Posted: 2/9/16 at 9:13am
Sounds like it was a good thing the weather was lousy in CT. I ended up not using my tickets for last night.
Posted: 2/9/16 at 9:20am
Ugh oh. Will Forest Whitaker be Reidel's new target now that Pacino has left the station?
Posted: 2/9/16 at 9:29am
If the show was any tighter it wouldn't exist.
Riedel dare not criticize Mr W.
Updated On: 2/11/16 at 09:29 AM
Posted: 2/9/16 at 9:58am
I didn't mean "tighter" as in faster pacing or shorter run time, but rather no dropped lines or cues, no missing beats, and finer-tuned performances.
Posted: 2/9/16 at 10:28am
Mr Roxy said: "If the show was any tighter it wouldn't exiedelst.
Riedel dare not criticize Mr W."
What does EXIEDELST mean?
Posted: 2/9/16 at 1:39pm
I tried to find info on TimeOut 25 tickets. Please help
Posted: 2/9/16 at 2:06pm
Chefcorvette said: "I tried to find info on TimeOut 25 tickets. Please help"
There are 25 tickets in the rear sides of the Orchestra (Rows O, P, and Q) for $25 per ticket for each performance. I believe there is a cap of 2 tickets per transaction. I went to buy them on the first day they were announced and while they had $25 tickets listed on Telecharge for the Orchestra, I was not able to purchase them online. I called them directly and was able to buy them, though. Two tickets came to $71.75 with fees.
Posted: 2/9/16 at 2:37pm
Have seen the play twice in my lifetime: many years ago with the great Jason Robards, and then some years later with Ben Gazzara, also a fine actor. I can understand why actors like this play, it is really a very long monologue. Sure Whitaker will be fine, but don't need to see it a third time.
Posted: 2/10/16 at 7:47am
The star needs to learn his lines. He only went to the water-cooler (where the prompter is perfectly audible almost to the back of the house) three times, but Whitaker stumbles and stammers quite a lot. There are occasional moments of life there, but for most of the evening, I would say that he's not acting so much as just trying to get the words out. It's a slow, flabby, passive, and monotonous performance. He also employs such odd and repetitive vocal patterns (he rarely allows more than 6 words to pass before pausing), it's often difficult to get any meaning from the words coming out of his mouth.
The action is broken up several times by full stops where the lights slowly change and eerie music plays, while Whitaker sits and plays with things he finds in his pockets. There are a surprisingly large number of these things.
The always excellent Frank Wood has either chosen or been directed to stare into the distance most of the time, creating a certain non-human effect, and leading the bored viewer to wonder if this play might not be some sort of Purgatory/Limbo allegory.
The set is terrific, but doesn't save this from being a tedious 60 minutes.
Updated On: 2/10/16 at 07:47 AM
Posted: 2/10/16 at 10:52am
I saw it last night and...are we SURE it was only 60 minutes??
Posted: 2/10/16 at 9:18pm
Why oh why do actors think its acceptable not to learn the lines they are given I never know, It would be like me turning up to work sans chefs uniform
Posted: 2/11/16 at 9:42pm
I was there tonight and what are really supposed to discuss until he has a better grasp on his lines? Things went fairly smoothly until the first musical interlude (maybe 15 minutes in), but immediately following that break it was back to the water cooler three times in quick succession. You could see his frustration like he knew once he lost his place it was going to be very difficult finding it again.
There are moments, but it became harder and harder to pay attention when the text increasingly lost rythym and flow. Ultimately it felt pointless and a waste of time to be there.
Posted: 2/11/16 at 10:28pm
It seems wrong to go into a paying audience if home boy can't learn his lines.
Posted: 2/11/16 at 10:46pm
I haven't checked, but I hope they're not selling premium seating at this point... However, if they are...there's a sucker born every minute!
Posted: 2/11/16 at 10:56pm
I believe they are and you are right.
Posted: 2/11/16 at 10:56pm
I hate to say it but it also shouldn't be that hard to learn. O'Neill is meant to be performed at a deliberate pace (hence his normally longer running times.) As a result, believe it or not, the published playscript for Hughie is only 17 pages, which I'm pretty sure is less than half the length - and consequent memorization - of faster-paced but similar pieces like Buyer and Cellar or Fully Committed or The Search for Signs of Intelligent Life. The playing styles between those plays and this one are obviously different - but considering that here (unlike in those) he shares the stage with another actor, and that it's generally considered to be much harder to play breakneck comedy, I'm sort of shocked that, after being announced for this potentially powerful but slight piece more than 6 months ago, Forest Whitaker hasn't been able to get a better handle on 17 pages of not-quite-solo dramatic writing.
Posted: 2/11/16 at 11:59pm
RippedMan said: "It seems wrong to go into a paying audience if home boy can't learn his lines.
...racist.
Posted: 2/12/16 at 12:01am
@z5 said: "RippedMan said: "It seems wrong to go into a paying audience if home boy can't learn his lines."
...racist."
I lol'd.
Updated On: 2/12/16 at 12:01 AM
Posted: 2/12/16 at 12:22am
Sorry you don't know me personally and don't know my vernacular, but i call everyone homeboy or homegirl, and biddy.
Posted: 2/13/16 at 5:43pm
I saw this today. WOW. What a truly horrendous and painful afternoon in the theatre. To start off with, the play itself is mind numbingly dull beyond belief. Forest Whitaker does not know his lines. When he didn't know a line he would go to the water cooler to get a drink of water where a stage manager or assistant stage manager would (audibly) whisper the lines. The set was nice, but other than that, this is just truly dreadful. Stay away from this one.
Posted: 2/13/16 at 5:52pm
At least with the Pacino version, he remembered his lines back than. It was just as dull and boring than as it is now. Think Whitaker looking for a Tony for his mantle so he does his hour a night and hopes it will be enough. Do not remember the critical reaction for other versions but cannot see critics jumping up and down over it. For Whitiker fans only and a steep price to pay even for them.
Updated On: 2/13/16 at 05:52 PM
Posted: 2/13/16 at 11:07pm
Absolutely a dreadful experience. Word of mouth is spreading - everyone I talked to knows just how bad this is. And when I mean bad, I mean BAD.
Posted: 2/14/16 at 1:42pm
! caught this last night and clearly had a profoundly different experience from other users on this board. ! found it to be a mesmerising and melancholy evening in the theatre, very different from the norm, and no bad thing for that. Although he has a slightly staccato delivery, Mr Witaker didn't seem to have an issue with his lines, and he was a beguiling and affecting raconteur. As other posters have stated it is also a very beautifully designed show, both the decaying hotel lobby set and neon drenched lighting.
Posted: 2/15/16 at 12:54pm
Why oh why do actors think its acceptable not to learn the lines they are given I never know
Why oh why do you believe Whittaker thinks it's acceptable? He could just as eaily be very distraught about it. I witnessed John Collum flubbing and stumbling over lines and lyrics in Urinetown. I never thought for a moment that he was ambivalent about it.
I attended an invited dress for Hughie of the Pacino production. Pacino was excellent, but I found the play to be a dismal slog. I've had no inclination to see it again.
