Motherf**ker with the Hat In Danger of Closing- Page 2

[newintown]

Posted: 4/7/11 at 10:20am

I admit that I'm avoiding this one because I've seen Guirgis' other work, and lump him (along with Adam Rapp, Neil LaBute, etc.) into that class of playwrights who indulge in "hipster chic." They write plays that seem to say little more than "life is dark; aren't I deep for pointing that out in a cold and brutal way?"

Most people stop associating nihilism with profundity around the age of 25; these boys haven't.
Updated On: 4/7/11 at 10:20 AM

[GlindatheGood22]

Posted: 4/7/11 at 10:40am

I don't think it's a coincidence that I also thought it was Rock's one-man show.

And as someone who suffers from depression I can honestly say that there is nothing that grinds my gears more than when people mock the illness or the people who have it.

[Yero my Hero]

Posted: 4/7/11 at 11:42am

Unless you pay zero attention to Broadway (which I assume does not describe anyone on this board), then I honestly don't know how you could think that. Everything I've seen about the show names the other actors, at least Bobby Cannavale and Anna Sciorra. All three names are plastered on the marquis outside the theater. Every interview I've seen with Chris Rock talks about the difficulty in portraying a character and working with other actors instead of being himself ("Chris it up," he called it).

This is not meant to be insulting or anything, I'm honestly baffled how someone with an awareness of Broadway could think it's a one-man comedy show.

[Idiot]

Posted: 4/7/11 at 12:02pm

When I first heard about this show I only heard 'Chris Rock' and the title. Since the title sounds like something from Rock's stand up, I thought it was a one man show until I read another article later on. I can see how people might think this.

[bwayfan7000]

Posted: 4/7/11 at 12:09pm

If what Riedel wrote about Guirgis isn't true, it's libel.

But even if it were true, it's pretty sick to use the playwright's depression as a means to attack the play while it's struggling. Sheesh.

[Yero my Hero]

Posted: 4/7/11 at 1:13pm

When I first heard about this show I only heard 'Chris Rock' and the title. Since the title sounds like something from Rock's stand up, I thought it was a one man show until I read another article later on. I can see how people might think this.

When you first hear about it, sure, that's understandable. But now that it's been in previews for a few weeks and it is opening soon and the marquis is up on one of the busiest streets in Times Square and there have been more and more articles and press, how can you STILL think it's a one-man show?

[Broadway Joe]

Posted: 4/7/11 at 2:59pm

I picked up a ticket to Tuesday nights show, I've been wanting to see it but I wasn't in any rush to. I figured I might as well in case it does close next weekend. Shame if that happens though.

[Fosse76]

Posted: 4/7/11 at 6:02pm

"Fosse76, which scene was cut?"

The penultimate scene, between Julio and Veronica.

[muscle23ftl]

Posted: 4/7/11 at 6:15pm

Newintown, what you say sounds very clever. I also, don't enjoy that type of writing.

I haven't seen the play, but it seems to me that Broadway audiences are not drawn to shows with bad words on the title, and Chris Rock doesn't have the type of fanbase that would pay to see him in a play on Broadway.

[PiraguaGuy2]

Posted: 4/7/11 at 6:42pm

I admit that I'm avoiding this one because I've seen Guirgis' other work, and lump him (along with Adam Rapp, Neil LaBute, etc.) into that class of playwrights who indulge in "hipster chic." They write plays that seem to say little more than "life is dark; aren't I deep for pointing that out in a cold and brutal way?"

Please read The Last Days of Judas Iscariot, which is in my opinion one of the best new plays of recent years, and tell me that Gurgis says little more than "life is dark". To say that about Rapp or Gurgis' work is simply ridiculous to me.

[Tom-497]

Posted: 4/8/11 at 12:18am

"Most people stop associating nihilism with profundity around the age of 25; these boys haven't."

In my view, The Motherf**ker with the Hat is strongly romantic, in the early 19th century sense. And the next to last scene is pretty much a direct denunciation of nihilism, if I remember (and understood) it correctly.

[uncageg]

Posted: 4/8/11 at 1:09am

I thought the show was well written. my problem was with Rock's body language. He was uncomfortable on stage. Cannavale was good but I was feeling as if with Rock and Rodriguez, he was overcompensating a bit giving them something to play off of and they weren't "taking". I hope they have both settled into their roles by now. That opening scene with Rodriguez, as good as it is, could be so much better. And I pray to God that they have worked on the fight. It was laughable and, for me, took away from Rock's "Speech" after it. Just my random thoughts.

[chrisampm2]

Posted: 4/8/11 at 1:50am

Newintown,
I'm surprised you think Guirgis' work can be boiled so easily down to nihilism. Though I've had some probs with his more recent plays, they all exhibit a range of searing emotion and themes from the family relationships in Little Flower of East Orange), the guilt and religion (the Judas Iscariot play), and the urban tapestries of friendship in Jesus Hopped the A Train and Our Lady of... There's energy and drive in his characters and plays that lift him above Rapp and LaBute, in my book.

[After Eight]

Posted: 4/8/11 at 6:32am

How could a play as dreadful as this ever been produced in the first place? Fetid and noisome, it has absolutely nothing to recommend it. Easily the worst play of the season, and probably, of several.