FAR FROM HEAVEN first preview? — Page 3
#54
Posted: 5/25/13 at 1:05pm
I saw the show last night and honestly loved most of it. It's a wonderful little gem of a show that could certainly use some polishing in order to reach its full potential, but as is, I adored it. For me personally, O'Hara is giving one of the finest female performances I have ever seen in a musical. She's right up there on my list with Clark in PIAZZA, Pinkins in CAROLINE, and Ebersole in GREY GARDENS. To be able to see her from the third row in a role that fits her like a glove was a delight and a rush that only a great performance can give. She is so luminescent, so powerful, and so lovely as Cathy...my heart absolutely broke for her. She was brilliant, brilliant, brilliant and would absolutely win the Tony this season if the show was on Broadway.
The rest of the cast is wonderful, namely Nancy Anderson, Steven Pasquale, and
Isaiah Johnson. Of course, they also have the biggest supporting roles. And they excel beautifully.
The material itself is quite beautiful and touching, but it could use some touching up and fine-tuning, which I'm sure it will get before an inevitable transfer. Some of the transitions between speaking and singing were awkward, some scene transitions and tonal shifts were rough around the edges, and one specific moment should just be cut (when Raymond's daughter gets hit with the rock. It is SO awkwardly staged and we don't need to even see it happen. Let us find out when Cathy finds out). The score, as it is, is absolutely stunning for the most part.
The direction is fine, but I think it would benefit from a larger stage and space. And the aforementioned set is beyond hideous. I imagine it will get a major overhaul when the show moves to a bigger venue. I could almost imagine how gorgeous the set would and could be, evoking the time and place in a much more tangible and attractive way than iron stairs and projections.
As it is, I thought it was a beautiful piece featuring a knockout performance from O'Hara. I absolutely cannot wait to see what they do next with the show and I imagine that any changes would be for the better...they're off to a great start. I was moved to tears by it, actually. It was better than any new musical I saw on Broadway this season. Go, go, go!
The rest of the cast is wonderful, namely Nancy Anderson, Steven Pasquale, and
Isaiah Johnson. Of course, they also have the biggest supporting roles. And they excel beautifully.
The material itself is quite beautiful and touching, but it could use some touching up and fine-tuning, which I'm sure it will get before an inevitable transfer. Some of the transitions between speaking and singing were awkward, some scene transitions and tonal shifts were rough around the edges, and one specific moment should just be cut (when Raymond's daughter gets hit with the rock. It is SO awkwardly staged and we don't need to even see it happen. Let us find out when Cathy finds out). The score, as it is, is absolutely stunning for the most part.
The direction is fine, but I think it would benefit from a larger stage and space. And the aforementioned set is beyond hideous. I imagine it will get a major overhaul when the show moves to a bigger venue. I could almost imagine how gorgeous the set would and could be, evoking the time and place in a much more tangible and attractive way than iron stairs and projections.
As it is, I thought it was a beautiful piece featuring a knockout performance from O'Hara. I absolutely cannot wait to see what they do next with the show and I imagine that any changes would be for the better...they're off to a great start. I was moved to tears by it, actually. It was better than any new musical I saw on Broadway this season. Go, go, go!
#55
Posted: 5/25/13 at 1:09pm
With O'Hara having her baby in the next couple of months, is it likely that a transfer could happen in the spring? It seems pretty quick for her to be jumping back into a Broadway show. Maybe fall 2014?
#56
Posted: 5/25/13 at 3:16pm
Don't worry. This show has no chance of EVER transferring.
#57
Posted: 5/25/13 at 4:10pm
As a huge admirer of the film, I was sort of baffled by the musical (SPOILERS BELOW).
Inherently, I think the story is actually very hard to musicalize because the characters are so incredibly non-expressive. That being said, they have such rich inner lives (particularly Cathy) that a musical would work beautifully if the songs were used to reveal the feelings the characters aren't able to verbalize otherwise. Sadly, that's not the case here.
Moments that are so ripe for songs are completely wasted. When Cathy walks in on her husband with a man, when she's sitting in the dark waiting for him to come home, when he accidentally hits her, when he tells her he wants a divorce, etc. are all huge emotional moments that are totally brushed over. Any one of these would be ripe for a rich song, and one never comes. Her "big" number on the phone toward the end of the show, "Tuesdays, Thursdays," is also jarring. After everything she's been through, the biggest emotional moment she's given is triggered by her husband forgetting what days she does the carpool after all this time? I kept wishing they'd just let her sing "Will You?" from GREY GARDENS.
