The Crucible Previews- Page 6

[BIG BALONEY]

Posted: 3/3/16 at 9:25am

I went last night and was so disappointed I had to leave at intermission. Set in an ugly classroom with actors in street clothing did nothing to add to this play. My orchestra seat on the far right side of the theatre was terrible. The actors were on the far side of the stage and I heard them but at times felt the we're in the theatres alleyway. Looked forward to The Crucible and now sad I spent $150 . I was a sucker for a good cast in a ruined play 

[neonlightsxo]

Posted: 3/3/16 at 9:30am

JBroadway

 

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I'm fairly certain it was a dog. Just a dog that looked like a wolf. I'm not a vet or a zoologist but that's my opinion.

The magical special effects were just for atmosphere and mood. I wouldn't take them so seriously if I were you. NOTHING in a Van Hove production is to be taken literally.

It's astounding to me how many people on this board read a few negative reviews and write the show off entirely. Go see it yourself. Especially with an Ivo van Hove production, you should see it yourself and make your own decision. Why let other people make decisions for you?

[neonlightsxo]

Posted: 3/3/16 at 9:32am

scripps said: "How was Jason Butler Harner in this? "

Excellent! The casting was all around perfect.

 

[BIG BALONEY]

Posted: 3/3/16 at 12:21pm

Casting was fine but cheap scaled down production, to be blunt a disaster.

[Mr Roxy]

Posted: 3/3/16 at 12:23pm

Blame it on those damn witches.

[FindingNamo]

Posted: 3/3/16 at 12:44pm

Ha ha!

[neonlightsxo]

Posted: 3/3/16 at 12:50pm

Who are you talking to, Big Baloney?

[wonkit]

Posted: 3/3/16 at 6:20pm

"Cheap scaled down production'? Because if it were set in Puritan Massachusetts, it would be clean, well-lit, elegant and upscale?

[bwayluver2]

Posted: 3/3/16 at 11:16pm

Won lotto tickets for tomorrow night, I look forward to seeing it. Will share my thoughts afterwards.

[PianoMann]

Posted: 3/4/16 at 11:31am

I saw the show last night and am overall on the fence about it. There was certainly a lot to like in the performances and some really smart, chilling moments of staging, but I just didn't connect with or understand other elements of van Hove's vision.

 

Unlike some of the previous comments here, I thought the performances were strong across the board. Saoirse Ronan is terrific in an integral but fairly small role. Even going into the production knowing that Abigal does not have as much stage time as the Proctors or even other supporting characters, I really wanted to see more of Ronan, which is a credit to her performance. Whishaw is a very good Proctor and he has some truly terrific moments, particularly in Act 4. I do understand the criticism of Okonedo's performance because Elizabeth does come off as less than a "real" character than many, if not all, of the others, but I was somehow won over by her performance.  Other standouts include Ciaran Hinds, who is perfectly cast as the Deputy-Governor, and Jim Norton.  I could easily see either or both of them nominated for Featured Actor come May. Tavi Gevinson made a strong impression, too.

 

To the elements of the production that I didn't like:  My biggest qualm is van Hove's use of the entire stage.  There was so much dead space in between all of the characters at all times that the production sacrificed a lot of the necessary intimacy.  To me, The Crucible should feel claustrophobic, and the paranoia and rage in such confines, with characters on top of each other, should ignite the show like a tinderbox.  How do you capture that intimacy, though, when most of the character deliver their lines to each other standing ten feet apart?  I know they're tremendously different works, but van Hove captured that tight, constricted feeling to brilliant effect in A View from the Bridge, where that box felt like a powder keg.  I certainly don't wish that he replicated the same staging here, but everything is too expansively staged, and even moments of intimacy between John and Elizabeth are swallowed up by the sheer size and emptiness of the set.  I also didn't understand the classroom setting at all or how it enhanced van Hove's vision. Sure, there are simple, perhaps reductive interpretations, i.e. school as a representation of childhood innocence and how this text subverts that trope, but I have to imagine van Hove had something more in mind.  Despite these issues, there are some really great moments, and the deposition scenes of Act 3 were very successful.

 

On a side note, has anyone sat in the right mezzanine for this production yet? I was in row D on the side and throughout the whole evening there was a really loud and annoying metallic clanging, almost like the sound of the jangling of keys, that really distracted me from the proceedings. It's a very quiet show, at times difficult to hear, so that was a hugely irritating distraction. I did mention it to an usher at intermission, but there was obviously not much he could have anyone do with the show midway through.             

 

I'd be interested in revisiting the production much later in the run to see what has changed and how the actors have grown into their roles. I think it's certainly worth checking out, just for the performances alone, through the lottery or rush.

