"Trigger warning: “This play is a blistering vulgar satire on Male Toxicity and White Privilege.”
Thank God he did this. People need to be told what a play is supposed to be about it before anyone says one word. This is truly elevating the art form.
"Blistering? Yeah. Vulgar? Certainly. And viciously entertaining. But when it comes to the show’s loftier ambitions — the “satire” part of “blistering vulgar satire” — its execution is edgy but not necessarily sharp.""
I saw this last Friday and the best way I could summarize my feelings is, "this felt like a very rough first draft." Everything seemed unpolished and not fully thought through. There is a lot of fat in the script that can and should be trimmed. Plenty of scenes come and go without any sort of context or resolution (BDSM scene as well as Debra Messing's character's big reveal which felt fully out of nowhere come to mind).
This thing just gets too far ahead of its skis and can't get itself back. Was fun seeing such a talented cast onstage (though I don't believe for a second they were all at school at the same time), but I just don't understand what it was trying to say. The last 20ish minutes show that the writers don't either.
No one considered leaving the party at any point, or considered to stop playing the game. Why did any of these couples get together in the first place if they all seem to despise each other? And I really didn’t need to see three adult rich white frat bros use the word f****t so much. It’s just a runaway train careening off a cliff, and as an audience member I just think “good riddance!”
Thank god for the stellar performances of Constance Wu and Tramell Tillman, who seem to be playing the only actual human characters in a play whose entire premise is “Rich white people are bad and crazy”. Like… yeah, we know.
Not since School Daze!!! Who doesn't love a "Da Butt" dance off. Krawkoski's Running Man is spectacular. Throughly enjoyed the show - yes the cast makes the show - and in no world do the bros look like were in the same frat, in the same decade, but this was a ton of fun. stellar set design.
Posted on the Buy/Sell board... but it's last minute so: I'm selling 2 tickets for tonight's performance of Sh*t. Meet. Fan. Front row, seats A16 and A17 for list price ($174). DM for details--
It wanted to be “The Boys in the Band” with some “God of Carnage” and it was really just a foul-mouthed, watered-down, bastardized hybrid.
Everyone is just using their own sitcom schtick they are known for. Only Tillman and Wu come off as actual characters. It’s a testament to Tillman’s performance that I still cared about his character even though I saw his arc coming from a mile away.
Thank God I only paid $60 during the presale
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Kad said: "Considering everyone involved, it’s wild how quickly this became a non-event."
Honestly, it was the assertively starry cast that signaled to me that this was not going to be very good--sometimes this just reeks of moneyed desperation. I guess this is what happens when you have two casting directors as your artistic directors. I wonder what everyone was paid...
verywellthensigh said: "Kad said: "Considering everyone involved, it’s wild how quickly this became a non-event."
Honestly, it was the assertively starry cast that signaled to me that this was not going to be very good--sometimes this just reeks of moneyed desperation. I wonder what everyone was paid..."
It's an Off-Broadway nonprofit so probably not much more than the minimum weekly.
"...everyone finally shut up, and the audience could enjoy the beginning of the Anatevka Pogram in peace."
I feel like this was definitely an “Tony bait” type of production that seemed to want to use off Broadway as a spring board to Broadway - but the reviews probably took a dump on that.
I just haven’t seen talented wasted so badly since ONCE UPON A MATTRESS.
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