OTHELLO Previews- Page 7

[TheatreMonkey]

Posted: 3/15/25 at 5:43pm

Jordan Catalano said: "That review though, does sum up basically everything I’ve heard from friends who’ve seen it. Getting really antsy myself to get over to the Barrymore soon to see it, myself."

Just for the play, of course. ;-)

[Jordan Catalano]

Posted: 3/15/25 at 5:45pm

Duh. I don’t like what you’re implying. It’s objectifying and rude. How dare thee. 

[BroadwayBen]

Posted: 3/15/25 at 7:15pm

Unfortunately, the Post critic reflected exactly what I saw.   It's a tepid, misguided production, not worth the ridiculous prices, but stars are stars.   This makes me angry, because this critic has written reviews in the past I totally disagreed with, and he is more a gossip than critic, but this one is on the money -- literally. 

[TheatreMonkey]

Posted: 3/15/25 at 9:15pm

Jordan Catalano said: "Duh. I don’t like what you’re implying. It’s objectifying and rude. How dare thee."

*looks at Jordan's profile pic*

The lady doth protest too much, methinks.

Oh wait, wrong play...

[Glittergrrl]

Posted: 3/15/25 at 9:20pm

I don’t have much to add, but I saw the matinee today.  Here’s my two cents. 
It was overwhelmingly fine. I was surprised there was so much humor in it. I took a few Shakespeare classes in college, and although that was many years ago, I don’t remember Othello being funny.  

With all the talk of mumbling in this thread, I worried that I wouldn’t understand DW. I understood him just fine.  I’m pretty far removed from my college days, so I don’t remember the text, but he didn’t seem to be making things up. (Honestly, I wouldn’t know the difference.) He certainly wasn’t calling for lines. There was one moment in the first act, he flubbed his lines and DW and JG both broke character and laughed. The crowd loved it. 
I thought JG was great. He was dynamic. DW was sort of flat. I started rooting for Iago-and then I realized that’s probably a bad thing, but Iago is way more fun. 
Overall, I enjoyed it. I also didn’t pay a fortune for it. 

[Wick3]

Posted: 3/17/25 at 10:52am

Glittergrrl said: "I don’t have much to add, but I saw the matinee today. Here’s my two cents.
It was overwhelmingly fine. I was surprised there was so much humor in it. I took a few Shakespeare classes in college, and although that was manyyears ago, I don’t remember Othello being funny.

With all the talk of mumbling in this thread, I worried that I wouldn’t understand DW. I understood him just fine. I’m pretty far removed from my college days, so I don’tremember the text, but he didn’t seem to be making things up. (Honestly, I wouldn’t know the difference.) He certainly wasn’t calling for lines. There was one moment in the first act, he flubbed his lines and DW and JG both broke character and laughed. The crowd loved it.
I thought JG was great. He was dynamic. DW was sort of flat. I started rooting for Iago-and then I realized that’s probably a bad thing, butIago is way more fun.
Overall,I enjoyed it. I also didn’t pay a fortune for it."

I concur. I also watched the play this past Sunday matinee (3/16) and felt the same way. I read the play back in college over a decade ago and I know it's a tragedy. Both Denzel and Jake were great and I didn't think Denzel was mumbling at all. Jake definitely shined in his role.

I didnt' mind the Yondr pouches but one audience member forgot to put his phone in silent/airplane mode and we heard his phone ring for at least 15 seconds during the play. Since his phone was in a Yondr pouch, obviously he couldn't open and silence it.

[GottaGetAGimmick420]

Posted: 3/17/25 at 7:21pm

Not for nothing, but does anyone remember the ticketing fiasco with critics on The Wiz and how they had to take to Twitter to get their tickets? That was another Brian Moreland production... 

[TheQuibbler]

Posted: 3/19/25 at 9:51am

I caught the show last night. The “October 2028” projection has been changed to “In The Near Future.” It’s a lateral move, as this production is set basically now and neither one makes one iota of difference. 

The word that kept coming to mind was casual. Everything was delivered so casually, as actors raced through their lines at breakneck speed. This is a play where a man who is devoted to his wife is manipulated to a degree to which he eventually commits murder; there’s nothing casual about it. Instead, we’re seeing actors recite Shakespeare, not act it.

I think the blame lies with Leon, whose direction is mostly indifferent except for the rare time it’s actively bad (the transition into Desdemona’s bed chamber accompanied by a 1950s Hollywood melodrama score is particularly baffling). Why is Washington facing upstage, away from the audience, for half of his wooing speech?  Why is everyone talking so fast? Not that I would have wanted the run time to be longer, but investing in moments would have done a lot of good. From my seat in the rear mezz, there wasn’t one striking stage picture.

