Stick Fly - First Preview

[PlayItAgain]

Posted: 11/19/11 at 1:22am

Anyone go?

[dshnookie]

Posted: 11/19/11 at 4:50am

Yes.

I found the play to be dull, lifeless, uninteresting, and HIGHLY PREDICTABLE to a degree that's almost insulting. Im all for plays that lack "action" or a spark but that are beautifully written - but this piece is neither of the above. There are loose themes on racism, and frankly about African American people acting White. The character with the most flavor and spunk was surprisingly, the only white actress on stage. And the central conflict couldve been easily avoided had ...

SPOILER

The character who we never see heeded Nene's wise words on Atlanta Housewives, "Close your legs to married men!"

END SPOILER

The night wasn't a total loss as Alicia Keys came out the stage door, and was just stunningly beautiful and so gracious. For some reason, I expect many people will enter the Cort expecting to see Alicia on stage and be disappointed. And if tonight is any indication, expect lots of sound effects coming from the audience that will force you to miss large chunks of dialogue from the already soft-spoken cast. The choice uttering of the night? MMMMHMMMMMM!

[PlayItAgain]

Posted: 11/19/11 at 6:36am

Oh no is it really the show thats going to attract those reactions (groans)

[CAX]

Posted: 11/20/11 at 8:04am

weird system hiccup.... repeated it! Updated On: 11/20/11 at 08:04 AM

[AC126748]

Posted: 11/20/11 at 8:42am

The show has had exactly three performances. Let's not jump the gun and say that nobody is interested.

[CAX]

Posted: 11/20/11 at 8:44am

Interesting... This play may just beat out Mountaintop for the play thread with the most tumbleweeds on BWAY world.

There's that little interest in the piece?

[Calvin]

Posted: 11/20/11 at 6:32pm

I saw it, and dshnookie is right. The first 30 minutes or so feel like a failed TBS sitcom pilot, and the "plot twists" are more predictable than Saved By The Bell: The New Class. "August: Dukes County" this ain't. And it's incredibly stagey, like repeatedly having characters in different conversations in different rooms saying lines in unison.

It gets a little better as it goes on but mostly oscillates between banal and faux-pretentious. It's also way too long, clocking in at nearly 3 hours on Saturday afternoon. No one in it is particularly bad, but no one is really outstanding, either.

BTW, the talk-back to the stage, while it added to the bad sitcom feel, was not nearly as annoying as the two ladies behind me who were hard of hearing and had to repeat lines to one another.

LADY 1: What are they laughing at?
LADY 2: I don't know. I can't see. He's eating pickled something.
LADY 1: What?
LADY 2: Pickled something.
LADY 1: What?
LADY 2: (almost shouting) Pickled something. I couldn't hear.

LADY 1: What's going on?
LADY 2: They just found out their mother's white.
(that's not a spoiler -- it's utterly incorrect and made no sense to what was happening onstage)

[RippedMan]

Posted: 11/20/11 at 9:33pm

How's the production value? Nice set? etc.

[ljay889]

Posted: 11/20/11 at 10:41pm

Just saw it tonight. The set, lighting, and original music by Alicia Keys were all fantastic.
But I didn't love the play. The writing was quite sophomoric. I completely agree that it came off as any black sitcom on tv meets August: Osage County.

Performance lasted 2:50 and was entirely too long. It just kept going and going and going. The writing wasn't good enough to warrant such a long play.

The performances were pretty good, no faults there. I just wish the writing was better or more interesting.


Updated On: 11/20/11 at 10:41 PM

[adamgreer]

Posted: 11/21/11 at 12:28am

I saw it tonight and enjoyed it, though it's far from brilliant. There was nothing profound about it, but it held my attention.

That being said, my new title for the play is August: Martha's Vineyard.

[egghumor]

Posted: 11/21/11 at 12:36am

Very funny post, Calvin! I'll be thinking about those two women for days to come...

[anthonyhw]

Posted: 11/21/11 at 2:34am

Can someone post who the understudies are? Thank you!

[musicman_bwayfan]

Posted: 11/21/11 at 3:49am

I was also at the first preview.

TDF seats were in the rear orchestra.

For those of you who want to know, there is no show curtain.

I was not a fan of the unnecessary audience participation. I almost heard more audience dialogue during the show than I did coming from the stage. 1st off, please, let's not have every audience member restate the obvious and react to it. If the guy treats women poorly and disrespects them, we're all old enough to pick that up as there was no one under college age people in the house.

From where I was sitting, I heard this the ENTIRE time:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=u8gjZRGUNBk

2 unacceptable pieces of behavior:
1) The woman next to me took out something wrapped in aluminum foil during act 1 and opened it. It turned out to be some huge ass messy sandwich that she proceeded to eat - crinkling the aluminum foil as she went along.
2) The woman sitting next to her during act two called her cell around 10 pm to check her 4 or 5 voicemail messages. Several phones went off and while they were not on loud, you could still hear them vibrating.

[egghumor]

Posted: 11/21/11 at 4:57am

Good grief! Apparently some audience members feel that attending a Broadway performance is no different than watching TV at home.

