Posted: 9/19/19 at 7:53am
Previews start tonight September 19 and opens October 10. Previously played Steppenwolf and the Mark Taper in LA.
Please post your thoughts.
Updated On: 9/20/19 at 07:53 AM
Posted: 9/20/19 at 1:13am
Posted: 9/20/19 at 1:25am
Posted: 9/20/19 at 11:18pm
Saw the show tonight. My God, that was something really incredible. I haven’t seen a new play geared for actual adults, (people who have lived, lost, hurt, been hurt) in a very long time.
Ian Barford Is giving what I can really only describe as the textbook definition of what a Tony Award winning performance should be. There’s so so many great roles for women in theater, it’s VERY rare for a new role for a man to come along that’s THIS good. Letts truly deserves a lot of credit for his creation of this character
For a second preview, the show is tight as a drum and I can’t see any room for improvement on anything in it.
Just a note to people, there’s a lot of nudity (full frontal male and female) and a lot of sex in this. It’s certainly not recommended for children.
Updated On: 9/20/19 at 11:18 PM
Posted: 9/21/19 at 5:44am
This is due to close the day before I arrive in the city for my holiday. Hopefully it will extend, if only for a week. Is this likely?
Posted: 9/21/19 at 6:16am
Posted: 9/21/19 at 5:25pm
Posted: 9/21/19 at 9:05pm
Posted: 9/21/19 at 9:21pm
Posted: 9/21/19 at 11:40pm
Other than staying out of the first 4 rows, any seating recommendations? Looking at either far side orchestra, or rear mezz.
Posted: 9/22/19 at 1:08am
Posted: 9/22/19 at 5:48pm
jbird5 said: "The Hayes is tiny and impressively raked so most seats should be okay. The action takes place on the turntable in the middle of the stage so I think the sides are good. A few of the characters do karaoke stage right but you can still see them. I’m 5’9”ish and sat in the second row and it wasn’t horrible. It was a trade off for being that close to these wonderful actors."
Thanks for the comment. I have a ticket for next Saturday night, Row D in the orchestra on the aisle. I wondered why the ticket was $99 with a discount, but there was no mention of a possibly obstructed view. I'm hopeful I can see and enjoy the show. I'm 5'8" tall.
Posted: 9/22/19 at 7:29pm
I saw this afternoon's show with Today Tix rush, for about $42. I got front row center. At 5ft 9in, I felt I missed very little and that it was mostly an excellent seat.
The two big exceptions were when people were lying on the mattress - I could never see their bodies or even their faces unless they sat up. So, the sex/post-sex scenes had less impact.
Anyway, I'd definitely recommend the show. I loved Act I, and large parts of Act II, especially the discussion of marriage - like perhaps a lot of people, I've had a much less funny version of that conversation, with my spouse. To describe the parts of Act II that I wasn't as fond of would involve needless spoilers - though those spoilers are kind of summed up in a title card from Barry Lyndon that opens Scene 1 Act II.
Posted: 9/24/19 at 2:40pm
AntV said: "What's the running time of this?"
The posted run time of 2:40 including an intermission is pretty accurate.
Posted: 9/24/19 at 11:50pm
Tracy Lett's is a genius. I am not sure I loved this because the story doesnt really go anywhere profound or shocking, but despite its narrative simplicity the writing is mostly sharp, often hilarious and the central performances are gutting and beautiful. (and the set is great).
Ian Barford is giving a friggin phenomenal performance. He is on stage literally 90% of the time and carries this play in a way that is all too rare these days. He embodies this complicated, layered schlub so perfectly....and Cora Vander Broek matches him beautifully. I found her perfectly awkward, then perfectly likeable, then perfectly tragic, then perfectly powerful. That is quite an arc and she nails it.
I wasnt as impressed with the supporting cast, and Letts does get a little lazy here and there setting up the exposition. But its a damn good play, even if its not earth shattering in any way. Really worth seeing.
And should be easy to get tickets. At least 1/3 of the orchestra was completely empty. Letts was in the backrow enjoying the performance (laughing a bunch). I was in Row H and saw everything fine, but it really does look like the first four rows would miss a bunch.
Finally. I am no prude but wow. I dont think I've ever seen such explicit sex on Broadway. Someone above mentioned the nudity, and yes there is plenty of that for extended periods of time. But there are also two sex scenes that made me blush-- and made me wonder how they simulated all of that when totally naked. (And I think the front mezzanine would have the best view if this is sorta your thang.....)
Updated On: 9/24/19 at 11:50 PM
Posted: 9/25/19 at 8:16am
I agree with everything Zion24 just posted - I had such a great time at this play. Linda Vista is sharp, funny, and touching. The cast is great with Ian Bradford and Cora Vander Broek being the standouts. I was completely invested in the characters and the story the entire evening. The story is quite simple, but there are so many moments that are just brilliantly acted and executed. As mentioned, this is definitely a very adult show with gratuitous sex, nudity, and profanity. I was sitting in the front row, and yes, the stage is VERY high. Between Linda Vista and The Sound Inside, the new plays this season are shaping up quite nicely!
