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

[April Saul]

Posted: 4/4/08 at 3:58pm

Hey Adam Greer and Jordan! After my last post in which I said I hated to read the bad review twice because I have tickets to this, I even put a smiley face so you would know I was kidding...I was NOT seriously criticizing Adam for slamming the play twice, only expressing my dismay because I've paid my money already! Just for the record, I was only trying to raise the issue of early previews being a risk...Yikes!

[SueleenGay]

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

"My guess is that Fran or Morgan was filming a movie and held up rehearsals, thinking that he or she could walk in and act this play no problem with very little rehearsal."

You know, you can still learn your lines while you are taking a dump on a film set, for christ's sake. It is not as if it is a NEW script and they had to wait for rewrites.

Updated On: 4/4/08 at 04:14 PM

[jordangirl]

Posted: 4/4/08 at 4:42pm

April ~ Ok, thanks. I missed the smiley-face. Sorry!

[CollegeMusical]

Posted: 4/4/08 at 5:36pm

quicky question... what was the running time? thanks!

[adamgreer]

Posted: 4/4/08 at 5:40pm

The lights came up at 10:20,so about 2 hours, 20 minutes.

[keen on kean]

Posted: 4/4/08 at 5:46pm

Both the "Mrs. Dodd" and the "lemon drop" line are in the script. It may be under-rehearsed but those lines are as written. I think a tough take on a first performance of a non-musical is a little uncalled for. They have been rehearsing without an audience, and all the timing will change now that they have seen how it plays. I find it so hard to believe that professionals of this caliber were unprepared. Tentative maybe, but that is what previews are for. As for the full price for previews - I've paid it, too, but I usually try to get a ticket a week or ten days after first preview so the cast has a chance to gell.

[amoni]

Posted: 4/4/08 at 9:27pm

"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."

Shut up? Touchy,touchy, ShbrtAlley44, don't like the criticism of your opinion? Suck it up. Anything you post here is up for discussion, even though quite honestly, I wasn't directing my comments to you. That was your ego thinking it's all about you, I guess. I hadn't even bothered to read your posts and after reading them, they weren't worth the bother.

[ShbrtAlley44]

Posted: 4/4/08 at 9:37pm

I answered for myself because I don't want to speak for other people. I'm aware enough to realize you weren't addressing me directly.

Keen on keen, absolutely agreed. I definitely think it'll get better, but it really was surprising.

[scaryclowns223]

Posted: 4/5/08 at 12:54am

Was anyone there tonight?

[Yero my Hero]

Posted: 4/7/08 at 9:31pm

I went on Saturday night and, while they still need to get the pacing down, they all seemed to know their lines. There were technical difficulties (the show was stopped for ten minutes during the first scene change), but they seemed to have made vast improvements in only three days. I'm excited to see how good they are by opening night.

Also, when I saw it, Peter Gallagher never called Frances McDormand "Mrs. Dodd," so I'm pretty sure that was a mistake.

[keen on kean]

Posted: 4/7/08 at 10:11pm

Ironic - if Gallagher is NOT calling her "Mrs. Dodd" at least twice, he is making a mistake! As noted earlier, it is scripted that he refer to her twice by his own name.

[titleofusername]

Posted: 4/7/08 at 11:15pm

....well, I'm glad I decided to buy tickets for Boeing-Boeing instead.

[Yero my Hero]

Posted: 4/7/08 at 11:21pm

Keen - are you sure? It wouldn't make sense in the play.

Unless I just didn't catch it, but I was specifically looking for it after hearing comments on Thursday's performance.

I'll have to find a copy of the play and read it now.

[keen on kean]

Posted: 4/7/08 at 11:31pm

Dodd calls her Mrs. Elgin (correctly) until the last couple of scenes, when he addresses her (twice, as I recall) as "Mrs. Dodd". She corrects him twice - telling him not to call her that. The second time she says something like "I'm a real lemon drop."
I don't have the play with me at the moment or I could be more exact. I've studied the play but never seen it performed so I can't get a sense of why Dodd does it. But on the 19th - I have tickets for that matinee - I finally will.

[LaCageAuxFollesFan2]

Posted: 4/8/08 at 9:17am

I saw the play last evening. Yieks is right. Where did they rehearse this show? On two different planets?

Firstly, and I'm not sure if this is different than earlier previews, but Act 1 is 3 scenes and a short 45mins. Act 2 is 4 scenes and 65 minutes. We were out of the theatre at 10:05. There was an insert in the playbill with different scenes in different Acts, so I'm not sure if they were switching it up last night or not.

