That Championship Season (First Preview)

[Jordan Catalano]

Posted: 2/9/11 at 8:47pm

I'm writing this during intermission with the hope that someone involved with the show will read this and tell the actors (Jason Patric especially) TO SPEAK UP. You guys know you're not amplified and you need to reach past the first few rows, right?


Other than that it's pretty good so far. I'm not familiar with this play so I'm hoping the story picks up a bit in Act Two, however.

[Dollypop]

Posted: 2/9/11 at 10:05pm

Patric was also inaudible in CAT ON A HOT TIN ROOF a few years ago. He's not a strong stage actor.

[uncageg]

Posted: 2/9/11 at 10:10pm

Maybe tell the head usher or look for someone at the back of the house taking notes and tell them. That's what I do. I have even walked up to the sound board for musicals at intermission if there was a problem. Just a suggestion.

[Jordan Catalano]

Posted: 2/9/11 at 10:26pm

The play was good. Its not a very strong piece but the actors all did fine jobs. Sutherland is a very strong stage presence, as is Brian Cox. It's nothing I'll rush to see again but I am glad I saw it.

Side note: Act two was stopped when a woman in the rear mezz started to choke or have an asthma attack. They laid het on the floor and she seemed unconscious but a moment later she stood up, went back to her seat and apologized to everyone. I'm glad she was ok.

[matty159]

Posted: 2/9/11 at 11:32pm

Jordan, I agree entirely with your assessment. I thought Cox was great, as was Sutherland (a pleasant relief for me as I was unsure going in as to whether he could pull it off). I still need to stew on it a little longer before saying anything else beyond that I enjoyed the evening, despite some minor quibbles (the sound and some disconnect with the material).

I think the consensus after the medical moment was that the lady choked on her candy. It was actually a bit scary there for a moment.

[After Eight]

Posted: 2/10/11 at 12:05am

A rough go this evening.. The performance lacks vitality, and the play seems soggy and labored. Jason Patric could hardly be heard for about 3/4ths of the time. There's no excuse for that. There were audibilty problems with others as well. Kiefer Sutherland projected his voice well, but his performance was on the drab side. Only Brian Cox invested his role with the force, shading, and dynamism that should have been forthcoming from the entire cast.


Updated On: 2/10/11 at 12:05 AM

Posted: 2/10/11 at 12:28am

Though maybe Patric was playing a quiet drunk, incoherent and brooding, falling about and giving important speeches within his own head. I know I'd be if I drank as much as his character.

Btw, I brought the high-power binoculars, and they were downing cans of Schlitz and bottles of Yuengling beer, plus Black Velvet, Jameson, and J&B whiskeys. Don't know what was real and what wasn't, but the Schlitz cans needed can openers (it was 1972).

And the headshots under Teddy Roosevelt were Joe McCarthy and JFK. Couldn't make out the one on the far left, or the ones in back near the rhino and the clock.

[Jordan Catalano]

Posted: 2/10/11 at 12:43am

He can play quiet, drunk, incoherent and brooding all he wants to as long as he remembers he's playing all of those things to not just the four other people on stage with him, but the 1078 people watching and straining to hear him.

Noth was another one who at times was very hard to hear. The cast should just be given microphones. I don't see why they're choosing not to use them, it's not as if they're in a 200 seat theater and don't have to project.

[broadwayman17]

Posted: 2/10/11 at 12:58am

How was Jim Gaffigan? I love his stand up and was really interested to see him in a play

[After Eight]

Posted: 2/10/11 at 7:08am

"How was Jim Gaffigan? I love his stand up and was really interested to see him in a play."


I don't think he was well cast in this part, nor was he effective in it. He also had trouble being heard.

[nyel24]

Posted: 2/10/11 at 10:50am

for those who went to the first preview, how long was the show? did they have any intermission breaks?