Because of all the missed opportunities in enhancing the biggest emotional moments in the story, by the end of the show, you're left feeling like not much has happened over an extended amount of time. Kelli O'Hara is lovely, but Cathy feels so flat and almost saintly in the musical that there's no room for any of the complexities Julianne Moore was able to portray under the surface of perfection that was so palpable in the film.
I've heard they've made changes to the ending over the last week and I felt like what they have now feels completely tacked on. Like the film, organically, it seemed to me that the show wanted to be over when Cathy says goodbye to Raymond at the train station, but instead she continues into an awkward semi-reprise of "Autumn In Connecticut" that ends with her children embracing her among the leaves falling, echoing the opening number. It was very odd. It leads one to believe that Cathy is happy and content and totally lessens the emotional impact of Raymond leaving and what the unfulfilled promise of their relationship meant to her, which is the heart of the story.
Count me in as considering this a huge misfire.
Inherently, I think the story is actually very hard to musicalize because the characters are so incredibly non-expressive. That being said, they have such rich inner lives (particularly Cathy) that a musical would work beautifully if the songs were used to reveal the feelings the characters aren't able to verbalize otherwise. Sadly, that's not the case here.
Moments that are so ripe for songs are completely wasted. When Cathy walks in on her husband with a man, when she's sitting in the dark waiting for him to come home, when he accidentally hits her, when he tells her he wants a divorce, etc. are all huge emotional moments that are totally brushed over. Any one of these would be ripe for a rich song, and one never comes. Her "big" number on the phone toward the end of the show, "Tuesdays, Thursdays," is also jarring. After everything she's been through, the biggest emotional moment she's given is triggered by her husband forgetting what days she does the carpool after all this time? I kept wishing they'd just let her sing "Will You?" from GREY GARDENS.
Because of all the missed opportunities in enhancing the biggest emotional moments in the story, by the end of the show, you're left feeling like not much has happened over an extended amount of time. Kelli O'Hara is lovely, but Cathy feels so flat and almost saintly in the musical that there's no room for any of the complexities Julianne Moore was able to portray under the surface of perfection that was so palpable in the film.
I've heard they've made changes to the ending over the last week and I felt like what they have now feels completely tacked on. Like the film, organically, it seemed to me that the show wanted to be over when Cathy says goodbye to Raymond at the train station, but instead she continues into an awkward semi-reprise of "Autumn In Connecticut" that ends with her children embracing her among the leaves falling, echoing the opening number. It was very odd. It leads one to believe that Cathy is happy and content and totally lessens the emotional impact of Raymond leaving and what the unfulfilled promise of their relationship meant to her, which is the heart of the story.
Count me in as considering this a huge misfire.
Tonya Pinkins: Then we had a "Lot's Wife" last June that was my personal favorite. I'm still trying to get them to let me sing it at some performance where we get to sing an excerpt that's gone.
Tony Kushner: You can sing it at my funeral.
Tony Kushner: You can sing it at my funeral.
Updated On: 5/25/13 at 04:10 PM
#58
Posted: 5/25/13 at 4:11pm
I could see this show transferring for a short run through MTC or Lincoln Center. I honestly think they are working on perfecting the music and if they get another chance they'd work harder on design elements. It's a gorgeous score. I'd rather good music than an over the top set.
"The sexual energy between the mother and son really concerns me!"-random woman behind me at Next to Normal
"I want to meet him after and bang him!"-random woman who exposed her breasts at Rock of Ages, referring to James Carpinello
#59
Posted: 5/26/13 at 2:27pm
I saw this last night and it is easily my favorite musical of this season. There are many problems still to address and some surprisingly sloppy direction, but the story is heartbreaking and the music gorgeous. "Miro" will not leave my head. I prefer sets that simply get out of the way, so I had no problem with that element.
Kelli O'Hara is giving her best performance. The chilliness other posters have mentioned (and that I have perceived in the past) works well in this role.
There is a sensible case for whether or not a sizable audience exists to merit a transfer, but that is the hope of the authors and production staff. "The Light in the Piazza," which is a similar kind of show, did well.
By the way, I am amused with the poster who felt the leading man not handsome enough. I thought he was one of the best looking men I had ever seen.
Kelli O'Hara is giving her best performance. The chilliness other posters have mentioned (and that I have perceived in the past) works well in this role.
