FAR FROM HEAVEN first preview? — Page 2

What's the current running time?

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Saw this last night and agree with much of what has been said. Far From Heaven is one of my favorite films, Grey Gardens has one of my favorite scores, and Kelli O'Hara might be my favorite actress...so there was a lot to be excited about for me.

Luckily, the show is lovely and Kelli really is in fantastic form. The style of the music fits her voice perfectly, and completely agree about her fully-formed characterization.

Anderson is excellent, Pasquale fine, though with a character with a lot less depth to work with.

The score is unconventional, more like a jazz opera. But with so many lovely melodies and a fascinating complexity. I really loved the way certain moments from the film were musicalized ("Miro", "Tuesdays, Thursdays", among others) in surprising and moving ways.

It definitely still needs some investigation, and tinkering with the pace, smoothness of the action, and incorporating the design with the themes and material, but that's what previews are for.

I'm very interested to see how this show develops and what the next step will be after the Playwrights run.

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I'd keep my eyes open for a one week extension. I'd doubt there'd be more and the tickets would probably go fast but it would give people who were shut out another chance. Playwrights did let subscribers know they expected it to sell out . It's worth seeing. The score is beautiful.

Saw the matinee yesterday. I hadn't realize so much of the dialogue is delivered operatic recitative style. The lush music fits the story well, although I would have liked an upbeat song for a bit of relief, especially in Act II. O'Hara, Pasquale and Johnson are in gorgeous voice, and the acting is just as good. At the talkback, some of the audience (including me) indicated that we felt the ending was too abrupt. The creatives said they were going to put in changes that address that issue during this week.

I saw this on Friday and have just been too, well, bored to offer up a critique. When it became clear that the creatives weren't going to attack the adaptation in the way I wanted them to I hoped there was something that would pull me in. That never happened.

With the single exception of Harry Connick Jr, why is it that Kelli O'Hara, as lovely as she is, can never generate heat of any kind of real chemistry with a male costar? And this time was worse than most (South Pacific has such a romantic score, it could sorta replace the requisite combustibility). Isaiah Johnson is not nearly handsome enough but that would be okay if he wasn't so boring and flat in the role of Raymond, or at least had some sexual click with O'Hara. Why would she dare everything to be with this man?

I love the score of Grey Gardens. And this score is no Grey Gardens. It has that horrible sung-recit/off Broadway musical/faux Sondheim/ thing going on that sorta spoiled Giant (though LaChuisa himself pioneered that sound). Sometimes a song would finally find its footing and I could actually sit back and relax and fall into the play's world. That happened rarely.

Michael Grief is just not a great director. He's competent, yes. But why would he just basically copy the set of Next To Normal, a very current show, and think that that kind of industrial look with projections would cut it in a show set in a 50's that supposed to reflect a florid and lush living style? Its horrible.

Its also 2 hours and twenty minutes and 86 bucks I'll never get back.

Updated On: 5/13/13 at 06:19 PM

Were these the sets/projections used at Williamstown? A style determined to (help) define the show? I'm curious, too, that the material didn't inspire more traditional approach to design. Not that such a framework is required, only that it wasn't considered. The film is unique homage in that every aspect is heightened, yet eschews wink-wink, self consciousness. Its lushness of design matches its richness of emotional expression, but without the distancing patina of camp. I'm guessing -- please, making a leap -- that the concern in moving to the stage was to find a theatrical equivalent, a point of access that allows some distance from the material, so that the recreation of the 50s isn't so spot-on, so literalized. The style of the film addresses Sirk's tone, sensibilities and content/sociological obsessions. The musical must take on these components in another art form, with a shorthand that's already highly stylized (i.e. people sing their feelings). Maybe the concern was: too much of a good thing. Let the stylized world speak for itself through story and character, without the distracting overlay of design decisions that might further diffuse what's grounded in emotional truth. Sirk, deconstructed, doesn't have a parallel in the theater.

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Updated On: 5/13/13 at 11:11 PM

I am dying to see this but now can't find tickets. Does anyone know where I can find resellers online? Tried StubHub and nothing. Also, do rush tix work if everything's supposed to be sold out?

The entire run is sold out! http://playbill.com/news/article/178042-Playwrights-Horizons-Run-of-Far-From-Heaven-With-Kelli-OHara-and-Steven-Pasquale-Is-Sold-Out

Seeing this at the Sunday matinee on the day it opens (opening is the evening performance). Have to say I was afraid I would not be able to get a ticket but was lucky enough to get one on the day they finally started selling to non-members (after delaying the date once or twice). Luckily for me, this aligned with my annual Spring trip to NYC.

A little surprised about the comments on the set. Being at PH, I assumed a more workshop feel, but pics I saw from the WTF seemed to really evoke the ambiance of the film (fall hues, nice lighting, beautiful costumes) - but I can only guess pictures dont translate the actual feel of the production. Did anyone who saw it at WTF think it got the ambiance that was so predominant in the movie?

As for projections, I think that sometimes accomplishes what an actual designed set may not with a sparse set theater piece and kind of evokes memories of my 50's childhood (albeit my INFANT and TODDLER childhood - STOP LAUGHING). That frozen in time and place feeling of a still photo or (lucky for me) home movies.

If anything, it is always exciting seeing a production early in its life and then to see how it grows and expands as it progresses to a larger and larger theater space.

"...i could see this potentially being a case of Kelli being honored for her entire body of work to this point."

What, at 37, you're planning a Lifetime Achievement Award for her already?

In 13 years, she's been in 8 Broadway shows (not a bad number); but several of them were of dubious merit (replacement chorus in Jekyll & Hyde, chorus in that awful Roundabout Follies, the uber-flop Dracula, the flop-liked-by-a-few Sweet Smell of Success), leaving commendable success in only four shows (Light In The Piazza, South Pacific, The Pajama Game, and Nice Work If You Can Get It). If you care about such things, she has originated two successful new roles on Broadway thus far (and there's a valid argument that Nice Work isn't really a new role).

The gal is terrific, and her achievements are admirable; it just may be a decade too soon to start talking about being awarded for "her entire body of work to this point."

If anyone is looking for tickets, they just released some online for pretty much every performance between now and next Sunday.

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Saw it in Williamstown and thought it was a touching but flawed show, but thought Kelli gave her best performance since PIAZZA. Seeing it next week, can't wait to see her again. Didn't think the show was quite strong enough for Broadway, but Kelli is worth the price of admission.