Farewell to UTOPIA
Farewell to UTOPIA
Broadway Legend Joined: 3/20/04
Farewell to UTOPIA#1
Posted: 5/13/07 at 8:53am
Well, this is it. Last day for the weary travelers of Russian philosophy.
Time flies, no?
re: Farewell to UTOPIA#2
Posted: 5/13/07 at 10:25amFly, fly away. The only things of worth that I really took back with me from this experience were Ethan Hawke and Billy Crudup's fine performances. I feel that the whole inflated charade that was UTOPIA was just a big overrated spectacle. I think that far finer plays that have opened this season, such as JOURNEY'S END and RADIO GOLF up against UTOPIA have proven that less is indeed more, and that strong, focused content has more to say than sparkle.
-Kad
"I have also met him in person, and I find him to be quite funny actually. Arrogant and often misinformed, but still funny."
-bjh2114 (on Michael Riedel)
re: Farewell to UTOPIA#2
Posted: 5/13/07 at 10:30am
This play will be missed.
And I never even got to see it.
Broadway Legend Joined: 6/20/05
re: Farewell to UTOPIA#3
Posted: 5/13/07 at 10:34am
I only saw the first of the three but I thought O'Brien's directing and Crudup's acting were far, far better than the slipshod play beneath.
Updated On: 5/13/07 at 10:34 AM
Broadway Legend Joined: 12/1/06
re: Farewell to UTOPIA#4
Posted: 5/13/07 at 10:35am
I "ran" the marathon on this, and loved it all, especially Shipwreck. I think it was one of the more amazing theater experiences in my life. I adored Billy Crudup and also Richard Easton and Jennifer Ehle, but thought the acting was uniformly wonderful.
Updated On: 5/13/07 at 10:35 AM
re: Farewell to UTOPIA#5
Posted: 5/13/07 at 11:42amI'm so sad to see this go. It's not the script that made this an amazing event, but the direction and the actors within it (Crudup, Ehle and Hawke). Such a massive undertaking with this level of talent will never be seen again for this particular show. I'll miss it!
re: Farewell to UTOPIA#6
Posted: 5/13/07 at 1:10pm
I agree with Kean. Did the marathon and fell in love with the whole experience.
Now if only I hadn't lost my button...
Broadway Star Joined: 2/20/07
re: Farewell to UTOPIA#7
Posted: 5/13/07 at 1:19pmI'm wondering why this isn't the lead article on BWW, Playbill, or Broadway.com homepage. Usually on the day a show closes, it is the feature, certainly more prominent that 'God or Merman' on Playbill.
re: Farewell to UTOPIA#8
Posted: 5/13/07 at 1:22pmUp until a few days ago, I thought "Journey's End" was the last part of the Utopia trilogy.
--http://www.benjaminadgate.com/
Broadway Legend Joined: 12/23/05
re: Farewell to UTOPIA#10
Posted: 5/13/07 at 3:04pmafter seeing a marathon, seeing all three seperately, and reading the plays- i think it is one of most rewarding theatrical experiences I have ever experienced. I will miss it.
re: Farewell to UTOPIA#11
Posted: 5/13/07 at 3:05pm
good bye to these fantastic plays, each one a sumptuous feast for all senses.
re: Farewell to UTOPIA#12
Posted: 5/13/07 at 3:06pmTotally manderson. I was inspired to write my thesis paper on Belinsky and his influence on Dostoevsky (What am I doing writing in the past tense? I still have a year left on it!). It showed me a whole new era of literature and philosophy. It's one of the few shows that I can take outside of the theatre and gain something from.
Broadway Legend Joined: 12/1/06
re: Farewell to UTOPIA#13
Posted: 5/13/07 at 9:05pmKaturian - I am fascinated by Belinsky - want a free proofreader?
re: Farewell to UTOPIA#14
Posted: 5/13/07 at 9:12pmI was also inspired by these plays to learn about the Russian philosophy of the era. Since seeing them I've basically read anything by Herzen, Belinsky, and Bakunin that i could get my hands on.
re: Farewell to UTOPIA#15
Posted: 5/13/07 at 10:42pmkeen- I sure wouldn't mind! Though at the present moment, I just completed my final outline- the final draft remains to be written. (Probably over the summer) He was such an amazing person! Reading about him in Dostoevsky's "Diary of a Writer" was an absolute joy. I'll have to type up one particular passage and pm it to you about an interaction between him and Herzen- it's absolutely adorable.
