STRAIGHT WHITE MEN Previews

[BroadwayConcierge]

Posted: 6/28/18 at 4:19pm

Previews for Straight White Men, the Broadway premiere of Young Jean Lee's play, begin tomorrow (Friday, June 29, 2018) at the Helen Hayes Theatre. Starring Armie Hammer, Denis Arndt, Josh Charles, and Paul Schneider, Straight White Men is set to open on Monday, July 23 for a limited run through Sunday, September 9.

Who's going?!

[JBC3]

Posted: 6/28/18 at 5:57pm

Saturday matinee for me.

Grr. I guess not now that it has been cancelled. Updated On: 6/28/18 at 05:57 PM

[HBBrock]

Posted: 6/28/18 at 6:03pm

With the major casting change happening a few days ago, do we imagine Denis Arndt will be on book for the first few previews?

Updated On: 6/28/18 at 06:03 PM

[LesWickedly]

Posted: 6/28/18 at 6:05pm

It’s a 90 minute play with a relatively large cast (for a play). I think he’ll be off book.

[Dancingthrulife2]

Posted: 6/28/18 at 6:40pm

HBBrock said: "With the major casting change happening a few days ago, do we imagine Denis Arndt will be on book for the first few previews?"

If he could do Heisenberg off book, he can do this off book as well.

[UncleCharlie]

Posted: 6/28/18 at 6:46pm

Dancingthrulife2 said: "HBBrock said: "With the major casting change happening a few days ago, do we imagine Denis Arndt will be on book for the first few previews?"

If he could do Heisenberg off book, he can do this off book as well."

I don't think they're implying he can't remember lines. He stepping in less than a week before the first preview, a challenge for any actor. He was cast in Heisenberg from the very beginning so not clear how the two compare.

[JRH182]

Posted: 6/28/18 at 6:49pm

Well, Playbill just announced they cancelled the first two shows. So I guess he needs a bit more time! 

 

http://www.playbill.com/article/straight-white-men-delays-broadway-start

Updated On: 6/28/18 at 06:49 PM

[haterobics]

Posted: 6/28/18 at 6:53pm

JRH182 said: "I guess he needs a bit more time!"

Not a wild guess, considering the article literally says "The delay will allow for additional rehearsal time for new addition Denis Arndt"

[PianoMann]

Posted: 6/28/18 at 6:55pm

UncleCharlie said: "He was cast in Heisenberg from the very beginning so not clear how the two compare."

Not originally. About a month before the Off-Broadway run of Heisenberg, Arndt replaced Kenneth Welsh. Admittedly, the announcement had been made much further in advance.

 

[greggregson]

Posted: 6/28/18 at 7:03pm

Denis Arndt wasn’t with Heisenberg from the beginning. He replaced the Kenneth Welsh very early on in rehearsals for the premiere off-Broadway

[UncleCharlie]

Posted: 6/28/18 at 7:04pm

PianoMann said: "UncleCharlie said: "He was cast in Heisenberg from the very beginning so not clear how the two compare."

Not originally. About a month before the Off-Broadway run ofHeisenberg, Arndt replaced Kenneth Welsh. Admittedly, the announcement had been made much further in advance.

I was referring to the Broadway run, but fair point. Still a month before the first preview give or take a week or two is when most rehearsals for shows start so that amount of time should be plenty for most actors.

 

[Tom5]

Posted: 6/28/18 at 7:12pm

Always the better written the play the easier it is to memorize.

[EllieRose2]

Posted: 6/28/18 at 7:22pm

Several casting changes for this show, and the guy who was first to be cast just dropped out?  Weird. 

[Nikhil72]

Posted: 6/28/18 at 8:14pm

Ugh, had tickets for tomorrow night. Any idea how to go about rebooking? Only heard about this once i read it online .

[JBC3]

Posted: 6/28/18 at 8:42pm

Telecharge sends this email.

We’ve been informed that STRAIGHT WHITE MEN has canceled these performances.

If you wish to see this fantastic show on another date, please use our online exchange tool.

Go to your Order Status page.
Click the “Exchange” button and follow the steps to select your new performance date and seats.
Your exchange will be completed after you have selected new seats.



I cannot rebook so I replied to the email and asked for a refund. It was processed three hours later. Updated On: 6/28/18 at 08:42 PM

[Danielle49]

Posted: 6/28/18 at 8:53pm

Also a word of warning regarding Telecharge exchanges: don't freak out when you get charged for the tickets you "exchanged." The email and exchange tool is basically for you to buy tickets again. Essentially what Telecharge does is refund your original order regardless of whether you exchange. I used the exchange tool when my performance of Oh, Hello was canceled. For Comet, I just bought new tickets after reading the Times announcement of its closing. It was the same exact process.

[quizking101]

Posted: 6/28/18 at 8:57pm

I actually just called and rebooked.

DO NOT REBOOK YOUR TICKETS ONLINE IF YOU BOUGHT THE $22 MEZZANINE TICKETS FOR THE SATURDAY JUNE 30TH MATINEE. You WILL get charged the price difference. 

The lady I spoke with on the phone (Cookie) said that they have a special key to rebook those tickets for any performance through July 22nd only. They will charge the new tickets and issue a refund shortly after.

