Important Hats of The 20th Century

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Important Hats of The 20th Century

Posted: 11/12/15 at 12:26am

Saw this tonight, for a second preview its in solid shape and I really loved it, but this will absolutely divide MTC subscriber base (about a dozen people didn't come back after intermission). Think 39 Steps + Time Travel + Sci-Fi , to say anymore would ruin things but its a play very much in the vein of Zucker Brothers/Mel Brooks, lots of slap stick and word play and inverting conventions, also probably one of my favorite stage images of any play I've ever seen at the end of act one

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sparks literally fly above the stage due to a buzz saw on metal which i thought was super cool but super risky because its a SMALL space.

. Moritz Von Stuelpnagel, god bless him has staged a incredibly demanding show and everyone is giving great if somewhat a little broad performances, I'd recommend folks wait to see it til after opening, but for $30 you can't go wrong.

Updated On: 11/12/15 at 12:26 AM

Important Hats of The 20th Century

Posted: 11/12/15 at 7:15am

Thanks for using the spoiler tag! I didn't peek. A friend and I are seeing it Sunday. I don't know what to expect, but it's nice to be surprised, I guess!

Important Hats of The 20th Century

Posted: 11/12/15 at 8:13am

I'm seeing it on Saturday. Very curious because the premise sounds really interesting and I love Carson Elrod and Matt Saldivar.

Important Hats of The 20th Century

Posted: 11/12/15 at 8:18am

What IS that "Spoiler Content" thing? I toggled it, but the box was blank...

Important Hats of The 20th Century

Posted: 11/12/15 at 10:20am

Yeah, they didn't use it properly, but when you use it...

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Only people who click it should be able to see spoiler content, like Rosebud was a sled in Citizen Kane.

Updated On: 11/12/15 at 10:20 AM

Important Hats of The 20th Century

Posted: 11/12/15 at 10:49am

There's an online general rush for $20 too. I had only seen lotteries on TodayTix - have they done this with any other show?

http://www.todaytix.com/announcements/important-hats-of-the-twentieth-century/

Important Hats of The 20th Century

Posted: 11/12/15 at 10:53am

gimlet2 said: "There's an online general rush for $20 too."

I saw that online rush as well but then realized it's not really a deal because while the tickets are $20 there is a $10 fee attached so you're still paying $30.

"Pardon my prior Mcfee slip. I know how to spell her name. I just don't know how to type it." -Talulah

Important Hats of The 20th Century

Posted: 11/12/15 at 11:04am

ClydeBarrow said: "I saw that online rush as well but then realized it's not really a deal because while the tickets are $20 there is a $10 fee attached so you're still paying $30."

Oh, I missed that - for the lotteries, isn't the fee already rolled in? I thought I paid $20 for On the Town.

Important Hats of The 20th Century

Posted: 11/12/15 at 11:10am

Ignore

Updated On: 11/12/15 at 11:10 AM

#10

Important Hats of The 20th Century

Posted: 11/12/15 at 11:26pm

ClydeBarrow said: "gimlet2 said: "There's an online general rush for $20 too."

I saw that online rush as well but then realized it's not really a deal because while the tickets are $20 there is a $10 fee attached so you're still paying $30.

If you buy that $30 regular ticket online, you'd need to pay $7 for "facility fees"....

#11

Important Hats of The 20th Century

Posted: 11/15/15 at 6:29am

Atrocious. Bizarre, clumsy science-fiction nonsense involving time travel and a fashion-designer rivalry.

Hard as it is to believe, this is even worse than the playwright's previous opus --- no mean feat!

Obnoxious, stupid, juvenile, dull, and completely unfunny.

It's also odd that a play about fashion design can look so ugly.

Updated On: 11/16/15 at 06:29 AM

#12

Important Hats of The 20th Century

Posted: 11/15/15 at 6:37am

This may be the first time After Eight and I are in total agreement. Juvenile is the word. Smart sci-if camp can be done onstage (see: Howard Ashman), when it's genuinely clever and sincere. This is just stupid, and also weirdly hateful.

p.s. No reason whatsoever that most of these characters had to be male specifically, so why such a total sausagefest?

Updated On: 11/15/15 at 06:37 AM

#13

Important Hats of The 20th Century

Posted: 11/16/15 at 8:50am

LightsOut90, I'm glad you enjoyed it, but I saw this last night and thought it was truly awful. The performers were shouting their lines (which was especially annoying in this tiny theater), and although some people in the audience were guffawing loudly throughout the first act, I thought the script was totally witless. My husband and I fled at intermission.