Posted: 9/25/19 at 4:16pm
Went last night with high expectations and was disappointed to have a pretty different reaction from most of you in this thread.
Found the characters extremely underwritten, the women especially, and many performances stiff – really surprising given Letts' talent and that most of the cast has been with this piece for two professional productions already. Cora Vander Broek's scenes were the most engaging for me, especially her final appearance. All in all I was entertained enough for the 3 hours, but it didn't add up to much – it's not a disaster, but to me it certainly isn't a great play either.
Without giving away too much, we just get Wheeler doing his same cynical schtick over and over with different people, and the little justification we get for it near the end is anemic and unsatisfying. Then the resolution, if you can call it that, is deeply cliched, borderline cringeworthy.
BTW, if you do want to see it, there's some kind of glitch or unannounced promo on the Second Stage website where every seat is free for the whole run if you use your AmEx – just have to pay for convenience fee. Perhaps Ken Davenport is consulting for them.
Updated On: 9/25/19 at 04:16 PM
Posted: 9/25/19 at 5:02pm
BTW, if you do want to see it, there's some kind of glitch or unannounced promo on the Second Stage website where every seat is free for the whole run if you use your AmEx – just have to pay for convenience fee. Perhaps Ken Davenport is consulting for them."
Certainly very interested in this! When/how does this prompt? I've gotten as far as adding my billing address (but no CC info) but have yet to click 'buy now'. After clicking that does it prompt credit card info?
Posted: 9/25/19 at 10:26pm
theNYCpro said: "
BTW, if you do want to see it, there's some kind of glitch or unannounced promo on the Second Stage website where every seat is free for the whole run if you use your AmEx – just have to pay for convenience fee. Perhaps Ken Davenport is consulting for them."
Certainly very interested in this! When/how does this prompt? I've gotten as far as adding my billing address (but no CC info) but have yet to click 'buy now'. After clicking that does it prompt credit card info?"
Aah, looks like it’s no longer up, but it was for at least 24 hours; sorry you missed it. Basically any time you selected a seat, you were given an option for “Standard admission” for $149 or whatever or “Amex presale” for $0.
Posted: 9/25/19 at 10:52pm
Pashacar said: "Went last night with high expectations and was disappointed to have a pretty different reaction from most of you in this thread.
Found the characters extremely underwritten, the women especially, and many performances stiff – really surprising given Letts' talent and that most of the cast has been with this piece for two professional productions already.Cora Vander Broek's scenes were the most engaging for me, especially her final appearance. All in all I was entertained enough for the 3 hours, but it didn't add up to much– it's not a disaster, but to meit certainly isn't a great play either.
Even though I liked it, I dont disagree with this. Its a play about a messed up dude and the universe around him. Except for Vander Broek, no one else does much of anything interesting. Its the strength of that story and those performances that carried the play for me. (Stiff is the perfect word for the rest of the cast- it felt like their fourth preview, and not as if they had all played these roles many times before).
Posted: 9/26/19 at 12:19am
Saw it this evening, and really enjoyed it. Act one was interrupted by someone sneezing very loudly as if a lion was sneezing. There were about 10 sneezes maybe ten seconds apart. It was accompanied by some laughter and shushes from the audience and someone calling for the house manager.
Posted: 9/26/19 at 12:05pm
bwaylyric said: "Saw it this evening, and really enjoyed it. Act one was interrupted by someone sneezing very loudly as if a lion was sneezing. There were about 10 sneezes maybe ten seconds apart. It was accompanied by some laughter and shushes from the audience and someone calling for the house manager."
The sneezing fit was insane. He apparently refused to leave.
I guess I'm the lone wolf who reaaaally didn't care for this play. It seemed very "get off my lawn" on the main character/Tracy Lett's side. Lots of rants about "things today" and genuinely unlikable people. That's fine, I don't need plays solely about people I'd get lunch with, but I genuinely didn't care for any of the performances either.
I kept wondering what made this woman fall in love with this man in the space of a month that devastated her so. He was absolutely garbage to her every single time they showed them together so I didn't get any glimmer as to why she liked him. She has a speech on their first date about how she sees how kind he is, but his actions showed no kindness. In the same way, I don't get why he fell so hard so fast for the younger girl. She's also always atrocious to him and seemed to be lying about everything.
Maybe I'm just not so into straight older white men style comedy which is where most of the jokes seemed to be coming from and that's fine. I think I'm just in a place personally right now where I don't need to see one more play/movie/tv show about a middle aged guy complaining about how life's not fair.
