TRAVESTIES (2018) Previews — Page 2

Aww, Very cool names and I think it’s a cat’s job to be both incredibly sweet and hugely destructive, ha.

No shame in a study guide! You’ll probably end up appreciating the dialogue so much more than by just going in cold.

I saw the show this evening through TDF (Mezz Row B). While there were more than a few walkouts at intermission, many people seemed to enjoy the show. There was frequent laughter, and exit applause on a least two occasions, including (if I remember correctly) after James Joyce dresses down Tristan Tzara.

I was unfamiliar with the play and liked it a lot overall (Act I more than Act II, actually). Also, although I'm sure I missed some allusions, etc., it seems to me that Stoppard fills in the historical basics in a helpful manner to keep people from getting seriously lost.

But I agree with the thrust of an earlier comment that the production came across as more superficial than necessary. Partly, I think, this is just tentativeness during early previews of an extremely wordy play (for example, tonight the actor playing Bennett had some trouble with one of his long speeches and seemed to be prompted by Hollander -- along the lines of, "I believe you were going to say something about Marx." )

A more significant problem, to me, and one reason I preferred Act I, was the focus on Lenin in Act II. Lenin's views on art, as presented, struck me as not only much less intellectually interesting than any of the other characters' -- which I would imagine is the point -- but also less compelling in even their practical implications (due not only to the fall of the Soviet Union and Eastern Bloc but also to a possibly related loss of stature suffered by the arts themselves -- unlike in the 1970s, I think it's very hard to view art as a serious threat to anything these days).

Updated On: 3/31/18 at 03:16 AM

Although I didn't get everything, I really enjoyed this, and may go back for 2nd dip to fill in. Yes, it is Stoppard with his smarty-pants on, and like Invention of Love (where I didn't have a clue, but still knew it was beautiful) sometimes you just have to surrender to the smartest person in the room and go where he's going. How many playwrights can manage a play this rich, silly, sly and challenges you to keep up? IMO, not too many, and don't you wish there were more? Well worth the small efforts. As mentioned, the couple of pages in the program helped.

I went into this completely blind this afternoon. I was a little concerned that I wouldn’t be able to keep up and follow along, but once I got used to the quick dialogue and the fast pace of the play, I was just fine. I know I probably missed a few things and some stuff went over my head, but I was still able to enjoy this.

The play itself is VERY wordy, and the characters all talk extremely fast. I was still able to understand mostly everyone with the exception of the actress playing Cecily who talked WAY too fast. I understood maybe 1/4 of what she said, which was a little annoying, especially when she was recapping the historical events at the beginning of act 2. It would have been helpful to understand her at that point.

Tom Hollander and Seth Numrich were the two standouts for me. They were both sensational and hilarious. I would love to see them get Tony nominations in a few weeks.

The set was very impressive and served the production quite well. I loved the deck with all the strewn papers covering it. There are also quite a few fun lighting effects throughout the course of the play.

While this is not a play for everyone (I noticed quite a few walk outs at intermission), I still enjoyed it. It definitely requires a lot of attention, and the dialogue does take some getting used to, but overall, it’s a very solid production of a solid play.

I am seeing this this week and can't wait. Stoppard's humor requires an intelligent audience and I wonder if we are all so intellectually lazy that we can't "get" this play any more.

ARCADIA is my favorite play of all time, and I lived at the Barrymore the last time it was revived. Hope to visit this a number of times was well.