THE FRONT PAGE Previews — Page 2

The "black and white" that a show opts to save money has a black and white playbill.com logo at the bottom of its playbill, which clearly isn't the case here.

Dancingthrulife2 said: "The "black and white" that a show opts to save money has a black and white playbill.com logo at the bottom of its playbill, which clearly isn't the case here."



I don't believe this is the case: I'm currently looking at both my Cherry Orchard playbill from Saturday night and my black and white Fiddler on the Roof playbill from July, and they both have the yellow "Playbill.com" logos.

The PlaybillVault image is up and it is indeed B/W.

But nevertheless, eagerly awaiting some reviews from tonight!

I was at the first preview tonight. I've always loved His Girl Friday- that rat-a-tat dialogue is perfection- but this was my first exposure to The Front Page.

First off, this production looks like a million bucks. The gorgeous set is very impressive, the Ann Roth suits are fashionable and the enormous cast is double the size of past four Roundabout musical orchestras put together.

The play is in three acts and we are lovingly treated to two intermissions. The first act is mostly dull set up, and although the pacing was already pretty snappy, especially for a first preview, they really could put it on Alvin and the Chipmunks speed so we could get to the good stuff.

The biggest disappointment is that this is being billed as a Nathan Lane vehicle; indeed he receives the final bow, and yet Lane doesn't make an appearance until about 10 minutes are left before the second intermission. The play doesn't truly click into high gear until he arrives and that's an awfully long time for the audience to be patient for their star. It's like going to a concert and having an opening act play for hours as the restless crowd begins to wonder if there will be any time left for the main attraction.

Lane is, of course, sublime. Hysterical to the max. I chuckled a few times before he entered, but joke, grunt, facial expression and bit of physical comedy had me guffawing in my seat. Is there a greater comedian working in the theater today? Probably not.

Slattery is very confident and giving a strong performance. He has great chemistry with Lane. Jefferson Mays is the other standout in the cast.

I wasn't so taken with Micah Stock's shtick. Everyone else is fine, but the parts are all quite small- almost like a parade of cameos.

I think His Girl Friday actually improved upon the play quite a bit, and those two leading performances are some of the best in the screwball comedy catalogue. Watching The Front Page is like watching The Matchmaker after you have discovered the joys of Hello, Dolly. It's still solid, but sometimes you're left pining for the newer model.

Thanks for your review, Whizzer! A few questions: where did you sit/how was your seat and what was the running time, roughly?

I was also there tonight and agree with Whizzer's assessment. Slattery, who is the main character, doesn't show up until about 20 minutes into the play, and the beginning is very slow going. Yes, it was the first preview, but the cast is made up of a bunch of old pros, and I think they have a handle on the material. For the first two-thirds of the evening, there are some amusing moments, but to continue Whizzer's analogy, the evening seems stuck in 1st gear.

Then Nathan Lane finally appears an hour and forty-five minutes into the play, and all is right with the world. The energy level bumps up tremendously, and the audience eats up his every word and gesture. It felt a little bit like It's Only a Play in that sense, except fortunately there is no Matthew Broderick to deflate things every time he opens his mouth. The rest of the cast seemed to step up their game, too. The last hour is really fun, but I agree with Whizzer that it's a solid evening but I don't think this production is likely to be remembered when awards season rolls around.

For those interested in the stage door: Virtually everyone came out within half an hour, although Nathan Lane, John Goodman, and Robert Morse didn't sign at all. Lane and Morse waved to the waiting fans, though. I think John Slattery was the only person who came out expecting to sign for people. Everyone else was very nice and very happy to sign, but very few people asked them to.

Updated On: 9/21/16 at 02:09 AM

Excepting Lane, I was most excited for Sherie's return to the Great White Way. She's fine, but the role is tiny. Sherie in Front Page is the Alice Ripley in American Psycho of this season.

Slow going. The first act is interminable in its dullness, with laughter noticeable only by its absence. The second act is more of the same until Nathan Lane arrivés on the scene to inject sorely-needed vitality into the proceedings. His performance is sharp and crisp, and he brings the play to a measure of life. The third act is more animated.

Overall, it's a long evening.

I'm really hoping this is good. I was in the play in high school (a star turn as a kvetchy Herman Pincus) and have loved it ever since. But His Girl Friday improves on the play, giving it an unconventional love story and Howard Hawks's screwball energy.

I'm not sure the play can work as well in 2016.

Any news on a rush, lottery or standing room policy?

I saw the show last night. Thought it was very well done. It is true that Nathan Lane doesn't come on until about 9:50 but he is worth the wait as he shines like he always does! It was a quick 3 hours in my opinion. John Goodman is very good. John Slattery is excellent. The whole cast is great. Micha Stock's accent was annoying though and I never really understood what the purpose of his character was. Other than that it was enjoyable night and I'm glad I went to see it.

Have they announced a rush policy?

50$??? I'm not complaining about shows offering rush options, but there's a point where the price of rush tickets eliminates the purpose of them (cheap ways for fans to get to shows)