Harvey On The Negative Audience Reactions To AFFAIR

[Wanna Be A Foster]

Posted: 5/26/08 at 8:16pm

"I must admit that I still find it fascinating that our show is so polarizing. There are folks who just love it. Absolutely adore it. In fact, we are starting to recognize people who are returning to see the show again and again. It has a profoundly deep impact on many people. And that makes me so proud. But then there are folks who just loathe what we're putting on. I don't think it's because they are dumb or heartless. They just don't connect with the material at all. And their reaction isn't just "ho-hum" but true rejection. I suppose it's possible that the show is setting off something within them, but I ain't no shrink and I don't even want to go there. But I do find the dual reactions fascinating.

There is another reaction that I find amusing. I have been told by several people that they've heard that my character doesn't quite fit in with the other characters. This makes me laugh since THAT IS THE POINT OF MY CHARACTER! He is an outsider. He doesn't belong in their world. He stands apart and watches them live their lives while he has no real life of his own. He is a gay man who has no idea that a full life is even available to him, and so he lives on the edges of other people's lives. The story is, in fact, told from his memories and the audience can see him watching the action from the sidelines even when he's not in a scene. It is only at the end of the show that he makes the decision to live his own life, (which is also the lesson he teaches his sister). In any case, I find it amusing that someone would think we're making a mistake rather than ask themselves why we would be doing what we're doing."
Harvey's Broadway Blog

[IdinaBellFoster]

Posted: 5/26/08 at 8:22pm

Very elegantly spoken.

[shh282]

Posted: 5/26/08 at 8:23pm

I think he hit the nail on the head.

[insertclevernamehere]

Posted: 5/26/08 at 8:32pm

Very nicely put.

[munkustrap178]

Posted: 5/26/08 at 8:52pm

Well said. It had a profound impact on me, and I'm glad that he know that people ARE positively affected by this.

[bythesword84]

Posted: 5/26/08 at 8:58pm

Well, when I saw the show the biggest complaint I heard around me as I was leaving afterwards had nothing to do with his character, but was the fact that people thought it was boring.

While I disagree with much of what he says about the character, that was not the complaint I heard from people. Personally, I see nothing wrong with doing the show from the perspective of the uncle. I just don't think it's handled very well, nor do I believe that his character would ever be openly gay with his family only to then explode about how they don't want to invite him to the wedding because he's gay. If they didn't accept him in the first place they wouldn't have let him be living with them. Again, people will probably just say that I'm missing the point but I don't see it as a logical jump. If they didn't say he'd been living with the family or showed some other sign that they did not accept him, I would have felt differently about the show. As it stands, while I accept his explanation, it is now how I felt it came across during the performance.

Updated On: 5/26/08 at 08:58 PM

[bjh2114]

Posted: 5/26/08 at 9:28pm

"Well, when I saw the show the biggest complaint I heard around me at intermission and as I was leaving afterwards had nothing to do with his character, but was the fact that people thought it was boring."

That's really interesting. I didn't hear anything like that at intermission. Oh that's right, that's because there isn't one!

[luvtheEmcee]

Posted: 5/26/08 at 9:29pm

People who feel that Harvey is "out of place" aren't necessarily not understanding the (frankly rather fundamental concept) that his character is not supposed to fit in with the rest of his family. I think it's a little silly for Harvey to imply that audiences who hold this opinion are stupid, and just missing the basic point of the show -- a point which is completely, perfectly obvious. A character can not fit in all he wants all while the performer's acting choices still fit in with those of the rest of the cast and the direction of the piece as a whole.

Updated On: 5/26/08 at 09:29 PM

[bythesword84]

Posted: 5/26/08 at 9:37pm

Oh, that's right, it just FELT like it was 700 hours long. To be honest, I actually almost fell asleep twice during it so my memory- aside from that I thought it was boring, is not all that sharp on it.

[PalJoey]

Posted: 5/26/08 at 9:51pm

You're lying, aren't you, bythesword? How pathetic is that? To come onto a Broadway chat board and lie that you saw a show and heard people bad-mouth it at intermission, when you were too stupid to check to see whether the show actually HAD an intermission before posting your LYING STINKING PATHETIC POST.

What a loser you must be.

You've never seen it.

