Old Times Previews- Page 2

[#1Elphie]

Posted: 9/19/15 at 8:31am

Count me among those who enjoyed it immensely. I'm a Pinter fan, though, and I can see why it might not be some people's cup of tea. I thought all the performances were very strong, and the play is still running through my head. Whizzer, I like your description of the production of a hypnotic dream. 

[wolfwriter2]

Posted: 9/19/15 at 11:45am

Play Esq. said: "Any thoughts on Thom York's incidental music?

 

My comment, afterward, was that it sounded like Radiohead's music. It didn't add anything to the production, but didn't detract from it, either. It is an odd juxtaposition from the snippets of standards that Deeley and Anna sing throughout the play.

 

[Jordan Catalano]

Posted: 9/19/15 at 11:53am

I'm very excited to be seeing this this afternoon!

[ClydeBarrow]

Posted: 9/19/15 at 1:07pm

Jordan Catalano said: "I'm very excited to be seeing this this afternoon."

 

I'll be there too, Jordan. 

[Jordan Catalano]

Posted: 9/19/15 at 3:30pm

So I gotta say this was one hell of an odd show. It ran about 70 or so minutes long and for those 70 minutes, I was mostly bored. But strangely, even though I was as bored as I was, the time did seem to fly by. 

 

I appreciate Pinter, but this play seemed to be written with the sole purpose of "writing a play that seems to have a deep message but actually doesn't". 

[Mr Roxy]

Posted: 9/19/15 at 6:46pm

A friend of ours saw it today. He did not care for it nor did the person he went with.

 

Audience reaction at the end was the same as when we went - a lot of head scratching and wtf moments.

[hork]

Posted: 9/19/15 at 6:50pm

Just reading the plot summary on Wikipedia made me say "WTF" to myself. 

[JBroadway]

Posted: 9/19/15 at 11:19pm

Just saw it tonight. I also enjoyed it a lot. Pinter is challenging, and definitely not for everyone, but this is the 3rd play of his that I've seen live (+3 that I've read, and one that I've acted in), and I've always loved his plays. I find them completely engrossing, and really enjoy the challenge of it. The performances were excellent, and the staging was also interesting. 

 

When Anna compares Kate's outlook on life to the ripples made in water, I realized that the whole set was designed to look as if they were in the center of a rippling pond. Not sure how necessary that was, but it looked cool. 

 

Maybe I'm not the best at reading audiences, but it seemed to me that our audience was enjoying it and going on the journey right along with the actors. I thought the play was funny, engaging and often very compelling. 

 

Stage-door was not crowded at all. Maybe 25 people. All three came out and signed, though Clive seemed to be in a hurry. He only posed for pictures with a couple of people who had their cameras right at the ready. 

[A Director]

Posted: 9/20/15 at 12:51am

"The meaning of the play is in you." - Harold Pinter

[Skimbleshanks2]

Posted: 9/20/15 at 11:09am

This was the first Broadway show I've seen in ages that did not receive a standing ovation. I have a feeling half the audience had no idea the play was actually over. In any case, I think this one will likely receive bad word of mouth from audiences (if the reactions I overheard were any indication, anyway). It's an odd play with interesting moments but definitely not worth the outrageous ticket prices that are attached to it. Clive Owen is still a terrific and compelling actor but he deserved a bigger Broadway debut than this.

Curious to see what reviews it gets. I can see it getting mixed.

[Mr Roxy]

Posted: 9/20/15 at 1:03pm

We noticed that also re no standing ovation

 

People were standing up looking at each other to see if anyone else knew what just went on.

Updated On: 9/20/15 at 01:03 PM

[Jordan Catalano]

Posted: 9/20/15 at 3:07pm

It didn't get a standing ovation because the average age of roundabout subscribers is 210 and they haven't been able to stand since they took their grandkids to see the original production of SHOW BOAT.

