My Brief Thoughts on A MOON FOR THE MISBEGOTTEN — Page 2

While Eve Best is not physically what one thinks of for the role, her ungainly body language was great. I was less convinced by Spacey's weird jazz hands, screaming and general flailing. I felt like Best and Meaney were in one show (a better show) and Spacey was in another.

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"To American audiences, English/British productions are considered, for the most-part, very cold and emotionless.

Just look at the recent revivals of Fiddler, Glass Menagerie, etc."

Interesting generalisations you're making here! Especially since you're using two Leveaux productions as your evidence, neither of which could be cited as typical 'English productions' due to the fact they were produced with an English director working under entirely American/Broadway conditions. You're saying that because they had an English director they were emotionless?

I would cite the two current productions of the pieces you mention in the UK - an exquisite Glass Menagerie directed by young hotshot British director Rupert Goold, again with Jessica Lange, who finally knows what to do with the role, and Fiddler on the Roof, with Henry Goodman, transferring from a regional theatre to London, and, by all reports, a very moving production.

So those are two GENUINE English productions (as opposed to just having an English director who is of varying quality anyway) which both contain more emotion than the ostensibly American ones you mentioned.

Well, the West End has hosted such high-brow fare as "We Will Rock You," "Daddy Cool" and various Rat Pack musicals.

I think the remoteness has less to do with anything English (although Wild West Connecticut is weird) and more to do with O'Neill's style combined with Spacey not quite working.

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I'm no fan of Spacey's -- in my book, he's the most overrated actor in the past 20 years. I saw him in ICEMAN, and he was the least interesting person in the otherwise fascinating company -- Michael Emerson acted circles around him. But this role at least seems right for Spacey, if he can control his mannerisms, his tendency to sneer with his mouth half-open is the most off-putting personal twitch going, next to Kathleen Turner's widening eyes employed to punctuate an ironic moment.

Having seen the Robards-Dewhurst gold standard, and even an interesting semi-misfire (Kate Nelligan's Josie), I'm not tempted to rush to this revival.

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I know that you don't like me, etc. But I remember you posting something before you actually saw the show and it was a little biased with your dislike for Spacey. And I repeat, Isn't it posible that they didn't want anything but Playbills on your lap because they don't want anyone recording the play?
If Spacey was the one requiring that, the ushers wouldn't say it was him who asked for that. The producers wouldn't tell the ushers "Kevin Spacey doesn't want to see anything besides Playbills, they would say that THEY don't want to see them"

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I sat in the front row this weekend (right by the well & proscenium's extension) & was given no special instructions by the ushers; my handbag was on my lap the entire performance, Playbill was inside it. I was never once asked to hide my belongings or put my purse away. I did hear the usual "don't touch or put anything on the stage", "you can't leave that in the aisle" etc comments. I remember clearly hearing the upstairs ushers tell people to take stuff off the overhang which annoyed me because they obviously had to yell (as opposed to walking down to the offenders and telling them face to face) it for me to hear it where I was sitting.

That makes sense to me as an actor, especially seeing the blue light of a cell phone.

There's no curtain, RentBoy.

I sat in the second row on Thursday (right behind the student seats) and I was there early. I heard no such instructions either.

And I know I'm going to get blasted here for this, but.....I thoroughly enjoyed every second of this production--especially Spacey.

Updated On: 4/3/07 at 09:05 AM

I was at the show on Saturday afternoon as well (next to bjh2114...I thought that was you, but I wasn't sure). I didn't hear any of the ushers say anything about belongings being hidden away, but Yankee, was it more stuff on your lap or in the aisle? You mentioned keeping stuff out of the aisle a couple of times, and I would think that would be standard issue at theatres (like keeping belongings off the mezz/balcony overhang) for safety reasons, not necessarily to keep the show's diva of a star appeased.

Anyway, as far as the show itself goes, I definitley agree that the set was impressive in its own right, but it really did seem to be more "Moon for the Misplaced Prairie People" than anything else.

And while I didn't hate Spacey as much as you guys seemed to, I definitely agree that his very broad performance was more than a little over the top in many places. I was hoping his breakdown at the end would be more effective, and had it been, I think I could have written off the histrionics that preceeded as a character choice (although probably not the best) to show Jim trying to push aside/hide his real emotions by putting on this over the top front. I definitely don't think he succeeded, but I didn't find it laughable either. His performance was definitely a disappointment though (especially having watched 1/2 hour or so of American Beauty the other night, caught it on TBS or TNT). He really does seem to have gone way downhill since then (KPax, Pay it Forward, Beyond the Sea, etc, etc).

With all that being said, I do still think it was worth the $25 to see Eve Best and Colm Meaney's excellent performances, and since I still am a fan of the Spacey of yore, to have seen him on stage having missed The Iceman Cometh. Pity he couldn't have been on par with his costars. That would have made for a truly memorable evening of theatre!

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Updated On: 4/3/07 at 09:57 AM

I thought you looked familar, but I couldn't place you (and you were chatting away, so I didn't want to bother you). But as soon as I saw you post that you were at the matinee, I knew it was you. Funny we missed each other at Translations too. Third time's a charm??

It really is a shame that Spacey seems to have jumped the track somewhere. I honestly felt the worst part (even more than the arm flailing and occasional mugging) was the awkward line readings when Jim quickly changed his train of thought. Spacey's tics in these instances seemed like he had tourettes (with "nix" being swear of choice, rather than some other, more colorful 4-letter word), instead of a more natural speech pattern. I can't really explain, but it made me appreciate Oliver Platt (who's dialogue, in this specific aspect of the role, is the closest I can think of for comparison off the top of my head) and his performance in Shining City much more. I don't remember Platt necessarily blowing me away, but I do remember thinking that his dialogue, as written on the page, must have looked incredibly daunting. It's how a lot of people talk (especially when they're uncomfortable or nervous) but I'd imagine it's difficult to make it sound natural.

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I definitely enjoyed the production very much, but yes, I'm much more a fan of Spacey from 10 years ago than I am now.

As you said, his performance was really brought down by the numerous awkward line readings and overly broad performance.

If you haven't seen it, get the Robards/Dewhurst version. It's out on DVD and readily available from Netflix....THAT is how this show should be performed.