Has anyone seen GALILEO?

[jstarr2]

Posted: 2/24/12 at 2:48pm

Reading these reviews is making me want to try and get tickets: http://www.curtaincritic.com/Shows/GALILEO_REVIEWS-112.html. Anyone seen it? I love F Murray Abraham.

[luvtheEmcee]

Posted: 2/24/12 at 7:55pm

Man I want to see this SO BADLY. I'm a huge Brecht geek. Sadly not in town. Also curious to know if anyone here has.

Posted: 2/24/12 at 8:06pm

scaramouche,

is it done on fandango?

[After Eight]

Posted: 2/25/12 at 9:51am

I'm sorry to say that the play, while interesting factually, lacks drive and bite. I'm equally sorry to report that much of the acting is stock level. F. Murray Abraham is good, though.

[Gaveston2]

Posted: 2/25/12 at 4:10pm

I can't comment on this production since I'm 3,000 miles away.

But GALILEO is one of a handful of Brecht's truly great plays. I have no idea why anyone would think "drive and bite" were the playwright's goals.

The play isn't a lampoon of religious fanaticism. It's a thoughtful exploration of the benefits of faith and science.

[lightguy06222]

Posted: 2/25/12 at 5:08pm

BOORING. Everything about the production. Especially FM Abraham

[After Eight]

Posted: 2/25/12 at 7:51pm

"But GALILEO is one of a handful of Brecht's truly great plays. I have no idea why anyone would think "drive and bite" were the playwright's goals. "

Good to know they weren't his goals, because he certainly didn't achieve them. And unfortunately for his play, without them, the piece is little more than a history lesson, and just about as dramatic.

The result being what lightguy expressed.

A "truly great" play?

Hardly.

[Gaveston2]

Posted: 2/25/12 at 8:27pm

The play is not a history lesson. Though some of its plot details are based on historical fact, Brecht couldn't have cared less about historical accuracy.

(IIRC, Brecht even rewrote the ending after the dropping of the first atomic bombs. Earlier versions came down more firmly on the side of science. After Hiroshima, Brecht was thinking that that science had its dangers as well.)

I'm sorry you didn't like it. Maybe if it had musical numbers and were set on a kibbutz...

Updated On: 2/25/12 at 08:27 PM

[After Eight]

Posted: 2/25/12 at 8:36pm

^

There once was a musical with a plot akin to that. I enjoyed it a great deal, much more so than Galileo, and any number of the duds you gush over.

[Gaveston2]

Posted: 2/26/12 at 1:13pm

Yes, I know, After Eight. That's why I mentioned the kibbutz. Hard as it may be to imagine, I do actually read and pay attention to your posts.

And, yes, I remember that you like optimistic sentimentality. It's rarely found in Brecht, but then the world seemed to be blowing itself up when he was writing.

I have no idea why you bothered to attend GALILEO.

[After Eight]

Posted: 2/26/12 at 6:28pm

"I have no idea why you bothered to attend GALILEO."

Uhh, I'm a theatregoer..... or didn't you know that.

"Hard as it may be to imagine, I do actually read and pay attention to your posts."

Yes, it is actually very hard to imagine, and I can't possibly imagine why you bother.

In any case, to get this thread back on topic, the play wasn't bad, just too placid and stock, in both writing and performance. But heaven knows I've seen much worse.

[Gaveston2]

Posted: 2/26/12 at 8:54pm

After Eight, I pay attention to your posts because though we almost always disagree, I think you are intelligent and I am interested in what you say. So shoot me!

As for GALILEO, it has stood the test of time in a way that MILK AND HONEY and TENDERLOIN have not. This isn't to say I think longevity is the only test of a work of art; there's nothing wrong with art that speaks to its own age and then is forgotten.

But it's late in the day to decide GALILEO is a failure. In fact and probably thanks to Laughton's influence, it is more unified and less indulgent than most of Brecht's work.

(Full disclosure: I studied GALILEO and Brecht under Oskar Eustis (current head of the Public) in grad school. Oskar is a great teacher with a profound passion for Brecht. No doubt that influenced my view of the play.) Updated On: 2/26/12 at 08:54 PM