[Blockhead24]

Posted: 2/10/11 at 11:32am

It started a little after 8:05 and we were out at 10:15 and there was one intermission

[AC126748]

Posted: 2/10/11 at 12:34pm

Have they kept it as a period piece or updated it to present day? In my experience, trying to play this particular work as anything but a period piece presents a major problem.

[Blockhead24]

Posted: 2/10/11 at 12:50pm

It's a period piece

[iluvtheatertrash]

Posted: 2/10/11 at 4:49pm

Doesn't surprise me about Jason Patric. Sounds like he's playing the same "quiet" drunk (and awfully) he played as Brick in CAT ON A HOT TIN ROOF.

Oh, well. At least he's easy on the eyes.

[Dollypop]

Posted: 2/10/11 at 5:28pm

Was that one of the worst CAT ON A HOT TIN ROOFs ever? Geeze, the memory of it turns my stomach!

[iluvtheatertrash]

Posted: 2/10/11 at 6:01pm

Just awful. My acting teacher, Jo Twiss, was understudying Margo Martindale. I went to catch it one night when Jo was on and besides her and the marvelous Ned Beatty, it was just the pits.

[eileen6]

Posted: 2/10/11 at 6:09pm

Well I am going Sunday and by what I have read here it seems fairly decent. I am looking forward to particulary seeing Brian Cox and Kiefer Sutherland.

[Dollypop]

Posted: 2/10/11 at 6:32pm

This play may really improve as the cast works together in front of a live audience.

[Jordan Catalano]

Posted: 2/10/11 at 6:52pm

I was told today that the cast has been told by everyone involved with the production that last night weren't not so good and from now on everyone in the theater needs to hear them, not just each other. So hopefully it'll improve.

[CockeyedOptimist2]

Posted: 2/18/11 at 12:37am

I went on Wednesday night on TDF tickets in the mid mezz. Had no trouble hearing people most of the time...perhaps they have been mic'ed now. It definitely seemed possible.

We weren't crazy about the play, but the performances were good. I think the intermission comes too soon. Act 1 feels very short (and lasts less than 45 minutes) and Act 2 drags a bit at the end. The whole time I felt very aware of the playwright's devices and never fully got lost in the show. Don't think I'll be seeing it again, but I'm glad that Kiefer Sutherland did as good a job as I thought he would!

[bjh2114]

Posted: 2/18/11 at 10:41am

I don't see this garnering positive reviews. It's an utter snoozefest from start to finish. Sutherland does what he can, but everyone else is just so bland. Even Chris Noth is boring in a character that should command the stage. High profile performances that don't live up to expectations in a play that is really boring at the Jacobs... sounds like The Country Girl all over again.

[RentBoy86]

Posted: 2/18/11 at 12:04pm

I went last night and sat mid-Orchestra on the right. Fine seat. Thanks to TDF.

I'm really surprised this won the Pulitzer. Knowing that ahead of time, I was really looking forward to seeing the play and getting lost in it, but man was I bored!

Like someone said earlier, the play is oddly structured. The intermission comes quick, and then Act 2 goes on and on one and on, and the ending isn't strong. It doesn't feel like an ending.

The performances, I thought, were fine. Nothing amazing, but no one outright awful. I thought Patric's fall down the stairs well pretty well done. The fighting needs some work though, it was very fake looking. Also, with all this butch guys, would they really be slapping each other? Doesn't a punch seem more apropos?

I guess in the 1970s this play was probably a revelation for all of it's talk of abortions and women's roles, etc, but nowadays I was just bored. There was just no driving force. Just a bunch of middle-aged men whining about ****.

[frogs_fan85]

Posted: 2/18/11 at 12:22pm

I agree that the intermission is in a weird spot. The script has an additional act break just as George lunges for the trophy. I think with some quicker pacing they could cut the intermission and just have two brief pauses with the curtain down. Having the intermission after what was barely 35 minutes made the show seem lopsided.

[RentBoy86]

Posted: 2/18/11 at 12:34pm

Agreed. It's sort of like "Race." Where the first Act 1 is quick, but then have a pause in Act 2.