My thoughts on IN THE NEXT ROOM or the vibrator play (with spoilers)- Page 2

[orangeskittles]

Posted: 10/23/09 at 1:21pm

Yeah. At least cut it in half, so it doesn't go on as long as it does.

That's what she said!


...Sorry, I couldn't resist. This line made me laugh considering what you're referring to.

[Yankeefan007]

Posted: 10/23/09 at 1:34pm

Ha!

[CurtainPullDowner]

Posted: 10/23/09 at 1:55pm

I don't understand, is it cut or not?

[yeomansden]

Posted: 10/23/09 at 2:19pm

*shooting Coca-Cola out of my nose*

Please tell me you did that on purpose, Curtain, because the idea of you innocently making that remark is more than I can handle...LOL

[CurtainPullDowner]

Posted: 10/23/09 at 2:36pm

As Britany said:
"I'm not that innocent".

[Bettyboy72]

Posted: 10/23/09 at 7:55pm

Are there any discounts for the show? I love Benanti but couldn't pay $100. If anyone knows of discounts, could you please post. Thanks.

[luvtheEmcee]

Posted: 10/23/09 at 8:05pm

I'd like to go this weekend. I'll likely be in the area tomorrow, so I can go and ask, but if anybody goes and would be so kind as to ask for some concrete info about rush, I'd be much appreciative!

[Chrysanthemum62001]

Posted: 10/24/09 at 12:15am

Em, I did the rush tonight. I got there about 7:15, and got an amazing seat in the center aisle of the second row in the mezz. They are $21.50 and the lady couldn't have been nicer.

I am also pretty certain there was no one in the balcony.

From what I saw, I'm guessing the already infamous scene hasn't been trimmed...yet. But yeah, I agree with the folks who believe it will be.

[CurtainPullDowner]

Posted: 10/24/09 at 12:59am

"it hasn't been trimmed"
The choices are tremendous.
I gotta see this.

[RentBoy86]

Posted: 10/24/09 at 2:07am

I did TDF tonight and was in row N in the center. A perfect seat and right in front of Ms. Ruhl!

I'm sort of mixed on the show. I wanted to love it, but I think I only liked it. It's a great premise and I love the theme of the show, but the execution wasn't all that interesting. I just didn't feel there was much of a driving force to the show. I didn't really see it going anywhere. At the end of Act 1 I thought, so now what? I think if they introduced the male lover in Act 1 it would prompt a better "now what" sense during the intermission, and relieve Act 2 of it's length.

I thought Benanti was great, but I do agree that she was very "modern" in her choices. That fact didn't bother me because the script referenced her character's unhappiness with the time period, but I think it would have helped to have made it a bigger theme rather than just a little character detail. Even a friend who isn't a theater expert in anyway thought she sounded a little too 21st Century. She was great though, and who knew she was so funny?

The rest of the cast is great ( I don't have my playbill with me ), but the women steel the show. The maid is great, and I love her raspy voice! The assistant is such a minor role, but I guess it all makes sense later in the play, although I wish that was extended a little more because it almost seems like an afterthought.

The ending I thought was beautiful and I don't see why it should be cut in anyway. It amazes me how "modest" we've gotten as a society. Sure, he's naked, but there really isn't anything vulgar about it. He's playing in the snow. It's a very sweet moment, and I wasn't expecting the set to change and all that, so that was a great surprise.

I think I might need to see this again in its run to fully form an opinion. I really like Ruhl as a playwright, and I really like the premise and the major themes of love and loss and how they were depicted, and she has some great speeches in the piece, but I think as "drama" it's lacking a little.

[EugLoven]

Posted: 10/24/09 at 4:48am

Saw it tonight. Only word that comes to mind is: Interesting.

[RentBoy86]

Posted: 10/24/09 at 1:40pm

I think I expected it to be more stylized.

[luvtheEmcee]

Posted: 10/24/09 at 1:50pm

Thanks, Chrysanthemum! Do you know what time they start selling them?

[Chrysanthemum62001]

Posted: 10/24/09 at 8:30pm

I believe they start selling them two hours prior to curtain.

[Kad]

Posted: 10/24/09 at 11:16pm

Just came back from seeing it.

For those interested, I rushed and got an excellent seat in the 6th row of the orchestra, house right, two seats off of the aisle. For $21.50!

As for the play itself, I enjoyed it a great deal. Yes, Act II is not nearly as well-paced as Act I. Yes, Laura Benanti sounds very modern- but I do not blame her. She's a very capable actress, as she has shown time and time again, so I'm sure she could sound more period if she were directed that way. She is a delight to watch on stage, but felt she was most impressive in the play's final scene. As it has been mentioned, she is really very funny in this. But what she does in the last scene makes everything seem very sad.

The cast is uniformly very good. I enjoyed Maria Dizzia a lot as Mrs. Daldry, and thought that Wendy Stetson gave Annie a lot of depth that is not necessarily in the text.

