Saw this last night and, honestly, think it is one of the worst things I've ever seen. It was so bad, it's hard to know exactly where the fault lies. Was it the play, the cast, the performances, the direction???
Some thoughts:
The play itself has a play-within-a-play structure, but features sub-par "backstage" comedy and is full of old, obvious jokes (forgotten lines, messed-up entrances & blocking, props that don't work, etc.) NOISES OFF it isn't. It's not even THE PLAY THAT GOES WRONG. It's just bad.
In the 2nd act, we briefly leave the play-within-a-play setting for several trite, superficial encounters between the now-together former lovers and their significant others, before launching into another lame play-within-a-play. Sample dialogue: One character, at the end of a rant about soul mates, cries "I believe in God, goddammit!" (Yes, the writing is really at that level.)
The whole "2 actors/former lovers now have to share the stage together" trope was done ten times better in KISS ME KATE almost 70 years ago. STAGE KISS brings absolutely nothing new to the table.
There was a complete lack of chemistry between the leads. It's hard to feel that you are witnessing the reigniting of a passionate love affair when the actors playing the roles seem like they've barely met. The same problem exists between the lead actress and her husband & daughter. There is no sense that they are really a family, so their concerns about whether she leaves them or not ring hollow.
We are told, several times, what a good actress She (yeah, that's the character's name) is -- and yet we never see any proof of it. Quite the opposite, in fact. For example, when He (ditto) tells her how fantastic She was in her final scene, we -- having just witnessed said scene -- can only shake our heads in disbelief. (This could have been played ironically; unfortunately, it wasn't.)
Why are He and She still wearing their "fancy dress" stage costumes weeks after the play has closed? And then again in the next scene which is set even later? Is this "symbolism" or just ineptitude?
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After 120 painful minutes, the morale of the story turns out to be "There's no place like home" -- made even more apparent by several blatant references to THE WIZARD OF OZ.
Quite a few walk-outs at intermission, polite applause at the end, and no standing O from an L.A. audience tells you all you really need to know. What's more, a small group spontaneously formed in the lobby afterwards, discussing the piece of crap we had just seen.
Truly, truly terrible.
Updated On: 4/18/16 at 11:56 AM
