Enron is a big YES for best play this year! — Page 4

Saw it Saturday night and loved it, as did the audience at large. Gave it an enthusiastic standing ovation, and I could hear people talking about how amazed they were by it all - - from Norbert Leo Butz's superb performance to the cutting-edge production. Haven't critics and people on this board lamented what they see as the lack of innovation on Broadway? The Disneyfication? The lowest-common-denominator crowd pleasers? This was a feast for the eyes, ears and mind. A hybrid play-musical-multimedia show with Tony-worthy acting. It was nothing if not fresh and innovative.

I could hardly believe my eyes reading through these posts, learning that some people at previous performances disliked it so much that they left at intermission. I urged friends to buy tickets before tomorrow morning, figuring that the reviews tonight will make tickets nearly impossible to come by. I hope I'm not wrong, but heaven knows I certainly have been before when it comes to my opinion vs. critics and this very board.

I saw it last night and it is definitely my favorite play of the season. This is a year for plays people! I went into the theater really knowing nothing about the show. Everything worked perfectly in my mind. All of the staging, lighting, choreography, and sound design made it appropriate to make this story into a play. I don't think there could be many other ways they could have presented the story without boring the audience to tears. I was engaged the entire time and I felt a progression throughout the show. I particularly liked how they used levels on the stage, I was visually engaged the entire show.

I think the sound and lighting design wins though. In my mind, whenever I think about corporate America, Wall Street, etc. I think of sex, drugs, clubs, and greed. It might be a "Bright Lights, Bit City" complex where the white-class workers go off to clubs every night. But that's just what has always come to my mind. To see this idea staged was brilliant in my mind, it aligned perfectly with what I had envisioned. Praise to all the actors and designers who did a fantastic job! Happy Opening tonight!

And now that we know, Brick, what the critics have to say, what are the chances Enron will score the big Yes for Best Play this year?

Very few of the major critics raved about it bwaybug. The critics from the big papers (save the Post and NY1) all said that it was smoke and mirrors. This show is not winning Best Play. It might not even be nominated at this point.

It's difficult to care about a play when there is nobody on stage to care about - and that is the big deficiency with ENRON.

Now, for those who are getting all excited about the staging: may I respectfully point out that anyone lucky enough to have seen Tom O'Horgan productions has seen all this before. Except for the light sabres - that's the type of silly comedy that SNL does regularly.

In fact, that Lehman Brothers costume gag was used by O'Horgan in the original production of HAIR, and to much better effect.

"Smoke and mirrors" sums it up pretty well.

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BWAYBUG,

I don't have it out for anyone. I'm actually just really curious about how this thing is playing out. The play is what it is... Many of the reviews have pretty much summed up my thoughts on it. I don't think anyone can deny that the results are divided. I guess we just sit back and watch it play out. Mondays numbers will give us an idea of what effect, if any, the reviews will have on the whole thing.