Much Ado About Nothing at the Delacorte - Previews & Line Status

[broadwaydevil]

Posted: 6/3/14 at 10:07pm

Previews began tonight for Much Ado About Nothing at the Delacorte with little fanfare. I guess that's what happens when they do a straight Shakespeare play without huge Hollywood names (which I'm incredibly happy with if it's well done!)

Did anyone line up? What was the line like?

Excited to hear early reports.

[musikman]

Posted: 6/4/14 at 12:30am

Saw the show this evening. Production is beautiful to look at and is produced quite well. The Americanized accents are a little off putting at first, but eventually you get used to it.

Show started off quite slowly (a lot of Shakespeare tends to feel this way), but picked up tremendously halfway through act 1. Some truly lovely, and funny scenes happening up there. The ensemble is mostly successful, and will only grow into their roles. Lots of line trip up/slip ups., though. Not the greatest evening of Shakespeare ever, but certainly a fun, and very respectable addition to the oeuvre.

[The Josh]

Posted: 6/4/14 at 12:33am

How was the line? Did anyone try the virtual lottery? And possibly most importantly, how was Pedro Pascal?

[chrisampm2]

Posted: 6/4/14 at 12:35am

Off-putting Americanized accents? The actors are American. Are they doing a regional accent?

[musikman]

Posted: 6/4/14 at 12:53am

Ehh, I always suppose that when I see Shakespeare, there's always a slightly more "cultured" accent that is used, if it's not British. Some of the accents here sounded like they plucked a random person out of a mall and used that as a basis. It was very colloquial. It worked well in most of the scenes, but not in others

Also. SLIGHT SPOILERS.


the slow starts off completely in Italian. To then hear them switch to a very contemporary American accent was jarring at first.

[RippedMan]

Posted: 6/4/14 at 1:35am

What as the design like?

[givesmevoice]

Posted: 6/4/14 at 6:29am

Ehh, I always suppose that when I see Shakespeare, there's always a slightly more "cultured" accent that is used, if it's not British. Some of the accents here sounded like they plucked a random person out of a mall and used that as a basis. It was very colloquial. It worked well in most of the scenes, but not in others

One of my best friends is an English teacher, and she told me that some scholars believe that the accent that most closely resembles the one Shakespeare and his contemporaries had is Appalachian, due to their linguistic isolation essentially from the time they settled in the United States.

[stevenycguy]

Posted: 6/4/14 at 9:16am

What time does an 8pm show get "out on the street"?

[Anakela]

Posted: 6/4/14 at 9:45am

Last night's perf started a little bit late (I'd guesstimate 8:10/8:15?), and I waited on line for the restroom after the show, and I was still out on CPW at 11:15pm.

[neonlightsxo]

Posted: 6/4/14 at 10:03am

--"Show started off quite slowly (a lot of Shakespeare tends to feel this way)"

Are you serious with that comment?

Can someone who is more well versed in Shakespeare tell me-- is this production any different or better than all the Much Ados we've seen in the past few years? I feel like I've seen Much Ado 100 times and wonder if this one is worth seeing. Thanks.

[musikman]

Posted: 6/4/14 at 11:20am

While I may not be the eminent scholar on Shakespeare, I am by no means completely ignorant of his works. Even in the most glorious productions I've seen (Twelfe Night earlier this year, Henry IV at Lincoln Center about 10 years ago), the first 15-20 minutes can be somewhat exposition heavy. I don't mean this in a bad way, per se - and sometimes it can be the fault of the production, or the actors - but there was definitely a sense of tedium last night in the first 20 minutes or so.

[ClydeBarrow]

Posted: 6/4/14 at 11:28am

I totally agree about most Shakespeare plays starting off slowly. I think it's a combination of exposition and getting adjusted to the language.

[wickedfan11]

Posted: 6/4/14 at 12:19pm

I won the virtual lottery for tonight's show!

[orangeskittles]

Posted: 6/4/14 at 12:59pm

I'm torn on whether to make the effort. I love Shakespeare in the Park, I'd love to see the cast, but I've seen Much Ado so many times I could probably perform the entire show myself from memory. Shakespeare Theatre Company in DC did Much Ado for their summer Free For All just last year. If I were in town, I'd probably virtual lotto and hope for the best, but this isn't a "Sleep on Central Park West" kind of year for me.

[Play Esq.]

Posted: 6/5/14 at 12:41pm

Has anyone tried to waitlist? I was going to try tonight (lost the lotto...sigh) and thought my odds my be better due to the crappy weather which should clear up tonight.

[macnyc]

Posted: 6/5/14 at 1:44pm

Tonight should be a great night for standby. I'm surprised you lost the lotto! It's still so early in the run.

[AntV]

Posted: 6/5/14 at 2:12pm

Why would tonight be a great night for standby? The rain happened earlier so it must have been a good day to get there later for the normal line, but I don't see how that would affect standby. Plus I think any day with borough distribution is a bad day for standby because I'm assuming those tickets come from what are usually lotto tickets which means less unused lotto tickets.

[Play Esq.]

Posted: 6/5/14 at 3:03pm

Was today a borough distribution day?

I think macnyc is generally correct about days that show even a glimmer of rain being the best days to score tickets. I'm on the fence as of now...but may take a chance. I live on the UWS so its not exactly out of the way for me.

[macnyc]

Posted: 6/5/14 at 3:16pm

You have nothing to lose except some time! I don't think the borough distribution is that big of a factor. Not too many seats are given out that way, from what I have observed in years past.

[Borstalboy]

Posted: 6/7/14 at 1:23pm

I saw it last night and it's good if nothing to rave about. Rabe is fantastic and there are some superb performances in the smaller, more thankless roles. LIGHT YEARS better than O'Brien's MACBETH earlier this season, but lacking anything truly unique to make it surprising.

[macnyc]

Posted: 6/7/14 at 2:43pm

I'm seeing it tonight. We picked up vouchers in Queens today at the Hall of Science.

[Candleshoe2]

Posted: 6/7/14 at 5:17pm

After being so impressed with Theatre for a New Audience's extremely well-acted and simplistic production at the Duke last year, this production left me a little disappointed. The set design was beautiful to look at, yet a little overdone. And while none of the performances were bad, no one really stood out. It still made for an entertaining evening though - just not the most memorable.

[Sophiia]

Posted: 6/19/14 at 10:09pm

Quick bump since I'll be trying this weekend - any updates on the line status? Think it would be safe to arrive at 10am on Saturday to wait in line? Thanks in advance!

[fyeahmaria]

Posted: 6/20/14 at 9:55am

I arrived at 10.30 yesterday and got tickets. Don't know how many people got tickets after us, but didn't hear anyone announce that there might not be tickets for people just after us.

[Auggie27]

Posted: 6/20/14 at 1:42pm

I'm sure I'm in a minority of sorts, but I thought the centerpiece of this staging was Linklater, hot Rabe, as delightful as she is. His Benedick is probably the most blatantly contemporary I've seen, but absolutely accessible, charming, and wildly entertaining to spend time with. His "arc" in the piece is particularly well charted, and his frustrated Judd Apatow take on the boy-man in the first third pays off when he "matures" (only to a point, the subtle difference a strength) in the finale. I found myself missing him when not on stage (and it's very much an ensemble piece, which I often forget; Beatrice spends a lot of time out of sight as well).

Updated On: 6/20/14 at 01:42 PM