Our Lady Of Kibeho

[mkg144]

Posted: 10/30/14 at 1:49pm

Has anyone seen a preview yet? Thoughts?

[AC126748]

Posted: 10/30/14 at 1:53pm

I have a ticket for Sunday.

[Fantod]

Posted: 10/30/14 at 1:55pm

Where is this playing?

EDIT: In case anyone's curious, it's playing at the Signature Center Updated On: 10/30/14 at 01:55 PM

[AC126748]

Posted: 10/30/14 at 2:02pm

And all tickets are just $25 for the initial run, and there are still quite a few available.

[themysteriousgrowl]

Posted: 10/30/14 at 2:06pm

Ooh, thanks, mkg144. I totally forgot this existed.

[henrikegerman]

Posted: 10/30/14 at 2:34pm

Going Tuesday, will check in after.

[broadwaybelter]

Posted: 10/30/14 at 4:05pm

I attended the first preview. And a taut first preview it was! Mostly good things are happening on that stage right now - some strange, but mostly good. I was most pleasantly surprised by Katori Hall's writing. She is definitely an interesting writer, and each of her plays are remarkably different in tone. KIBEHO is very funny, moving, and insightful. But most of the credit for the evening should to go to Michael Greif.

KIBEHO is masterfully directed; there are some tricky elements involved including a cast of 15, magical moments (I won't spoil them for you - but they were pretty nifty), choral music, projections, among other things. They use almost the entire theater as playing space, including most of the aisles in the theater.

The cast is all-around excellent, but especially the luminous performances of Mandi Masden, Starla Benford, Joaquina Kalukango, and Nneka Okafor. Some of the cast members were noticeably struggling with the dialect, but I'm sure that will gel with time. Given that there is so much music in the play, the production has chosen to utilize body mics to assist with volume problems, which was distracting at times.

The play needs to find its ending and emotional core and round out character development, but, as it is right now, it's a delightful evening of theater. Updated On: 10/30/14 at 04:05 PM

[RippedMan]

Posted: 10/30/14 at 6:41pm

Interesting choice for Grief.

I have a friend working on the production and some of the shots and stuff look really interesting.

[LarryD2]

Posted: 10/30/14 at 6:46pm

What exactly makes this an interesting choice for Greif?

[Matt Rogers]

Posted: 10/30/14 at 7:18pm

Saw the first preview also. Some great acting and direction. I thought Act One was really just fantastic with a doozy of a first act ending that left the audience gasping. Unfortunately, for me it all led to nothing in a very long winded and dreary second act where not much is resolved at all. It's as if the writer did not know where she was going with this, and as a result, it goes nowhere. This is a very ambitious play, but ultimately, I was disappointed.

[broadwaybelter]

Posted: 10/30/14 at 8:33pm

I wouldn't say it's 'dreary', in the sense that it was a dismal experience to sit through, but definitely much darker than the first act. I do agree that some of the scenes in the second act seemed superfluous, and long-winded.

[stevenycguy]

Posted: 10/31/14 at 12:20am

Wow, this is a highly watchable and potent drama. It is based on a true story in 1980s Rwanda. First one college girl, then another and then a 3rd, say that they are receiving visions from the Virgin Mary. The sassy and mean nun yells and curses at them and treats them poorly. Other schoolgirls taunt them at first, until they begin seeing things too. Soon the entire village hears about this, and someone from the Pope's office is sent to check things out.

The physical effects are simply phenomenal during the visions of the Virgin Mary - without spoiling things, I'll just say you'll be amazed via your sight, sense of smell, sound, and wind. Act I will have you on the edge of your seat and comes to a resounding conclusion. Act II is still quite powerful and features a moment when many audience members were gasping and looking away (when there was a certain "test" to see if the girls were telling the truth or not.) Act II can use about 5-10 minutes of cuts/tweaks, but this is still a very intriguing work. Everything is well resolved in Act II - we know what happens with the three girls, and we see what happens to the nun and priest running the college. The playwright was in attendance which was a nice touch. It received a well-deserved standing ovation from a good portion of the audience. I can certainly see this work extending to the full $65 ticket price, and/or moving to another venue (possibly even Broadway with some minor tweaks to Act II, similar to how Doubt moved to Broadway.) It runs 2 hours 25 minutes.

[RippedMan]

Posted: 10/31/14 at 1:30am

Because Greif has mostly done musicals - Rent, Grey Gardens, Next to Normal - and most have involved white people. So to do a play, off-Broadway based on something in Africa seems like a nice change of pace. That's all.

[LarryD2]

Posted: 10/31/14 at 3:26am

Because Greif has mostly done musicals - Rent, Grey Gardens, Next to Normal - and most have involved white people. So to do a play, off-Broadway based on something in Africa seems like a nice change of pace. That's all.

Actually, that's not true at all. In his 30+ year career, Michael has directed way more plays than musicals. Just because the two or three most high-profile projects he's done have been musicals doesn't mean that's all he does. Take a look at his Lortel Archives page--plays outnumber musicals three to one.

Also, seriously--it's interesting because he's white and the playwright is black?? Holy ignorance, Batman.
Michael Greif

[neonlightsxo]

Posted: 10/31/14 at 9:20am

We tend to ignore RippedMan around here, because of comments like that.

