M. BUTTERFLY Previews — Page 2

I saw this tonight and completely agree with what everyone has said. There are two very good central performances Jin Ha (who i was very impressed with and really kept me engaged with the play) and Clive Owen.

The staging is such a let down. I thought Julia Taymor's A Midsummer Night's Dream was really magical and thought this seemed like a good fit for her. As everyone has mentioned this "low-tech" staging is clunky and incredible distracting. At one moment tonight Clive Owen had to shove one of the panels off stage forcefully...and it was awkward. When your star is moving scenery and it doesn't look good I think there is a problem.

I found it hard to focus on the play because there was always a stagehand running on or off stage moving something or a panel sliding (or not) into place. As it has been mentioned when the pieces don't make symmetry, it just seems sloppy. I'm sure some of this will be tightened during the preview period, but I can't imagine that it is ever seamless.

The worst thing I can say is that these panels are often just plane ugly. The grey on grey early on was hideous.

Luckily I found much to enjoy from the performances and I mostly enjoyed the play itself. I did't like the meta references, but was engaged with the central story. I found the final scene to be powerful and kept thinking that if another director had gotten their hands on this it could have been really thrilling theater. Until then I'll be dreaming of panels sliding in and out.

GavestonPS, It's not the testimony Song gives in the court that's we'll stage (the staging of that looks rather high schoolish actually), its the one that he gives to the chineese government before being sent to the labor camp.

Most of what everyone said already is true. GavestonPS, you are definitely correct that I walked into the play for the wrong reason. I enjoyed it quite a bit.

The play is amazingly written. Go see it just for that. I came away thinking about lots of things... gender, race, class, diplomacy, sense of identity and self, and who knows what else? It’s gorgeous.

The production is technically sloppy, but can improve over time. Julie, find a way to put some seams between those flats so we don’t see everyone walking behind them, it’s absurdly distracting and interrupted many emotional moments.

I’m surprised to see such acclaim for Clive Owen. I thought he was trying to play a “straight man” in what is a complex, emotional role... that is oddly enough about a very straight man. He was too flat for me. I had a little trouble following what was happening at the ending... which would have been improved had a more nuanced actor been doing it. I think he’s still getting his bearings on the audience and his performance will improve over time. Jin Ha was great.

I was completely unfamiliar with the show and had lots of feelings but left a little confused. Had this been handled better, I feel like I would have walked out blown away. I hope the production can reach the level that the play needs it to be... I want it to get there.

Side note... if you hate Miss Saigon, you will love M. Butterfly.

Updated On: 10/9/17 at 03:54 AM

^^Yes, that’s why I have hope. I only saw the second preview... this will only get tighter over time.

When will someone say it: "Julie has no clothes." She is a lousy director who has no idea how to tell a coherent story on stage because she is so busy with pretty pictures. Unless you have seen the cartoon, Lion King is incomprehensible. Spiderman was even worse. Her movies make sense because she has an editor who is working overtime. If directors are supposed to tell a clear story, she fails miserably every time.

Updated On: 10/9/17 at 09:32 AM

TalkinLoud said: "BroadwayBeebe, can you tell me about rush policy? I don't see one listed online anywhere."

It was $35 and my seats were BB 2 and 4. I walked up at 5 after my matinee and was able to get them. I made a comment to her that the show said there was no rush and she laughed and said well I've got some. Front row and the stage height was only slightly above eye level. It was a really great seat.

Some of y'all forget it's previews. Both that the design is not likely to change but the execution will unquestionably improve.

"When will someone say it: "Julie has no clothes." She is a lousy director who has no idea how to tell a coherent story on stage because she is so busy with pretty pictures."

^this!

I have always found Taymor to be great at visuals and a rather lousy actor director. She can make some stellar theatrical pictures but her story telling leaves a lot to be desired. She usually leaves people going "Wow! That was incredible!" but when you try to reason why she used that image, you are left scratching your head. "Well, I guess we will never understand the mind of a genius."

I can understand that Taymor isn't great with storytelling. But this story has already proven to be incredible - Tony Award winning, etc. So it's not like she's creating a story from scratch - like Spiderman. I'm just curious, given the information here, how this is a $7+ million budget that has been talked about here? It doesn't seem like a big, splashy production?

I was hugely influenced by Dexter's original production and that huge sweeping slope in the design.

It is an abiding memory, as is the performance by Anthony Hopkins. I was really hoping this production would exceed that experience...

I was 5 rows back in the Mezzanine and had a great view. Not sure about the balcony.

^ Thank you! I have been up in the balcony at the Cort before, and the view was fine, but I know each show has different sight-lines! I will pick up a balcony ticket soon for this!

Yikes. I was at tonight's preview and thought the whole thing was very rough; many sections were a downright slog to get through. So much of the set was grey and drab and ugly. For a play with so much wit and beauty in the text, the design aesthetic was not built to match.

I was not nearly so enamored with Owen's performance as some other posters. I thought he was fine with a couple good moments; maybe he will find some more emotional depth with the role as previews go on, though I'm not sure he'll get much help from his director who appears to have left all the actors to their own devices. It's clear Taymor enjoys directing the transitions and opera/dance sequences, but the actual scene work seems to be, up till now, ignored.

The one bright spot is Jin Ha, who is already giving a strong and touching performance. Even Taymor is unable to rob the disrobing scene of its poignancy.

Call me melodramatic, but I think this revival will cause the legacy of the play to take a hit, as well as David Henry Huang's. It could be easy to see this production and say, "Oh wow, I guess the play hasn't aged that well," when that isn't the case at all. The play is smart and wonderful. This just isn't the production to convince one of its many splendors.