The Father Previews

[Keiichi2]

Posted: 3/20/16 at 7:57am

Another week, another opening.  This Tuesday, The Father plays its first performance.  Seeing this one on the evening of Sunday, April 3rd.  Looking forward to seeing Frank Langella on the stage again, as the last time I saw him was in Frost/Nixon back in the summer of 2007.  He was wonderful there, and I'm sure he'll be great here in what sounds like a beautiful play.

 

Anyone seeing the first preview, or seeing this this week?  I'll be anxious for the reports.

[Relevance81491]

Posted: 3/20/16 at 8:17am

I have heardgreat things about this play....also looking forward to early reports

[Mr Roxy]

Posted: 3/20/16 at 12:20pm

Seeing it a week from today via tdf .

[Keiichi2]

Posted: 3/22/16 at 8:04am

So, no one is going to tonight's first preview?

[Mr Roxy]

Posted: 3/22/16 at 6:24pm

I checked TDF about an hour ago & it was on for 7 dates.

 

.

Updated On: 3/22/16 at 06:24 PM

[WhizzerMarvin]

Posted: 3/22/16 at 9:46pm

I'm just settling in back at home after the first preview and despite an interesting start and a few visual tricks I didn't much care for The Father. 

 

The show begins with Andre (Frank Langella) being scolded by his adult daughter, Anne (Kathryn Erbe) that he can't keep scaring away the nurses she hires to come take care of him. She is getting too busy, and furthermore she is contemplating a move to London- the play takes place in Paris- with her new boyfriend; Anne hasn't had a relationship in over ten years when she split from Antoine.  Blackout. 

 

Scene two. Andre is in the flat when a man walks in and startles him. What are you doing in my flat? Who are you? The man identifies himself as Pierre, Anne's husband of ten years. He reminds Andre that they took him and calls Anne to come home and calm her father. Anne enters, but now played by Kathleen McNenny. Andre doesn't recognize her and doesn't know what's going on. Anne hands Pierre some chicken to prepare in the kitchen and he exits. Blackout and Kathryn Erbe is back on stage as Anne. She denies ever bringing chicken home and the kitchen is empty. 

 

At this point I was very intrigued. I assumed we were in some Alan Ayckbourn set-up with perhaps Andre being in the same apartment with two different families who had occupied the flat in two different eras or something like that. Whatever it was, the audience was going to be in for a fun mystery to solve. 

 

Unfortunately it didn't go that way and it quickly became crystal clear what was happening. Names and actors and settings and details continued to be jumbled, but it was obvious you didn't need to pay attention to them because there was nothing to figure out. 

 

They really should have reset the play in New York because there wasn't anything remotely Parisian or European about any of the performances. I remember they tweaked the God of Carnage script for American audiences and I think changing the setting would have behooved them here as well. 

 

Langella was good and you can tell he's enjoying his showy role. The rest of the cast is fine. None of them really have much to sink their teeth into. 

 

I would like to see the British production. Definitely seems like the type of thing they do better than we do. 

[dave1606]

Posted: 3/22/16 at 9:51pm

I saw this tonight. (Great 30 under 30 tickets in the first row!).  From my friends it sounds like I am the only one who enjoyed this. I thought it was a tremendous performance from Frank Langella. I found the play fascinating even if it was easy to see where it was going. 

The structure is very interesting and it helps the audience to sympathize with Andre's point of view.  Its a tough look at growing older, and not an easy night at the theater. There are some fun set changes as well, that I enjoyed. Overall, this may not be everyone's cup of tea, but I quite enjoyed it. 

[10086sunset]

Posted: 3/22/16 at 9:53pm

What was the run time?

[WhizzerMarvin]

Posted: 3/22/16 at 10:03pm

90 minutes no intermission. 

[Mr Roxy]

Posted: 3/22/16 at 10:08pm

The new norm

[RippedMan]

Posted: 3/22/16 at 10:34pm

What were the visual tricks?

[WhizzerMarvin]

Posted: 3/22/16 at 10:40pm

 

Click Here To Toggle Spoiler Content

During each blackout there is a flash of strobe lights and other lights flash all along the proscenium. The stage is pitch black and you begin to realize the lights are a distraction for the stage hands who remove one piece of furniture or set dressing during each blackout until there is nothing left but an empty apartment. At first it isn't noticeable and you start to wonder, was there an umbrella stand there? 

I'm putting the visual tricks in a spoilers box...I really don't think you should read it if you're going to see the play. 

[RippedMan]

Posted: 3/23/16 at 12:45am

Hm. 

[wolfwriter2]

Posted: 3/26/16 at 12:47am

Saw this tonight and am definitely in the positive camp. It's not a feel-good night of theater, but it is a challenging piece that is, at once necessarily obvious and ultimately devastating.