The final moments of the show are so lovely that it makes you sort of forgive any of the play's faults.

The show is pretty frank in its depiction of the use of the vibrator(s), which is initially shocking. Which is, of course, part of the point of the play- the shame we have imbued such things with.

[luvtheEmcee]

Posted: 10/24/09 at 11:24pm

Thank you both. Kad, what time did you get there?

[Kad]

Posted: 10/24/09 at 11:28pm

A few minutes past 6. It was a last minute decision when I was in the area.

Judging by how full the house was, I'd say you'd end up with a pretty swell ticket no matter what time you get there.

[luvtheEmcee]

Posted: 10/24/09 at 11:31pm

Ok. I am going tomorrow and I'm really excited! This has been on my "most anticipated" list for sure.

[AC126748]

Posted: 10/24/09 at 11:57pm

I'm too fried to write a full review (long day), but I went to tonight's performance and I'll just say that it's totally worth seeing. Easily Sarah Ruhl's best play to date (full disclosure: I'm NOT a fan), it's the first time that she's actually written characters and situations instead of just being clever and twee. Laura Benanti is wonderful--she could have a real career as a serious actress, outside of musicals, should she ever choose. Maria Dizzia is equally good. Quincy Tyler Bernstine, Wendy Rich Stetson, and Chandler Williams give very solid supporting performances. Michael Cerveris is still finding his footing, but I think a good performance will most likely emerge in the end.

The second act drags, and around twenty minutes could easily be shaved off of the running time, but it's overall a very worthwhile evening of theatre. I'll definitely revisit it after it opens.

[AC126748]

Posted: 10/24/09 at 11:59pm

Oh, and my rush seat (obtained about an hour before curtain) was in the mezzanine, Row D. Perfect view, as the stage is high and the set intricate and best seen from a distance. The mezz was about half full, balcony closed, and the orchestra looked fullish (excepting extreme sides).

[luvtheEmcee]

Posted: 10/25/09 at 7:10pm

I liked it, but I didn't love it nearly as much as I had hoped to. I'm a big fan of Sarah Ruhl's writing, but it's not my favorite play of hers. It didn't have much of that poetic, lyrical language that has made me such a fan. This certainly isn't the play for the surrealism and sort of whimsical feeling of, say, Dead Man's Cell Phone or eurydice, because it's definitely much more realistic, but I just didn't feel that it showed off the qualities of her writing that I'm really taken with. I wasn't as moved or made to think as much as I had expected to be, which from her, I found disappointing. I thought the ending was very beautiful, especially in how artful it was, but based on the kinds of things I had read, it wasn't the kind of payoff I wanted it to be. I just, in general, wanted to feel so much more than I did.

Cerveris was really good, but it's not my favorite performance from him. As for Benanti, for me it's not as much a period/modernity thing as that at moments, I felt like she was acting too much like a little girl, which simply didn't seem realistic. I get that she's not of the age, and she's pushing conventions, and there are moments where she gets that and totally nails it, but then there are these moments where she behaves in ways that just don't seem like the way a woman at that time, even one defying conventionality, would really behave. Those are the moments where she reads too contemporary. Overall, I thought she was fine, but I hope her performance evens out some. And it was nice to hear her sing.

In terms of the length and the speculated cuts, I have to say I don't really know what people are talking about. Yes, the second act is longer than the first act, but I really didn't find it to be bothersome at all. It didn't feel "too" long, and now having seen it, I really can't figure out what "should" be cut. I can't find anything that really feels like it can or needs to go. In terms of timing, the way people were talking about it, I had expected that this undressing business was going to take twenty minutes or something -- it was what, three and a half? I don't see why it so badly needs to be cut.

Overall, I did enjoy it and I think it's definitely worth seeing, but I just really wanted to love it more than I did.

Updated On: 10/27/09 at 07:10 PM

[ooblogway]

Posted: 10/25/09 at 7:24pm

Well, I am a fan of Sarah Ruhl and I really liked IN THE NEXT ROOM. I agree with most of what has already been said. Benanti is too contemporary (although it could work for her character, it doesn't seem to be grounded at all with the rest of the cast), the second act is too long (too much plot it tied up in too shor a period of time) and the final scene is lovely. I have to mention Maria Dizzia - if there is ANY justice she will get a TONY nom...

[Yankeefan007]

Posted: 10/25/09 at 7:26pm

Dizzia was WONDERFUL.

[luvtheEmcee]

Posted: 10/25/09 at 7:27pm

She's great. I saw her in a random SPF play a few years ago, and have really enjoyed her work ever since.

[Kad]

Posted: 10/25/09 at 7:35pm

She really is incredible in this. She was probably my favorite part of the show.

Although this play does have its issues and is far from perfect, I do hope that it is remembered come Tony time. Because there really are some excellent and charming performances, and I'd say that at least Maria Dizzia's is nomination-worthy at this point. I'd love to see Benanti nominated, as well, but I feel like she will split opinions (judging by the split opinions here).