FARINELLI AND THE KING Previews — Page 3

Thanks for the quick replies!

rosscoe(au) said: "Is there actually a show, maybe it’s just seats"



Could everyone who has seen the show please post a review -- I need to figure out if I want to buy seats for the end of January, and I'm counting on all of you to tell me all about it.

THANKS

Updated On: 12/9/17 at 11:12 AM

This thread is cracking me up. So many seat questions.

Anyway, saw this a few days ago, so thought I'd post a review. It was a hit and miss night for me. Rylance and the cast are exceptional. The singing is superb. It's hard to be back in the Belasco with a company from The Globe and not think of their perfect productions of Twelfth Night and Richard III. It would be difficult for any play to live up to those memories and unfortunately, Farinelli and The King does not. The tone is all over the place. Some scenes are comic, some melodramatic, there is an anachronistic use of a language in some scenes, but not in others. The first act is the best when it slows down and lets us live with these remarkable characters. The ending feels incredibly rushed. It's a pity because the production, the cast, the music is all remarkable. I would still recommend it, but I would temper expectations.

I think mw212 gets it just about right. If you think of it as great entertainment rather than a great play, I don't think you will be disappointed. It's a good play.

UncleCharlie said: "If anyone has stagedoored this, did Mark Rylance have any recommendations about where to sit?"

Genuinely LOL'd at this.

I was at the Saturday evening show.

First off in regards to my seating, I got a box seat (not onstage) through the rush around midday. The view was slightly partial, but honestly very fine. I felt close to the characters and only missed the furniture coming on and off.

The play itself, I will admit I didn't love it like I thought I would. Visually it is beautiful. The set and lighting with the use of real candlelight was haunting and set the mood. And the costumes were gorgeous pieces.

All of the performances were good, and I've never seen Mark Rylance live before and I enjoyed watching him, But the play felt very disjointed to me. Especially Act 2. The scene where they break the 4th wall a bit made me laugh, it wasn't a bad scene, it just felt out of place. And I agree the ending felt very rushed.

Also, on a side note. The ushers were very aggressive in regards to cell phone use before and at intermission. Don't get me wrong, when the show starts my phone is on silent, airplane and turned off and put away, and I hope everyone is the same. But I see nothing wrong with people texting or being on their phones before the show so long as they don't take pictures.

To the ushers defense there are some orchestra members onstage preshow, and I was also there the night they were filming promo shots, but still. The ushers were haranguing anyone who had their phone out even though there was twenty-fifteen minutes to curtain. Not to mention, they didn't really move to the people. They stood at the top of the stairs and would try to catch the persons attention by flashing their flashlights and yelling, which obviously someone engrossed in typing or reading wouldn't notice over all the movement and talk around them.

Sitting alone in my box it was quite amusing to watch the failed attempts.

Saw this production last night along with Steve Martin and Denzel....no we weren't besties I just saw them in the audience from my $32 onstage seat:) Also upon exiting the theatre at the end of the evening I heard Denzel ask an usher how he can go backstage and he told him to go outside which of course Denzel was having none of that but I digress.

I found the show extremely enjoyable. Just like the Globe's last visit here it is a real treat to be transported to London's South Bank for a couple of hours. These onstage seats are a real bargain as well as a unique view of the entire evening (including that of the audience, as I've mentioned.) If you can still score the onstage 2nd level do try for stage right seating. I was stage left and there are some key moments where there was no visual whatsoever and you needed to wait for the actor to move. Rylance does seem to like to hug that stage left wall more than he does the right and Sam Crane as Farinelli really doesn't play much at all to the stage boxes (perhaps more of a character choice I would say.) Yes, you are often viewing more of the performers heads and there is occasionally a sense of watching the show from the wings but all in all it is a unique experience and as I've said a true theatre bargain. This should be deservedly well received by the critics tomorrow night.

little_sally said: "What’s the run time?"

2:15

Hey MacNYC! I was at yesterday's matinee also seated on the stage!!!!!

I was seated on the lower level, second row, towards the front of the stage, LR 7. Mark Rylance shook the hands of the people in front of me (including an 11 yo old girl there with her mom! quite impressive!) I was too uncomfortable to extend my hand also, but regret not doing so.

I enjoyed the show - thought it was v interesting and loved the staging/set design taking you back to the period, the footlights, and so on. I liked Act 2 but was a bit confused by the end. Would need to view again. And might well go a second time.

Obviously the uncomfortable seats were part of the authenticity harking back to the time period! I am 5'8" with long legs and there was so little room, my legs could not even rest at right angles. I also felt that if I wasn't careful, my knees would jab the back of the man seated in front of me.

So I watched the play kind of frozen in a not too comfortable position, afraid to move too much because of the lack of room. Everyone's winter coats added to the lack of room - it was not possible to have your coat rest on the seat of your chair, behind you, as these were more like benches.

At intermission I complained to the usher that the seats were worse than sitting in an economy airplane seat and so on. She pointed the head usher out to me and told me to speak with her if I wanted another seat. I thought long and hard. Frankly, I felt it was conspicuous leaving two stage seats empty if I chose to move with my companion during intermission. I know that was ridiculous of me but I thought out of respect, I was a big girl, I could live the next hour and survive in the cramped space. It was, despite the discomfort, a unique and uncommon vantage point.

PS Also, while I had turned my phone back on during intermission (as it was off during the actual performance), I heard the usher tell someone else to turn theirs off because it 'ruined' the ambience the production was trying to create of a certain time period. I thought if indeed the production want to convey that and request that of its patrons, they should employ other or additional modes of communication to do so.

Updated On: 12/17/17 at 04:08 PM

What's the merch like? Do they have windowcards?