[BwayGirls]

Posted: 9/22/15 at 4:06am

I was second day and I dont know how I can describe it.. Maybe bored? 70 endless minutes.

On my line, just 2 persons were awake..

At the end of the play, actors just greet once..

But let´s talk about stage door. Eve and Kelly are quick and extremely nice. Clive Owen is apart..

He is english and he must not know about Bway tradition. People waited for him 1 hour and 10 minutes. He went out with 2 bodyguards and they told us: please no flash, please just playbills, please no pics, just signed. OMG!! I am a Broadway fan, I met too much celebs: people who win Oscars and bigger stars. I dont know why Clive Owen is a diva. Ok, he won a Golden Globe but enough!! I think he was ruddest celeb that I´ve met. He just signed for 5 persons and we were 14.. come on!! If he doesn´t like fans, he shouldn´t make Broadway. 

I am disappoinment with the play and specially for him. I don´t recommend the play and I expect that he thinks about it...

Dont waste your time or money. Sometimes is better not meeting your fave stars and you must keep believing that they are fantastics..

Updated On: 9/22/15 at 04:06 AM

[ClydeBarrow]

Posted: 9/22/15 at 1:14pm

It's taken me some time to write about this one because it wasn't an easy play. This is the third Pinter play I've seen and I must say that I've enjoyed none of them. This one might be my least hated because it's thankfully short. After doing some research and looking over interpretations of the play on wikipedia, I think it's fairly interesting. The problem is that none of that translated to the stage and the result was just a mishmosh of chatter.

 

All of the actors are up to the task and Clive Owen is great in his Broadway debut. I wish he had a better vehicle to showcase his talents because I don't think this is going to be successful even in its short run. It would be amazing if Clive could be in a revival of CLOSER because that's my favorite performance of his. 

 

The set is serviceable but the turntable seemed like such an unnecessary gimmick. The whole constantly turning set reminded me a lot of GRACE but at least there it made sense to the story on stage. I had a huge problem with the weird ice block but was also really bothered by the record player and scattered records laying about because they never related to anything. 

 

The best part of the whole thing was the music. Yes it sounded like Radiohead but it really brought an air of suspense that was lacking.

 

The crowd I was with didn't give a standing ovation which has become expected by today's standards. This wasn't the best way to start off Roundabout's 50th anniversary season.

Updated On: 9/22/15 at 01:14 PM

[mpd4165]

Posted: 9/22/15 at 2:21pm

BwayGirls said: "I was second day and I dont know how I can describe it.. Maybe bored? 70 endless minutes.

 

On my line, just 2 persons were awake..

 

At the end of the play, actors just greet once..

 

But let´s talk about stage door. Eve and Kelly are quick and extremely nice. Clive Owen is apart..

 

He is english and he must not know about Bway tradition. People waited for him 1 hour and 10 minutes. He went out with 2 bodyguards and they told us: please no flash, please just playbills, please no pics, just signed. OMG!! I am a Broadway fan, I met too much celebs: people who win Oscars and bigger stars. I dont know why Clive Owen is a diva. Ok, he won a Golden Globe but enough!! I think he was ruddest celeb that I´ve met. He just signed for 5 persons and we were 14.. come on!! If he doesn´t like fans, he shouldn´t make Broadway. 

 

I am disappoinment with the play and specially for him. I don´t recommend the play and I expect that he thinks about it...

 

Dont waste your time or money. Sometimes is better not meeting your fave stars and you must keep believing that they are fantastics..

 

"

.......What?

[newintown]

Posted: 9/22/15 at 3:51pm

So this set revolves slowly, too, huh? You're going to see that again in the hilariously nonsensical Young Vic transfer of Streetcar later this year. It seems that the Brits are really enjoying novelty distractions lately...

[Mr Roxy]

Posted: 9/22/15 at 5:51pm

Maybe this show will signal the end of obligatory standing ovations at the end of each show. This show did not deserve one.

[Jordan Catalano]

Posted: 9/22/15 at 5:57pm

K.

