The Country Girl 4/3/08...yikes- Page 2

[munkustrap178]

Posted: 4/4/08 at 8:53am

amoni, PLEASE.

I am so sick of people on these boards that have something to say about every negative review. Believe it or not, NOT EVERYTHING IS GOOD! I, for one, appreciate these early comments. Yes, the posters knowingly went to see the first preview. They KNOWINGLY posted first preview comments. And we're all knowingly reading first preview reviews.

And you're right, some of us don't love theatre at all! Clearly! How dare ANYONE be negative about ANYTHING! I guess I better clean off my rose colored glasses.

[HeddaG]

Posted: 4/4/08 at 9:35am

I've got tickets for the 18th. I was so looking forward to this. Hoping things get worked out. I thought - what a cast! How could it miss?

[dancingthrulife04]

Posted: 4/4/08 at 9:38am

After reading this I'm debating if I still want to go. Does anyone know if they have student rush yet?

[April Saul]

Posted: 4/4/08 at 9:58am

Hey Adam Greer, did you think you needed to blast this thing quite so much on BOTH boards? But seriously, I am especially sorry to hear it didn't go well, they are all insanely talented, and thank God that the tickets I bought with a discount code are for sometime in mid-May! Whether it gets better or not, I too am a fan of previews, but there is always this risk involved. I paid $14 to see a preview of In the Heights off-Broadway and wasn't that impressed and I'm sure that one's gotten way better. So yeah, for all the people who got TDF tickets to the first handful of performances of Country Girl, there will be a downside to getting in for that cheap...but you all are right to point out that some people pay full-price to be the first to see these things, and to demonstrate why that is a REALLY bad idea!

[munkustrap178]

Posted: 4/4/08 at 10:01am

If he had lovely, positive things to say about THE COUNTRY GIRL, would you ask him if he needed to post this on both boards? No.

[April Saul]

Posted: 4/4/08 at 10:46am

No, munk, that's a good point, but still, we are talking about the very first preview, which is always a real risk....although we all agree that theoretically, it shouldn't be. And of course, having already bought my tickets, I didn't want to have to read what he had to say not once, but TWICE!

[adamgreer]

Posted: 4/4/08 at 11:30am

No one forced you to open the thread on both boards. You could have skipped it.

To answer the question about the size of the house...the orchestra appeared pretty full (based on what I could see from the front mezz). The front mezz was full, and about half of the center section in the rear mezz was full. The side rear mezz seats were empty.

[jordangirl]

Posted: 4/4/08 at 11:38am

As one who barely even knows what ATC is and certainly has never been there, I appreciate the people who do post reviews on here. If you knew it was by the same person after reading it on one board, why do you have to blast him for posting on both? You chose to read it on both. AdamGreer chose to post on both so that people who read only one or the other will have the same information/experience of his review.

[WithoutATrace]

Posted: 4/4/08 at 11:45am

ShbrtAlley44: I waited at the stage door until 11:15pm and then gave up...

[Calvin]

Posted: 4/4/08 at 11:49am

Phew. Sounds like a good thing I held off until TDF tix were available. Let's see if it improves by Wednesday.

[ShbrtAlley44]

Posted: 4/4/08 at 12:20pm

WAT, were you behind me? I was the girl talking about dead velociraptors and doing Jeff Goldblum impressions.

And oh, please, amoni. Please. Yeah, I hate theatre because I posted that a show I paid money to see was extremely underrehearsed. I am fully prepared to forgive a few flubs, of course, but there is no way it should have been in the shape it was. It was frankly embarrassing. I did say that the second act does show some promise. As Simon Cowell often says, it's an opinion. You don't have to listen to it. Keep your mouth shut and stop hurling accusations.
Updated On: 4/4/08 at 12:20 PM

[flaemmchen]

Posted: 4/4/08 at 12:21pm

I was there last night as well, and I'm keeping all my extremities crossed that it gets better. The main gripes I had were the pace (agonizingly slow at some points) and the fact that the actors weren't confident on their lines (which might account for the shouting and the recitation-like quality of everyone's performance), both of which I think can be fixed before opening night. Was it disconcerting to see that the show still had these issues at its first public performance? Yes. I've seen plenty of shows during the preview period, and I've rarely seen such glaring mistakes occur, but like someone else said, Mike Nichols is no fool, and I doubt that he will let the mistakes go.

