The Underlying Chris @ Second Stage

[Falsettolands]

Posted: 10/29/19 at 12:19pm

Previews begin tonight. Anyone going?

Picked up a TodayTix rush for this eve. I love most of Eno's work, and Kenny Leon doesn't strike me as a pick for an Eno play, which excites me even more.

[gibsons2]

Posted: 10/29/19 at 12:31pm

I'm seeing it on November 9. Looking forward to early reviews.

[Falsettolands]

Posted: 10/29/19 at 11:02pm

So I'm a bit mixed, leaning more toward the positive. I truly believe that spoilers will not in any way ruin your viewing of this play. But, as I know a lot of people like to go in blind, I'll try to be purposefully vague.

The Underlying Chris explores themes and ideas that are practically identical to Eno's recent play, "Wakey Wakey." Ideas about living life with this cloudy and oftentimes meaningless acceleration, ideas about regrets, about death. But whereas "Wakey Wakey" puts a magnifying glass on that last, blinking chapter, "The Underlying Chris" attempts to view the sum of one persons life in its most impactful snapshots from birth to the inevitable end, and how we are always new people. As the titular character says holding a baby in his/her arms, "A hundred people are holding you right now."

However, with so many themes and ideas overlapping with "Wakey Wakey," I found myself thinking often about how much more eloquently those themes were explored in that play. I anticipated a moment of truly definitive, Eno-esque magic that ultimately never came. Perhaps the finally image really is the goal; life culminating of all of the people we are. We are never the same person. We are always different from the person we were five minutes before. But then again, we're still "Chris."

 And make no mistaken; while at its current state it is not some of Eno's best work, it is still far more interesting a lot of other things this season. This is a good intro for anyone who hasn't seen his work. If you have, you will be more than a little disappointed that it isn't as funny or as poignant as some of his more recent plays.

The show is a brisk 80 minutes with no intermission. The 10 actors are all doing very fine work, all quite literally carrying the same amount of weight (if you see it, you'll immediately understand). And the children are really, really excellent! Second Stage has done a great job this season pulling some great work from child actors, first "Make Believe" then this. And Leon's direction is serviceable and precisely what the piece requires Maldonado's set is absolutely brilliant and a marvel in its own right.

All in all, glad I got to catch the first. A fascinating yet familiar, breezy play.

[Susanswerphone]

Posted: 10/29/19 at 11:09pm

Thanks, Falsettolands. Very concise. Seeing it tomorrow,now more eagerly after your review.

[uncageg]

Posted: 10/29/19 at 11:42pm

Seeing this in two weeks. Looking forward to it. 

[uncageg]

Posted: 11/10/19 at 10:13pm

Saw the show this evening.

I I enjoyed the structure of the play and how it was written. The wit and sarcasm were spot on.

I found the framing thing to be a little clunky. I am assuming that it was intentional that if you are sitting on the sides (I was in C7 against the left wall) you see things going on offstage. For lack of a better term, it felt unpolished. 

The problem for me was the direction. It left me a bit numb. Leon seems to have sucked all of the emotional punch this piece, I suspect, is supposed to have. The prologue is promising and done well. We are told what the hopes are for the play. And in the book, that was achieved. But the direction stopped it, for me, from packing that emotional/thought provoking punch in my mind past my walk to 34th street to catch my train. 

I am sure I will think about it as I thought it was written beautifully. The way "Chris" was connected through life was, for me, pretty easy to follow and I love how Eno did it.

Hopefully this will get tightened up. The "lack of emotion" could actually work and I think may be intentional. I just don't think Leon is the one to pull it off.

Just my opinion.

Updated On: 11/10/19 at 10:13 PM

[broadway86]

Posted: 12/3/19 at 3:14pm

Gonna try to catch this before it closes!

[JBroadway]

Posted: 12/3/19 at 3:22pm

I saw this over the weekend.

Loved the play itself - this kind of show is right up my alley. I love shows/movies that connect characters through time and emotion, and explore the arc of a human life. I also thought the dialogue was smart and charming.

But I agree with the poster above about Leon’s direction. I found the acting to be pretty “meh” all around, which is usually a red flag that something is wrong from a directorial standpoint. It didn’t seem like he really “got” the play and it’s unusual tone. I think I’d like this piece better with a different director, or just reading the script on the page. I’d like to buy the script when it’s published.

Based on her recent Off-Broadway work, I bet Margot Bordelon would have been a great director for the style of this play.

[Falsettolands]

Posted: 12/3/19 at 9:35pm

I still feel like this was lesser Eno, but I'm happy they got the Critic's Pick. Although the Times has been notoriously darling of his work, from The Open House to Thom Pain.

I'm glad more than one publication has mentioned the parallels between this and "Wakey Wakey." I just wish more had mentioned how this just...wasn't nearly as good.

[magictodo123]

Posted: 12/4/19 at 6:18am

This was super interesting. I felt like it lagged a bit and was slow paced, but at the same time, I couldn't look away! Very interesting. I also loved the ending few segments/scenes. 

[daredevil]

Posted: 12/4/19 at 8:49am

For me, it was an amazing phantasmagoria of a play. I was really moved at the end. The acting for me, was strong, and I was particularly impressed by Denise Burse and Charles Turner, whose work towards the end of the play I found really effective. Maybe the direction was a little "slick" but it did not take away the overall strength of Eno's vision.