STRAIGHT WHITE MEN Previews

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?!

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

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.

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

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.

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.

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

Updated On: 6/28/18 at 08:42 PM

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.

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

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

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!