Julia Roberts

[LMcC95]

Posted: 8/13/14 at 11:26pm

Did anyone see her in three days of rain? Was she any good?

[Jordan Catalano]

Posted: 8/13/14 at 11:29pm

I saw her MANY times in THREE DAYS OF RAIN. You're going to undoubtably get a lot of responses saying how awful she was, but you'll pretty much only get those from people who have never liked her and never will. Julia on stage was exactly like Julia on screen. It's not a "great" play and she probably shouldn't have chosen soemthing to safe to make her Broadway debut in, but she was great and served the material well.

Now I'll step aside and let everyone who didn't see it say how much they hated her in it...

[LMcC95]

Posted: 8/13/14 at 11:42pm

Did she ever say she would do stage again? I would love to see her.

[Jordan Catalano]

Posted: 8/13/14 at 11:43pm

She said earlier this year that she was looking for something to come back to Broadway in. :)

[onesongglory2]

Posted: 8/14/14 at 12:29am

I thought she was excellent. I would love to see her again on stage. And she was very nice at the stage door too.

[Hex3]

Posted: 8/14/14 at 1:14am

I adore Julia Roberts on screen. In Three Days of Rain I found her wooden, awkward and disengaging. It didn't help that the play just wasn't very good. The stage is not the screen. What works in one medium does not in the other and I think that was her big weakness. Perhaps if she had gotten a bit of training prior to the stage broadway debut, things would have turned out better.

[ArtMan]

Posted: 8/14/14 at 7:17am

Totally agree. I love Julia Roberts. If I remember correctly Paul Rudd wasn't that good either. The standout for me, was Bradley Cooper. Which at that time, had not become the star he is today. Or it could have been the play itself. Kind of boring. The highlight was having standing room, then snagging an orchestra seat. If I also recall correctly, those seats were quite expensive.

[Jordan Catalano]

Posted: 8/14/14 at 8:30am

To those who say she was "wooden", I say that that is exactly the way the character is written. For all the times I saw the show (and have watched it in the years following), I argue that the "wooden" is exacly how it should be.

[broadway86]

Posted: 8/14/14 at 9:02am

She was decent. Hardly a trainwreck, but didn't command the stage like Cooper and Rudd. Her work was very small and minimalist which, when playing to a house of 1000+, can be problematic.

[The Other One]

Posted: 8/14/14 at 9:38am

I like Julia and would love to see her in something else, I thought the harsh criticism she received was excessive and unwarranted, but she and the play (not one I like at all) were not the best fit. Rudd came off best, but the play did not impress me when I read it or come off well in this production.

My only complaint about Julia is that her voice became very nasal when projected. It did project, however.

[dreaming]

Posted: 8/14/14 at 9:49am

The play was very dull. (It felt three days long.) I thought Roberts was fine, not sure she had the same presence on stage that she does on screen (it's hard for me to give a fair assessment since I didn't like the material to begin with). I concur with whoever said Cooper was the standout-he was able to overcome the lackluster script and deliver a very fine performance.

I'm willing to give Roberts another chance (since she surprised me pleasantly enough in The Normal Heart). I don't know what I'd pick but I'm sure she can have whatever play she wants.

[east side story]

Posted: 8/14/14 at 10:29am

I found the play to be a total snoozefest, but did not mind her performance.

On a theatre-related note: According to Roberts, she was offered the Broadway revival of The Normal Heart and passed. She claimed she did not know how great the role was until Ryan Murphy opened her eyes.

[Wilmingtom]

Posted: 8/14/14 at 11:07am

I didn't think any of the three good actors were very well served by Montello's direction. Although he's a terrific director, no one strikes gold every time out. So I gave the actors a pass on this one.

[Hex3]

Posted: 8/14/14 at 12:05pm

My "wooden" comment comes less from a characterization point than that it looked like she just didn't look like she wanted to be there. And this was from the third row. Or what I like to call "The Splash Zone" considering most of the people around me kept getting rained on during the scene when the rain finally came to the front of the stage. Unfortunately that seemed to be the most entertaining part of the show. I would love to see Julia Roberts take to the stage again. Like I said, I'm a big fan of hers. But I would hope she just gets a bit of stage training and that the pay is something, well, GOOD this time.

[Owen22]

Posted: 8/14/14 at 12:19pm

I am a big fan of the play. Saw the original MTC with Patricia Clarkson, Bradley Whitford and John Slattery and was very much looking forward to the Broadway production.

I am a fairly big fan of Julia in film. I wouldn't so much call her performance "wooden" in "Three Days" as transparent. And not in a "truthful acting" way. I can't say she embarrassed herself, but she had no vibrancy or stage presence whatsoever. She came to life a little bit more in the second act, but it stilled seemed hollow. I didn't think a miscast Paul Rudd (another actor I love in films and liked in BASH) fared much better but for different reasons; I don't think he ever really grasped either character he played. A pre-movie star Bradley Cooper was easily the standout in the production.

Updated On: 8/14/14 at 12:19 PM

[ray-andallthatjazz86]

Posted: 8/14/14 at 1:41pm

I'm surprised no one has mentioned Joe Mantello so far. At the time, I remember a lot of people talking about how he didn't tap into any of her potential, and instead let her wander on stage without much guidance. This was during the early post-WICKED years when Mantello was involved in any show that had a star.
She has said that she at least wants to do another show now that she knows the particular demands of doing stage. She was fantastic in THE NORMAL HEART (despite the asinine Ryan Murphy at the helm), and quite good in AUGUST: OC. I'd love to see her do something that fits her well, she'd have been great in OTHER DESERT CITIES.

[Owen22]

Posted: 8/14/14 at 3:01pm

Well, the "asinine" director pulled out a performance from her the respected director could not.

[Jordan Catalano]

Posted: 8/14/14 at 3:05pm

If there is ever a film of OTHER DESERT CITIES made, Julia would be a fantastic Brooke.

[getlucky2]

Posted: 8/14/14 at 6:26pm

I don't think she was quite fitted to the character(s) she played. Bradley Cooper shockingly outshone everyone in the play, he was quite good. Of course at that time he was just the douche from Wedding Crashers, we didn't know how talented he truly was. I am a big Julia fan and I don't think she was bad, she wasn't exceptional, she was just "fine". I respect her for trying to do something different but I just think her talents are better suited for the screen.