PURPOSE Previews — Page 2

Yes, that line was cringe when it was delivered, and the foreshadowing here is so clunky and obvious it really undercuts Act 2. I think these missteps--all arising out of the narration--is so frustrating because Jenkins is such a brilliant writer that its confounding AND because the rest of the production is so so strong. Very odd.

As I likely wont have time to see it again, very curious if this gets cleaned up before opening.

saw this last night and thought it was quite good - runtime was down to 2h50m, a couple of things dragged in act 2, but seems like not as much as people have mentioned in this thread. I also didn't notice the spoiler that was mentioned above, so that may have been removed.

This was fantastically entertaining and perfectly cast. My money is on this winning the Tony for Best Play.

same as others

Act 1 is soooooo great!

Act 2 needs an editor. It's good but not as good.

Cast falls into the category of Best Ensemble Tony.

Kara Young is falling into the category of she could read the telephone book and make it award worthy!

This very enjoyable show would definitely benefit from judicious editing. Reading through the posts, most are referring to the 'narration' as being the thing that is excessive. And it is. But not only the narration. All the characters speak in lengthy page long paragraphs. This is fine for when a writer is getting ideas on the page in an exploratory draft, but feels mastabatory in actual performance. The playwright needs to learn the art of concise dialogue. The play is funny and compelling but would be even stronger with some breathing room. I hope the playwright's quick success hasn't left him surrounded only by people who say "yes." He's too talented for his future work to suffer from that.

Perhaps a bad string of words on my part. What I meant was that I hope the playwright has not reached a level of success where he no longer receives strong constructive criticisms hat might benefit his writing. That often happens when a playwright reaches a certain level of prestige, and the quality of their writing often suffers as a result.

Updated On: 3/10/25 at 02:25 PM

Miss10036 said: "Is one side better than the other for sightlines, and do you miss much substantively sitting on the far sides? A lot of the TodayTix rush seats appear to be on the further sides, many marked partial view, and I'm debating whether to go that route or just plan ahead and do TDF for a later performance..."

you do miss a lot of an important scene in act 1 if you are seated in the far left side of the orchestra.

i saw this on March 7 so I wonder where they were in terms of edits .. the first half was very good and the crowd was with them .. despite too much narration. The second half - dragged. So many long monologues and cast was dropping words making it even harder to follow.

I got a pair from TDF and we were center row B in the mezzanine. Perfect view. Nice set.