There are moments when you see what could have been, where some passion creeps in. The “Villian, be sure thou prove my love a whore!” scene crackles with the electrify you’d think Washington and Gyllenhaal would bring to the whole show. There’s something interesting, too, about Washington’s descent into madness, less vengeful and more a man losing his mental bearings like a victim of cognitive decline. But without a stronger directorial POV, it kind of comes off as silly, and the actors are left unmoored.

It’s a disappointing evening, for sure, because the two leads are capable of giving us a thrilling Othello. This just isn’t it. 

(Also, can we please just mic plays? The top ticket price is $900, we shouldn’t have to strain to hear the words, especially Shakespeare.) 

Updated On: 3/22/25 at 09:51 AM

[Dreamboy3]

Posted: 3/19/25 at 12:22pm

“as actors raced through their lines at breakneck speed.”

Yup. I’ll never waste my money on a Kenny Leon production again. Even when breakneck speed works with a play (like Purlie Victorious or Topdog/Underdog), I still miss half the dialogue.

[quizking101]

Posted: 3/20/25 at 10:42am

Jordan Catalano said: "That review though, does sum up basically everything I’ve heard from friends who’ve seen it. Getting really antsy myself to get over to the Barrymore soon to see it, myself."

Yeah, I just saw the review this morning and, as much as I can’t stand the guy as a reviewer and hate to agree with him, he pretty much hits it on the nose in plain English.

Leon’s productions are usually a hit for me, but he hasn’t missed this hard since Ohio State Murders - which didn’t have a reason to be other than Audra, and was also directed like it should have been an Audible book.

[Jordan Catalano]

Posted: 3/20/25 at 11:56pm

Okay, here's my take on the show and I won't be offended if you think I'm at all biased in my opinions. :)

Jake is the star of this production. He's so natural with the text it impressed the absolute hell out of me. I heard he was very good but I didn't expect him to be THAT good. He'd better get his Tony nomination for this. And nobody told me he goes full "Jarhead" here with a shaved head and army fatigues and I would have at least liked to have a heads up to prepare myself (as that movie is now starting in the background and will be the rest of my evening) for the feelings I would feel sitting a few feet away from him in those fatigues and tight green shirt. 

OK moving on. Denzel was...good. No problems with any dialogue which was nice, but I could only make out what he was saying maybe 60% of the time. He could have been speaking Latin and I wouldn't have known, I truly couldn't understand the words coming out of his mouth. It's not that I couldn't hear him, everyone sounded find (I noticed they were mic'd which I guess is new?) but I just couldn't understand the garbled words. Curious if others had that problem, too. But that aside, I thought he was alright. And again, this is me speaking so - but whenever Jake wasn't on stage, even if it was just Denzel the action seemed to slow to a snails pace and I couldn't wait for him to reappear and the story to pick back up. 

I didn't mind Leon's direction one way or the other in this. It was just kind of "there". What I did hate was that scene at the end in the dark. You can light a scene like that to let the audience know it's supposed to be in the dark and still have the action visible. That just drove me crazy. I worried I going to regret having a ticket to go back again next month but not at all, I can't wait. 

 

[Sauja]

Posted: 3/21/25 at 8:07am

Saw this from the cheap(est) seats and thought it was…fine. The physical production is blah, but it is, I will say, performed with great clarity. I can sometimes find myself overwhelmed by Shakespeare’s language, and that wasn’t the case here. Based on what I’ve read, Washington must be improving. There might have been one or two moments of reaching for a line, but I didn’t have any trouble hearing him or understanding him from the last row of the theater.

 

Andrew Burnap and Kimber Elayne Sprawl give the best performances of the night, which…one doesn’t really go to Othello for a great Cassio and Emilia, do they?

 

it’s not a terribly exciting night of theater, but it’s not bad. It feels…adequate. Which only starts to sting when you remember how much you paid. Even for the back row.

[Bwaygurl2]

Posted: 3/21/25 at 8:22am

I'm surprised almost no one has anything to say about Molly Osborne, the Desdemona. I guess it speaks for itself when people are raving about Emilia but say nothing about the Desdemona. 

[Kad]

Posted: 3/21/25 at 10:59am

This just makes me wish Sam Gold's really electric Othello with Daniel Craig and David Oyelowo had transferred back in 2017.

[BroadwayGirl107]

Posted: 3/21/25 at 11:45pm

They dropped production photos tonight, on a Friday night—when you typically drop news that you want buried, lol.