[RippedMan]

Posted: 10/31/14 at 11:42am

Lordy y'all are some of the worst people. It's just a comment. I mean, it's really flattering you take everything I say to heart, but I'm just saying he's KNOWN for doing these musicals about the plight of white people, or in the case of If/Then a very non-NYC version of NYC. So it's nice to see him doing a play that is outside of the realm. I'm sure he's done stuff like this in the past, but I'm just talking about recently.

Anyway, I've heard good things and it looks awesome. Can't wait to see it.
Updated On: 10/31/14 at 11:42 AM

[LarryD2]

Posted: 10/31/14 at 12:07pm

Honey, don't flatter yourself. I didn't even know you existed until I read your idiotic response to this thread. Anyway, saying that Michael Greif is known for directing three musicals just proves how little you know about theatre. And saying that it's somehow "out of the box" for artists of different races and/or cultures to work together is majorly ignorant. I don't know where you get the idea that this isn't in line with what he's done "recently", because if you look at his credits, it's not at all an outlier. But you're obviously not someone who trades in facts.

[neonlightsxo]

Posted: 10/31/14 at 12:09pm

"or in the case of If/Then a very non-NYC version of NYC"

Are you saying the real NYC isn't diverse? Because the cast of If/Then *is* diverse.

[haterobics]

Posted: 10/31/14 at 12:10pm

RENT and IF/THEN seem to have pretty culturally diverse casts.

http://www.theatermania.com/new-york-city-theater/news/if-then-diversity-award_70261.html

[henrikegerman]

Posted: 11/5/14 at 3:55pm

This is a very interesting and entertaining play. Hall has written some beautifully constructed scenes and Greif beautifully directs a fine cast in a well designed production. I'm still digesting it and am not quite sure what to take from it. At first it seems like just another work about religious hysteria/the received divine, albeit an especially well crafted one. But by the end of the show one, thankfully, feels as thrown off balance as its characters are by the various and sundry forces at play, both earthly and mystical.

My biggest problem with it are the marked philosophical similarities between Sister Evangelique (the primary antagonist to the visionaries) and Sister Marie Therese (Gladys Cooper) in The Song of Bernadette - two ladies who ask the exact same question: why does our lady choose to appear to poor little ingrates instead of me? (Perhaps Katori Hall hasn't even seen Song of Bernadette).





Updated On: 11/7/14 at 03:55 PM

[AC126748]

Posted: 11/5/14 at 5:19pm

It's an ambitious, uneven play. The basic premise follows a young orphaned girl at a rural Catholic boarding school who claims she has been visited by the Virgin Mary. Her revelation throws the school into an uproar. The headmaster (a priest) is sympathetic to the girl, while the head nun believes she is lying and wants to see her punished. Then, after several more girls report visions, an official from the Vatican is brought in to assess the situation.

My problem with the play is that it all felt very disjointed. Hall is wrestling with big themes, and very little seems to come together. Tribalism plays a significant role--the orphaned girl and the priest are both Tutsi, while the head nun and the schoolgirl bully that she employs to try and disprove the girl are Hutu--but I never felt like Hall tied the tribal issues in Rwanda to her narrative in a meaningful way. (The play takes place in the early 1980s, ten years or so prior to the genocide, though it's clear that tribal tensions are roiling). Some of the language is very poetic--at the same time, there were more than a few scenes that didn't make sense.

I found the acting uneven. I don't have my playbill in front of me, but the actress who played Marie Claire came off the best. The head nun was strident and one-note, though that could have been the writing. And I found the headmaster/priest downright amateurish.

*Potential staging spoiler*

I recommend getting seats as far back as possible for the production, if you plan on going. The entire theatre is used, including the aisles, the sides of the stage, and the area directly in front of the dead row, where you enter the theatre, which is about six or seven rows back. I was front row and found that I often needed to completely turn around to watch large portions of the play. If I could do it again I would have gone with a ticket in the rear of the auditorium.

[RippedMan]

Posted: 11/6/14 at 1:10am

I loved that they used the whole space.

(And just to clarify, RENT and If/Then may have diverse casts, but the main leads are all pretty white)

[iluvtheatertrash]

Posted: 11/6/14 at 4:45pm

Saw this last evening. Was in the front row, but also wish I'd been further back. Not a bad seat by any means - but it'd be nice to see Greif's FULL picture with the sides being used.

This is one of Greif's masterworks. He proves himself (and his long, fruitful career) with this. A beautifully staged and expertly directed play. The special effects - as mentioned - are thrilling.

While the play is a little uneven (it drags here and there), I found it ultimately a satisfying "journey". The cast is astonishing - though I couldn't help but think of a few actresses who might've been a more excited Sister Evangelique. (The actress playing the role here is wonderful, but the thought of Tonya Pinkins or Adrian Lennox was awfully exciting.)

Can't recommend this enough. I think I'll return -- if I can -- before it closes. I've always admired Michael Greif. This might be my favorite production of his.

[LarryD2]

Posted: 11/6/14 at 5:35pm

Did anyone else who's seen this have difficulty hearing at times? I was sitting third row, and I'd say I missed a good portion of dialogue during the first act, despite the fact that the actors appeared mic'd. Terrible sound design.

[henrikegerman]

Posted: 11/7/14 at 3:46am

I didn't at all but two women sitting next to me were complaining about difficulties hearing. We were in the second row.