#1
Posted: 10/5/08 at 6:16pm
A vote from me on the "positive" side of Michael Weller's FIFTY WORDS, the "either you'll love it or hate it" first offering of MCC's new season.
My feelings virtually echo Brantley's review (though not nearly as verbose or confusing). Norbert Leo Butz and Elizabeth Marvel are giving 2 of the top performances I've seen this year. They're so natural, so frighteningly real, that, as Brantley said, you just want to hold them and say "it's OK!" You'll only spot Austin Pendleton's direction during the scene changes.
It's a very heavy play - I've never seen actors look more spent during the curtain call - and very adult, with a shockingly long topless scene from Marvel. The situation is so fraught that you believe she's topless for longer than she actually is, yet you're so into the scene-work that you're obviously not concentrating on her nudity.
Weller's play isn't a great one - it's no ...VIRGINIA WOOLF, some of the more sexual ideas are arguably contrived, but you certainly realize as you exit what that poor fly on the wall feels like.
My feelings virtually echo Brantley's review (though not nearly as verbose or confusing). Norbert Leo Butz and Elizabeth Marvel are giving 2 of the top performances I've seen this year. They're so natural, so frighteningly real, that, as Brantley said, you just want to hold them and say "it's OK!" You'll only spot Austin Pendleton's direction during the scene changes.
It's a very heavy play - I've never seen actors look more spent during the curtain call - and very adult, with a shockingly long topless scene from Marvel. The situation is so fraught that you believe she's topless for longer than she actually is, yet you're so into the scene-work that you're obviously not concentrating on her nudity.
Weller's play isn't a great one - it's no ...VIRGINIA WOOLF, some of the more sexual ideas are arguably contrived, but you certainly realize as you exit what that poor fly on the wall feels like.
