#1
Posted: 3/19/07 at 11:20pm
An excellent play plus two brilliant actors...I knew this show was going to be good going into it, but I had no idea it was going to be *that* good. Wow. I am still in shock. The acting I just witnessed on stage was some of the best I have ever seen.
I'm sure some of you were wondering about the on stage seats...honestly, I counted at least 50 of them...probably more! There were two sets of on stage seats, on either side of the stage, with a corridor in the middle for actors to walk in. The actors also entered on either side of the stage and in an upstage balcony. The set worked extremely well, and no, the audience's modern clothing did not distract at all. Some of the on stage seats were purposely left empty for some of the actors, and all of them were full. I'm not sure what the view was like from on the stage, but I'll let WannaBeAFoster speak to that, since he was there tonight as well.
I sat in a $26.25 seat in the balcony and I must say, it was a GREAT deal. I had a full view of the stage and the view was a lot better than the balcony at the Walter Kerr. If you can't afford to pay much to see this, the $26.25 are totally worth it (but I wouldn't have felt like I wasted a penny had I paid full price).
I had read the play in high school and watched the movie so I was familiar with the work. For those of you who don't know, it is about a man who is on trial for teaching evolution. The prosecuting lawyer, Matthew Harrison Brady, believes in the bible's word 100% and refuses to read any of Darwin's teachings. The defense lawyer, Henry Drummond, believes in the power of thought and doesn't like to take anything literally, so he has read both the bible and Darwin's teachings and really gets the jury (and the audience) to look at things another way.
Special mention goes to Denis O'Hare as E.K. Hornbeck and Byron Jennings as Reverend Jeremiah Brown...both of them were excellent.
Brian Dennehy as Matthew Harrison Brady was excellent. He is very convincing as someone who takes the word of the bible as law and fact and does not stray from what the bible says. However, when he is being questioned by Drummond in Act 2, he does a wonderful job holding his own while Drummond is trying to confuse him and get him to admit to things he doesn't want to admit to regarding the word of the bible (How long was the first day that G-d began creating Earth? Where did Cain's wife come from if Adam and Eve were the only two people before they had children?, etc). Dennehy gives a wonderful performance...and this was only the first preview!
This was my first time ever seeing Christopher Plummer on stage and I was not disappointed as all. In fact, I was completely blown away by his performance. Mr. Plummer is a brilliant actor. Even at age 79, he commands the stage (I couldn't take my eyes off him) and says every line with power and conviction. He has a bunch of great lines in this play...all of which he delivers with perfection. Even at the very end of the play, where he doesn't have a line, just an action, it is done so well. He picks up both Darwin's Theory of Evolution and the Bible, looks at them both, then starts putting them both in his briefcase...and blackout. His facial expressions are excellent as well. I really can't say enough about his performance...and again, it is only the first preview.
I was able to meet both Dennehy and Plummer after the show. Both of them were more than gracious to sign playbills for the handful of us waiting. Christopher Plummer also signed my CD cover of CYRANO, which was very kind of him. The cast went across the street to Bond 45 for drinks after the show to celebrate their first public performance.
I urge all of you to get tickets to this play. Not only is the play excellent, but Dennehy and Plummer give stellar performances that, in my opinion, are not to be missed. I will definitely see this play again and I hope you all enjoy it as much as I did tonight.
I'm sure some of you were wondering about the on stage seats...honestly, I counted at least 50 of them...probably more! There were two sets of on stage seats, on either side of the stage, with a corridor in the middle for actors to walk in. The actors also entered on either side of the stage and in an upstage balcony. The set worked extremely well, and no, the audience's modern clothing did not distract at all. Some of the on stage seats were purposely left empty for some of the actors, and all of them were full. I'm not sure what the view was like from on the stage, but I'll let WannaBeAFoster speak to that, since he was there tonight as well.
I sat in a $26.25 seat in the balcony and I must say, it was a GREAT deal. I had a full view of the stage and the view was a lot better than the balcony at the Walter Kerr. If you can't afford to pay much to see this, the $26.25 are totally worth it (but I wouldn't have felt like I wasted a penny had I paid full price).
I had read the play in high school and watched the movie so I was familiar with the work. For those of you who don't know, it is about a man who is on trial for teaching evolution. The prosecuting lawyer, Matthew Harrison Brady, believes in the bible's word 100% and refuses to read any of Darwin's teachings. The defense lawyer, Henry Drummond, believes in the power of thought and doesn't like to take anything literally, so he has read both the bible and Darwin's teachings and really gets the jury (and the audience) to look at things another way.
Special mention goes to Denis O'Hare as E.K. Hornbeck and Byron Jennings as Reverend Jeremiah Brown...both of them were excellent.
Brian Dennehy as Matthew Harrison Brady was excellent. He is very convincing as someone who takes the word of the bible as law and fact and does not stray from what the bible says. However, when he is being questioned by Drummond in Act 2, he does a wonderful job holding his own while Drummond is trying to confuse him and get him to admit to things he doesn't want to admit to regarding the word of the bible (How long was the first day that G-d began creating Earth? Where did Cain's wife come from if Adam and Eve were the only two people before they had children?, etc). Dennehy gives a wonderful performance...and this was only the first preview!
This was my first time ever seeing Christopher Plummer on stage and I was not disappointed as all. In fact, I was completely blown away by his performance. Mr. Plummer is a brilliant actor. Even at age 79, he commands the stage (I couldn't take my eyes off him) and says every line with power and conviction. He has a bunch of great lines in this play...all of which he delivers with perfection. Even at the very end of the play, where he doesn't have a line, just an action, it is done so well. He picks up both Darwin's Theory of Evolution and the Bible, looks at them both, then starts putting them both in his briefcase...and blackout. His facial expressions are excellent as well. I really can't say enough about his performance...and again, it is only the first preview.
I was able to meet both Dennehy and Plummer after the show. Both of them were more than gracious to sign playbills for the handful of us waiting. Christopher Plummer also signed my CD cover of CYRANO, which was very kind of him. The cast went across the street to Bond 45 for drinks after the show to celebrate their first public performance.
I urge all of you to get tickets to this play. Not only is the play excellent, but Dennehy and Plummer give stellar performances that, in my opinion, are not to be missed. I will definitely see this play again and I hope you all enjoy it as much as I did tonight.
