Julius Caesar -- Is this about the quietest opening ever on Broadway for a two time Academy Award winner?- Page 2

[munkustrap178]

Posted: 4/3/05 at 8:34pm

I used to work for the Shuberts so I know most of the box office people...and if it's the same woman that was there for DRACULA, she better HOPE I don't try to go get tickets for JC. She was obscenely rude to me, so I told her to **** off and demanded to talk to the theatre manager. And I did (I already knew the TM anyway) and said this woman always has problems. Most of the Shubert BO people are nasty. The nicest BO person I have ever encountered is the woman at the Palace with blonde hair. She's always amazing.

[Razz77]

Posted: 4/3/05 at 9:44pm

The guy at the Booth is actually very nice about student rush - super catty but super funny - their policy is rather strict and he's quite entertaining for those waiting around for student rush tickets to be released.

The people at the Barrymore were SO GRACIOUS when I came and got student rush to Glass Menagerie - 1st row center mezz ten minutes before the show - it wasnt even halfway full...I guess they were just glad to be selling tickets at all -- SO NICE!

[melissa errico fan]

Posted: 4/3/05 at 9:45pm

What is up with some box office attendants? You go into the theatre, willing to pay $100 + to see a show, and the guy/girl at the BO acts like their name is above the marquee. The way I look at it, they work at the box office because they need to make $6 an hour, so take an attitude if that's the way you want to be.

[munkustrap178]

Posted: 4/3/05 at 9:50pm

It infuriates me. The guy at the Shubert pissed me off, too.

[melissa errico fan]

Posted: 4/3/05 at 9:55pm

Some theatres are good. The people at the Kerr, Longacre, Booth and Lyceum have always been friendly.

The worst-by far-is the Marquis. Complete assholes.

[SahDu]

Posted: 4/3/05 at 10:12pm

Wow, so sad. How can anyone think Shakespeare boring?!?! He is "the greatest playwright of all time". I love going to the Shakespeare theatre here in Chicago. Sad. I wish I could go see it. Who is Denzel playing? Thanks!

Updated On: 2/15/14 at 10:12 PM

[Joshua488]

Posted: 4/3/05 at 10:14pm

People think he's boring because they refuse to try and understand anything that isn't in today's vernacular. If it requires some sort of processing and usage of the brain, it is classified as boring (sadly).
Updated On: 4/3/05 at 10:14 PM

[melissa errico fan]

Posted: 4/3/05 at 10:16pm

Denzel is Brutus.

[BlueWizard]

Posted: 4/3/05 at 10:27pm

Rather off-topic, but I love expressing my love of Shakespeare. Also check out his contemporaries: Thomas Kyd (THE SPANISH TRAGEDY is a must-read), Marlowe, Ben Jonson and Beaumont & Fletcher. Some of their works are just as thrilling as Shakespeare's, although their individual oeuvres don't have Shakespeare's sheer breadth.

[Dummy]

Posted: 4/3/05 at 11:19pm

I saw JC in previews a couple of weeks ago & didn't want to comment as it hadn't opened yet and thought it prudent to give the show a chance to fine-tune problems etc. before opening.

That said, plus the fact that I haven't seen any reviews yet for the opening, I found the performance less than memorable. A laugh and high five to the poster who commented on the house music before curtain...it sounded like bad Chinese opera. The play was OK, but Washington was not inhabiting the role of Brutus...at least not yet. He had stage presence and, I thought, the ability to read Shakespeare (from his wonderful performance as Don Pedro in the film version of Much Ado), but here he resorted to film-style posturing--nodding and shaking his head over and over, sawing his arms--rather than actually delivering the lines. Antony was also disappointing...almost wished Denzel would have played Antony and someone else Brutus. Casca and Caesar were hysterical, Cassius very good, if not particularly memorable.

All in all, I'd call it a fine, but not great production of Julius Caesar. The special effects were hokey...lots of loud guns and a few falling rocks on one side of the stage, then (predictably) the other. And why the preoccupation with swords and daggers when you've modernized the production with guns? If you are going to kill yourself and you have a gun, why ask your servant to hold a sword while you fall awkwardly on it? Just to make him earn his paycheck? The modernization here was really ham-handed.

Not that I don't love a Shakespeare production that brings current events to light in its staging, but I'd rate this one a B- in terms of overall performance and appeal.

P.S. The box-office clerk remarked hoity-toitily about the show being sold out every night, and therefore not available at TKTS, but the performance I saw had LOTS of open seats...particularly in the orchestra. Updated On: 4/4/05 at 11:19 PM

[cabarethed]

Posted: 4/4/05 at 1:06am

Just chiming in on the nastiness at the Belasco regarding student tix...and this was back when I saw Frankie and Johnny. The woman gave me SUCH attitude and started muttering under her breath while processing my order about how the policies should be banished. It was worth it though. Fab view, even with bar obstruction from the balcony that I practically had to go through secret passageways to get to.

[sabrelady]

Posted: 4/8/05 at 7:34pm

Colm Feore plays Cassius. He is an incred actor -just radiates Intelligence/ Malevolence. That"s why/how he played Pierre Trudeau !