Frank Langella is a theatrical treasure and impresses me more every time I see him on stage. The remainder of the cast is not given as much to do, but that is the nature of the subject matter and what it's like in real life.

I'm still digesting the play, but I wonder if I would have liked this as much, if it wasn't telling the story of my family and my life. Dementia and memory issues are rife in my family (my mom & 2 of her sisters) and I have been primary caregiver. I found myself nodding, numerous times, with serious recognition, even at some of the most difficult scenes in the piece.

The play is non-linear, so if linear storytelling with traditional plot and character arcs are your preference, this is not for you. I'm not sure it sheds a lot of light on something more and more folks are having to deal with and, to be fair, I'm not sure it can. Every dementia situation is, like autism, unique to that individual.

The staging is effective and as jumbled as everything else. Doug Hughes does a very effective job keeping everything from slipping into chaos.

I think, if you have any connection to a similar situation, by the end, Langella will leave you a mess. I won't give spoilers, but I have personally witnessed and lived the exact final scene of this play. It is soul-crushing.

Many sniffles, including the usher sitting near me who said it had been the first time she watched it through. Poor guy two rows in front of me put his head down sobbing. I felt for him. The audience cheered quite loudly at the end, much of it, I believe, for Langella and it was well-deserved.

[EdBroadway5]

Posted: 3/27/16 at 12:26am

I may be all wet on this, but didn't Langella do The Father sometime  during the past 15 years or so at the Roundabout?  Just asking.

Updated On: 3/27/16 at 12:26 AM

[Mr Roxy]

Posted: 3/27/16 at 12:28am

It was another show but I believe it was a different name.

[followspot]

Posted: 3/27/16 at 12:38am

Langella starred in Strindberg's The Father for Roundabout in 1996.

[Mr Roxy]

Posted: 3/27/16 at 12:42am

This was not the show I was thinking of. 

[Mr Roxy]

Posted: 3/27/16 at 12:42am

This was not the show I was thinking of. 

 

Off to bed now. See you all tomorrow.

Updated On: 3/27/16 at 12:42 AM

[Patash]

Posted: 3/27/16 at 4:38pm

Perhaps the other show was Match in 2004?  Ray Liotta costarred.  

[WhizzerMarvin]

Posted: 3/27/16 at 4:40pm

Roxy, are you thinking of Man and Boy?

[Mr Roxy]

Posted: 3/27/16 at 5:44pm

That may have been it.

 

Just saw it today. May have been Langella's best performance to date. His performance is heartbreaking as you see a man affected by dementia slowly lose it all. Erbe plays his daughter.The part has not much to it and she does not project well. At times, you have to strain to hear her. TDF gave us mid orchestra and we still had issues with her low voice as did others around us.

 

See it for Langella who may walk away with another Tony this year.

[PianoMann]

Posted: 3/27/16 at 11:43pm

I saw the matinee of The Father today (not light and uplifting Easter fare, to be sure) and very much enjoyed it.  Structurally, the play is quite interesting and engaging, and the combination of the non-linear text and the clever staging, i.e. having different actors and actresses playing the same role at different parts of the play and the disappearing furniture, etc. certainly achieved the feeling of disorientation they're striving for. As others have said, Frank Langella was fantastic, and particularly shines in the toughest moments of the play when he showcases his utmost vulnerability. I also particularly liked Erbe as his conflicted and weary daughter, and some of her shared scenes with Langella were highlights. The other female members of the cast are memorable enough, but I found the two other male ensemble members to be unfortunately lacking, in albeit unlikable roles.

 

Without a doubt see this production for Langella's performance; his final scene alone is worth it. He could easily score a well deserved Tony nomination. I think The Father could also end up being a Best Play nominee, too. It's not a top-to-bottom stellar production, but I think it would be a worthy nominee.

[Jeffrey Karasarides]

Posted: 3/27/16 at 11:48pm

^And it now looks more likely that the four nominees for Best Play this year will be Eclipsed, The Father, The Humans, and King Charles III.

[PianoMann]

Posted: 3/28/16 at 12:05am

Jeffrey Karasarides said: "^And it now looks more likely that the four nominees for Best Play this year will be Eclipsed, The Father, The Humans, and King Charles III.

 

"

 

I think the fact that it's opening right as Tony season kicks into high gear will give it a slight edge over fellow drama Therese Raquin.  And honestly, aside from these two, what else could be a viable contender? Certainly not MTC's Our Mother's Brief Affair or Misery or China Doll. Will they give one slot to a comedy: An Act of God or Fully Committed? They're both more or less one man shows, though, so I'm skeptical of their chances. The Father has the dramatic heft, it received such critical acclaim from its original production, and it will be on the minds of the nominating committee who will be seeing it right around now before making their picks before May 3.