"The Understudy" a companion to "Hamlet"

[Broadwaywest2]

Posted: 10/18/09 at 8:52pm

So I was in NY this weekend and checked out Hamlet with Jude Law on friday night and The Understudy on Saturday afternoon. I gotta say I really did enjoy Hamlet. I felt it started kinda slow, but started to really pick up in the second act. Jude Law was fantastic in his portrayl. With exception of the dude who played polonious I really didn't care for the other actors. I didn't understand the relationship with Ophelia and Hamlet, was she in love with him? was he in love with her? Did she go mad because Hamlet killed her father? I loved the lighting and massive set pieces. You really felt an isolation and with Hamlet
The stage door was insane. I kinda felt bad for the rest of the cast, they all just dashed out of there and Jude came out pretty fast, but I give him props he did sign as many playbills as he could.

The next day I decided to go to tckts and check out the understudy and too my ultimate surprise it was totally about what I had just seen the night before. About major movie stars coming to broadway for limited runs and the craziness that insues behind the scenes. I found the show absolutley delightful. All the three actors were in top form, especially Justin Kirk. It may not have much of plot, but you don't really care cause your having such a great time. I got to meet the actors after the show and they were very warm and friendly and totally welcoming. My "zack morris" question to Mark-Paul was whether or not he got to keep the brick phone from sbtb. He said he wanted it when the show ended but they refused to give it to him. He said it kinda sucked. So all in all it was two awesome shows in a very short weekend in the city.

[TimesSquareRegular]

Posted: 10/19/09 at 12:19am

Hate to tell you this, but Jude Law appeared on Broadway long before he became a "movie star" (14 years ago), so there is no relevance in this instance.

[luvtheEmcee]

Posted: 10/19/09 at 12:30am

But he's still a huge, bankable star and largely the vehicle for this production. You can't say there's "no" relevance. All of his appearances on stage are not relevant to what's behind The Understudy, but this particular one, while I'd argue that it's not the best example, is. It's not the best example because Law's performance is good enough that I'd like to believe he wasn't cast purely for his name, but it's really just one of a long, long list. It's certainly not the first case that came to mind while I was watching The Understudy, since one of Harry's monologues features the term "talent-free," and the big movie star character is a cheesy action star not exactly known for his abilities.

[Broadwaywest2]

Posted: 10/19/09 at 12:51am

I just seen hamlet so it was fresh in my mind. I am aware that Jude Law had done theater in the past.

[scott68]

Posted: 10/19/09 at 1:12am

TimesSquareRegular, you're right that Law's been on Broadway before, but people aren't coming to see "Broadway veteran Jude Law" as Hamlet, they're coming to see "Jude Law the movie star moonlighting on Broadway."

I haven't seen The Understudy, so I'm not familiar with the plot, but if it is about "major movie stars coming to Broadway for limited runs and the craziness that insues (sic) behind the scenes," that seems like a completely plausible rederence.

[luvtheEmcee]

Posted: 10/19/09 at 8:41am

It's about the first rehearsal for the understudy to a major movie star in a Kafka play on Broadway, so that's a pretty significant part of it.

[frogs_fan85]

Posted: 10/19/09 at 10:42am

The connection is certainly there, but I can't recall Jude Law yelling anything remotely close to "GET IN THE TRUCK!" in any of his films.

[TimesSquareRegular]

Posted: 10/19/09 at 11:06am

^^^^ So true!

My original comment was based on the fact that the "stars" in the Kafka play supposedly have no theatrical creds - which is hardly the case with Jude Law.