There is a sensible case for whether or not a sizable audience exists to merit a transfer, but that is the hope of the authors and production staff. "The Light in the Piazza," which is a similar kind of show, did well.
By the way, I am amused with the poster who felt the leading man not handsome enough. I thought he was one of the best looking men I had ever seen.
#60
Posted: 5/26/13 at 2:33pm
I wanna see this sooooooo bad. Will someone with an extra ticket take me? 
#61
Posted: 5/26/13 at 2:56pm
Jordan Catalano, as of yesterday there were plenty of tix available for tonight's 7:30 show!
#62
Posted: 5/26/13 at 4:30pm
They haven't publicized it, but it's extended through July 7 and there are plenty of tickets available for all of those performances.
"You travel alone because other people are only there to remind you how much that hook hurts that we all bit down on. Wait for that one day we can bite free and get back out there in space where we belong, sail back over water, over skies, into space, the hook finally out of our mouths and we wander back out there in space spawning to other planets never to return hurrah to earth and we'll look back and can't even see these lives here anymore. Only the taste of blood to remind us we ever existed. The earth is small. We're gone. We're dead. We're safe."
-John Guare, Landscape of the Body
Updated On: 5/26/13 at 04:30 PM
#63
Posted: 5/26/13 at 4:38pm
For some reason I thought the entire run was sold out! Yay!!!!!
#64
Posted: 5/26/13 at 4:43pm
I should clarify: There are plenty of tickets available for the extension performances. The rest of the run is sold out.
Those extension tickets are available now.
Those extension tickets are available now.
"You travel alone because other people are only there to remind you how much that hook hurts that we all bit down on. Wait for that one day we can bite free and get back out there in space where we belong, sail back over water, over skies, into space, the hook finally out of our mouths and we wander back out there in space spawning to other planets never to return hurrah to earth and we'll look back and can't even see these lives here anymore. Only the taste of blood to remind us we ever existed. The earth is small. We're gone. We're dead. We're safe."
-John Guare, Landscape of the Body
#65
Posted: 5/26/13 at 4:49pm
Oh, ok. So I was at least right in my thinking with that. I'm happy that I'll get to see it now.
#66
Posted: 5/26/13 at 5:19pm
I have two tickets for Sunday, June 30 at 7:30 pm that I am not going to be able to use. I am looking to get $65 each for them. They are both Row A but not together - one is seat 4 and the other is seat 14. I would prefer to sell them together, but would be willing to split them up if no one wants the pair.
I had the tickets mailed to me so I have them on hand. I'm going to be in the city this Friday night May 31 to see The Explorers Club at City Center so I could meet up with you then. If interested, please send me a message. Thanks!
I had the tickets mailed to me so I have them on hand. I'm going to be in the city this Friday night May 31 to see The Explorers Club at City Center so I could meet up with you then. If interested, please send me a message. Thanks!
Updated On: 5/26/13 at 05:19 PM
#67
Posted: 5/26/13 at 5:49pm
To the poster who expressed dissatisfaction that the rich inner lives of the characters arent developed more, I actually think that may a be conscious choice. During this era, people were not expressing themselves authentically. This is a musical about repression and restrained desire. I think the creators achieve that ache beautifully. We all want Cathy to say more, but she can't-it is not who she is, nor would society allow this.
"The sexual energy between the mother and son really concerns me!"-random woman behind me at Next to Normal
"I want to meet him after and bang him!"-random woman who exposed her breasts at Rock of Ages, referring to James Carpinello
#68
Posted: 5/27/13 at 12:15am
I'm with After Eight and somethingwicked on this one: Kelli acts and sings wonderfully as per usual, but otherwise, there's a set that doesn't fit with the show, no songs that stayed with me afterward, too many 50s housewives crowding the stage, and a predictable storyline. The house was packed, but the audience was not wildly enthusiastic, and the guy in the seat next to me summed up my thoughts by saying it didn't really have anything original or exciting to say beyond what the film offered.
#69
Posted: 5/27/13 at 1:33am
Bettyboy72, you're missing my point- as I said, it makes total sense that Cathy and the other characters aren't able to express themselves within the context of the actual story.
What didn't make sense to me is that, as an art form, a musical uses songs for characters to express emotions bigger than themselves. In this piece, the songs should have been used to convey the internal thoughts the characters can't express to one another otherwise, and they absolutely did not serve that function at all. The big emotional moments that warranted breaking into song in the story were completely cast aside. I found that to be a huge (fatal) misstep.
