Road to Mecca First Preview- Page 2

[chrisampm2]

Posted: 12/19/11 at 1:31am

Memories of the original NY production of the play more than 20 years ago still resonate with me. I haven't seen the current production so can't comment on its worth but to call the play "junk" seems a bit much.

I saw the original cast of the off-Bwy production at the much-misses Promenade and was underwhelmed, then went back when Kathy Bates took over for Amy Irving (2 peas in a pod, those gals) and found it spellbinding from start to finish.

Athol Fugard's work - and this one in particular - may be too uneventful for some tastes or perhaps the theater's too big and the performances still too small, but the text isn't worthless by a long shot.

[AC126748]

Posted: 12/19/11 at 10:16am

I saw it yesterday. It was a chore to sit through--a rather stagnant play that doesn't really get cooking until twenty minutes before the final curtain comes down, coupled with a production that appears to accentuate every weakness in the text. As others have noted, the first act functions solely as a sort of exposition, although only a few things revealed (such as how Elsa and Miss Helen met, and the kind of work Helen is doing) really have anything to do with the meat of the story. The second act is comprised mostly of banal interactions between Elsa, Miss Helen, and the town pastor (Dale's character), which I suppose is meant to build the tension that culminates in a show-off of sorts between the three in the play's denouement. The problem is that the dialogue throughout is so boring and unengaging that by the time the actual theatrical business gets underway, the viewer is so disengaged that they don't care anymore.

Gordon Edelstein's production suffers from serious pacing issues. Act 1--basically a long conversation between Elsa and Miss Helen--feels endless. I looked at my watch, sure that nearly an hour had passed, only to find that the action had been going on for less than twenty minutes. Act 2 was oddly static, as well. There is a long stretch in which Gugino is completely visible, doing nothing, and then is expected to immediately re-integrate into the scene. Likewise, during a conversation between Elsa and Marius about Miss Helen's well-being, Harris sits with her back to the audience for what feels like twenty minutes, so that we get no facial reaction from her as these two other people discuss her in her presence. Odd.

Harris is fine, nothing more and nothing less. (The last time I said negative things about a performance she gave, people said some very mean things to me on here, as if her status as legend puts her above reproach) She didn't call for lines, yet her seemingly recent mastery of the script precluded her from giving much of a performance. She nailed Miss Helen's long monologue in Act 2--the play's one true theatrical moment, to my mind--but for the rest of the play, she was just kind of there. That said, Miss Helen is a surprisingly uninteresting character, save for that one monologue, so it wasn't as if there was much she could do.

Dale did seem to have trouble with his lines and his pacing, often coming in too soon on a line and then stopping himself. Perhaps he will be able to nail down more of a character when he gets comfortable with the text. Gugino was quite fine--I find her to be an exciting stage actress--in a role that doesn't have many shades.

The set and lighting are stunning. That's about the nicest thing I can say.

[Jordan Catalano]

Posted: 12/19/11 at 10:22am

Yes! I'm glad you mentioned those ten or twenty minutes when Miss Helen was sat down totally turned away from the audience. That really irked me as I wanted to see her reaction to what was going on, not wonder if she'd nodded off like half the audience.

[AC126748]

Posted: 12/19/11 at 10:24am

That made no sense to me. It's Directing 101.

[Jordan Catalano]

Posted: 12/19/11 at 10:27am

Oh, do you mean the director who was sitting in the front row of the orchestra taking notes with that huge lighted notebook visible to the entire mezzanine?

[AC126748]

Posted: 12/19/11 at 10:30am

Was he? I didn't notice that at yesterday's matinee. (Were you at the evening performance) Though if anyone from the production is reading this: neither Harris nor Dale were particularly--consistently--audible from the mezzanine yesterday, so maybe work on your mic situation. And maybe invest in a dialect coach.

[Jordan Catalano]

Posted: 12/19/11 at 10:34am

Interesting. I was in the mezz yesterday afternoon and the one thing I didn't have any problem with was hearing the actors. I was in the last row though so maybe acoustics carry better up to the top?

[Jordan Catalano]

Posted: 12/19/11 at 10:39am

*SPOILER*



Also, Elsa's sudden anger towards Miss Helen at the end comes out of left field and seems extremely out of character for her. If her goal was to help this old woman than getting mad at her and upsetting her seems just...odd.

[AC126748]

Posted: 12/19/11 at 10:48am

Jordan, I was two rows in front of you and had intermittent trouble hearing Harris and especially Dale. My companions and several people around us mentioned the same. Much the same as when I saw her in THE ROYAL FAMILY, Harris had an occasional quiver in her voice that made it hard to understand what exactly she was saying.

And I agree about Elsa's occasionally hostile behavior towards Miss Helen. A lot of her character's motivations really come out of nowhere.

[wexy]

Posted: 12/19/11 at 1:32pm

I did see the original with Furgard and Amy Irving at the Promenade but I don't really remember it. And I will be seeing it at the Roundabout whenever I'm scheduled but I know there will be alcohol at our post party.

[singtopher]

Posted: 12/19/11 at 1:58pm

...before THE PEOPLE IN THE PICTURE, the last completely new, never-before-produced work they presented on Broadway was A NAKED GIRL ON THE APPIAN WAY in 2005.

Sondheim and Sondheim not withstanding.

[AC126748]

Posted: 12/19/11 at 2:20pm

Which was a revue.

[RainbowJude]

Posted: 12/20/11 at 11:17am

And a pretty dire one at that, where the links were more entertaining than any of the numbers were. (Not to mention that Roundabout desperately tried, at first, to market SONDHEIM ON SONDHEIM as an original muscial.)

THE ROAD TO MECCA is a good play, but it sounds like Roundabout has done a duff job of it from top to bottom. Although it's not an easy play to do, it is more than merely possible for this play to be thrilling and it sounds like this production - the director, designer, actors and the whole lot of them - has sucked every bit of life out of it. Pity.

Updated On: 12/20/11 at 11:17 AM

[Pammylicious]

Posted: 1/4/12 at 5:10pm

I got tickets for 1/19 performance, a couple of days after the opening. Has anyone seen it recently? If so, has it gotten any better? I am not really looking forward to it but I want to see Ms. Harris on stage and figured this was a great opportunity.

I agree with all the bad stuff Roundabout has been producing. Hedda Gabler was the worse for me, then that awful Philanthropist and the one with Victor Garber (I forget it name).....very unforgettable.

[iluvtheatertrash]

Posted: 1/4/12 at 11:04pm

While it was slow, I loved it. I was very moved by it and think Harris is doing exquisite work. While I agree with comments about the set, I disagree about Miss Helen facing away. I loved that we almost forgot about her... That she was fading away. It spoke volumes about Miss Helen's soon to come suicide. (Not a spoiler. It happens after the play.)

[iluvtheatertrash]

Posted: 1/4/12 at 11:04pm

While it was slow, I loved it. I was very moved by it and think Harris is doing exquisite work. While I agree with comments about the set, I disagree about Miss Helen facing away. I loved that we almost forgot about her... That she was fading away. It spoke volumes about Miss Helen's soon to come suicide. (Not a spoiler. It happens after the play.)

[iluvtheatertrash]

Posted: 1/4/12 at 11:04pm

While it was slow, I loved it. I was very moved by it and think Harris is doing exquisite work. While I agree with comments about the set, I disagree about Miss Helen facing away. I loved that we almost forgot about her... That she was fading away. It spoke volumes about Miss Helen's soon to come suicide. (Not a spoiler. It happens after the play.)