My thoughts on IN THE NEXT ROOM or the vibrator play (with spoilers)- Page 4

[RentBoy86]

Posted: 11/11/09 at 11:13am

Does anyone think the play would have a little more dramatic effect if the "love interest" were introduced earlier in the play?

[SNAFU]

Posted: 11/11/09 at 5:04pm

I found the play to be missing focus. I was not sure what it wanted to be. The first act entertaining and I laughed quite a bit. After the intermission however,I found myself looking more at the wonderful architectural details of the theatre. Not a good sign.

[WiCkEDrOcKS]

Posted: 11/11/09 at 5:09pm

Agreed.

[SNAFU]

Posted: 11/11/09 at 5:52pm

For some reason the snaps in the woman's dresses bothered me. I know they were invented about the time the play was supposed to have taken place but I don't think the fashion industry put them to use until after the turn if the century.
Just another nitpicking detail that points out just how uninvolved I was with the second act.

[alightinthedark23]

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

I saw the show tonight and overall I liked it. I thought the first Act was really funny and definitely had a lot of laughs. I thought the second Act was too long and it sort of just dragged on. I thought the ending was kind of weird. The show got weird for me after the two females kissed. I didn't really see the point in that. The snow angel thing was awkward to me. I thought Laura Benanti and Michael Cerveris were really good. Laura was really funny. I also thought that Maria Dizzia was funny as well.

[adamgreer]

Posted: 11/12/09 at 12:11am

Also saw the show tonight. Overall, a mixed bag.

I thought act 1 was very funny and very entertaining.

Act 2 was WAY too long and was quite boring. It just really dragged on and on. A good 20 minutes needs to be cut from the 2nd act.

Cast was pretty good overall. The women fare better than the men. Benanti and Cerveris are fine, but I thought Maria Dizzia gave the strongest performance.

Entertaining enough overall, but nothing exceptional.

The mezz was deserted tonight, and when I handed the usher my ticket, instead of directing me to my seat she said, "You can sit anywhere. If someone comes, just move over one seat." By curtain, there was maybe 20 people up there. Apparently the orchestra was fairly full, though.

[theaterkid1015]

Posted: 12/9/09 at 11:10pm

Just got back from this. I didn't see the balcony, but the mezz was fairly full tonight. That's exciting, right?

I found the play kind of intriguing. I know some people find it unfocused in its approach, but I wonder if that's some of Ruhl's intent. Throw us off guard a little bit, keep it a bit slanted. The staging for the ending was incredibly beautiful to me. Something Edenic about it, I guess.

But, my absolute favorite was Maria Dizzia. I think that, while the cast was uniformly pretty strong, she really stood out as getting the style of it and going with it. Really wonderful performance.