Is anyone seeing VERA STARK tonight?- Page 2

[sorano916]

Posted: 4/7/11 at 4:30pm

For those who already saw it, what was the running time? Thanks!

[sskeats2]

Posted: 4/7/11 at 4:50pm

About 2hrs. 15min.

[Eos]

Posted: 4/8/11 at 11:01am

I hope you're right, Pop. There are a couple of things I'm hoping will extend until the end of May.

[ljay889]

Posted: 4/14/11 at 12:11am

Saw this tonight. A very interesting play. *spoilers below*

I did not see the second act coming. For those who do not like shows that take place in different time periods like Sunday in the Park With George and Grey Gardens, they might not like this play. The second act reminded me of Sunday's second act: putting together pieces of a puzzle from a different time. Nottage was certainly trying to make a statement here.

Performances were excellent all around. Karen Olivo was hilarious in the second act! All of the singers in the cast get a chance to sing a little. Very nice set as well.

It was an enjoyable show, but not the second coming.

[bwayfan7000]

Posted: 4/14/11 at 12:15am

So it's not worth seeing instead of something like Jerusalem or Born Yesterday?

[ljay889]

Posted: 4/14/11 at 12:23am

Nope. Jerusalem and Born Yesterday have two performances that just CANNOT be missed.

[bwayfan7000]

Posted: 4/14/11 at 12:32am

That's my dilemma...I can only choose one. And I have been agonizing, believe me.

[sskeats2]

Posted: 4/14/11 at 12:46am

Second act of Vera Stark was a lot more tied to the first act than either Grey Gardens or Sunday in the Park with George. It's a heck of a lot more organic than either of those two shows mentioned. I saw Vera again last night being a SJB lover and there was a talkback with Nottage where Gloria Steinem spoke up specifically about the second act. She said she was moved on how Nottage managed to tie all the pieces together. In fact, Steinem said she was moved to tears by the end. I wouldn't go that far. But the play is an organic whole despite the jump in time.

As to the two plays, Jerusalem and Born Yesterday, don't give up Jerusalem but Born Yesterday is old boilerplate. You'd be better off watching Judy Holliday in the film. She's irreplaceable.

Updated On: 4/14/11 at 12:46 AM

[DefyGravity777]

Posted: 4/14/11 at 4:39pm

I saw it on Tuesday night. I'm not a huge fan of plays in general but I loved this. I am also a huge SJB fan. They were all great. Karen Olivo was definately the standout in the 2nd act.

I was up in the box and it wasn't that bad as long as you were in the back 2 seats.

[beautywickedlover]

Posted: 4/14/11 at 5:40pm

How was David Garrison? I haven't heard anyone say anything about him yet.

[After Eight]

Posted: 4/17/11 at 9:41am

I thought there were enough amusing moments to make it worthwhile. I wish comic momentum could have been sustained for greater lengths of time in the course of the evening. The satire is scattershot, sometimes funny, sometimes facile (the talk shows of the 70s), a little lame in the caricatures of academic types, but never really as deep or as pointed as it could be.

[Sirius Black]

Posted: 4/17/11 at 1:50pm

I saw this last week. Sanaa was wonderful and Karen Olivo was a big surprise. Stephanie was excellent in Act I but I think she could have gone much further in Act II. She reminded me of Debbie Reynolds and I think it should have been more Deborah Kerr - I don't want to give a spoiler about why I think that. The film is incredible.

Definitely an excellent play- a lampoon of many things.

[sskeats2]

Posted: 4/17/11 at 2:58pm

Lampoon is a great word for what this play is about.

But Debbie Reynolds? I thought more like Valerie Hobson. Or Deborah Kerr with a feather in her unmentionable.

[Popular]

Posted: 4/17/11 at 3:55pm

There is a really great clip on the making of the film. It was put up by Second Stage Theater so I'm assuming it's OK to share.
Behind the scenes of By The Way, Meet Vera Stark: The Making of The Belle of New Orleans

[jbm2]

Posted: 4/17/11 at 10:41pm

saw this tonight...
LOVED it..
wow, the cast was amazing, each one of them.
the first act was amazing. 2nd act was good
must see!

[pc1145N2]

Posted: 4/18/11 at 8:19pm

For those of you have seen this production:

Is there a windowcard?

Thanks, in advance.

[uncageg]

Posted: 4/22/11 at 1:19am

Went, well, last night now(Thurs). I am a bit out to lunch on it. The first act is hysterical. Every performance was wonderful. Stephanie J. Block took me quite by surprise with her comedic side and her timing. She was wonderful. Olivo also surprised me. She was quite good in the first act. It is Kimberly Herbert Gregory who steals Act I. Lathan and Block have great chemistry together and that really showed at the beginning of Act I but Lathan didn't impress me as much here as she did in "A Raisin in the Sun". Kevin Isola was also pretty fun in both of his parts (Especially the singer in Act II). David Garrison and Daniel Breaker were fine. Breaker in the second act impressed me as Herb. It was nice to see these actors doing something you didn't expect. Olivo's Ejobo was a bit overplayed though as was Ms. Gregory's Levy-Green.

So the show itself...

