The Best Man — Page 3

Do you guys think that 2nd row center is too close?

That's so false! I sat in the mezzanine when I saw it and there was no script taped to the table. You think a brilliant actor like Angela Lansbury can't learn her lines? She might be 86, but she's been in plenty of shows to keep her mind sharp.

AngelorPhantom1359, I was in the front row, and it was clear that Ms. Lansbury's focus was directly at the coffee table during much of the scene, usually just before her lines while normally she would be focused on another character. Friends sitting second row mezzanine at the extreme stage left side informed me that there were indeed notes taped to the coffee table, supposedly hidden by other objects on the table, but easily visible to them.

I didn't make this up to discredit a great actress. If anything, I say it merely to point out once again that learning lines is the "least" of the jobs an actor does. She was brilliant despite needing the assist, just as she did in Blithe Spirit. Choose to deny if you wish.

And as for the line about sitting on the sofa being in the script, I stand corrected. I didn't think anything about it at the time, but once it was clear she was reading the coffee table, I thought perhaps that was an added bit. Sorry that I was wrong on that point.

Updated On: 3/26/12 at 03:45 PM

No such luck. James Earl Jones and Angela Lansbury have no scenes together. It's disappointing, but that's the play. Jones and Lansbury are doing great work, though. You're not likely to be disappointed in them in their separate scenes.

Angela Lansbury is going to win the tony for best supporting actress. She's warmed up to this role so well.

John Larroquette, I won't be surprised if he wins either. He's put so much into his role from the beginning up until now. This has come a long way from 1st preview.

wow... Just edited the sentence above (auto correct fail!)

Updated On: 4/1/12 at 10:01 AM

I don't see Lansbury winning for this. Nothing wrong with her work, it's just not that great a role. That said, Larroguette and Jones should be strong contenders. I was at the matinee yesterday, and the packed house loved it.

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The difference is that Katie Finneran had a very much a scene-stealing role... and, in the case of that particular revival, she ended up stealing the whole show and earning the the only consistently great notices from critics. Lansbury's role isn't nearly as showy.

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I think Lansbury will be nominated, if for no other reason than she's Angela Lansbury, but I don't think she'll win. I think Judith Light and Linda Emond (if she's featured, which she should be) are the front-runners at this point.

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I enjoyed the show and agree about Larroquette and Jones. I thought Jones veered toward hamminess and caricature early on, but that ended pretty quickly and he was a powerhouse.

I had issues with Butler and Eric McCormack, both due to the fact that their old characters seem to bleed into their portrayals. Maybe in part it's unavoidable, but I saw way too much Will Truman in inflection and gesture and a lot of Kira, Audrey and Penny in Butler. Although in Butler's case, I suppose there's only so much you can do with that voice. It lacks gravity.

Would Larroquette be considered Leading or Featured?

And no reviews thread for this show???

Laroquette will be considered leading- I think he could be looking at his second Tony win- saw this last month & loved it!

I saw THE BEST MAN recently and enjoyed it a good deal. First rate performances from the great James Earl Jones and John Larroquette and Eric McCormack brought the play to vivid and entertaining life. Great fun all around. The chance to see James Earl Jones rule majestically over the entire stage is not one to be passed up. He's just astonishing, and Larroquette and McCormack hold their own with him.

The one problem I had was with Jefferson May's disgraceful turn as Sheldon Marcus. Mays plays the role as a pathetically fragile twitching mental defective. He does everything but drool, and he's unwatchable. The reading becomes a drag on the play, as it didn't make a damn bit of sense that people as intelligent as those played by Jones and Larroquette would have put any stock in what that blithering idiot would say -- he's clearly so fragile that he'd crumble under even the gentlest questioning, which is of course very predictably exactly what he does.

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