The Scene Reviews

[Yankeefan007]

Posted: 1/11/07 at 9:30pm

http://www.talkinbroadway.com/ob/01_11_07.html

Murray hates it, of course, though has very high praise for Anna Camp, likening her to Julie White..

"On the most obvious level, apparently where Rebeck feels the most comfortable here, The Scene deals with concerns of growing up and learning how to make and honor commitments that may alter your life and those of your friends and/or lovers. (The lines can be a bit blurry, don't you know.) Looked at from another, more commercial, vantage point, it's an opportunity for sitcom stars like Tony Shalhoub (Monk) and Patricia Heaton (Everyone Loves Raymond) to exercise their theatrical chops in an environment they'll no doubt find safe - at its best, Rebeck's writing is 30-minute comedy in Very-Special-Episode mode.

Characters in this kind of play generally defy full-bodied characterization, and Shalhoub and Heaton are soundly defeated. They fall back on tweaked versions of their television personas - he's toned down Monk's obsessiveness a bit, she's enhanced Debra's wiry neuroticism - which aren't right for illuminating the darker corners of a loafing ex-TV star or his workaholic support system of a wife. (Derek McLane's scenery, which suggests an all-the-world's-a-soundstage sensibility, similarly misses the mark.) Welch, without established gimmicks, makes his character more believable, if too much a put-upon loser to entirely convince as a workable alternative to the play's demanding women.

But the real problem is that the other characters and performers can't match Clea and Camp in comic and cosmic intensity. By injecting Clea's heart with the blood of an indomitable, spiritual wanderer, Camp makes her the magical center of this play about (and, one suspects, for) aging party-hoppers. Even as Clea disrupts the others' lives, her belief in herself - as radiated through Camp's fearless performance - still makes us want to convert to her way of thinking. However insignificant this airheaded Aristotelian's personal crusade to understand the world and liberate its constricted inhabitants, it's still more than the others are doing."

Updated On: 1/11/07 at 09:30 PM

[Rathnait62]

Posted: 1/11/07 at 9:33pm

He's for real, this guy?

[Yankeefan007]

Posted: 1/11/07 at 10:09pm

http://theater2.nytimes.com/2007/01/12/theater/reviews/12scen.html?pagewanted=1&ref=theater

I'd say Isherwood's review is more-or-less a rave, aside from a few quibbles.

"Mr. Shalhoub, whose role as the gentle obsessive-compulsive on “Monk” doesn’t allow much in the way of actorly extroversion, clearly relishes the chance to cut loose. His captivatingly raw performance is rich in physical comedy — a gymnastic sex scene that practically puts Charlie in traction is priceless — and in seething arias of vituperation freely expressed. In moments of anguished silence, Mr. Shalhoub also communicates the pathos in the character’s susceptibility to the promise of escape from his thwarted life, even if self-assertion comes at the price of self-destruction.

As the bewildered Stella, who is powerless to prevent the emotional car wreck careering through her living room, Ms. Heaton (the “Everybody Loves Raymond” star) exudes an edgy intensity that rarely lets up. Ms. Camp, her wholesome beauty a perfect decoy for her character’s sly manipulations, is a delightfully awful caricature of the night-crawling young women rampaging through bars and restaurants in little black dresses, baiting the variously bruised or bloated egos of men with the promise of some ego-stroking solace.

Mr. Welch has the quietest role — Lewis mostly plays consoler in chief as his friends’ lives implode — but he gives a master class in the art of the baleful glare in one memorable sequence."

[Rathnait62]

Posted: 1/11/07 at 10:14pm

Wow!! That IS a rave. Beautiful, Mr. Isherwood!

[Yankeefan007]

Posted: 1/11/07 at 10:18pm

I think he wins the "who can write the longest sentence" contest:

"In spheres both professional and sexual, former good guys like Charlie no longer aspire toward the things that bring fulfillment and satisfaction, but are seduced instead by the empty blandishments that have become the brands signifying success and worldly happiness: the hot blonde, the stratospheric paycheck, the limo and the access to the V.I.P. room."

[RentBoy86]

Posted: 1/12/07 at 2:48am

So any chance of a transfer? Doesn't seem like a "big enough" show for Broadway.

[Yankeefan007]

Posted: 1/12/07 at 7:15am

Regarding a transfer, the cast is hoping for it, it is very possible, but it'll have to wait until Shalhoub is done with Monk for the season.

The positive Post review:
http://www.nypost.com/seven/01122007/entertainment/theater/emotional_scene_should_be_seen__heard_theater_frank_scheck.htm

"That bare-bones plot provides a framework for Rebeck's wickedly scathing observations about the sort of self-obsessed New Yorkers who pursue their own interests at the cost of their morality and loyalty. In romancing the highly destructive Clea, Charlie betrays not only his wife but also his hapless best friend, Lewis (Christopher Evan Welch), who had designs on the young woman himself.