IMO, the way I saw it - the play doesnt work. ESPECIALLY this production of it. It's not a bad play, but its not one of Odetts best - and sadly to say, the direction and Freeman & McDormand are all working against each other. Well especially the 2 leads, I'm thinking Nichols took a vacation on the whole thing - its not his typical work at all.

I know we are still in prievews, so I can forgive the going up on lines and trying to find your place on stage (I guess) - but the 2 leads have zero chemistry and the play has nothing to pull you in except Peter Gallagher, who turns in a very good performance opposite 2 actors who are miscast in The Country Girl.

The references and comparrisons to COME BACK, LITTLE SHEBA are inevitable. Same time period, drunk husband-scorned wife, inter-racial casting. But the way Sheba pulled you in, made you care, and took you on a ride, this production of THE COUNTRY GIRL does not. I'm not saying the play couldn't or shouldn't - I'm saying this production is a misfire and it's ashame. The set is as bland and unintersting as they come as well. Oh well...

[keen on kean]

Posted: 4/8/08 at 10:28am

Having only read the play, I must say it never comes together on the page. I was relying on this trio of fine actors to show me what is going on. There were questions initially about Freeman being too strong for the part of Frank, as the play is meant to be about his wife, Georgie. If there is no chemistry, the play won't hold together since the linch pin seems to me to be why Georgie stayed with Frank during his long difficult career.

[Yero my Hero]

Posted: 4/8/08 at 10:37am

When I saw it, the lights came up at 10:25, but we also had a ten or fifteen-minute holdup while they dealt with technical difficulties.

It's true that this revival makes it seem like the story is about Frank. I don't think Morgan Freeman was miscast (aside from taking all the attention from Georgie simply because he is Morgan Freeman, but he can't help that). He didn't come off to me as too strong for the role. He came off as someone who used to be strong but has fallen from grace. I think with another actor, I would have been questioning why all these people stuck by him and believed in him even after he *******spoiler!!!****** went back to drinking. *********end spoiler******** It's because they knew what he could be, and Freeman allowed the audience a glimpse of that as well, so that we could root for him.

Maybe I'm just easy to please, but I thought, while they still need work, the performances were wonderful.

Keen, since you've studied the play, I'd be interested to hear your thoughts when you see it.

[landryjames]

Posted: 4/8/08 at 10:51am

It is abominable that the actor's did not know their lines the first night of previews. Absolutely unforgiveable-- this is disrespect for the audience, Roundabout's reputation, the director, and the quality of the play itself.

Those showing sympathy for these actors did not pay $100 to see them screw up the entire show. If the preview period is now going to become synonymous with "the time to actually learn your lines"--then they should charge half price. Preview period is to tighten or adjust the show based on audience reaction, etc--not to learn your lines. This is horrifying. I guess I won't being seein anymore Roundabout shows during previews.

[Calvin]

Posted: 4/8/08 at 10:54am

This show isn't Roundabout's.

eta: (although they did do it a while back) Updated On: 4/8/08 at 10:54 AM

[Ed_Mottershead]

Posted: 4/8/08 at 11:01am

I re-read the play in preparation for seeing it on the 19th. I didn't have fond rememberances of the movie, but that was over 50 years ago and I thought I was just too young to appreciate it at the time. Well, as far as the text goes, I was right the first time. It's a dreary, dull, depressing play and I don't know WHO could overcome that. I'm going 'cuz I love the cast, but I'm not going to drink too much beforehand. Otherwise, I'd have spent $100 for a nap.

[landryjames]

Posted: 4/8/08 at 11:25am

Oh, Why did I think it was Roundabout's? Well, that mistake negates the whole legitimacy of my diatribe. Sorry Roundabout, I do love you.........

[Calvin]

Posted: 4/8/08 at 11:27am

Well, otherwise, the truth in it still stands.

[adamgreer]

Posted: 4/8/08 at 12:14pm

The fact that they STILL don't know their lines is disturbing.

But, more importantly, here's my question. Why did they choose this play to appear in? I could think of a whole multitude of plays I would like to see Morgan Freeman appear in. Why this one? Why not something with a little more "oomph"?? Freeman's best scene in the entire play is at the beginning when he is "improvving" the angry father. Why not give him a play where he do more scenes like that? This choice of play puzzles me.

[flaemmchen]

Posted: 4/8/08 at 12:17pm

I heard that they cut the Mrs. Dodd lines entirely, which will work better in the long run, because even though the lines were scripted and gave the character an extra layer, they still (as this thread indicated) looked like slip ups.

[Calvin]

Posted: 4/8/08 at 12:20pm

In the Times review from the Roundabout production (I'd looked it up to make sure my memory was correct) it mentions that even Odets considered it to be a "superficial" work.