It was miserable. "Headache House" is a more fitting name- it was incredibly tedious, the accents were unintelligible, and Swoosie Kurtz didn't know her lines.
It's Shaw, so boredom factor is high. I thought it was weakly directed, blocked really, with no real insight into the play or the characters. Shaw (TO ME) seems much more enjoyable on an anecdotal level, as hours of philosophy, no matter how wittily presented, is still two hours of philosophy. It is up to the director to infuse the words with physical meaning and make the play entertaining to a modern audience. That didn't seem to happen.
True, many of the actors didn't know their lines, though it seemed like Bosco was the worst. I thought Swoozie was fine, but this role doesn't suit her well. She was much better in the other plays Ive seen her in, Frozen and Mineola Twins.
Laila Robbins was easily the highlight of the show--she carried herself so well in the period costumes, spoke clearly and confidently and the laughs she got were legit for both the play and character.
Byron Jennings has also been much better...Lily Rabe was fine but has hardly the charisma to carry a tome like HH.
Maybe not exactly a Headache House....maybe Heartburn House--just enough to make you uncomfortable.
"Laila Robbins was easily the highlight of the show--she carried herself so well in the period costumes, spoke clearly and confidently and the laughs she got were legit for both the play and character."
awww, I'm glad you liked Laila. She just finished The Cherry Orchard at Shakespeare theatre of NJ where I was a props intern. And she was great! She really can pull off that time period.
<--- the set of A Midsummer Night's Dream that I was assistant stage manager for during the 2007 season at the STNJ outdoor stage.
-Dre-
You must remember all the same that at the crux of every game is knowing when it's time to leave the table... And it's important to be artful in your exit. No turning back, you must accept the con is done... It was a ball, it was a blast. And it's a shame it couldn't last. But every chapter has to end, you must agree. ~Dirty Rotten Scoundrels~
There's a special kind of people known as show people. We live in a world full of dreams. Sometimes we're not too certain what's false and what's real. But we're seldom in doubt about what we feel. ~Curtains~
It is a far, far better thing I do, than I have ever done; it is a far, far better rest I go to, than I have ever known. ~A Tale of Two Cities ~
I went to see it on Sunday and thought it was decent. As others have said Laila Robins was great, but I also like Phillip Bosco. Some people stumbled with their lines, but I was still interested. I just felt it seemed to drag on.
That's too bad. There was a really stunning revival at the Goodman here in Chicago a few years back directed by Kate Whoriskey (though not quite as stunning and revisionist as her revival of the Rose Tatoo) that ended with a poetic tableu of the cast donning gas masks to the narration of a Shaw quote... it was really surrealist... and frankly wonderful.