Props to Frances McDormand for having the presence of mind, despite nerves, to acknowledge both Gallagher and Freeman's slip ups with the names and correct them.

[Borstalboy]

Posted: 4/4/08 at 12:27pm

Paid $100 for this show?

Tell me again why booing a show is "rude"?

[ShbrtAlley44]

Posted: 4/4/08 at 12:45pm

I also have to admit I giggled when Peter Gallagher threw himself dramatically across the stage at Morgan Freeman and then stood, hunched, over him, breathing hard.

[Marianne2]

Posted: 4/4/08 at 12:45pm

Hopefully it will get better, since it was only the first preview. I'm just sort of surprised about the line dropping because these actors are professionals. I mean, I don't know how long they have been rehearsing, but I know if it were me, I'd attempt to memorize as much as possible. Even if you just get the basic gist of the story, it's better than nothing.

But I will say that it is extremely difficult to perform something for the first time in front of people. Especially if your director isn't very experienced. That was an experience I faced in college with just a 15 minute scene. We performed a bit of it for my director's class, and it was not the best we could have done. But, by our last preview before the show, we were awesome. I'll admit, we still sort of messed up in the real show, but it still went smoothly. You just never know what will happen in live theater. Even with professionals who have been doing the show for a long time.

[ShbrtAlley44]

Posted: 4/4/08 at 12:48pm

That's all very well, Marianne, but the director in question is Mike Nichols, and yes, I agree that you never know what will happen, but you should know your lines. After that, yes, you never know what will happen.

[Marianne2]

Posted: 4/4/08 at 12:54pm

Oh yeah, with his reputation then, I would expect better as it goes on in previews.

[adamgreer]

Posted: 4/4/08 at 12:58pm

But again, these are professional actors getting paid a lot of money to do this. This is not the local community theatre, where you can excuse "nerves." A Broadway show, should, at the very least, have a cast that knows their lines. If it was just a matter of pacing, or getting a rhythm, then I would say, yes, it was the first preview and that is to be expected. However, whole thing was under-rehearsed, and the cast looked like they were struggling to just say the correct line. As a consequence, they weren't really getting into their characters at all or giving a "performance." It was just empty shouting.

[Calvin]

Posted: 4/4/08 at 1:00pm

Well, Deuce started out shaky, and look how it...er, nevermind.

[WithoutATrace]

Posted: 4/4/08 at 1:01pm

oh that's right! they didn't know their lines in DEUCE for the first preview either! that show was abysmal.

[jesuisflooney]

Posted: 4/4/08 at 1:07pm

forgive me if you have already been corrected but please do us all a favor and pick up a copy of the book. the two "mrs. dodd" lines were far from mistakes. check the script and stop boring us with lazy flak.

[ShbrtAlley44]

Posted: 4/4/08 at 1:11pm

If you're so bored, why don't you read another thread?

Note that we all posted we'd never read the play and were going on what people who claimed to be familiar with the text told us. If I was wrong then I was wrong, but the actors still did not know their lines. Updated On: 4/4/08 at 01:11 PM

[WithoutATrace]

Posted: 4/4/08 at 1:14pm

i have to admit, i too thought the "mrs. dodd" lines were mistakes...since practically every line before those lines were mistakes. i guess peter gallagher was the only one who knew his lines last night. unfortunately, due to his imcompetent coworkers, they made him look bad.

[thatgirl712]

Posted: 4/4/08 at 3:27pm

I'm stil anxious to see it. It's a great play.

Diane

[adamgreer]

Posted: 4/4/08 at 3:41pm

Honestly, if those lines were all scripted, that makes it even worse, because the actors did nothing to suggest that it was anything but a flub. There was no apparent characterizations what so ever. They were working so hard to attempt (not at all successfully) to remember their lines, that no one was really acting or playing a role.