[rob136]

Posted: 9/26/15 at 4:18pm

I was at the Saturday matinee. I'd like to be able to provide an opinion on the show, but I feel like I need to be able to understand the show to speak about it. I came away with the impression that this was an experiment to see if critics will go for the cryptic show even when there's no substance to it. I suspect the answer will be yes, but the audiences will suffer.

I was interested throughout about the set and that slab of ice, so I was disappointed it was never addressed.

The acting was solid, but some of the emotional outbursts seemed forced. I'm not quite sure if this is an issue with the actors or the book; I suspect it's a bit of both, with the book being slightly more responsible.

As far as a thumbs up/down, I can only say that I was befuddled throughout. I wouldn't buy a ticket to it again, but maybe there is a subset of people who can get meaning from this show. I have a feeling that subset just consists of Pinter himself, though.

[EthelMae]

Posted: 9/26/15 at 9:16pm

Kind of tired reading on this chat line, for example the comment above here, about audience members complaining that the actor didn't sign all autographs, pose for all pictures with everyone waiting, etc. You pay to see the show and the actor does his/her job for you on the stage for two or more hours- I realize OLD TIMES is shorter but still- and then their job is over. Afterwards maybe they're tired, or maybe they have an interview to go to or maybe they have a dentist app't. or maybe they have a date or whatever. The comment above putting Mr. Owen down with such disgust because he didn't do exactly what this audience member wanted is beyond me.

I recently saw an actor, whom I won't name, who gave a tremendous performance- never off the stage for 2 1/2 hrs. I sat there with my mouth open spellbound by his energy. Now if this actor wanted to just go home afterwards then he should be able to do just that. I never understood this mind set that actors must put on a sort of another show after their show.

[Jordan Catalano]

Posted: 9/27/15 at 12:37am

Ok. 

[Tom-497]

Posted: 9/27/15 at 4:05am

At the performance I saw on Thursday, the applause was also mostly just polite. What I found particularly striking, though, was the coughing and loud yawning that ricocheted around the auditorium more and more as the evening progressed. It became so extreme that I couldn't help hearing it as passive-aggressive criticism of the show.

Anyway, I thought the performance was a bit weak overall, and I'd blame the acting and direction much more than the text. I got the sense that Owen and Best were trying to "keep things moving" and avoid ponderousness but, as a result, they glazed over or raced past a lot of meaning. 

For instance, there's a point where Owen's character, a filmmaker, is speaking about a movie he made. He says, approximately: "I wrote the script and directed it. My name is Orson Welles." To my ear, Owen just ran those two sentences together in a manic near-monotone that made the second sentence sound bizarre -- like, where the **** did that come from? However, any number of slower, more careful readings could have made it sound like something that his movie-loving character might naturally say as a joke (whether playful or bitter or what have you), because he's basically just quoting the spoken credits of an old movie about old times (The Magnificent Ambersons).

Similarly, Best seemed to treat some long passages as blocks of text to be read with a certain "tone" (loud superciliousness, for instance) without much thought as to why those specific words would be coming out of the character's mouth. Whether or not that was intentional, I, at least, didn't find it effective.

To my recollection, Kelly Reilly's performance was considerably better, but it may only be because she had fewer extended speeches to steamroll in the first place.

[BwayGirls]

Posted: 9/29/15 at 10:44am

Jordan Catalano said: "It didn't get a standing ovation because the average age of roundabout subscribers is 210 and they haven't been able to stand since they took their grandkids to see the original production of SHOW BOAT.

"

[Mr Roxy]

Posted: 9/29/15 at 11:32am

Jordan ripping into old people? What a shock - not.

 

One day , Jordan will be among the ranks of the elderly. Hopefully he will receive more tolerance of his age than he has been to others

[ClydeBarrow]

Posted: 9/29/15 at 1:09pm

BwayGirls, do you have a mental problem? Or are you just decrepit too and don't know how to use a computer?