Posted: 4/8/15 at 6:55am
So great for Askins, that this made it to NY, and against staggering odds made it to B'way.
Posted: 4/8/15 at 7:15am
This was just amazing!!! best show this season
Posted: 4/8/15 at 7:23am
Wow, the competitions between Best Play and Best Leading Actor just got exciting
Updated On: 4/8/15 at 07:23 AM
Posted: 4/8/15 at 9:17am
Seeing this Thursday night via TDF, very excited by the amazing 99% across the board raves. The limited traffic on this thread says something about our boards make up - this should be a time for pages and pages of interest and celebration.
Posted: 4/8/15 at 9:31am
I love the picture that New York Times chose to highlight for their review.
But I'm delighted (though unsurprised) at these reviews! I loved the show when I saw it a few weeks ago, have been telling almost everyone I know to go see it (I was hesitant to recommend it to my boss), and am jonesing for a return visit. I'm hoping for some well-deserved recognition come Tony time, especially for Boyer and his absolutely incredible performance.
Posted: 4/8/15 at 9:51am
Terrific news that this excellent and entertaining play is being recognized as such.
Posted: 4/8/15 at 10:35am
After Eight will be happy......not
Posted: 4/8/15 at 11:15am
I'm surprised at these reviews -- such overwhelming support for such an adequate play. The cast and production do the real heavy lifting here.
Posted: 4/8/15 at 4:06pm
" 'After Eight will be happy......not'
Ha ha ha.
Do you think After Eight actually expected anythiing other than raves from this band?"
"But I don't feel the same way, and think it would be bad if it gets good reviews, succeeds, and causes more stupid, sophomoric plays to be written and produced on Broadway. Do you understand that?"
Being happy and expecting raves are kinda two different things...
Posted: 4/8/15 at 4:16pm
After Eight will only be happy if Sondheim is stripped of his laurels or if the year were, through magic or science, once again 1964.
Posted: 4/10/15 at 6:25am
Very positive review in today's WSJ by Terry Teachout, something I might not have expected given his usual tastes. It's behind the paywall but if you Google for it, you can access it. Teachout says that if Askins does not win the Tony for his performance, there is no God.
Posted: 4/11/15 at 3:22pm
Not quite a review, but a very nice article in The New Yorker that talks about the use of puppetry in the show and what it means for the larger theme of the play.
http://www.newyorker.com/culture/culture-desk/when-sesame-street-meets-the-exorcist
Posted: 4/25/15 at 11:17pm
Well I guess A8 and I are the outliers here.
Just saw the show tonight. Laughed a lot in Act I. Dead silence through much of Act II. Looked like a classic case of a playwright painting himself into a corner there was no way in hell he could ever climb out of without beating his way out with a hammer.
Someone from Texas would be better equipped than I to say if the range of accents onstage were authentic. Half the cast seemed to have had the Beverly Hillbillies as their vocal coach; Mark Kudisch inexplicably decided Pastor Gregg would hail from Everywhere USA accentwise. That quibble aside, there was some dazzling acting talent on that stage, with Michael Oberholtzer, Sarah Stiles and certainly Steven Boyer dazzling me most.
But would I recommend this show to friends? Not really, sorry to say. Putting the jokey entertainment value aside, I thought the script wasn't nearly as profound as it thought it was. I've seen evil puppets taking over their hosts' bodies before, and a night of B-movie horror isn't enough for me to justify the Broadway prices, God forgive me.
Updated On: 4/25/15 at 11:17 PM
Posted: 5/1/15 at 6:13pm
Quick question about Hand to God. SPOILERS SPOILERS SPOILERS
I'm seeing the play in a few weeks and I'm psyched, although I do get mildly squeamish (although I can certainly handle most comic gross out stuff). I read Rex Reed's now infamous pan. He mentioned that the puppet vomits??? Was he exaggerating? And if so, what is the context so I'm a little prepared--and how realistic does it look (I know, I know it's a puppet...). I'm just asking because the puke scene in God of Carnage was kind of gross. Thanks.
Posted: 5/1/15 at 6:27pm
There is no vomit in the play what-so-ever.
Posted: 5/1/15 at 6:39pm
Thanks Kad. This is what I read in Rex Reed's review: The hand puppet shrieks, screams, spits, vomits and fornicates profusely while the audience explodes with laughter...
