Martha Clarke's THREEPENNY OPERA at Atlantic

[themysteriousgrowl]

Posted: 3/10/14 at 4:16pm

This starts previews on Wednesday.

Anybody planning on checking it out?

[Unknown User]

Posted: 3/10/14 at 4:20pm

I have tickets later in the month. I'm excited. I've never seen Threepenny live, and this cast looks pretty great.

[AC126748]

Posted: 3/10/14 at 4:38pm

Have tickets for over the weekend.

Love the cast, love Clarke's work, and love the prospect of seeing this piece in a small venue. Probably one of my "most looking forward to" shows for spring.

[givesmevoice]

Posted: 3/10/14 at 4:44pm

perfectlymarvelous and I will be there on Wednesday!

[wonkit]

Posted: 3/10/14 at 4:47pm

Glad they are using the Blitzstein version. I should look into getting tickets.

[givesmevoice]

Posted: 3/10/14 at 4:58pm

I don't know if everyone saw this, but Threepenny will have a lottery for two seats to each performance for three cents each. It seems like a tie-in with an iPhone app (TodayTix), but definitely a good tie-in.


Playbill article

[Reginald Tresilian]

Posted: 3/10/14 at 5:02pm

PalJoey is taking me for my birthday in a few weeks, and I can hardly wait! I love "Threepenny," and I've been a devoted Clarkehead for years--again, thanks to PJ. I don't think I've missed any of her NYC works (and I've caught a few outside the city).



Updated On: 3/10/14 at 05:02 PM

[PalJoey]

Posted: 3/10/14 at 5:54pm

I'm very excited that she's going back to the Marc Blitzstein translation.

[Liza's Headband]

Posted: 3/10/14 at 5:56pm

[macnyc]

Posted: 3/10/14 at 6:16pm

Seeing it on Sunday, and I'm looking forward to it!

[egnarotsew]

Posted: 3/10/14 at 8:17pm

I'm seeing it on Friday and I'm really looking forward to it! I love Threepenny Opera and it will be my first time seeing it performed.

[themysteriousgrowl]

Posted: 3/10/14 at 8:49pm

Reg and PJ, I'll be there in a few weeks as well, on the first Saturday in April. Might we all be attending the same performance?

[ZiggyCringe]

Posted: 3/11/14 at 8:15am

Going tomorrow. I really hope this is a good Threepenny Opera. I sat through the Three Sting Penny Opera, which was horrible, and then the Cindy Lauper Threepenny Opera, which was terrible, I wanna see a good production of this show! Hopefully Martha Clarke gets it.

Updated On: 3/11/14 at 08:15 AM

[Reginald Tresilian]

Posted: 3/11/14 at 8:23am

Oh, Growlie, that was the weekend PJ first suggested! But we settled on the one just before.

[themysteriousgrowl]

Posted: 3/11/14 at 8:28am

Yeah, I just got PJ's message! Perhaps the fates will align another time!

[NYadgal]

Posted: 3/11/14 at 10:25am

PalJoey alerted me to this program a while ago, and it slipped my mind!

Time to see if tickets are still available. I love Martha Clarke. The last time I saw her was a year or so ago, at the Joyce.

[Reginald Tresilian]

Posted: 3/11/14 at 11:00am

I remember running into you there. Wasn't that a wonderful piece?

[Kad]

Posted: 3/11/14 at 11:14am

That 3 cent lottery is fantastic. I'll definitely be entering.

[NYadgal]

Posted: 3/11/14 at 1:39pm

I loved it, Reg!

I'm looking into tickets for this one, too.

[neonlightsxo]

Posted: 3/12/14 at 11:37am

Going tonight. Excited AND scared.

[Play Esq.]

Posted: 3/12/14 at 11:39pm

I was there tonight. I was hoping Clarke's production would be the one to make me love this piece, but alas, it was not to be. I'll leave it to others to describe the production at length, but I felt it to be drab and rather uninspired. It's a production that seeks to be transgressive, but is just kinda dull.

As a positive, Laura was quite impressive: such a turn from her work in Cinderella and Anything Goes.


Updated On: 3/12/14 at 11:39 PM

[perfectlymarvelous]

Posted: 3/13/14 at 1:45am

I was there tonight with givesmevoice and I wasn't blown away but didn't hate it. I thought Laura Osnes was excellent, any time she was onstage I was infinitely more engaged, and she sang the role beautifully. I also really enjoyed Mary Beth Peil as Mrs. Peachum. I'm also not someone who is typically bothered by nudity in the least, but basically all of the nudity in this production seemed sort of unnecessary. All in all, I felt very meh about the whole thing, which I don't think is really the point of the piece. *slight spoiler maybe?* The bulldog they used got the biggest laughs of the night, which I think says a lot.

This is also kind of irrelevant, but I cannot believe that Sally Murphy is 51 since she doesn't appear to have aged in 20 years. Onstage she doesn't really read much older than Laura Osnes.

[WhizzerMarvin]

Posted: 3/13/14 at 7:17am

I was there last night too and I pretty much agree with what you two have said. I thought the visual aesthetics were spot on; an appropriate dinginess permeated the design and if they want to do this in rep with Urinetown they could use the same sets and costumes.

They are using the Blitzstein translation, and although it's probably the most well-known I would have preferred to hear a more modern, explicit version to match the attempted daring of the production.

Laura is indeed amazing. Her "Barbara Song" was well-sung and "Jealousy Duet" was one of the few times the show seemed to find its groove. Mary Beth Peil and Sally Murphy are also doing strong work. When a friend and I saw Murphy in the Apple Family plays earlier this season we also remarked that she could still play Julie Jordan. She truly hasn't aged.

Despite not being blown away I think this has the potential to get a lot better during previews, but they have their work cut out for them. The piece is lacking energy and momentum. Right now it's just a very dour episodic revue rather than a cohesive narrative. The humor also barely registered- the one exception to that was Rick Holmes as Tiger Brown.

If you want to go it might be wise to wait a few weeks and then check it out.

[themysteriousgrowl]

Posted: 3/13/14 at 7:44am

Gosh, thanks for the first-preview reviews, guys, disheartening though they be.

[PalJoey]

Posted: 3/13/14 at 8:07am

I'm not at all disheartened. Martha Clarke is not the kind of artist whose work lends itself to first previews. She comes from experimental dance and experimental theater, where things tend to evolve.

I first saw her "Garden of Earthly Delights," a theater/dance piece based on the painting by Hieronymous Bosch, in 1984 at the Theater at St. Clements Church on West 46th Street. Then Reginald Tresilian and I saw at the Minetta Lane Theater in 2009.

The production employed Flying by Fox and was pretty miraculous, but I imagine the first "preview" of it must have been nothing short of a mess. A glorious mess, but more like the hunk of marble into which Michelangelo peered and saw his David.


Here's a clip of the 2009 production:

http://youtu.be/UPyLZA53YmE