The Glass Menagerie

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The Glass Menagerie

Posted: 10/30/13 at 12:16am

Ok, you guys will have a good time making fun of me once again...I went to see this with my ex boyfriend tonight and we were both bored and felt like nothing really happened in the entire play. There was no resolution. The performances were good, especially the two males. As amazing as Cherry Jones is, we both couldn't understand many of the things she said. Celia Bolger was the weakest actress, although she didn't have much to do, but her limping seemed a bit too forced. Very disappointed.

"People have their opinions and that doesn't mean that their opinions are wrong or right. I just take it with a grain of salt because opinions are like as*holes, everyone has one". -Felicia Finley-

The Glass Menagerie

Posted: 10/30/13 at 12:20am

I was there tonight and this was one of the greatest theatrical experiences I have had in my entire theatergoing life.

I feel enormous compassion for you right now. You will never, ever know the greatness you might have experienced.

My compassion is mixed with pity. And a certain amount (I hope you will forgive) of scorn.

The Glass Menagerie

Posted: 10/30/13 at 12:27am

What exactly made it one of your greatest theatrical experiences?

"People have their opinions and that doesn't mean that their opinions are wrong or right. I just take it with a grain of salt because opinions are like as*holes, everyone has one". -Felicia Finley-

The Glass Menagerie

Posted: 10/30/13 at 12:29am

I think saying that you feel pity for me is condescending and bitchy, you really don't have to go there. I thought you were classier than that.

"People have their opinions and that doesn't mean that their opinions are wrong or right. I just take it with a grain of salt because opinions are like as*holes, everyone has one". -Felicia Finley-

The Glass Menagerie

Posted: 10/30/13 at 12:34am

I think pity is an appropriate feeling given the brilliance of this production and the fact that it didn't mean anything to you.

Not bitchy at all.

"Two drifters off to see the world. There's such a lot of world to see. . ."

The Glass Menagerie

Posted: 10/30/13 at 12:37am

Ok, explain to me what did I miss. Prove your point.

"People have their opinions and that doesn't mean that their opinions are wrong or right. I just take it with a grain of salt because opinions are like as*holes, everyone has one". -Felicia Finley-

The Glass Menagerie

Posted: 10/30/13 at 1:06am

There is absolutely resolution. It is not the sort of "everything tied up neatly" resolution. But it is there.

"...everyone finally shut up, and the audience could enjoy the beginning of the Anatevka Pogram in peace."

The Glass Menagerie

Posted: 10/30/13 at 1:15am

If Patina Miller played Celia Bolger's part, I know you would have enjoyed it more.

The Glass Menagerie

Posted: 10/30/13 at 1:18am

LOL!!! I actually loved Pippin, so there you go...I didn't have an unusual opinion last Saturday!

"People have their opinions and that doesn't mean that their opinions are wrong or right. I just take it with a grain of salt because opinions are like as*holes, everyone has one". -Felicia Finley-

#10

The Glass Menagerie

Posted: 10/30/13 at 1:25pm

The show is brilliant. It's heartbreaking. The mom just wants her daughter to be happy and taken care of after she's gone. So she thinks she finally finds a guy who might be into her, only to find that he's actually engaged. And he actually is into her, but just can't be with her. It's terrible and heartbreaking. And I think it brings up emotions that we can all understand. How you weren't moved by it, I don't get. Even the beautiful staging with the interesting choreography. I loved it.

#11

The Glass Menagerie

Posted: 10/30/13 at 1:45pm

It was the best Broadway production of the season thus far. It shocks me that someone could dislike this production. I loved every single second of it and am happy it got the universal raves it deserved.

#12

The Glass Menagerie

Posted: 10/30/13 at 4:25pm

I think pity is an appropriate feeling given the brilliance of this production and the fact that it didn't mean anything to you.

I don't share the opinion that this production is a revelatory tour-de-force, and I don't need to be pitied or condescended to because my opinion doesn't align with the majority.

The Glass Menagerie is, if not my favorite play, very high on the list. I've seen about a dozen productions, ranging from transcendent to tedious. I rank this production in the lower echelon. I'm glad so many have had an overwhelming response, but that wasn't my takeaway.

"You travel alone because other people are only there to remind you how much that hook hurts that we all bit down on. Wait for that one day we can bite free and get back out there in space where we belong, sail back over water, over skies, into space, the hook finally out of our mouths and we wander back out there in space spawning to other planets never to return hurrah to earth and we'll look back and can't even see these lives here anymore. Only the taste of blood to remind us we ever existed. The earth is small. We're gone. We're dead. We're safe." -John Guare, Landscape of the Body

Updated On: 10/30/13 at 04:25 PM

#13

The Glass Menagerie

Posted: 10/30/13 at 4:37pm

The fact that you think "Celia Bolger" was weak shows that you did not understand the play.

#14

The Glass Menagerie

Posted: 10/30/13 at 5:17pm

RippedMan, nice description even if you leave out Tom's story...