Updated On: 11/16/15 at 08:50 AM

#14

Important Hats of The 20th Century

Posted: 11/16/15 at 11:54am

I also saw this last night and enjoyed it despite mixed feelings. I did find the script witty, with on-the-mark comments on life, art, fame, science and modern times (1998 specifically) vs. the 1930s. But I agree with StageStruckLad that the actors were often shouting, and I think they were ill served by the director by requesting or tolerating this. Carson Elrod is a gifted comic actor, and he doesn't need to shout to be funny. He can and should be subtle in such a small space. On the other hand, I have never found Matthew Saldivar to be particularly funny, for some reason (I guess it's personal taste, because he's constantly working). But I have to give the guy credit

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because, at one point, he's modeling some "futuristic" low-riding jeans that happen to give the audience a great view of his butt-crack! It was funny!

That alone might be worth the price of admission.

On the positive side, Important Hats features an immensely talented troupe of actors who, in most cases, play multiple roles and handle quick-change costume changes. The pacing is wonderful, very fast and fluid. The director got that part right. Plus, the backdrops, lighting and scenery were very effective despite being on the minimal side.

I think the production can be much improved even at this late date by dialing down the shouting and also doing some judicious trimming. For example, several scenes just go on too long.

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Did we need to hear all that about the pee test for drug use? And, at the end. when the time-shifting hat is out of control and we're bouncing among all different time periods, that grew tiresome after a while.

Overall, my friend and I had a good time and would recommend it, especially for $30. I would put it in the category of comedies that I have enjoyed but that could have been funnier. The Explorer's Club and Ripcord fall into that category, both MTC productions, coincidentally or not. Other plays in that category include the Public's Barbecue and Roundabout's Therese Raquin (only kidding). But humor is very subjective, I know. I thought Sylvia was a riot. Your mileage may vary.

Updated On: 11/16/15 at 11:54 AM

#15

Important Hats of The 20th Century

Posted: 11/30/15 at 10:38am

Let me start off by saying that I really wanted to love this because VERITE was one of my favorite plays of the year. Unfortunately Nick Jones has also written one of the worst. The whole thing was honestly a great big mess and I felt like everything he did so well in VERITE the opposite is done here. While I thought the premise was interesting, the writing was so juvenile. None of the jokes really worked for me and I'm beginning to think that farce can no longer be written (unless you're David Ives).

A lot of people have praised the actors for elevating the material but I found the acting to be moderate, at best. I generally like Carson Elrod but his schtick is starting to wear thin. He was doing his usual zany character but this time had a random gay, Southern affectation. John Behlmann has the whole gruff, 30s reporter thing down but I'm somewhat understanding why most of his previous roles have featured him half naked. It was nice to see Maria Elena Ramirez again having not seen her on stage since BBAJ. Matthew Saldivar has never really done it for me and still wasn't here. The person I found to be unbearable was Jon Bass. I understand that he replaced Josh Gad in BOM but he really needs to stop doing a sh!tty Gad impersonation because it got real old, real fast.

Another issue I have is with the staging. I'm normally very weary of thrust staging because I don't always think the sides are taken into account. This is probably one of the most egregious offenses I have seen. There were large chucks were I just sat looking at an actor's back or the door was blocking a large portion of my view. At one point a screen comes down with projections of which I saw exactly zero. I could understand if they want to squeeze some extra seats into a hit like HEISENBERG but the seating didn't need to extend that deep into the stage. Additionally I could hear what I assume to be the actors backstage talking and that was a little absurd to not have that area soundproofed enough.

This show would be a hard pass for me.

"Pardon my prior Mcfee slip. I know how to spell her name. I just don't know how to type it." -Talulah

#16

Important Hats of The 20th Century

Posted: 11/30/15 at 12:11pm

I am not going to write a lot here, although I could... bottom line: I laughed a lot. I think the second act goes on too long and gets a little too much with the Hairy animals and all that sequence. The performances are all quite wonderful. The great thing is they are all inhabiting the same world. They all "Get it". The design team too "got it". It was WONDERFULLY directed. I don't usually like Sci Fi ... I didn't like Majorie Prime at all other than the performances... but this was really zany, rather camp, and just a lot of fun.

#17

Important Hats of The 20th Century

Posted: 12/6/15 at 8:27pm

I saw it this afternoon and enjoyed it overall. The cast and staging were great, and I laughed quite a bit. Of course, I do think it could've been better, as some scenes/gags dragged and became tiresome after awhile (the scenes that took place in 1998 and anything involving the radio reporter especially.) I did the plot was very cinematic, and would love to see it become a movie.

A little swash, a bit of buckle - you'll love it more than bread.

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