#126
Posted: 3/6/14 at 11:40am
I've slept on it and have some different thoughts on it this morning.
I am the only person in my family from a small southern town to have attended college. I've lived in NYC now for a number of years. When I brought my family up to see N2N, they were deeply moved by seeing characters on the stage that they could relate to. A mother with an abyss of un-dealt with remorse. A father struggling for at least the appearance of normalcy. A daughter searching for her own voice and a way out of the madness created by her parent's issues with Gabe. They were seemingly from an upper middle class milieu, but still had relatable problems.
In IF/THEN, characters can't go 10 minutes without bringing up their Vassar or Brown education. The characters smack of elitism and trade in elitist problems. Phoenix is a punchline more than once, as if any dolt who doesn't live in the city on NY is wasting their life. Characters are laden with the 'bother' of children, or they just kill them off (the unborn children that is). The world of IF/THEN is one of Latte's and Brunches. Jogging Strollers and 'City Park Planning'. Jokes made at cardboard cutout 'Interns' (Although Ryan Redman lands some of the best jokes of the show.)
The world that I come from is one where people take joy in simple things. Phoenix or Oregon are perfectly acceptable places to live. Having a casual chat with a stranger is not a once in a lifetime altering or jarring event, it's a pleasant everyday occurrence. The assumption of IF/THEN is that the audience identifies with it's Northeast upperclass Ivy-league elitist characters. The only character in the piece that I cared for one lick was James Snyder's character of Josh. A man content with talking straight and keeping his word. Idina's 'Elizabeth' is someone I would never befriend… Leaving friends at the drop of a hat, using friends for sex and then abandoning them, making ultimatums that couples should stay together for HER happiness. What a selfish self obsessed woman.
As for the score, it's fine enough, but the only songs that stayed with me after last night were Snyder's address to his unborn child and Anthony Rapp's pleading for connection from an intractable Elizabeth. Snyder infused his lyric with a true sense of love. Not Romantic, but paternal. A real and universal impulse. Rapp was reaching for a real connection while trying to appeal the the selfish needful lust of Elizabeth, also a relatable impulse.
The biggest struggles that the principal character's have is their own transient happiness. Nothing to do with hard won battles for average American Audiences like paying the light bill and getting the aging parents into a suitable living arrangement in their later years. Or simply the struggle of staying in a marriage that doesn't fulfill all your dreams, but staying and working it out, because you vowed a vow. A world where a promise means something. Where a neighbor's concerns are your own and community is valued.
Perhaps more to come later, but after watching last night's preview, my first thought was: Get me out of this cloyingly politically correct insular self obsessed city to a place where people care for each other instead of dwelling on how they can make the happiest life for themselves and themselves alone. Take me to Bridges of Madison County's Iowa, or 110 in the Shade, or even Into The Wood's fairytale world, but away from the swirling ME centered universe of IF/THEN.
I am the only person in my family from a small southern town to have attended college. I've lived in NYC now for a number of years. When I brought my family up to see N2N, they were deeply moved by seeing characters on the stage that they could relate to. A mother with an abyss of un-dealt with remorse. A father struggling for at least the appearance of normalcy. A daughter searching for her own voice and a way out of the madness created by her parent's issues with Gabe. They were seemingly from an upper middle class milieu, but still had relatable problems.
In IF/THEN, characters can't go 10 minutes without bringing up their Vassar or Brown education. The characters smack of elitism and trade in elitist problems. Phoenix is a punchline more than once, as if any dolt who doesn't live in the city on NY is wasting their life. Characters are laden with the 'bother' of children, or they just kill them off (the unborn children that is). The world of IF/THEN is one of Latte's and Brunches. Jogging Strollers and 'City Park Planning'. Jokes made at cardboard cutout 'Interns' (Although Ryan Redman lands some of the best jokes of the show.)
The world that I come from is one where people take joy in simple things. Phoenix or Oregon are perfectly acceptable places to live. Having a casual chat with a stranger is not a once in a lifetime altering or jarring event, it's a pleasant everyday occurrence. The assumption of IF/THEN is that the audience identifies with it's Northeast upperclass Ivy-league elitist characters. The only character in the piece that I cared for one lick was James Snyder's character of Josh. A man content with talking straight and keeping his word. Idina's 'Elizabeth' is someone I would never befriend… Leaving friends at the drop of a hat, using friends for sex and then abandoning them, making ultimatums that couples should stay together for HER happiness. What a selfish self obsessed woman.
As for the score, it's fine enough, but the only songs that stayed with me after last night were Snyder's address to his unborn child and Anthony Rapp's pleading for connection from an intractable Elizabeth. Snyder infused his lyric with a true sense of love. Not Romantic, but paternal. A real and universal impulse. Rapp was reaching for a real connection while trying to appeal the the selfish needful lust of Elizabeth, also a relatable impulse.
The biggest struggles that the principal character's have is their own transient happiness. Nothing to do with hard won battles for average American Audiences like paying the light bill and getting the aging parents into a suitable living arrangement in their later years. Or simply the struggle of staying in a marriage that doesn't fulfill all your dreams, but staying and working it out, because you vowed a vow. A world where a promise means something. Where a neighbor's concerns are your own and community is valued.
Perhaps more to come later, but after watching last night's preview, my first thought was: Get me out of this cloyingly politically correct insular self obsessed city to a place where people care for each other instead of dwelling on how they can make the happiest life for themselves and themselves alone. Take me to Bridges of Madison County's Iowa, or 110 in the Shade, or even Into The Wood's fairytale world, but away from the swirling ME centered universe of IF/THEN.
Updated On: 3/6/14 at 11:40 AM