What didn't make sense to me is that, as an art form, a musical uses songs for characters to express emotions bigger than themselves. In this piece, the songs should have been used to convey the internal thoughts the characters can't express to one another otherwise, and they absolutely did not serve that function at all. The big emotional moments that warranted breaking into song in the story were completely cast aside. I found that to be a huge (fatal) misstep.
Tonya Pinkins: Then we had a "Lot's Wife" last June that was my personal favorite. I'm still trying to get them to let me sing it at some performance where we get to sing an excerpt that's gone.
Tony Kushner: You can sing it at my funeral.
Tony Kushner: You can sing it at my funeral.
Updated On: 5/27/13 at 01:33 AM
#70
Posted: 5/27/13 at 12:39pm
A sad disappointment. The show has been composed almost as a sung-through piece, near opera in impact. And the ham-fisted staging crowds and weakens that aspect of the material at every turn. It should be performed with some openness, given some neutral space around all of the unleashed emotion. However the set worked at Williamstown, at PH it looks like a college production of COMPANY, skeletal fire-escapes on movable wagons that are unwieldy, ungainly, visually devoid of specifics to establish time and place, and claustrophobic. They so block the projections (on Mondrian-styled panels), we end up without a strong sense of atmosphere. I felt I couldn't fully judge the material locked inside this prosaic, constrictive staging. But the biggest problem in the adaptation is excessive fidelity to the screenplay. Material that might've been better served by streamlining and compression is slavishly recreated, as if following the film almost scene by scene was dictated. Telling the story in a few set pieces -- particularly as opposed to the jarring, disjointed second act -- would've helped enormously.
In the plus column: the score, an ambitious beauty, with smart lyrics that never devolve into camp or soap opera (no mean feat). I hope it's recorded, and given new life in a new production. Individual numbers will live on, certainly. And Kelli O'Hara and Steven Pasquale give impassioned, gorgeosly sung, just about perfect performances a Cathy and Frank. To me Frank is the best realized of the three main characters, oddly enough, given a 2nd act epiphany that takes this tortured man far deeper than Quaid was allowed to go. Raymond has been given the show's most haunting song, the first closer, "The Only One" (dueted with O'Hara) and sings it persuasively. Yet I didn't find the character as compelling, oddly enough, and still haven't decided how much of it is in the material's problematic resolution and how much is the performer. Isaiah Johnson is a gifted singing actor, but I missed a sense of gravitas that Haysbert brought to the role in the film, and emotional compatibility with O'Hara. I didn't feel the stakes in Cathy and Raymon's life-altering romnce. Nancy Anderson, an actor/performance everyone seems to adore here, didn't work for me in the Patricia Clarkson role. She's almost arch, and the friendship doesn't seem grounded in Eleanor's earnestness. She's more of a nosy, pushy intruder than one of Cathy's intimates, even though they've given her a strong number to suggest otherwise. Like Frank's, it deepens Eleanor. But Anderson is scarily, aggressively too intense to make us feel much. When she finally turns on Cathy, it hardly surprises us (she's been chilly all along), the way it does when Clarkson's wall goes up in the film.
I have many other thoughts, but I think in fairness I finally just couldn't let go of my expectations. (As much of the above clearly demonstrates.) I wanted to see the film re-imagined entirely, visually and otherwise, and move me in the same ways. Just didn't happen, despite the glories in the score and most of the performances. I don't think it's appropriate to compare the show inordinately to the film; yet it's unavoidable, producing a quandary for die hard fans.
One quibble: no number for Sybil, or even a duet with Cathy. That relationship -- a white employer and her black maid, critcal to the theme and plot -- cries out for musicalization, yet is curiously missing entirely. And the children are given too much stage time, in light of their repetitive material.