****Possible Spoilers****

I understand where Ms. Nottage was going with this. (She was at the performance in the last row. She actually smiled back at me!) The set up in the first act was fine. When it addressed the role of black actresses in movies during Act II, it was clear where she was going. Then, it seemed to just shoot off in different directions. Act two take place in 1973 and 2003. I really don't think that much would have been said on a talk show in the 70's. There have been moments on those shows, such as Dick Cavett, but the dialoug here just didn't seem to fit that of conversation on a talk show. I also didn't think the panel members fit in the year 2003. They seemed as if they also belonged in the 70's. I have been in several discussions about blacks in movies and in 2003, they didn't go like the one I saw in the show. However, I think I know what Nottage was going for. There also seemed to be some "relationship" between Vera and Gloria that is eluded to but I don't think was really defined. Those final words in the show should have provoked discussion among people leaving the show. I heard "It's wonderful", "I really liked it" but I didn't hear any discussion about the subject matter and I think that's what she wanted or at least a discussion after leaving the theater. I am sure there was but I just think that with better writing in Act II, her message would have hit home a bit harder. I kept thinking, "talk to some black people who just like movies and are not in the business and find out how they feel about the history of black people/women in the movies and she would have been a bit more on target".

****End of Possible Spoilers****

The sets are really great and the movie within the play is really cool. Loved the visuals at the end also.

If you have any thought of seeing this, I say go. You will see some very good performances and if you are fans of Block or Olivo, you will be quite pleasantly surprised. I did not care for Block in "Wicked" and loved here in this. And I disagree about her performance in Act II. She was wonderful and didn't need to go further. I dare say she was perfect.

It is a show that I actually would like to see again after it is frozen. They stumbled over a few lines in Act II and it seemed there was some ad-libbing going on until they got back on track. Needless to say, a phone went off. It was in the second act during the "panel discussion" and they incorporated it into the show quite nicely.

Just my thoughts.

[somethingwicked]

Posted: 4/22/11 at 1:54am

***SPOILER***

uncageg, I'm a little confused as to how you can say the nature of the relationship between Vera and Gloria is alluded to but is ultimately unclear.

I think it's spelled out quite directly that Carmen Levy-Green's theory is the right one- that Gloria and Vera were actually blood relatives (cousins, I imagine.) Both Vera and one of the guests at the party allude to it in the first act and then, in the final scene, Gloria confirms it by talking about how she sometimes wonders what life would have been like if the two of them had stayed home in Brooklyn with their grandmother. It also comes up during the talk show segment when Gloria awkwardly changes the subject of the conversation after the host asks how they could have worked in the entertainment industry together as children if they were different races.

Their relationship ultimately mirrors their characters' relationship in the film within the play, where they were playing a maid and her employer who were related.

***SPOILER***

Updated On: 4/22/11 at 01:54 AM

[sskeats2]

Posted: 4/22/11 at 9:27am

*****maybe some spoilers******

I'm with somethingwicked. Relationship between Gloria and Vera was quite clear to me by the end of the play. And I think that was the dramatic arc Nottage was traveling all along. (Last Tuesday, I was sitting next to Gloria Steinem at the talkback and she made the comment to Nottage that Nottage drove the whole play together with the ending and Steinem was totally emotionally moved by it.)

Although I'm not sure any of the academics had it right which is also a point I think Nottage was making. I think they were part of the lampoon of the play just as the first act was a lampoon as well.

Everybody was skewered comedically except the real unspoken relationship between Vera and Gloria which drove the piece from the playwright's vantage.

[somethingwicked]

Posted: 4/22/11 at 9:32am

***SPOILER***

sskeats2, I agree that the subjective opinions of the academics on the merit of Vera's legacy can be left up to interpretation, but I think Carmen Levy-Green's belief that she had found the real Vera in the homeless shelter has to be true, since the woman she speaks of gave her so much information that the audience already knows to be true (including both things that were revealed in an intimate context in the first act and the twist of she and Gloria being related.)

***SPOILER***

[sskeats2]

Posted: 4/22/11 at 10:07am

***spoilers***

Nottage is much more specific as to how Gloria and Vera are related than Levy-Green's account.

I don't know what you mean by what was revealed in an intimate context in the first act. But I'll keep my ears peeled for it when I see the play again which I will.

***spoilers***

[uncageg]

Posted: 4/22/11 at 12:15pm

****Spoiler***
somethingwicked, I knew there was some connection but I, like you, imagined they were cousins but we still were not told. There was an exchange in the beginning of the first act that slipped by in the middle of some laughter that I caught about who Gloria's father was. Last night some lines were missed as they continued through the audience laughter in Act I especially. I thought Green's story was true also but I found my mind preoccupied with how the panel was represented in the year 2003. Throughout the whole show I figured they were cousins or related in some way. It was evident as Gloria never wanted to address it.

****end spoilers****

I may need to see this again.

Updated On: 4/22/11 at 12:15 PM

[uncageg]

Posted: 4/22/11 at 1:03pm

Nice article in the Times about Nottage and the play:

http://www.nytimes.com/2011/04/24/theater/theresa-harris-a-black-actress-who-left-an-impression.html?_r=1

[sskeats2]

Posted: 4/22/11 at 1:43pm

It was clear how they were related at the end. No doubt about it. But I don't think it should be posted here.

[sskeats2]

Posted: 4/22/11 at 1:46pm

I think that picture in the Times article with Bette Davis and Theresa Harris in Jezebel is certainly a blueprint for the show's costume designer for Tillie's (Vera's) outfit in the film The Belle of New Orleans.

What do you think?
Updated On: 4/22/11 at 01:46 PM