Rebeck's sharp comic instincts are best showcased in a hilarious first-act scene in which Charlie bursts in on Lewis and Clea, and delivers a vitriolic tirade detailing his humiliation at a recent job interview. Welch's deadpan but increasingly angry reactions to this interruption of his attempted seduction are even funnier than Shalhoub's tour-de-force delivery."

And the positive Daily News:
http://www.nydailynews.com/entertainment/story/487867p-410806c.html

"Rebecca Taichman, who directed the world premiere production in Louisville and helms here, keeps the action flowing briskly and has assembled a top-flight cast. Emmy winners Shalhoub ("Monk") and Heaton ("Everybody Loves Raymond") are natural-born stage actors. Shalhoub's rip-roaring rant about an awful TV pilot is a riot. Heaton shines brightest when Stella catches Charlie and his chicky in the act in her own home.

As a seemingly vapid girl who is, in fact, a cunning vixen who'll do anything - and anyone - to get ahead, Camp has the juiciest role, and she squeezes every drop of humor from it. Clea is a great part, and Camp is marvelous in it."

[Yankeefan007]

Posted: 1/12/07 at 7:26am

Mixed-positive Newsday:
http://www.newsday.com/entertainment/stage/ny-etscene5047664jan12,0,1619047.story?coll=ny-theater-headlines

"This is a substantial, grown-up work by Rebeck, the prolific playwright who, as a longtime producer and writer for "NYPD Blue," obviously knows the seductions and perils of star-stricken territory as intimately as do her stars. Despite an unconvincing letdown of an ending and splotches of forced melodrama, Rebeck has created four peculiar and original characters who set up all the cliches of the entertainment world's troubled marriage and career situations, then delicately skin the easy answers alive.

For all the nuanced performances, Taichman's production allows a few too many sitcom double-takes and fails to secure the dramatic shape. We wish the script could have been run through another draft before bursting into New York. Still, it is hard to resist a play that declares "trashing other people" as "the only true pleasure left in the world.""

Even NY1 liked it:
http://www.ny1.com/ny1/Living/theater_reviews.jsp

Updated On: 1/12/07 at 07:26 AM

[Rathnait62]

Posted: 1/12/07 at 8:11am

Good for them. The cast got across-the-board good reviews, and Camp should have no trouble finding her next job!

[Calvin]

Posted: 1/12/07 at 10:56am

For the sake of completeness, Theatermania is negative on the script but positive on the cast (except Heaton):

"An often funny play about deeply unhappy people, Theresa Rebeck's The Scene at Second Stage, chronicles the interrelated betrayals of four contemporary New Yorkers. The humor, for the most part, is a byproduct of recognition.

"The carefully calibrated histrionics by Shalhoub are a wonder to watch and Welch's sly performance continues to mark him as one of the theater's best young character actors. Camp, who is the only member of the cast who originated her role in this play at the Humana Festival, is mesmerizing to watch but the failure of her performance to transcend the role of the vamp is less her fault than Rebeck's. Ironically, the show's biggest marquee name, Heaton -- an Emmy Award winner for Everybody Loves Raymond -- has the least satisfyingly written role and manages to make little out of it.

"In the end, The Scene is the sort of play that looks and acts as if it's something meaningful. But much of what you are responding to is not the writing, but merely theatrical craft of the highest order."
Full review

[Rathnait62]

Posted: 1/12/07 at 11:00am

Thanks, Calvin. :P

But really, I couldn't disagree more with 99% of that review.

Updated On: 1/12/07 at 11:00 AM

[Calvin]

Posted: 1/12/07 at 11:01am

Welch must have grown into his part a lot during previews.

[Rathnait62]

Posted: 1/12/07 at 11:09am

I thought he was very good - there was just that one aspect that I had trouble with as far as his portrayal.

[Yankeefan007]

Posted: 1/12/07 at 11:14am

What was it?

[Rathnait62]

Posted: 1/12/07 at 11:22am

To quote LITTLE DOG LAUGHED:

Butch it up, Mary!

[MargoChanning]

Posted: 1/12/07 at 11:28am

The Post and Daily News are Mixed-to-Positive at best:


The Post:

"The evening derails somewhat in the second act, most notably in a bizarre scene in which Heaton bursts in on the amorous couple, only to be upbraided by a hostile Clea, and a melodramatic ending depicting Charlie's downfall. The play's less-than-credible characterizations and situations detract from its overall impact.

The performers deliver expert comic performances, although Heaton doesn't have as much to work with in the fairly one-dimensional role of the aggrieved wife. Still, their efforts, and some very funny moments, make this a "Scene" well worth making despite its flaws."


The Daily News:

"Rebeck displays a canny ear for the way people talk, but once Charlie and Clea hook up, the story gets muddled, along with the author's point. Is it that men make dumb decisions? That showbiz is shallow and rewards mediocrity? That people do bad things to each other without so much as a shrug? We know all that. If there is a deeper message, I missed it."