[CurtainPullDowner]

Posted: 5/26/08 at 9:53pm

luv the, I have read your post like 5 times and I can't make any sense of that last sentence.
Are you saying that Harvey's acting style is going against the rest of the cast and the director?
How would you know that if you weren't actually in on the process.

How can a character "not" fit in all he wants?

[luvtheEmcee]

Posted: 5/26/08 at 10:04pm

I didn't really post my feelings on the show at length. I saw it a few days after it opened. But in short, I felt like... it was almost as though Harvey was in a different show from everybody else. And that's not reflective of my feelings about Winston as a character. I completely understand that he's an outsider in the family, and as such, is the catalyst for the entire story. But I felt that as an actor, Harvey just didn't seem to fit in with what was going on on stage -- both in terms of the other performances, and in terms of the director's influence, which you clearly see watching the show; you absolutely do not have to have been "in on the process" to be able to detect a director's choices and vision. What I'm saying is that as it comes off, watching the show, it feels like he's going against the grain of everything else; I don't have to have been in the room to hold that opinion. No, I don't know it for sure, but that's how it seemed to me, as an audience member. An audience member who knows John Doyle's work and process very, very, very well. Doyle's work as I know it is marked by his ability to get an incredibly natural subtlety out of his actors and you SEE that in the performances of everybody in that cast except for Harvey. And that's not about Winston being an outsider, it's about his performance feeling like it was in a different play. The show would approach these moments of sort of... raw, bare, really beautiful (even when it's ugly) emotion, and then Harvey would walk in. Honestly, I don't think it would be as much of an issue with someone else playing that role. Harvey is very, very talented, but he is anything but subtle.

Does that make sense? I'm not trying to be snippy, I just don't know how better to explain it.

Updated On: 5/26/08 at 10:04 PM

[KChenowethfan]

Posted: 5/26/08 at 10:07pm

LuvTheEmcee- Well put. That sums up my take on Harvey's performance too.

[bythesword84]

Posted: 5/26/08 at 10:08pm

Yes, that's it. I joined here in 2003 and posted on hundreds of threads about hundreds of shows just so that I could lie about seeing A Catered Affair. It couldn't have simply been that I wasn't paying attention when I was typing because I was doing something else. You're completely correct. In fact, I've never seen any show, ever.


...Actually, I saw every show this season (save Cymbeline) so yeah, you can call me a loser if you want because I wasn't paying attention and made a typo, but that doesn't mean you're right.

[BroadwayChica]

Posted: 5/26/08 at 10:23pm

I don't think Harvey's implying that everyone who critiques his performance is stupid, or doesn't "get" it. He's addressing that fact that his acting choices are purposely out of place with the rest of the cast in order to make the character stand out. Is it completely obvious that his character stands out? No, not necessarily. Gay acceptance is *still* an issue today, let alone back then. It's not merely the fact that the uncle is gay: it's that he is unabashedly, flamboyantly so. Having his performance be of a different tone from the rest of the cast is a stylistic way to represent that fact.

Whether or not one feel that it works, what he's saying is that it was done intentionally. Personally, I thought his characterization of the uncle was one of the highlights of the show. Yeah, it may be seem tad unrealistic for someone to be so openly gay during this period, but he's doing so to purposely address issues of being an outsider in this society, and this family. I thought the point came across, and to me, it was effective. He took the subtext which was present in the film, and made it text. Anyone who thinks there weren't flamboyant gay men back then is sorely mistaken.

Of course we're all free to disagree, but the point is that he did it intentionally. It's not a gaffe, or lack of acting prowess, or anything like that. It was a conscious decision on his part.

And as a fan of John Doyle, I strongly believe that if he had felt Harvey's performance wasn't tailored to the show as a whole, he would've told Harvey to tone it down. Doyle is a director that brings the best out of his cast. So whatever issues one may have with Harvey's performance, it was still something that the director, and the actor, thought was best for the show as a whole.

I understand your point, emcee, but as you already know, I disagree. I enjoyed his performance. I know that's not a popular opinion, but, well, that's where I stand. And I'm usually not a fan of Harvey's work as an actor. Here, though, it worked for me. And I do think he's a talented enough actor to have been more subtle if that's what Doyle had intended with the piece.