Broadway Legend Joined: 3/20/04
re: Farewell to UTOPIA#16
Posted: 5/13/07 at 10:46pmKat - I'd love to hear that, if you don't mind PMing it to me, as well...
re: Farewell to UTOPIA#17
Posted: 5/13/07 at 10:51pm
Sure! I'll do it tomorrow morning once I'm back on the computer the file is saved on. It's really quite adorable. Well, I guess the show will end for the last time in a few minutes.....I guess one of Herzen's lines from the show can be put into use here. (In aspiringactress's siggie)
"We don't value the lily less for not being made of flint and built to last. Life's bounty is in it's flow, later is too late. Where is the song when it's been sung, the dance when it's been danced? It's only we humans who want to own the future too."
Broadway Star Joined: 10/10/04
re: Farewell to UTOPIA#18
Posted: 5/13/07 at 11:20pm
kat,
belinsky fascinates me as well, esp his hair!! when i was talking to crudup after the show, he told me that belinsky's hair in the play was inspired by an actual photo of belinsky.
pretty cool.
crudup was fantastic, as well as jennifer ehle. they were my favorite cast members in utopia.
the production, although not perfect...was such a spectacular experience that i was glad to have seen it. with such a stellar cast, production sets, great effects...i felt very special to have experienced the three parts of the play. a production like utopia will probably never be replicated again.
re: Farewell to UTOPIA#19
Posted: 5/13/07 at 11:45pmYes, neddyfrank.
--http://www.benjaminadgate.com/
re: Farewell to UTOPIA#20
Posted: 5/14/07 at 8:39am
Alright, here's a few pictures of the actual Belinsky. I know earlier on I found another one much liek the first one posted, but with a slightly different hairstyle, but I can't seem to rediscover it. Anyway, according to Turgenev in his memoirs of Belinsky, the 2nd and 3rd pictures are not an accurate representation of his features, and while I am not quoting exactly, Turgenev was dissapointed that Beilnsky was painted painfully, so much so that he looked like a military general, something not resemblent to the man himself at all.
re: Farewell to UTOPIA#21
Posted: 5/14/07 at 9:09am
Could someone please tell me about the opening, most of the reviews said it was stunning, but did not want to give it away.
Since i think this production will nevr make it to Australia, i need someone to tell me..
Thanks all
Broadway Legend Joined: 2/17/06
re: Farewell to UTOPIA#22
Posted: 5/14/07 at 10:02amI got to be there yesterday for Salvage, after having seen Parts One and Two in the winter! Salvage was so depressing, my least favorite even though overall I'd really enjoyed the trilogy, so it was a really big up when the curtain call came, and the entire cast, including Billy Crudup and Amy Irving--who weren't in this part--emerged. They were grinning, crying, waving fists in the air triumphantly....I hadn't planned to stage-door, but the opportunity to congratulate them after all that and ask them what they were going to do with the rest of their lives was too irresistable. Billy Crudup, as ever, was the friendliest and when I told him he was going to win a Tony, put his hand on my shoulder and told me that his mom and I should start a club! Utopia was such a living. breathing history lesson that I'd love to see this approach tried with other amazing people and periods of the past; that fact that they could pull this off may make that possible....
re: Farewell to UTOPIA#23
Posted: 5/14/07 at 10:10amFeatured Actor is certainly going to be a battle. I think that Crudup may end up being the favorite, but Anthony Chisholm may very likely cause an upset as a tribute to August Wilson (not to mention that Chisholm's performance in RADIO GOLF is phenomenal). I mean, UTOPIA is going to take everything and the cake the way it is. I suppose we'll see what the nominations look like tomorrow.
-Kad
"I have also met him in person, and I find him to be quite funny actually. Arrogant and often misinformed, but still funny."
-bjh2114 (on Michael Riedel)
Broadway Legend Joined: 12/1/06
re: Farewell to UTOPIA#24
Posted: 5/14/07 at 10:17am
Kat - The passage you quoted was the point where I started to cry - I had been tearing up at that point but Stoppard makes the poignancy unbearable sometimes.
Rosscoe(au) - the very first scene of each of the three plays is the same: the main character, Alexander Herzen, seated in a dark wooden chair, looking thoughtful, with dark waves thrashing all around him. The chair revolves slowly in a full pivot in place, then sinks into the stage, the waves disappear, and the cast is shown standing in ranks at the back of the stage. The "waves" are created by a huge black silk tarp that is being moved from beneath, and the waves disappear when the scarf is abruptly pulled through a small hole in the stage floor. I was sitting in the mezzanine and on the side so there were also backdrop effects that I didn't see. A good deal of the overall impression in that opening scene was the result of a fascinating musical score which added to the air of mystery and conflict.
Does anyone know if this trilogy was recorded? It seems a shame that such a huge undertaking is completely gone - although that is the nature of theater, I suppose.
Updated On: 5/14/07 at 10:17 AM
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