#26
Posted: 4/28/13 at 12:08am
I saw BOUNTIFUL tonight and I have to add my voice to the camp of people who loved it! What a sweet, quietly moving gem of a play, given a very lovingly-mounted production. And to top it all off, one of the best performances of the season is at its center. Cicely Tyson is just as fantastic as everyone has made her performance out to be. Seeing her onstage was truly an honor as an audience member, and it was a theatergoing event I will never forget. She has such a warm, witty, inviting presence about her and she is absolutely giving her all to this part and this show. She was sensational in every sense of the word. The rest of the cast is wonderful, even if Cuba Gooding Jr. is the clear weak link, playing his character as annoying and pathetic more than anything else (in the first act, at least...which makes his breakdown in the second somewhat of a shrug).
I loved the simplicity of the production...you could tell the attention was to the text and the characters, first and foremost. The sets were quite lovely, but nothing extravagant. I was very moved by the end of the show. I'm glad to say this was one of the stronger productions I saw this season.
Now, a note on the audience behavior this evening. The laughter, I can happily report, was entirely appropriate. This isn't (at least it wasn't tonight) a retread of the extremely inappropriate audience reactions at the last STREETCAR revival, which ruined the experience for me. The audience responses to the show itself (laughing, clapping, etc) were all entirely appropriate and welcome. The issue I did have with the audience, however, were that people around me A) took their cellphones out for extended periods of time, playing on their phones and B) felt the need to talk to one another throughout, and not quietly at all. That bullsh*t needs to stop. It's completely unacceptable. After the deplorable behavior at MOTOWN, I thought nothing could top it, but tonight came close. People complaining out loud, at full volume that "they need to speed this up" and that they wished they were seeing MOTOWN again instead. I mean...seriously? Shut the hell up. And when anyone would shush them or ask them to be quiet, they wouldn't give a crap, make a face as if to say "you can't tell me what to do," and went on talking.
Thankfully, I thought this production was such a joy and Ms. Tyson was so exceptional that the audience behavior didn't detract too much from my experience.
I loved the simplicity of the production...you could tell the attention was to the text and the characters, first and foremost. The sets were quite lovely, but nothing extravagant. I was very moved by the end of the show. I'm glad to say this was one of the stronger productions I saw this season.
Now, a note on the audience behavior this evening. The laughter, I can happily report, was entirely appropriate. This isn't (at least it wasn't tonight) a retread of the extremely inappropriate audience reactions at the last STREETCAR revival, which ruined the experience for me. The audience responses to the show itself (laughing, clapping, etc) were all entirely appropriate and welcome. The issue I did have with the audience, however, were that people around me A) took their cellphones out for extended periods of time, playing on their phones and B) felt the need to talk to one another throughout, and not quietly at all. That bullsh*t needs to stop. It's completely unacceptable. After the deplorable behavior at MOTOWN, I thought nothing could top it, but tonight came close. People complaining out loud, at full volume that "they need to speed this up" and that they wished they were seeing MOTOWN again instead. I mean...seriously? Shut the hell up. And when anyone would shush them or ask them to be quiet, they wouldn't give a crap, make a face as if to say "you can't tell me what to do," and went on talking.
Thankfully, I thought this production was such a joy and Ms. Tyson was so exceptional that the audience behavior didn't detract too much from my experience.
Updated On: 4/28/13 at 12:08 AM
