Posted: 4/5/16 at 6:07am
All the productions I saw of it have one intermission and all the 3.5 hours or longer plays I saw had one intermission as well...
Updated On: 4/5/16 at 06:07 AM
Posted: 4/5/16 at 6:59am
To be honest, I can concentrate for that long, but my bladder has a mind of his own.
Posted: 4/5/16 at 7:32am
imeldasturn said: "All the productions I saw of it have one intermission and all the 3.5 hours or longer plays I saw had one intermission as well...
The Redgrave/Dennehy production had two intermissions and was the longest production of this particular play I've seen, close to 4.5 hours. By contrast, the recent London revival (with Laurie Metcalf and David Suchet) was barely 3 hours. It is frequently done with one intermission coming after Act Two (the play is four acts long). I do wonder if Roundabout's older subscribers -- with their older bladders -- will complain.
Posted: 4/5/16 at 9:27am
I'd say, the play benefits from one intermission in 2016. The power is cumulative, and two interruptions, no longer part of our experience of performance, outside of opera, can be jarring. I believe -- just my opinion -- that we remain more engaged with one break.
Posted: 4/5/16 at 9:35am
CHG414 said: "To neonlightsxo and others who have seen it - After how many minutes into the performance is the intermission?"
Uh, I don't know how many minutes, that's kind of a random question, but it's between Acts 2 and 3.
Posted: 4/5/16 at 9:45am
imeldasturn said: "All the productions I saw of it have one intermission and all the 3.5 hours or longer plays I saw had one intermission as well...
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I have seen four productions of the play. Two had two intermissions, two had one. I personally prefer to have two, although the number of intermissions never impacted on how I felt about the productions.
My bladder is older now, however.
Posted: 4/5/16 at 9:48am
Matt Rogers said: "One intermission for a nearly 4 hour show? Are they out of their freaking minds? This must usually have two intermissions, right?
I guess you didn't see August: Osage County. Or Angels in America. Or many recent productions of Shakespeare that only use one intermission.
Posted: 4/5/16 at 10:26am
LarryD2 said: "Matt Rogers said: "One intermission for a nearly 4 hour show? Are they out of their freaking minds? This must usually have two intermissions, right?
I guess you didn't see August: Osage County. Or Angels in America. Or many recent productions of Shakespeare that only use one intermission.
"
Don't talk when you don't know what you are talking about. The Broadway production of August definitely had two intermissions.
Posted: 4/5/16 at 10:44am
OK, I forgot that A:OC had two intermissions. Still doesn't change the fact that it's not uncommon for 3+ hour plays to only have one intermission. If that's too much for you, stay home.
Posted: 4/5/16 at 12:26pm
Seating question. I have the choice of house left back row orchestra versus house left box seats. What would y'all choose? The box seats are cheaper for the obstructed view, but it might be nice to be closer?
Posted: 4/5/16 at 1:16pm
I hear the boxes are very obstructed at the AA. Go with the back of the orch.
Posted: 4/5/16 at 1:37pm
neonlightsxo said: "I hear the boxes are very obstructed at the AA. Go with the back of the orch.
"
Thanks! I wish I had planned better, especially with Hiptix Gold. Excited to see it though.
Posted: 4/5/16 at 1:37pm
LarryD2 said: "OK, I forgot that A:OC had two intermissions. Still doesn't change the fact that it's not uncommon for 3+ hour plays to only have one intermission. If that's too much for you, stay home.
"
LOL - I see someone took their bitch pill today.
Posted: 4/5/16 at 11:56pm
Tonight Act One ran 90 minutes, Act Two ran 110 minutes.
Total run time: 3 hours 35 minutes.
Staging favors house left.
Posted: 4/6/16 at 12:14am
I saw this tonight and was amazed at how tight it was for only a second preview. The performances were great and I honestly couldn't say that any of them was more or less polished than any other. I liked Lange and thought there was a clear descent, in that the veneer dropped, as the play progressed.
The play was 3.45. Act 1 + 2 was 1 hour 30 minutes, intermission 15-20 and Act 3+4 just a tick under 2 hours.
I was in H17. A decent enough seat. Left side of theatre, but if you were in the boxes on this side I think you wouldn't see the stairway (which is hard against the side of the stage) and would miss exits and entrances.
The only glitch was that a few minutes before the end, just before Mary's final monologue, there was a loud noise for a minute or two that sounded like a white noise machine. Then I thought maybe something had gone wrong with the tanks they might have been using to produce fog, like a tube had come loose or something. At least I assume it was a glitch. The staging was pretty conservative, so I don't think it was some sort of symbol/metaphor that was lost on me.
Some of the audience wilted under the time limit. The guy behind me started snoring about 15 minutes from the end. And I had to ask another woman behind me to please stop shaking her glass, smashing the ice cubes together. Of course, when I turned around she was on her phone.
But overall, a really great production.
Posted: 4/6/16 at 1:49am
What's the design like? Are they in the same room the whole time?
Posted: 4/6/16 at 8:36am
^ Spare single set.
Posted: 4/6/16 at 8:57am
Confused about how there's a 10 minute discrepancy in run time reports. I would imagine it's 3:45 not 3:35, unless they somehow cut 10 minutes since Sunday.
Posted: 4/6/16 at 9:03am
We should all, of course, be sympathetic to anyone for whom it's a physical challenge to sit through a two hour act, but I have to ask, how do they sit through an entire full length feature movie without needing a bathroom break? Because if there's been a call for there to be intermissions for any movie of about two hours or more, I missed it.
Posted: 4/6/16 at 9:16am
They probably get up and go to the bathroom.
Posted: 4/6/16 at 12:17pm
@mordav: I purchased a boxseat on the left of the Mezzanine. Are the exits and entrances the only things I'll miss from there?
Posted: 4/6/16 at 1:01pm
Is the stage high for this production? My ticket is A5. I'm just wondering if I should look for a seat farther back if available.
Posted: 4/6/16 at 1:02pm
Ellen2 said: "@mordav: I purchased a boxseat on the left of the Mezzanine. Are the exits and entrances the only things I'll miss from there? "
I'm not sure what you actually miss from the box, but a fair amount of stuff happens near and on the stairs.
Posted: 4/6/16 at 1:19pm
Neonlights is right. Several times the characters are by the stairs. I don't know about the mezz box seats on the left, but I was a couple of seats away from the box in the orchestra and the people in the outside box seats were leaning over a fair way. For those outsde of them the view would have been pretty bad.
To answer an earlier question about the setting. I just re read the opening description of the play, and the setting is pretty faithful to the text
Updated On: 4/6/16 at 01:19 PM
Posted: 4/6/16 at 1:24pm
neonlightsxo said: "Ellen2 said: "@mordav: I purchased a boxseat on the left of the Mezzanine. Are the exits and entrances the only things I'll miss from there? "
I'm not sure what you actually miss from the box, but a fair amount of stuff happens near and on the stairs.
"
Am I allowed to use four letter words on here?