[luvtheEmcee]

Posted: 5/26/08 at 10:26pm

I just meant that it seems like he could be chalking criticisms of his performance up to, "you're missing the point of the character and the story," which is both inaccurate and unfair. I guess the easiest way to explain it is to say it's about the distinction between a character as a piece of his world, and the performance of the actor who brings him to life. You know?

Updated On: 5/26/08 at 10:26 PM

[CurtainPullDowner]

Posted: 5/26/08 at 10:29pm

If you read what Harvey says you will see he is directly discussing what you are missing.
The charater IS different than the others, he DOES behave different that the others.
I am sure Harvey worked very closely with Doyle on that point,
he is NOT subtle, he IS in a different world than the others, he IS going against the grain in this piece.
I know it is all objective to an audience's reponse but again unless you were actually in on creating the character with Harvey and Doyle, I don't see how you can assume he is doing something against the director's vision.

[BroadwayChica]

Posted: 5/26/08 at 10:30pm

I agree, emcee, but I also think his comments are merited. Your critiques of him are valid, but there have been MANY people who have made generalized comments, and those are the ones he's addressing. I do think that a lot of critics flat out don't understand what the show, and particularly his performance, is getting at. It's a very misunderstood piece. But his comments are not addressed at people like you, you know? I thought it was a very eloquent way to address his critics, and for the most part, I agree with him.
Updated On: 5/26/08 at 10:30 PM

[Trekkie2]

Posted: 5/26/08 at 10:33pm

bythesword84, I think PalJoey, um... WAS KIDDING.

[Mealz1042]

Posted: 5/26/08 at 10:36pm

oh jeeze, this is going to be a long one.

Updated On: 5/26/08 at 10:36 PM

[bythesword84]

Posted: 5/26/08 at 10:36pm

Trekkie2- Whether he was or wasn't it's fine, it was just unnecessary either way to even make a comment about something that was clearly just a mistake. I'm not mad, I just don't see the point to it.

[luvtheEmcee]

Posted: 5/26/08 at 10:38pm

If you read what Harvey says you will see he is directly discussing what you are missing.
The charater IS different than the others, he DOES behave different that the others.

No. I understand that. Harvey is talking about people missing that his character is an outsider. I SAID that I understand that. And if you had read what I'm saying, you'd see that I'm not talking about the character. The character not fitting in isn't the PROBLEM, it's the POINT. I'm talking about the performance. Two very different things. I understand the point of the character and I understand what his performance is getting at. I just don't think it's properly carried out, and thus appropriately achieved. In other words: I get what he's going for; however, I don't think what's going on in his performance is the best way of getting that point across. I'm assuming that he's going against the vision that's displayed THROUGH WHAT THE AUDIENCE SEES in the show, as a whole. I do not have to have been in the room to make that assessment. It is an assessment I am perfectly entitled, as an audience member, to make based upon what I saw. Isn't a director's job about tailoring the end result -- in essence, what the audience sees? I don't understand how you could say that I can't talk about the director's vision if I wasn't present. That's completely ridiculous. I can't say I know what happened in the room -- nor DID I say such a thing. I'm critiquing what I saw, which is the product of the process. I don't know how many more different permutations of the same idea to get you to understand what I'm saying. (Then again, I have no idea why I'm even bothering...)

And BroadwayChica, yes, exactly.

Updated On: 5/26/08 at 10:38 PM

[Trekkie2]

Posted: 5/26/08 at 10:39pm

But if he was kidding, then he was making fun of bjh2114, not you.

[miss pennywise]

Posted: 5/26/08 at 10:40pm

I have a great deal of respect for Mr. Fierstein, but a comment like this one makes me feel that he has no respect for his audiences:

"But then there are folks who just loathe what we're putting on. I don't think it's because they are dumb or heartless. They just don't connect with the material at all. And their reaction isn't just "ho-hum" but true rejection. I suppose it's possible that the show is setting off something within them, but I ain't no shrink and I don't even want to go there."

So if you don't "connect with the material," it's because of some deep psychosis? That's rather presumptuous on his part, is it not?

[luvtheEmcee]

Posted: 5/26/08 at 10:43pm

I'd like to think it's more about your personal experiences and circumstances than it is about your psyche, no?