MERCURY FUR at The New Group

[LightsOut90]

Posted: 7/14/15 at 10:20pm

This is probably super under the radar but The New Group is doing MERCURY FUR by Philip Ridley starting in August, the play is INTENSE and they are somehow doing it in the round at Signature with onstage seating and best part is Tony Revolori (Zero from Gran Budapest Hotel) is making his NYC stage debut!

 

http://www.thenewgroup.org/mercury-fur.html

 

 

[iluvtheatertrash]

Posted: 8/8/15 at 1:55am

I'm seeing this Saturday afternoon (today). 

[Vespertine1228]

Posted: 8/8/15 at 10:09am

I didn't even know this was playing yet.

Any reactions would be much appreciated. :)

[AC126748]

Posted: 8/8/15 at 12:45pm

I will be at today's matinee, as well.

[iluvtheatertrash]

Posted: 8/8/15 at 12:50pm

I'm in the $25 seats upstairs if you want to say hi. 

[AC126748]

Posted: 8/8/15 at 1:34pm

I'm not exactly sure where I'm sitting given the new configuration for this production.

[iluvtheatertrash]

Posted: 8/8/15 at 1:46pm

Pretty livid right now. They sold $25 partial view seats claiming a bar may be in the way. Fine. I show up and there's a freaking WALL blocking 75% of the stage.

[AC126748]

Posted: 8/8/15 at 5:12pm

Were you able to be re-seated? The performance didn't look anywhere near sold out.

By the way, this is definitely a must-see. And Tony Revolori is extraordinary. No way would you think this was his first theatrical role.

[MX888]

Posted: 8/8/15 at 5:26pm

Any seating recommendations (especially the on stage ones)? I know it might not matter since it's in the round but which side (odd/even seat#s) might be better? Thank you in advance!

[AC126748]

Posted: 8/8/15 at 6:56pm

I would recommend sitting on the main floor, not the mezzanine seating.

[HogansHero]

Posted: 8/8/15 at 7:18pm

what is the running time?

[AC126748]

Posted: 8/8/15 at 7:20pm

2:05 without intermission.

[HogansHero]

Posted: 8/8/15 at 7:20pm

wow

thanks

Updated On: 8/8/15 at 07:20 PM

[iluvtheatertrash]

Posted: 8/8/15 at 9:32pm

They reseated me. Though I'm beginning to think that was a bad idea. We had very different opinions. I think it's one of the worst things I've ever seen with mediocre acting, an amateur script and an excruciating endless plot that led to nowhere. But glad to hear someone else really enjoyed it. It's certainly going to be a divisive play.

[LightsOut90]

Posted: 8/8/15 at 10:30pm

i still can not believe New Group is producing this, its an absolutely insane show thats going to piss off/divide audiences, so excited to see it next month. 

[RippedMan]

Posted: 8/8/15 at 10:44pm

Is there a reason The New Group left Theatre Row? 

[LightsOut90]

Posted: 8/9/15 at 12:20am

because its a dump, Signature is WAY nicer. 

[lightguy06222]

Posted: 8/9/15 at 9:44pm

AWFUL ACTING. AWFUL DIRECTING.  WEIRD AS F*CK show.  but i didnt get up and leave, so thats saying someting!  (at least a dozen people did throughout the show.  and we didnt get out of there until 2hr and 20 min.....  LONG ass show.

[iluvtheatertrash]

Posted: 8/9/15 at 10:15pm

Glad to know I'm not the only one who found it awful and amateurish. Easily the worst thing I've seen in years. I wish I had never been asked to be reseated from the NO-view mezzanine (seriously, did the producers even LOOK before selling those seats?) because then I could've left. But no. I was trapped for 2+ hours. 

[13fan]

Posted: 8/9/15 at 10:45pm

Would you be able to share where you were seated and then reseated?

I'm being offered Row E, which is the first row the mezz, and I'm hesitant. 

This show is drawing me in for some reason and I'm very excited! 

[iluvtheatertrash]

Posted: 8/9/15 at 11:32pm

That's where my seat was and I couldn't see 80% of the stage. The bar isn't the problem like the set says. It's a wall that is so high it blocks the stage. 

The staff at Signature is so lovely and agreed that the New Group should NOT be selling those seats and helped move me into the "orch" on the far side in row B.

[haterobics]

Posted: 8/9/15 at 11:33pm

"Glad to know I'm not the only one who found it awful and amateurish. Easily the worst thing I've seen in years. I wish I had never been asked to be reseated from the NO-view mezzanine (seriously, did the producers even LOOK before selling those seats?) because then I could've left. But no. I was trapped for 2+ hours. "

So, you DON'T love theater trash?!?

[RippedMan]

Posted: 8/10/15 at 12:46am

You've actually got me quite interested if only to see this large wall that obstructs. It's like the Walter Kerr where there is a giant pole in the way. 

[HogansHero]

Posted: 8/10/15 at 1:41am

There are a handful of seats that slightly obstruct, kinda like the seats in the bleachers at Yankee Stadium that block the opposite field. These are the equivalent of those bleacher seats both in price and number. This "issue" is (as is common here) blown out of proportion. And I'd bet the price of a ticket that they were comped.

This is not a show that is going to be broadly liked, though I liked it. But the notion that 75% of the stage is blocked is beyond ridiculous. It is true that the set wall under the side sections (not the sections behind the orchestra seating) preclude seeing the doors that are on that wall, but nothing meaningful happens there. As a matter of physics and geometry, the portion of the stage in which the action of the play takes place (not counting the part that takes place off stage and out of view of the entire audience a la Chekhov) is fully visible from every seat.

 

[AC126748]

Posted: 8/10/15 at 7:31am

I was seated in the second row of the main floor (right behind the "on stage" seating) on the side of the theater where the audience entered. From where I was sitting, the mezzanine seats didn't look terribly partial view -- and I was told by a friend who sat in the seats that are directly above the stage area that he didn't miss anything -- but I wasn't sitting up there, so I really can't say.

As Hogan said, this play won't be for everyone. I found it fascinating and I wouldn't categorize the acting as amateur in any way. Revolori, Paul Iacono as Lola, and actor who played Darren (I don't have my playbill in front of me) were particularly strong.

There were no walkouts that I could discern at the Saturday matinee. One woman got up and left, but returned. (I'm assuming it was a trip to the bathroom). The play was not 2 hours and 20 minutes. At the performance I attended, the show started late (around 10 after) but the actual running time was only a little over 2 hours.