THE UNOFFICIAL "FREE MAN OF COLOR" on Broadway Thread

I'm hungry for news. Any buzz or gossip from rehearsals?

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Just got a ticket for it, figured while I am in the area I will check out the Big Apple Circus

The Thursday and Friday performances were just cancelled - the first preview is now Saturday, October 23 @ 8pm.

Did this play off-Broadway?

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ETA- Sorry, double post.

Updated On: 10/20/10 at 04:53 PM

Thanks frogs, I thought it was but a friend of mine in NYC thought it had played the Public.

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Has anybody been to rehearsal and can leak some news?

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I am really looking forward to seeing this on Tuesday night.

I was there for the first preview tonight. I got a TDF ticket and ended up front row Loge seat. GREAT view.

I do not wish to put out there any details about the production. It was a first preview. I have bullet comments below:

- The show ran just over 3 hours with one intermission. It will get tighter and will be about 2:40-2:45 after tightening. Less than that, if it gets trimmed.

- The show will be nominated for Best Costumes. They truly were the standout element of the production.

- Lots of tiny glitches in scenic transitions, entrances & exits, lights, sound, fight choreography, and some line flubs.

- John McMartin, God bless him, forgot his lines three times, but quickly got it together.

- Jeffrey Wright gives one hell of a leading performance. He will get a Tony nod...only to lose to Mark Rylance.

- Critics will undoubtedly draw comparisons of A FREE MAN WITH COLOR to BLOODY BLOODY ANDREW JACKSON, calling it its non-musical equivalent. Perhaps add a teaspoon of FELA! for seasoning. That pretty much sums up the show.

- Even after they get their act together technically, the script is still in need of a LOT of work. Frankly, I do not think it is fixable. It's sad that Lincoln Center can get all that talent together and create ...this. (Same with WOTVOANB.) There is potential for a play in those three hours I spent in the theater this evening, but only if the script undergoes heavy rewrites.

- From my seat, I was about to see the stage and the production team in the audience at the same time. I often saw George C. Wolfe's arms go flying in the air every time something technical went wrong.

- Audience response when leaving the theater was more extreme than mine: "a wasted three hours of life." About 20-50 people left during intermission.

I hope that the script gets doctored and we see the gem that is hidden beneath all the unnecessary scenes and characters.

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Surprised this thread has been so inactive. Curious about how the show has turned out since i read an early draft last year.

I agree with the two above posters in regards to Wright and the costumes.

As far as the play itself...dreadful. Bear in mind that I couldn't bear the thought of sitting through the second act, so I am sure that takes some validity away from my opinion. But seriously, the thought of at least another hour was unbearable...and I am not one to walk out of a show either (this being only the third time in my life that I have done it). It seemed to just meander all over the place without a point...except for being witty and looking pretty. I am seeing Women on the Verge on Saturday and hope that Lincoln Center redeems itself with that one.

Yep, no matter what the critical reaction, Lincoln Center subscribers will keep the show open for the duration of the run. That's one of the risks you take when you subscribe.

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I would say I agree in the main with the previous assessments given here, though my reaction was less negative. I enjoyed parts of it. The main problem is Guare has tried to write an epic on a text that can't support it. I feel there is the essence of a good play here, but, in actuality, three different plays are going on here at once, all lumped together uneasily- part Restoration bedroom farce, part historical narrative, and part social indictment on racism in this country. None of them is developed or executed as well as they they need to be. The style is cartoonish, but without the wit, incisiveness and insight required. It's also one of those things that seems to be headed towards a logical conclusion, and then it keeps going and going again without knowing when and where to end.

The production is elaborate, and the costumes ravishing.

I'd say the actors are still finding their way, but are not aided by the fatuousness of their roles. But the always wonderful Veanne Cox steals a show once again with her varied portrayals. She truly is a marvel.