[neonlightsxo]

Posted: 3/4/16 at 11:37am

PianoMann, thanks for your thoughtful post. I think I agree with you about the use of the whole stage. That's a good point. I'm curious to see how it changes as well.

[BroadwayConcierge]

Posted: 3/4/16 at 11:46am

Haven't caught this yet, but wondering what people think—which Tony categories, if any, do these actors and the production have a shot at a nom/win?

[neonlightsxo]

Posted: 3/4/16 at 11:47am

If you want to know about categories, go look at the last production of The Crucible.

[BroadwayConcierge]

Posted: 3/4/16 at 12:21pm

^ That wasn't what I asked.

[JBroadway]

Posted: 3/4/16 at 12:21pm

People keep bringing up the classroom setting, but I feel like there is a crucial element that I interpreted that nobody has mentioned (as far I've seen):

 

Could it be a Sunday School classroom? That was immediately what I thought when the play began, especially with the children singing the religious music, and the religious music throughout. It's about the religious education of the children and how it goes wrong. If it's a classroom in a church, then that means the courtroom is also in the church - another powerful implication. 

 

I was too far away to read what was written on the chalkboard, but it seemed to me like a bible quote or something along those lines.  I found the chalk-board to be used with great effect, particularly when John writes the Ten Commandments - another scene which made me think it was set in a Sunday school 

 

Even if I am wrong and it's not meant to be a Sunday school, I can still see how the education of children becomes a powerful image.

[sondmon]

Posted: 3/4/16 at 12:31pm

I won lottery for tomorrow night but can't go. PM me if you want the offer code.  

[Jeffrey Karasarides]

Posted: 3/4/16 at 12:33pm

BroadwayConcierge said: "Haven't caught this yet, but wondering what people think—which Tony categories, if any, do these actors and the production have a shot at a nom/win?"

 

Ben Whishsaw for Lead Actor

Saoirse Ronan for Featured Actress

[neonlightsxo]

Posted: 3/4/16 at 12:54pm

It's not a Sunday school classroom. The house right half of the set evokes a prison (more and more as the play goes on). It's more like a classroom in a prison. There's the little sink at the back and everything.

[QueenAlice]

Posted: 3/4/16 at 1:35pm

It definitely feels "institutional"-- but perhaps Van Hove is just saying that every facet of this society feels like a prison- from schools, to church, to the courthouse- even the home-/certainly Puritan New England was a very suffocating, black and white rules existance.

 

 

Updated On: 3/4/16 at 01:35 PM

[PianoMann]

Posted: 3/4/16 at 1:40pm

I don't often advertise for TDF on here, but if anyone is interested in checking out The Crucible without waiting to win the lottery or trying rush, it's currently available for Monday, Tuesday, and Wednesday (March 7 - 9) of next week.

[PianoMann]

Posted: 3/4/16 at 1:42pm

neonlightsxo said: "PianoMann, thanks for your thoughtful post. I think I agree with you about the use of the whole stage. That's a good point. I'm curious to see how it changes as well.

 

"

Oh it's my pleasure, thanks for reading and responding!  I know it was a long review to read through for message board standards.

 

[JBroadway]

Posted: 3/4/16 at 1:54pm

neonlightsxo said: "It's not a Sunday school classroom. The house right half of the set evokes a prison (more and more as the play goes on). It's more like a classroom in a prison. There's the little sink at the back and everything."

 

Wow, what a difference seating makes. I had a partial view seat house right, and I couldn't see the sink or the prison-looking section.

 

I guess it can't be a Sunday school if it looks like it's in a prison. That's a bit disappointing, as the Sunday school interpretation strikes me as more interesting. However, I stand by what I said earlier: I think the classroom is still a really interesting image for the themes in this play, particularly with how they used the blackboard. 

 

I also agree that the stage felt a bit too big at times, but sometimes it was really cool to see people like Abby lurking in the back watching the proceedings from a distance. 

 

[neonlightsxo]

Posted: 3/4/16 at 2:22pm

There were also bars on the windows on the back wall. That could be seen from anywhere.

[Julie Yard]

Posted: 3/4/16 at 10:07pm

Thank you and a shout out to asmith0307 for posting that lottery link. Entered last night and won orchestra seats for Saturday night for $40. How would I know about that good stuff except following my fellow addicts on this board? Not reading the comments, waiting to be surprised tomorrow night. Great weekend ahead.

 

 

[Owen22]

Posted: 3/5/16 at 12:26am

I thought Ronan was very weak (and this is coming from someone who loved her in Brooklyn). But it's Meryl Streep quality compared to what Michelle Williams (another actress I love on film) is doing to Blackbird. Oh. My, God.

The men are what's worth watching in Crucible which I found as devastating as ever, though I found Sophie's performance intriguing if not yet all there.