I would kill to see this production, and it is one of my fave plays by my favorite playwright. But I did find John Lahr's New Yorker blog post about this production having, for him, a misstep (this after Hilton Als glowing review in the same magazine) since I'd wondered about people who see this as a vision Williams would have adored, when one crucial physical element Williams wrote several essays about being needed in any production, is missing (the famous looming portrait of the father. Here's the blog:

http://www.newyorker.com/online/blogs/culture/2013/10/a-misstep-in-the-glass-menagerie-revival.html

#15

The Glass Menagerie

Posted: 10/30/13 at 5:21pm

"The play is memory. Being a memory play, it is dimly lighted, it is sentimental, it is not realistic. In memory everything seems to happen to music. That explains the fiddle in the wings."

#16

The Glass Menagerie

Posted: 10/30/13 at 11:54pm

It's not a faithful adaption. But I liked it. There were some parts that weren't my favorite, but I though everyone was super strong. You're right in thinking that Celia doesn't have a ton to do, but I thought she was just fragile enough.

#17

The Glass Menagerie

Posted: 10/31/13 at 12:44am

Well, I thought it was a haunting production that sort of sets the bar for play revivals for quite some time to come. Sorry you didn't enjoy it!

#18

The Glass Menagerie

Posted: 10/31/13 at 1:14am

The Glass Menagerie is also one of my favorite plays and I thought this was the best production I've seen of it. It broke my heart and I thought it was incredibly well done creatively. There were so many moments that literally took my breathe away.

There was very little wrong with it in my eyes, but then again theatre is subjective! I love some things that a lot of people consider to be absolute dreck and vice versa but that's art for you.

#19

The Glass Menagerie

Posted: 10/31/13 at 4:40am

I drank the Kool-Aid on this one when it was still back in Boston. (I can only imagine that it has become even more nuanced.)

To be fair, I thought CKB was the 'weakest' of the four -- but that didn't make her weak, I was just more moved in the other performances, in no way was she giving a bad performance.

If we're not having fun, then why are we doing it? These are DISCUSSION boards, not mutual admiration boards. Discussion only occurs when we are willing to hear what others are thinking, regardless of whether it is alignment to our own thoughts.

#20

The Glass Menagerie

Posted: 10/31/13 at 7:53am

What is unfaithful about this production? It's the play, fully and no other, and done well. Keenan-Bolger is superb. Her scene with Smith,one of the most beloved in American drama, has perhaps never been done better.

#21

The Glass Menagerie

Posted: 11/4/13 at 10:09am

Saw the show this weekend. In short, a lovely production. Very well acted by all. Bolger and Smith really connected during the "gentleman caller" scene.

I didn't connect emotionally to the story. However, Williams is writing of a generation when people were not as mobile as they are today. Williams (and Tom Wingfield) struggle with leaving the family as adults. Before WWII, it was not common for children to move long distances from where they grew up. Especially if that family was two abandoned females. Had Williams stayed, he might not have become the playwright he is now known as.

#22

The Glass Menagerie

Posted: 11/5/13 at 9:16am

I thought it was incredible. Tom's moments with Jim, Quinto's take on the character in general, a Gentleman Caller who had subtlety and nuance and insecurity, an Amanda who was spot-on and familiar but didn't hijack the whole show, the stage/lighting magic. Didn't quite get some of the choreography. Thought Celia was just mesmerizing and the Laura/Jim scene heartbreaking.

The guy next to me slept through almost all of it. So, different strokes.

#23

The Glass Menagerie

Posted: 11/5/13 at 1:25pm

i read the play in school many years ago. when the hype began about this production I decided I'd better read it again. i was surprised how much of it I remembered but just couldn't figure out why it was an "important" play. I looked over the internet but was still not satisfied. ultimately, it was ben Brantley's review of this production that helped the most. and it sunk in more as I thought about tom. He is obviously fixated on this part of his life. that brought it home for me. and yes, I empathize with Amanda, what is to happen to her daughter? the thought of that does affect me emotionally. I can think of nothing good that could have happened in such a situation. we do know that Tennessee Williams, with his wealth, did take care of his sister. that's heartening, but we see tom having taken no action in the years that have passed, he is haunted but nothing more. heartbreaking. I am emotionally involved anyway because of my adult nonverbal autistic daughter, knowing that she will be beyond my help after I am gone despite all I am doing to ensure her happiness. heartbreaking. yep, the evening at the theatre was meaningful to me. it was a perfect production with timeless performances.

#24

The Glass Menagerie

Posted: 11/24/13 at 2:08pm

Hi Everyone! I hope I'm not jinxing myself for asking this, but does anyone know the frequency that understudies have gone on in Menagerie? I am seeing the show Tues. Jan. 7. Really looking forward to it and hoping to get the "full experience." Thanks!

Updated On: 11/24/13 at 02:08 PM

#25

The Glass Menagerie

Posted: 11/24/13 at 2:38pm

I hope I'm not jinxing myself for asking this, but does anyone know the frequency that understudies have gone on in Menagerie? I am seeing the show Tues. Jan. 7. Really looking forward to it and hoping to get the "full experience."

The odds are incredibly high that you'll see the full cast. It's a cast of four highly professional, well-respected actors. I doubt any of them have called out yet, nor do I expect them to. Obviously, things happen, but I wouldn't worry about not seeing anyone.

Enjoy the show! One of my absolute favorite theatrical experiences of this or any year.

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