So I was like "huhn"? His review really is bizarre and makes me want to see the show all the more even though he's begging people not to see it...
Posted: 5/1/15 at 9:38pm
If that line from Rex Reed's review is what makes you want to see the show all the more, then by all means march out and buy that ticket. Sounds like this show will be perfect for you! Gee what a good reviewer ol' Rex turns out to be-- telling the reader exactly what he needs to know in order to make up his mind for himself. Based on that sentence, I might have known I'd dislike the show (sure enough I did,) and you should know the play will be right up your effluvia-stained alley.
Posted: 5/2/15 at 8:41am
Ah, but Someone in a Tree you didn't answer my question....
SPOILERS
...does the puppet really vomit in the show? Kad, above, says it doesn't happen. And no other critic mentioned it in their reviews (different from the way the critics pretty much all brought up Hope Davis' vomit scene in God of Carnage). So this means, judging from Kad's response, Rex Reed is exaggerating about the show, a show that you say, despite an overall negative review, has a a funny 1st act and a performance by award winning Steven Boyer that "dazzled" you most. So yes, Reed's outrage does add to my curiosity about an acclaimed show I was already interested in seeing--and to be honest, so does yours. I like comedy that takes people out of their comfort zones. I bought my ticket ages ago before Reed's review--and to me, his review is still a head scratcher. The show had played in NYC Off-Broadway--he didn't know what he was getting in to? But you're right: his review does a serve a purpose--people who don't like that kind of show should avoid it and he's giving them fair warning. Thanks for your response--too bad you felt the need to be insulting.
Updated On: 5/2/15 at 08:41 AM
Posted: 5/2/15 at 9:12am
Happy to take your questions one by one, and I certainly didn't mean to be insulting, not to you, nor to anyone else who has had or will have a genuinely good time at HAND TO GOD. They seem to be in the majority here, which is fine.
I never saw vomit come out of the puppet's mouth that I'm aware of.
I have no problem separating some absolutely wonderful performances by actors from a play that on balance I didn't care for. I adored the subplot about the tough kid in love with his 40-year-old lady puppet instructor-- comedy gold for me. Evil hand puppets interested me much less. For me, the show seemed determined to shock the audience without any deeper meaning behind the shocks, even though it was clear that the creators were convinced there was great profundity there on the nature of Satan, religion and man-made Gods.
As for the comedy, well it definitely took me out of my comfort zone, as it veered from jokes about Texans with funny accents into long sequences about puppet-on-puppet porno (something we'd already seen in AVENUE Q and TEAM AMERICA) and eventually into violence and b-movie horror. The effluvia-stained alley I mentioned was a reference to the copious amounts of blood and bodily fluids depicted onstage. You wrote earlier that you can get mildly squeamish-- there were definitely sequences at HAND TO GOD where I chose to look away from the stage.
Everyone will find a different threshold for what's funny-- what grossed me out (and then bored me) will leave others in hysterics. I'll be eager to see how the show strikes you when you see it.
Posted: 5/2/15 at 9:48am
The puppet doesn't vomit....but doesn't the mom?
Posted: 5/2/15 at 9:56am
There's no vomit onstage at any point.
The only bodily fluid seen is blood.
Posted: 5/2/15 at 10:38am
Thanks Someone, I will definitely let you know what I thought after catching the show in a few weeks (I'm an out of towner who tries to make it to NYC twice a year for shows). Your second response helps me put your first response in perspective (I apologize for reading your first response as a putdown--with Internet message boards being the way they are, sadly I always assume the worst and I got defensive--oops)--thanks for clarifying and for your thoughtful comments. Squeamish as I can be at times (I'm not crazy about humor involving sudden gunplay, and sudden projectile vomiting), I do like my humor a bit on the wild, surreal side. I just like to kind of be prepared for jolts like that--once I know the context, I can relax and enjoy. Weird I know, but I guess I'm wired in a quirky fashion, ha.
And Kad, thanks again!!!
Posted: 5/2/15 at 12:05pm
For those interested, up now on TDF for 8 dates.
Posted: 5/2/15 at 3:23pm
I just bought tickets for Saturday via TDF! Excited.