[Cape Twirl of Doom]

Posted: 11/21/11 at 10:39am

I saw the show yesterday (Sunday matinee), it ran about 2hrs 45min. Which pissed me off a bit since on their website it says the show runs 2hrs 15mins including the intermission. I had to be somewhere at 5:45, luckily I ducked out as soon as the applause started and made it there. But they really need to change that website!

I liked the show, though I kept feeling like I was missing something. Often the audience would start laughing hysterically and I hadn't even realized anything funny had happened. It didn't help that the actors would continue speaking through all that laughter, making a good amount of dialogue completely unintelligible. And the constant stream of "mmhmmm" "woooooooo" "That's right!" "You tell him!" and just general noise didn't help, including the three cell phones that rang.

But despite the audience, I enjoyed the show.

[adamgreer]

Posted: 11/21/11 at 11:37am

The Sunday evening audience was the same way, seemingly under the impression this was an interactive experience. And someone really needs to tell the cast to pause when the audience is laughing, because they repeatedly talked over laughter, causing whole lines of dialogue to get swallowed up.

And there were at least 8 cell phones that rang last night. Horrendous.

[spike3]

Posted: 11/21/11 at 5:30pm

Yes this will be an audience participation show,just like"Cat on a Hot Tin Roof"a few seasons ago. Why some nights that show played like Medea Goes to Broadway or a revival meeting uptown

An African American friend of mine said it is just a cultural thing,(a broad statement yes,but one that is sadly true).

And yes, some people do think they are watching the show in their living room,that goes for portions of ALL theatre goers

[Cape Twirl of Doom]

Posted: 11/21/11 at 6:43pm

"It's a cultural thing" is not an excuse for adults to act like loud annoying children. Adults should know better than to talk back to actors onstage, this comes up every time there is a show with a primarily Black cast (though I've never heard of this problem at THE LION KING.) It's rude plain and simple, and they need to learn not to do it.

[PlayItAgain]

Posted: 11/21/11 at 7:08pm

^ thank you

[anthonyhw]

Posted: 11/21/11 at 9:42pm

I can't imagine why the show is running 3 hours. I was in a production of Stick Fly earlier this year and it was definitely closer to 2... however I did hear that there were some re-writes. And yeah, some audiences will talk back...especially during this show. But I wish the production much success. Lydia is a wonderful and generous person.

[Blactor]

Posted: 11/21/11 at 10:44pm

Yes, how dare "they" enjoy themselves while seeing reflections of themselves onstage! What right do "they" have to express their engagement in and enjoyment of the show! How "unfortunate"!

Someone needs to teach "those people" some manners and tell them to act more civilized!

LOL

[Jordan Catalano]

Posted: 11/21/11 at 10:58pm

Actually, someone needs to teach "All people" appropriate theater behavior. Whether it's talking back to the stage (come on, how stupid do you have to be to do that) or taking five minutes to unwrap one piece of candy because by doing it slower nobody can hear you (seriously, are you that slow?) or texting with the phone hidden by your arms (because obviously the light can't be seen when you do that, you idiot), people of all colors and backgrounds need to learn what's acceptable and use basic common sense and practice common courtesy when around other people who have paid money for an experience.

[WhizzerMarvin]

Posted: 11/21/11 at 11:33pm

I saw this tonight and loved it- the "experience" included. Normally I would be all in agreement about talking back to the actors, etc but it felt so appropriate at this show. I found myself clapping along and cheesily gasping along at all the corny lines and reveals.

This was like watching an entire week of "One Life To Life" during sweeps in one evening. It's not Tennessee Williams or August Wilson. This is juicy soap opera of the kitchen sink variety. The acting is appropriate and fun. The play is bit long, but really it flew by for me. At least it's never boring like so much stuff produced today.

Glad I saw it with friends and we could all laugh and have a good time together. Not perfect, but one of the more entertaining offerings on Broadway this season in my book.

[Felm_heart]

Posted: 11/22/11 at 12:26am

I was at the show tonight as well. It certainly wasn't perfect, but it is not as bad as everyone here is making it out to be. There are plenty of eye roll-inducing moments, but overall it is a fine show. (I thought the actress playing Taylor was particularly bad.) It is predictable, and it does channel August: Osage County .. but those aren't necessarily bad things. The set is gorgeous, and there are plenty of fun moments. I was anxious to hear that it was running three hours, but I never felt it dragging. I'm sure it will get much clippier by the end of previews. A pleasant evening when all is said and done.

[Cape Twirl of Doom]

Posted: 11/22/11 at 12:33am

Someone needs to teach "those people" some manners and tell them to act more civilized!

If you talk back to the actors onstage, then yes, you do need to learn some manners and how to act more civilized.

If you text/talk on your cell phone during a show, you need to learn some manners.

If you speak to your companion at anything above a whisper, you need to learn some manners.

If you sing along with the show, you need to learn some manners.

Etc., etc. etc.

Like Jordan said, it doesn't matter who does it, if you are disturbing your fellow patrons, then you are a nuisance and you should change your behavior.

Updated On: 11/22/11 at 12:33 AM