Variety is also Mixed:

"An insightful writer with a clear-eyed view of the entertainment industry/media world her characters inhabit, Rebeck imparts some tartly humorous observations about cultural devolution. She has a facility for sharp dialogue that springs naturally from her characters' lips rather than displaying the scaffolding of the well-constructed one-liner -- as do so many of her contemporaries. But despite its cleverness, the play is emotionally remote and feebly resolved, making Rebecca Taichman's tight, vigorously played production somewhat unsatisfying."

http://www.variety.com/review/VE1117932434.html?categoryid=33&cs=1



NY Sun is Negative:

"The woes of Charlie, the self-loathing actor at the center of Theresa Rebeck's undernourished showbiz comedy "The Scene," go deeper than run-of-the-mill marital discontent........... But Ms. Rebeck and director Rebecca Taichman have yet to settle on a tone for this lopsided effort, with a predictable but satisfying set-up giving way to a schematic litany of showdowns...... There are 8 million stories in the naked city, we are reminded. "The Scene" is one of them. Actually, with its shopworn thesis and predictable plot twists, it's a bunch of them."

http://www.nysun.com/article/46532



John Simon is Positive:

"On the surface, it may appear to be just a bubbly boulevard comedy. And, on the surface, that's what Theresa Rebeck's ``The Scene' uproariously is. But underneath lurks something much darker, almost tragic. That is how great, double-bottomed comedies are: Think ``The Misanthrope,' think ``Who's Afraid of Virginia Woolf?'...........The play is cannily written, cunningly directed and compellingly cast...............Finally, though, it is the writing that triumphs in the all- important details. There are frantic sentence fragments, stammering reiterations, dragged-out burbles, and every current noncommunicative cliche sovereignly ridiculed. And let us not overlook Rebeck's ability to put sex onstage: erotically, farcically, and with clinical dissection. Laugh your way into this one. "

http://www.bloomberg.com/apps/news?pid=20601088&sid=a4fSJmUDwmy4&refer=muse



The AP is Positive:

"Rebeck's often raucous dialogue is pungent and tough, ricocheting among the characters as if it were a high-speed tennis ball. Director Rebecca Taichman and her four performers make sure the ball is never dropped."

http://www.columbian.com/entertainment/entertainmentNews/AP01112007news91921.cfm



The Bergen Record is Mixed:

"With four fine performances, and sure-handed, lively direction by Rebecca Taichman, "The Scene" is, to this point -- part way into the second act -- a funny, bracingly sharp take on contemporary American society.

But playwright Rebeck had to decide where to go with the situation she'd created. Her choice was not to take the easy, redemptive path of chastened-husband-returns-to-forgiving-wife.

She made the bold, but questionable, move of making things considerably darker............As in "The Water's Edge," her play of last season, Rebeck's abrupt shift in tone, to something harsher, is jarring. It doesn't really work. Charlie's transformation isn't persuasive, and we lose the thread of his character. There's the sense of the playwright manipulating him in order to make her point.

But while the ending of "The Scene" isn't as satisfying as you'd like, Rebeck deserves praise for confronting the emptiness of pop society head on, while providing lots of belly laughs along the way."

http://www.northjersey.com/page.php?qstr=eXJpcnk3ZjczN2Y3dnFlZUVFeXkxNjcmZmdiZWw3Zjd2cWVlRUV5eTcwNTUwNTkmeXJpcnk3ZjcxN2Y3dnFlZUVFeXk3

[Yankeefan007]

Posted: 1/12/07 at 11:38am

Rath - I figured you were gonna say something like that.

[massofmen]

Posted: 1/12/07 at 11:38am

so essentially,
if they fix the ending, the show is a hit?
maybe it will transfer with some of the good revies it got, and they will have time to get the ending right.

[Rathnait62]

Posted: 1/12/07 at 11:40am

Do you agree, Yankee?

[myManCape]

Posted: 1/12/07 at 11:40am

To bad Broadway.com doesnt review off broadway. Or we could see

Jane, 19 Student

"Debra and Monk were great. There were two other people on stage and they told some story but I really liked Debra and Monk."

[Rathnait62]

Posted: 1/12/07 at 11:43am

Jane is going to be so confused at CURTAINS.

[Yankeefan007]

Posted: 1/12/07 at 1:39pm

Rath, in retrospect, yes. Yes, I do. Aside from the hilarious glare, I never got the impression that he was....well, I won't reveal the plot.

[AC126748]

Posted: 1/12/07 at 4:29pm

I saw the show very early (maybe the fourth or fifth preview), and I've seen Welch in many plays, and I didn't find him to be fey at all.

[sally1112]

Posted: 1/12/07 at 4:51pm

I saw The Scene during its premire at Humana Festivel of Plays in Louisville. This production was great. Anna Camp was in the original and did an amazing job. I was very glad she made the transfer.

[Yankeefan007]

Posted: 1/12/07 at 6:12pm

How were the other cast members?