted: 11/2/10 at 10:32pm

Oh...man... that was bad. And I mean BAD. Like so bad that after 50 minutes of Act I, a good percentage of the people left during intermission. We're talking in the high 30s.

Guys, I am all for giving shows a chance to grow/develop/change/fix themselves during previews. This show, however, doesn't have a chance in hell of being successful critically or financially. The entire show landed with a giant thud. The problems with the production are minor compared to the play itself. WHO WROTE THIS PLAY? IT IS AWFUL! It goes absolutely nowhere and is just so completely random. Let me start of by saying I have NO FREAKING IDEA how the creatives got this cast together. I found myself constantly restraining myself from yelling out "RICHARD EASTON, WHY ARE YOU IN THIS SHOW?" Ditto for Dennis O'Hare, who does as much as he can with the material he's been given. I laughed a bit at him and his mannerisms, but the jokes were all predictable.

I felt terrible for Jennifer Coolidge, who is given absolutely nothing to do. Someone as funny as she is should be able to shine in any role that even has an ounce of comedy written into it. The fact that she wasn't able to make the role remotely funny speaks volumes about the quality of the writing.

The design aspects were TERRIBLE. At intermission, I literally turned to my friend and said "Wow, this must be the design team's first show on Broadway." I was SHOCKED when I looked in the playbill and found that Doug Hughes was directing and Scott Pask did the set. SHOCKED! I don't think I have ever seen a worse set or worse direction. It wasn't that the production was misguided (cause we've all seen that problem plenty of times). The problem was that everything was SO sterile and amateur. It had absolutely no professional feel to it whatsoever. It felt like a show written, directed, and designed by high school students who are only putting on a show because they need to do some kind of extracurricular activity.

I would be shocked if this one made it past opening night by more than a week.

[whatever2]

Posted: 11/2/10 at 10:42pm

zounds!

you didnt mention the stunt casting, though -- how was fraser?

[bjh2114]

Posted: 11/2/10 at 10:46pm

He was fine. I don't really consider him stunt casting. He's not exactly a huge draw. His last movie hit was the Mummy Returns in 2001. In any case, he was fine. But again, his role SUCKED. Like actually any hobo off the street could have played the part. The character is a neanderthal who doesn't shower, says "HOLY SH*T" a lot, and likes hot dogs. Very complex stuff.

[April Saul]

Posted: 11/2/10 at 11:39pm

Wow! Just to let you guys know, two others on the ATC board, though not as horrified as bjh, were really unimpressed as well. I'd really expected this one to be good; glad I didn't spring for a TDF ticket this week...this is not shaping up to be an amazing theater season by any means.

I just googled reviews for this in London and the critics were blown away; does this sound like the play you saw tonight? Wondering what went wrong...check them out:

http://www.guardian.co.uk/stage/2007/may/01/theatre

http://www.guardian.co.uk/stage/2007/may/06/theatre1
Updated On: 11/2/10 at 11:39 PM

[Jordan Catalano]

Posted: 11/2/10 at 11:56pm

Well call me crazy but I had a good time. I thought it was a sweet little play that had some really great acting, especially by O'Hare. And yes, it would have been nice if Coolidge had more to do but just seeing her made me a very happy guy so I can't complain.

[bjh2114]

Posted: 11/3/10 at 12:49am

Well call me crazy
Crazy. :-P

April Saul, it's definitely the same play. I don't know if it's a different adaptation or if the play was just better received overseas for indeterminate reasons. I thought it was abysmal.

[RippedMan]

Posted: 11/3/10 at 1:38am

I was interested to see that they changed the poster design outside the theater.

[walkedthroughmany]

Posted: 11/3/10 at 2:33am

I saw this at Sydney Theatre Company last year...everyone else was obsessed with it, found it hysterical. I wasn't very affected. Maybe you have to be European/Australian to get it?

Is Jennifer Coolidge good with the other female roles? The woman I saw made me laugh with her waitress, etc.

The play also has a lot of opportunities for "theatre magic" -- obviously that's not enough to justify a production, but that's what I took away from it.

[Ed_Mottershead]

Posted: 11/3/10 at 7:22am

And who was it that said he/she couldn't "wait for last season to be over"?

[Luv2goToShows]

Posted: 11/3/10 at 9:10am

Maybe you have to be European/Australian to get it?

I was wondering the same thing, I attended a talkback after the Pitman Painters and they said they had to make some changes in dialog because the british humor (slang) would not work well here.

Did it have the same 2 hour 40 minute run time?

[bjh2114]

Posted: 11/3/10 at 10:08am

The show was barely 2 hours including the 15 minute intermission. So they've certainly cut a lot out. I don't know WHAT they could have cut considering that the 2 hours felt longer than the entirety of the 7 hours of Angels at Signature. The show already felt like there was tons of unnecessary crap stuffed in. I can't imagine what the 40 minutes of cuttable material was.

[April Saul]

Posted: 11/4/10 at 12:12am

too funny, bjh, I was just gifted with a free ticket to see Elling this Sunday (and free is free!) Am now hoping I agree with Jordan on this one...will have to post here in a few days.

[bjh2114]

Posted: 11/4/10 at 12:26am

I mean, my ticket was free as well and I still thought and I still thought I paid too much. Hopefully you will enjoy it more than I did.

[Jordan Catalano]

Posted: 11/4/10 at 12:32am

Well I was comped and I liked it.
Has anyone paid to see te show yet? lol