#1
Posted: 2/19/09 at 9:27am
Oh, man. Here we go.
My best to everyone involved. Really.
My best to everyone involved. Really.
MOURNING BECOMES ELECTRA reviews
#2
Posted: 2/19/09 at 10:47am
LOLOL, I can't wait.
I chose, and my world was shaken. So what?
The choice may have been mistaken. The choosing was not.
#3
Posted: 2/19/09 at 10:50am
As painful as this production was, I hope the director gets the brunt of the critiscm and the actors are somewhat spared. I have to give them a lot of credit for making their way through this mess each night without giving up.
That said I'm sure we'll get quite a few chuckles out of the reviews tonight!
That said I'm sure we'll get quite a few chuckles out of the reviews tonight!
Marie: Don't be in such a hurry about that pretty little chippy in Frisco.
Tony: Eh, she's a no chip!
#4
Posted: 2/19/09 at 6:02pm
The Associated Press [with Jennifer Farrar reviewing] is MIXED-TO-POSITIVE:
"...Christine's fury at Ezra for 23 wasted, loveless years doesn't ring true as a motive for murder, despite Taylor's efforts to portray a human side to her monstrous character. She wrings some much-needed levity out of early dialogue by the sheer force of her delivery.
Malone wears a mask of righteous anger in the first two plays, seeming stiff and colorless, but she's carefully concealing her character's true malevolence. Vinnie flowers into a flirtatious, amoral copy of her murderous mother as the plot evolves. Malone dominates the third play, embodying the steely will of her character as she tries in vain to protect her weak-willed brother and fight the Mannon curse..."
http://news.yahoo.com/s/ap/20090219/ap_en_re/theater_review_mourning_becomes_electra;_ylt=Ah9gwWufP6F.fn.QvFPIUvg9FRkF
"...Christine's fury at Ezra for 23 wasted, loveless years doesn't ring true as a motive for murder, despite Taylor's efforts to portray a human side to her monstrous character. She wrings some much-needed levity out of early dialogue by the sheer force of her delivery.
Malone wears a mask of righteous anger in the first two plays, seeming stiff and colorless, but she's carefully concealing her character's true malevolence. Vinnie flowers into a flirtatious, amoral copy of her murderous mother as the plot evolves. Malone dominates the third play, embodying the steely will of her character as she tries in vain to protect her weak-willed brother and fight the Mannon curse..."
http://news.yahoo.com/s/ap/20090219/ap_en_re/theater_review_mourning_becomes_electra;_ylt=Ah9gwWufP6F.fn.QvFPIUvg9FRkF
"Y'know, I think Bertolt Brecht was rolling in his grave."
-Nellie McKay on the 2006 Broadway production of The Threepenny Opera, in which she played Polly Peachum
-Nellie McKay on the 2006 Broadway production of The Threepenny Opera, in which she played Polly Peachum
#5
Posted: 2/19/09 at 7:20pm
Variety is A PAN:
"It might be incongruous in 1865, but Jena Malone's haircut in "Mourning Becomes Electra" is super-cute. Love the Jean Seberg pixie crop on her, and the bed-head look is adorably offset by those severe, belted black monastic outfits. Oh, and Jason Lyons' sepulchral lighting is just the right funereal cloak for designer Derek McLane's minimalist mausoleum aesthetic. Those are the chief points of interest and the most visible signs that some -- any -- thought went into this inert revival of Eugene O'Neill's 1931 "Oresteia" update, a production so static and misdirected you start glancing around half-expecting the audience to mutiny."
http://www.variety.com/review/VE1117939717.html?categoryid=33&cs=1
"It might be incongruous in 1865, but Jena Malone's haircut in "Mourning Becomes Electra" is super-cute. Love the Jean Seberg pixie crop on her, and the bed-head look is adorably offset by those severe, belted black monastic outfits. Oh, and Jason Lyons' sepulchral lighting is just the right funereal cloak for designer Derek McLane's minimalist mausoleum aesthetic. Those are the chief points of interest and the most visible signs that some -- any -- thought went into this inert revival of Eugene O'Neill's 1931 "Oresteia" update, a production so static and misdirected you start glancing around half-expecting the audience to mutiny."
http://www.variety.com/review/VE1117939717.html?categoryid=33&cs=1
"Y'know, I think Bertolt Brecht was rolling in his grave."
-Nellie McKay on the 2006 Broadway production of The Threepenny Opera, in which she played Polly Peachum
-Nellie McKay on the 2006 Broadway production of The Threepenny Opera, in which she played Polly Peachum
#6
Posted: 2/19/09 at 7:36pm
Backstage is VERY NEGATIVE:
"In director Scott Elliott's revival of Eugene O'Neill's comedy Mourning Becomes Electra -- wait a minute. This isn't a comedy. It's a tragedy, a trilogy, 13 acts in all, about a family violently disintegrating after the Civil War, a conscious, monumental remaking of Aeschylus' Oresteia with American values, faces, and voices. Why did the audience laugh?
First, forgetting the Aeschylus-O'Neill parallels, audiences know soap operas when they see them, and Mourning Becomes Electra is that if nothing else..."
http://www.backstage.com/bso/news_reviews/nyc/review_display.jsp?vnu_content_id=1003943177
"In director Scott Elliott's revival of Eugene O'Neill's comedy Mourning Becomes Electra -- wait a minute. This isn't a comedy. It's a tragedy, a trilogy, 13 acts in all, about a family violently disintegrating after the Civil War, a conscious, monumental remaking of Aeschylus' Oresteia with American values, faces, and voices. Why did the audience laugh?
First, forgetting the Aeschylus-O'Neill parallels, audiences know soap operas when they see them, and Mourning Becomes Electra is that if nothing else..."
http://www.backstage.com/bso/news_reviews/nyc/review_display.jsp?vnu_content_id=1003943177
"Y'know, I think Bertolt Brecht was rolling in his grave."
