EUREKA DAY Reviews - Page 2

[quizking101]

Posted: 1/15/25 at 9:54pm

ACL2006 said: "EDSOSLO858 said: "Tonight's performance is cancelled due to non-COVID illness in the cast."

It's surprising they cancelled since it's only a five person cast and they have four understudies."

As often is the case, sometimes it’s the perfect storm of principal and understudy for the same role being sick and thus they cannot do the show without a character 

[Falsettolands]

Posted: 1/16/25 at 9:51am

dearalanaaaa said: "I'm surprised nobody posted this, but a pleasent surprise for the understudy today was Jennifer Laura Thompson in for Jessica Hecht! she barely stuttered, I really enjoyed the show! Longer review later if I remember."

Wow! Talk about best kept secret...I knew something was up when Suzanne (Hecht) didn't have a billed understudy. But I never suspected it would be Thompson.

[itsshowtime2]

Posted: 1/16/25 at 5:01pm

Was JLT secretly the understudy all along or did she just come in when Hecht got ill? My friend saw it yesterday and said she was totally off book and new the blocking.

[Falsettolands]

Posted: 1/16/25 at 8:15pm

itsshowtime2 said: "Was JLT secretly the understudy all along or did she just come in when Hecht got ill? My friend saw it yesterday and said she was totally off book and new the blocking."

I mean…there is no listed understudy for Suzanne. There never has been. It’s not a farfetched inference that JLT was always Hecht’s understudy but an agreement was made on both parties parts to not advertise her involvement. And do to the nature of the show and the character’s dynamics, Suzanne’s cover couldn’t have been any of the other understudies as they are all people of color.

It’s a killer role and a paycheck. I totally get why she did it. I wish I could see her if there were any confirmed public absences.

Updated On: 1/16/25 at 08:15 PM

[AC126748]

Posted: 1/18/25 at 9:05am

Actors can elect to not have their names listed in the program if they're hired as standbys. It used to be the case that if an unlisted standby went on, the playbill was required to include a full page insert with their headshot and bio, rather than the typical "at this performance" slip. I know some actors, especially those with some renown, thought this kind of billing was more desirable.

[EDSOSLO858]

Posted: 1/18/25 at 4:33pm

Is Hecht back yet?

[Fordham2015]

Posted: 1/18/25 at 7:40pm

EDSOSLO858 said: "Is Hecht back yet?"

Everyone was in for today's matinee. Not all the satire lands, but the Zoom meeting and final line are worth the price of admission. Thomas Middleditch also has a very funny line about Burning Man

[VernonGersch]

Posted: 1/21/25 at 11:51pm

thought this was excellent.  razor sharp writing coupled with a fantastic ensemble and brilliant direction.  also, the costumes were all excellent. Jessica Hecht should get a Tony for this 

Truly an excellent evening theater.  and that one scene is so sharply written and insanely funny. tonight's audience was hysterical.  

[EDSOSLO858]

Posted: 1/22/25 at 12:08am

30 minutes into tonight’s entertainment at the Friedman, a switch seemed to flip, in the form of a back-wall projector explaining that we were about to oversee an “emergency Zoom town hall meeting.” I sorta knew what we were in for, and the show had been moving at a steady enough pace to that point,  but I wasn’t expecting to laugh very hard.

I went nuts — and so did the rest of us in that house. I was simply guffawing on and off for the next 16 minutes, reading a string of ridiculous comments from the parents that had decided to seemingly dominate the group chat. One of the best scenes right now on Broadway. 

It was rather smooth sailing the rest of the way, diving more into a gut-punch performance by Jessica Hecht in particular. Bill Irwin was another standout, making good use of his mimetic skills and giving us a full-bodied Don. And it’s always a pleasure seeing Amber Gray on that stage. 

I give this play two Leslie Sullivans. 

(And tonight ran 1:35, for those wondering — a bit shorter than the listed runtime)

 

 

 

 

Updated On: 1/22/25 at 12:08 AM

[Jonathan Cohen]

Posted: 1/23/25 at 1:27am

I watched today's matinee and thought the virtual town hall was hilarious. But that was the only time I thought the play was firing on all cylinders.

My central problem is Spector's script has very little respect for the characters (a little more for the Amber Gray role) and gets a lot of mileage out of mocking them. Then at a certain point we are supposed to take their POVs more seriously and see them through a more emphatic lens, but the transition was jarring. It would be more interesting if they're three-dimensional for the first 2/3rds of the play as well. 

The triangle between the characters played by Middleditch, Yakura-Kurtz, and the off-screen wife also was frustrating. It worked in terms of illustrating how unvaccinated kids can get other kids sick, but the subplot about Eli fudging the terms of his open relationship didn't really pay off or tie back to the main vaccination story. 

There was also the ick factor in having Middleditch specifically in that role. When the actor was in an open relationship with his real wife at the time a few years ago, he was accused of sexual misconduct by a female guest at a sex club. There's zero sexual misconduct in Eureka Day, but having a guy in an open relationship not respecting people's boundaries played by Middleditch, for me was meta in a gross way. 

Totally unrelated point: the set is gorgeous and up there with The Hills of California for my favorite of the season so far. I was actually a tiny bit annoyed because I would totally take my kid to that library but that's not how Broadway sets work.

[AC126748]

Posted: 1/23/25 at 4:46pm

I have no comment on the ethics of casting Middleditch, but it did surprise me that there was little-to-no backlash (or even mention of the allegations) when his name was first announced. I thought he was the weakest link in the cast, personally, and I had trouble hearing him even though I was sitting in the sixth row of the orchestra.

I noticed the show is going to be playing at the Kennedy Center in March, and they're billing it as a "direct-from-Broadway" engagement. Obviously Amber Gray won't be available, but does anyone know if the rest of the current Broadway cast will be transferring down to DC?

[Musigamist]

Posted: 1/23/25 at 6:30pm

AC126748 said: "I have no comment on the ethics of casting Middleditch, but it did surprise me that there was little-to-no backlash (or even mention of the allegations) when his name was first announced. I thought he was the weakest link in the cast, personally, and I had trouble hearing him even though I was sitting in the sixth row of the orchestra.

I noticed the show is going to be playing at the Kennedy Center in March, and they're billing it as a "direct-from-Broadway" engagement. Obviously Amber Gray won't be available, but does anyone know if the rest of the current Broadway cast will be transferring down to DC?"

At Saturday's talkback, the comment was made that "we're looking forward to seeing who will be playing these characters" in DC, so I inferred that it would be a new cast.

[Dreamboy3]

Posted: 1/27/25 at 8:12am

https://www.nytimes.com/2025/01/27/theater/eureka-day-broadway-vaccines.html?unlocked_article_code=1.sU4.Hamo.eMqJqBb9xIJ2&smid=nytcore-ios-share&referringSource=articleShare
 

Great clip of the town hall and discussion of cuing the scene.