In the plus column: the score, an ambitious beauty, with smart lyrics that never devolve into camp or soap opera (no mean feat). I hope it's recorded, and given new life in a new production. Individual numbers will live on, certainly. And Kelli O'Hara and Steven Pasquale give impassioned, gorgeosly sung, just about perfect performances a Cathy and Frank. To me Frank is the best realized of the three main characters, oddly enough, given a 2nd act epiphany that takes this tortured man far deeper than Quaid was allowed to go. Raymond has been given the show's most haunting song, the first closer, "The Only One" (dueted with O'Hara) and sings it persuasively. Yet I didn't find the character as compelling, oddly enough, and still haven't decided how much of it is in the material's problematic resolution and how much is the performer. Isaiah Johnson is a gifted singing actor, but I missed a sense of gravitas that Haysbert brought to the role in the film, and emotional compatibility with O'Hara. I didn't feel the stakes in Cathy and Raymon's life-altering romnce. Nancy Anderson, an actor/performance everyone seems to adore here, didn't work for me in the Patricia Clarkson role. She's almost arch, and the friendship doesn't seem grounded in Eleanor's earnestness. She's more of a nosy, pushy intruder than one of Cathy's intimates, even though they've given her a strong number to suggest otherwise. Like Frank's, it deepens Eleanor. But Anderson is scarily, aggressively too intense to make us feel much. When she finally turns on Cathy, it hardly surprises us (she's been chilly all along), the way it does when Clarkson's wall goes up in the film.
I have many other thoughts, but I think in fairness I finally just couldn't let go of my expectations. (As much of the above clearly demonstrates.) I wanted to see the film re-imagined entirely, visually and otherwise, and move me in the same ways. Just didn't happen, despite the glories in the score and most of the performances. I don't think it's appropriate to compare the show inordinately to the film; yet it's unavoidable, producing a quandary for die hard fans.
One quibble: no number for Sybil, or even a duet with Cathy. That relationship -- a white employer and her black maid, critcal to the theme and plot -- cries out for musicalization, yet is curiously missing entirely. And the children are given too much stage time, in light of their repetitive material.
"I'm a comedian, but in my spare time, things bother me." Garry Shandling
Updated On: 5/27/13 at 12:39 PM
#71
Posted: 5/28/13 at 8:19pm
Has anyone had any luck with the wait list for this show? I really wanted to see it this weekend and apparently missed out on the tickets they opened up. Will they open up more tickets?
Updated On: 5/28/13 at 08:19 PM
#72
Posted: 5/30/13 at 2:58pm
I did and it was fairly easy to get in. Got to the theater at 630PM on a Tuesday, signed up and 25 minutes later they called my name. They only take cash though! The show was a real treat too, so hope you get your ti!
#73
Posted: 5/31/13 at 11:54pm
Saw this show tonight and, I am sorry to say I was disappointed. I really wanted to love it but didn't. My companion was so bored that we left at intermission (the person with the terrible body odor sitting next to us also influenced that decision)However, I was surprised that I was equally bored. I love Kelli O'Hara and thought she did her customary wonderful job with the role but the rest of it just didn't move me and the characters were so stereotypically cliche 50's with no depth at all. No chemistry at all with either male character made it feel like Kelli would have been better off onstage solo and just sing the songs.
The only review of a show that matters is your own.
#74
Posted: 6/1/13 at 11:23pm
The musical Far From Heaven is well....far from heaven. The biggest problem? The modern sensibility of the 50's soap opera---all gone.
Far From Heaven is one of my favorite films. It didn't scream for musicalization. I was hesitant to go because I couldn't seed how could they musicalize it. Curiosity got the better of me and unfortunately, I went.
They took a great film and made it lackluster. Just like Ghost.
Just like Color Purple. Just like all of those flop movie transfers of the sixties.
To me it was a total misfire across the board.
In the film I cared for each and every character. In this mish mosh I cared for no one. As someone said... the attention to detail and color of the fifties was a character in the film.
And the music. Discordant. Atonal.
Awful
Far From Heaven is one of my favorite films. It didn't scream for musicalization. I was hesitant to go because I couldn't seed how could they musicalize it. Curiosity got the better of me and unfortunately, I went.
They took a great film and made it lackluster. Just like Ghost.
Just like Color Purple. Just like all of those flop movie transfers of the sixties.
To me it was a total misfire across the board.
In the film I cared for each and every character. In this mish mosh I cared for no one. As someone said... the attention to detail and color of the fifties was a character in the film.
And the music. Discordant. Atonal.
Awful
#75
Posted: 6/2/13 at 4:38am
You know Kelli o Hara is a wonderful actress and a wonderful singer . Who has never given up being on the stage, I saw her in South Pacific on Broadway and she was so good and the stage craft was amazing. Is the director the director of rent he is a wonderful director and has two Pulitzer shows under his belt. He has amazing direction. Far From Heaven might not be a fully designed show it might just be a workshop for a new book. I do hope this is good Grey Gardens is one of my favourites.
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