 

I wonder if it’s because they know they’re kind of…bad photos. I don’t think you can clearly see Denzel’s face in a single one, people’s bodies and feet weirdly cut off in the group shot and it feels like nothing’s happening in them.…a genuinely perplexing set of photos, and I’m not sure I get any more sense of what the set/show overall looks like from them. I’m honestly wondering if Denzel asked not to show his face clearly in any of them, lol. 

https://people.com/denzel-washington-jake-gyllenhaal-production-photos-othello-broadway-exclusive-11701457

 

 

 

[InTheBathroom1]

Posted: 3/22/25 at 1:34pm

Updated On: 3/22/25 at 01:34 PM

[Jarethan]

Posted: 3/22/25 at 2:02pm

Jordan Catalano said: "Okay, here's my take on the show and I won't be offended if you think I'm at all biased in my opinions. :)

Jake is the star of this production. He's so natural with the text it impressed the absolute hell out of me. I heard he was very good but I didn't expect him to be THAT good. He'd better get his Tony nomination for this.And nobody told me he goes full "Jarhead" here with a shaved head and army fatigues and I would have at least liked to have a heads up to prepare myself (as that movie is now starting in the background and will be the rest of my evening) for the feelings I would feel sitting a few feet away from him in those fatigues and tight green shirt.

OK moving on. Denzel was...good. No problems with any dialogue which was nice, but I could only make out what he was saying maybe 60% of the time. He could have been speaking Latin and I wouldn't have known, I truly couldn't understand the words coming out of his mouth. It's not that I couldn't hear him, everyone sounded find (I noticed they were mic'd which I guess is new?) but I just couldn't understand the garbled words. Curious if others had that problem, too. But that aside, I thought he was alright. And again, this is me speaking so - but whenever Jake wasn't on stage, even if it was just Denzel the action seemed to slow to a snails pace and I couldn't wait for him to reappear and the story to pick back up.

I didn't mind Leon's direction one way or the other in this. It was just kind of "there". What I did hate was that scene at the end in the dark. You can light a scene like that to let the audience know it's supposed to be in the dark and still have the action visible. That just drove me crazy. I worried I going to regret having a ticket to go back again next month but not at all, I can't wait.

"

The last Broadway revival that I can remember -- there may have been one since then -- starred James Earl Jones and Christopher Plummer.  I did see that and, to be honest, as with most (not all) Shakespeare, I was bored through most of it.  It was very clear that Plummer was walking away with the production, however, and Plummer was the one who received the nomination, although he did not win.  Since Gyllenhaal is one of the most under appreciated actors in Hollywood (he should have won the Oscar for Nightcrawler and was not even nominated, and one could argue that his performances in Prisoners (supporting), Southpaw and Stronger all were at least Oscar nomination worthy), I would love to see him at least appreciated by Broadway.

In the Jones / Plummer production, it seemed to me that Iago was a much larger role than Othello.  Was that the case here, or was Plummer

's performance the season it seemed so?

[Kad]

Posted: 3/22/25 at 3:00pm

These production photos are oddly strange and lifeless. Typically stars have photo approval and their tastes can be somewhat baffling, but these are just... dull.

[Jordan Catalano]

Posted: 3/22/25 at 3:07pm

Jarethan, in this production Iago is absolutely a larger role than Othello is. 

[poisonivy2]

Posted: 3/22/25 at 3:23pm

Villains often walk away with the show in Shakespeare. Lady Macbeth, Shylock, Iago ...

[BroadwayGirl107]

Posted: 3/22/25 at 5:49pm

Iago is a bigger role than Othello. He has something like 200 more lines. 

[Dolly80]

Posted: 3/22/25 at 6:02pm

Kad said: "These production photos are oddly strange and lifeless. Typically stars have photo approval and their tastes can be somewhat baffling, but these are just... dull."

They perfectly represent this dull, lifeless production then.

[Sammy232]

Posted: 3/23/25 at 8:04am

Dolly80 said: "Kad said: "These production photos are oddly strange and lifeless. Typically stars have photo approval and their tastes can be somewhat baffling, but these are just... dull."

They perfectly represent this dull, lifeless production then."

Graphic designer here - I think it's very hard to capture any emotion, feeling for the show etc. when there is a bare stage, minimial costuming etc. Take a look at the revivals of Betrayal and Doll's house for comparison. But on top of that, the photographs are just really not great so it just makes for a mess. These are basically useless, but I guess at how their tickets are selling it's not really even necessary since these are primarily shot for advertising purposes. 

[Auggie27]

Posted: 3/23/25 at 10:21am

The CBS Sunday Morning segment, nicely done, both stars amiable and articulate about the experience, certainly doesn't make a case for the production offering much in 2025 terms. It looks workmanlike, a university production with guest stars rather than a provocative re-imagining. What's intriguing: the use of the military mien/verisimilitude tends to flatten the world-building. You get a company in fatigues and camo moving among a college theater department's columns with some paramilitary trappings. I grasp the conceit here - a future war, comrades in arms dealing with a bond and betrayal - but it feels prosaic, dulled, predictable, the last thing an audience paying a grand a ticket expects. Maybe the conception is more arresting in the theater; today it just looked like a star vehicle with more focus on the stars than the vehicle. 

[Jordan Catalano]

Posted: 3/23/25 at 10:24am

That was a great segment and nice to get some footage of the show in there - it makes those dull photos come to life or, as much as you can with that staging.