[CarmenA3]

Posted: 6/28/18 at 11:01pm

quizking101 said: "I actually just called and rebooked.

DO NOT REBOOK YOUR TICKETS ONLINE IF YOU BOUGHT THE $22 MEZZANINE TICKETS FOR THE SATURDAY JUNE 30TH MATINEE. You WILL get charged the price difference.

Thanks Quizking.  I have the $22 tickets too and will call tomorrow.

 

[lostphantom]

Posted: 6/29/18 at 10:04am

I also had $22 tickets and called twice this morning. The first guy was not very helpful, basically kept saying he cannot adjust the price and my only option is refund. So I hang up and called again. The second person (Genie) was more helpful. At the time, no one in the office knows the code and she said she would call back once they figure it out. After 10 minutes, she called with adjusted price for the performance I wanted! I guess just keep trying!

Thank you, quizking101! Without your information, I would have probably given up and gotten a refund after the first call.

[sing_dance_love]

Posted: 6/29/18 at 11:56am

I was also one of the ones with the discounted tickets for tomorrow afternoon. Called this morning and was on hold for a bit, but once I got someone, it was seamless and quick and she got me re-booked for the same price. Seeing it on tuesday! VERY excited (and relieved).

[CarmenA3]

Posted: 6/29/18 at 11:59am

I just finished my call to get tickets moved and got second row Mezz (we originally had last row Mezz, so yey!). I like to pick my seats so I looked online to find best location (I wanted Mezz), and the first seats I wanted were not coming up even though they appeared on TC.  A few seconds later, they showed up on the agent's screen.  She thinks someone else was searching for the same seats - so if you are keen on a specific seat/date, ask them to refresh or wait a few seconds if they don't see the seats you want.

I recommend keeping your browser open to the date you want so you can ask for specific seats.

Thanks again quizking101 - if you hadn't posted, I would have ended up cancelling my tickets and going with rush :)

Carmen

[quizking101]

Posted: 6/29/18 at 8:01pm

I’m glad I could be of service to you all. I had to figure, since the price was a special one, that there had to be some sort of special route I had to take for them to honor the same price.

I also couldn’t imagine if they didn’t actually honor of their original promotion price for those who were re-booking, because that would end up costing them thousands in ticket sales

[Tom5]

Posted: 6/29/18 at 8:47pm

Huge mess. But this is a major Broadway production so wouldn't Mr. Skeritt's understudy have been ready and able to take over.?

[Sally Durant Plummer]

Posted: 6/29/18 at 9:23pm

Understudies and standbys aren’t usually rehearsed in until after opening. When one must go on out of town or in previews, it is usually a big deal (a la D’Amboise in Sweet Charity) and shows are often cancelled until the cast member gets better or the u/s s/b is prepared to go on.

Shows cancel previews/delay opening all the time. Often, they just want to make sure what they are presenting is worthy of a paying audience. Sometimes, first previews go on when they should have been delayed and it leads to bad press - Women On the Verge was a huge case of this, although delaying the previews any longer may have caused even greater press...

One of the greatest productions I’ve ever seen, Three Tall Women, cancelled the first few previews, leading to murmuring on here about trouble. I attended the first preview, and it remains one of the tightest, most perfect evenings I’ve spent at the theatre.

[walnutoraroach]

Posted: 6/30/18 at 10:42pm

I was there tonight (yes, I just joined BWW; no, I’m not in any way connected to the production). I found Straight White Men engaging and fairly moving, though uneven. The pre-show and first five minutes are wickedly subversive, but the play then settles into a gentle exploration of a family that feels pointed only in its lack of subversion. Framed as it as a play about straight white men (the set is literally a picture frame engraved with those three words), Young Jean Lee’s work nevertheless treats its characters as a quartet of complex, nuanced, thoughtful people and not as stereotypes or figures of satire. This family does have its share of problems (handled tenderly and sometimes heartbreakingly), but what most distinguishes this father and trio of sons is that they are all motivated exclusively by love for one another. Cast is pretty terrific and have great rapport, even with Stephen Payne, very good, stepping in for Denis Arndt. Armie Hammer is delightful, especially in his playfights with Josh Charles as his older brother, and Ty Defoe is sweetly tortured as the emotional enigma at the heart of the clan. Some of Lee’s dialogue and jokes feels familiar, but I never lost interest and the characters feel specific enough to withstand the occasional cliche. (Kate Bornstein and Ty Defoe are awesome, if maybe underused, although I won’t give away their roles.) Anna D. Shapiro’s staging is sharp. There were a few moments that seemed a little less crisp than the rest of the play - definitely a handful of lines across the board. that aren’t landing yet. I’m still not entirely sure how the setup broadly affects audiences’ experiences of the play. The discussions of race and privilege that the characters have themselves are substantial and usually provocative but don’t feel particularly central. I suppose I was most struck by Lee’s aggressive compassion — early on in the play, Bornstein’s character tells the audience that being kind to people you have reasons not to love can be really difficult - and maybe that is the intended takeaway. I wanted to get it but left unsure how much there was for me to get. Interested to see how this fares — a trickily subtle play for Broadway crowds, maybe, but wonderful to have an Asian- American female playwright, female director, and some non-binary performances as the season launches!