-Nellie McKay on the 2006 Broadway production of The Threepenny Opera, in which she played Polly Peachum
-Nellie McKay on the 2006 Broadway production of The Threepenny Opera, in which she played Polly Peachum
#7
Posted: 2/19/09 at 7:42pm
I don't get Backstage sometimes. They give critical praise to some of the most random shows, and then are so harsh to others. Whatever.
#8
Posted: 2/19/09 at 7:45pm
Thank you BustopherPhantom! Keep 'em coming, please!
"I am the sound of distant thunder, the color of flame."
CARRIE the Musical
#9
Posted: 2/19/09 at 8:20pm
I'm starting to dread going for tomorrow night.
A question for anyone who has seen the show. Should I stick it out all the way through or bail after the second ac?t I know the play seems to kinda peter out by the third act.
A question for anyone who has seen the show. Should I stick it out all the way through or bail after the second ac?t I know the play seems to kinda peter out by the third act.
#10
Posted: 2/19/09 at 8:23pm
I stuck it out. The 3rd play is the weakest and the loose ends are really tied together by the end of the second. It's kind of like the last 12 endings of the 3rd Lord of the Rings movie. Unnecessary.
Worst happens, just bail during the intermission. Each act was only about 90 minutes.
Or, if you really want to stay, just go to Papaya Dog during one of the intervals, get 2 dogs and a Papaya Juice for $3 and be reengergized.
Worst happens, just bail during the intermission. Each act was only about 90 minutes.
Or, if you really want to stay, just go to Papaya Dog during one of the intervals, get 2 dogs and a Papaya Juice for $3 and be reengergized.
#11
Posted: 2/19/09 at 8:36pm
Don't remind me of how many times I stood up at the end of the RotK before having to sit back down. Thanks for the advice...
And back to the reviews...
And back to the reviews...
#12
Posted: 2/19/09 at 8:54pm
I thought that all of ROTK's endings were necessary.
And NOW back to the reviews...
And NOW back to the reviews...
"Y'know, I think Bertolt Brecht was rolling in his grave."
-Nellie McKay on the 2006 Broadway production of The Threepenny Opera, in which she played Polly Peachum
-Nellie McKay on the 2006 Broadway production of The Threepenny Opera, in which she played Polly Peachum
Updated On: 2/19/09 at 08:54 PM
#13
Posted: 2/19/09 at 9:58pm
I, too, stuck it out. But I wish I hadn't.
#14
Posted: 2/19/09 at 10:34pm
REVIEW SUMMARY
There are bad nights at the theater, and then once in a blue moon comes a lulu like the New Group revival of Eugene O’Neill’s “Mourning Becomes Electra,” four hours of quicksand from which you begin to fear you will never, ever escape. Attending this professional production in the country’s theatrical capital, you might be forgiven for imagining you were in a stuffy high school gym in an anonymous suburb, hostage to the delusional ambitions of an overweening drama teacher who really needs to go back on his medications. — Charles Isherwood
There are bad nights at the theater, and then once in a blue moon comes a lulu like the New Group revival of Eugene O’Neill’s “Mourning Becomes Electra,” four hours of quicksand from which you begin to fear you will never, ever escape. Attending this professional production in the country’s theatrical capital, you might be forgiven for imagining you were in a stuffy high school gym in an anonymous suburb, hostage to the delusional ambitions of an overweening drama teacher who really needs to go back on his medications. — Charles Isherwood
#15
Posted: 2/19/09 at 10:48pm
http://theater2.nytimes.com/2009/02/20/theater/reviews/20mour.html
Called Lili Taylor "staggeringly miscast."
Called Lili Taylor "staggeringly miscast."
#16
Posted: 2/19/09 at 10:54pm
That was a PAN if I've ever seen one.
"Y'know, I think Bertolt Brecht was rolling in his grave."
-Nellie McKay on the 2006 Broadway production of The Threepenny Opera, in which she played Polly Peachum
-Nellie McKay on the 2006 Broadway production of The Threepenny Opera, in which she played Polly Peachum
#17
Posted: 2/19/09 at 11:46pm
Isherwood LITERALLY climbed into my brain and copied my thoughts exactly. LITERALLY.
#18
Posted: 2/20/09 at 11:26pm
I got back from this a little while ago. The only person I cannot say one bad thing about is Joseph Cross? Why? Because I could only sit through the first act. I ran out of the theater. If I wasn't sitting in the middle of a row, I would have left within the first 25 minutes. Horrible top to bottom. The actors all picked one tone and stuck with it for the entire act. The only modulation to indicate emotion was in volume. Horrible... just horrible...
#19
Posted: 2/20/09 at 11:58pm
Ticket Central is only selling tickets through March 1st now. The run is supposed to go through April 18th.
Would closing a non-profit show in a subscription house 2 weeks after horrible reviews come in be a first? I can't remember it happening in the past several years, but maybe some veterans have more knowledge than I do.
Needless to say, I will be there for free on Thursday, and I plan on indulging in several alcoholic drinks beforehand.
Would closing a non-profit show in a subscription house 2 weeks after horrible reviews come in be a first? I can't remember it happening in the past several years, but maybe some veterans have more knowledge than I do.
Needless to say, I will be there for free on Thursday, and I plan on indulging in several alcoholic drinks beforehand.
Updated On: 2/20/09 at 11:58 PM
#20
Posted: 2/21/09 at 12:21am
I have no idea if that would be a precedent for a non-profit, but I doubt it for some reason. It would certainly be a mercy killing because that was just... wow. I cannot believe I spent $28.25 on that through TDF.
Tickets From $73
Tickets From $89
Tickets From $89
Tickets From $65