Those MISBEGOTTEN Producers....

[Yankeefan007]

Posted: 3/12/07 at 5:45pm

....must be crapping themselves.

http://www.broadwaybox.com/shows/a_moon_for_the_misbegotten_nyc_tickets.aspx

$67 and $77 for weekday performances of A Moon for the Misbegotten....I guess Spacey doesn't have the sellingpower they thought he would when they arranged for his apparently enormous salary.

Any bets on whether or not it'll recoup?
Updated On: 3/12/07 at 05:45 PM

[Wanna Be A Foster]

Posted: 3/12/07 at 5:52pm

They obviously will not recoup at this point, unless they extend.

[sidjones09]

Posted: 3/12/07 at 6:05pm

Is it in previews yet? Has anyone seen it?

[AC126748]

Posted: 3/12/07 at 6:06pm

It won't recoup. Look at the facts:

1. Kevin Spacey is no longer a huge star in the US.

2. Nobody in the US (outside of a select group of theatrephiles) knows who Eve Best is.

3. It's a 3+ hour play by Eugene O'Neill, and it's not one of his easiest plays.

4. It's only playing 84 performances.

The fact that Spacey demanded the salary he did and the producers gave it to him is ludicrous.

[MargoChanning]

Posted: 3/12/07 at 6:18pm

Plus, we just saw a first rate revival of this damn play about 6 years ago with Gabriel Byrne and Cherry Jones. A new one coming so soon after just isn't the "event" the producers must have hoped it would be. Given that I just saw the play a few years ago and that I have the classic Jason Robards/Colleen Dewhurst production on DVD at home (that I've watched a couple of times in the last few years), this revival just isn't very high on my list of things to see in this VERY busy Spring season with several new plays and musicals, as well as revivals of shows that haven't been here in a couple of decades.

[AC126748]

Posted: 3/12/07 at 6:19pm

I'm going because of the $25 rush, and because after seeing Eve Best's Hedda Gabler in London, I'd see her in anything. Spacey still doesn't strike me as the Tyrone type. Byrne was PERFECT.

[Yankeefan007]

Posted: 3/12/07 at 6:21pm

Nothing can beat the Robards/Dewhurst production.

I didn't see the Byrne/Jones staging.

[Shawk]

Posted: 3/12/07 at 6:25pm

I saw it in London. Colm Meaney (being the wily Irish guy is not a stretch for him but he does it so well) and Eve Best (not physically what you'd expect in the role, but with great awkward body language) were spectacular.

Kevin Spacey... seemed to be in some other show. The show he was in didn't seem to be a bad show, mind you, just not the same show as the other two. Their show was very realistic, while his involved lots of jazz hands and a strange overdone accent, which made the whole experience even more disconnected than one would expect.

Updated On: 3/12/07 at 06:25 PM

[AC126748]

Posted: 3/12/07 at 6:25pm

I've always wanted to see Laura Linney play Josie.

[MargoChanning]

Posted: 3/12/07 at 6:30pm

If I were a student, I'd definitely take advantage of the $25 rush seats, but seeing as I'm not, I'm not in any hurry to shell out even $67.50 to see this.

[Yankeefan007]

Posted: 3/12/07 at 6:32pm

I can't wait to take advantage of the $25 tickets. First 2 full rows, apparently.

[Shawk]

Posted: 3/12/07 at 6:41pm

I wouldn't have seen it but they were selling seats with approximately 2 inches blocked as "obstructed view."

[Mr Roxy]

Posted: 3/12/07 at 6:41pm

I already got an offering e mailed to me on this

I saw the last revival & that is more than enough

[Testing1232]

Posted: 3/12/07 at 7:41pm

Totally agree with Margo- no way I am shelling out $67 for this ! It annoys the piss out of me when producers dont offer an inexpensive ticket SOMEWHERE in the theater !!!



Loved the production with Cherry Jones... !!!

[Mr Roxy]

Posted: 3/12/07 at 7:42pm

We did to so no reason to see this

[bjh2114]

Posted: 3/13/07 at 2:39am

Margo, if you decide you want to see it, I am sure one of the students on the boards (including me) would be willing to buy the student rush ticket for you so you don't have to shell out $67.50.

[mallardo]

Posted: 3/13/07 at 5:14am

Eve best is a fine actress but she's miscast in this. Spacey is actually quite excellent, or was in London. And Colm Meaney is superb.

[WithoutATrace]

Posted: 3/13/07 at 9:58am

I'll be at the first preview on Thursday, March 29th. I have never seen this play before and am looking forward to it.

[keen on kean]

Posted: 3/13/07 at 12:19pm

I'm embarrassed to admit I don't know this play at all. Anyone want to give me the Cliffs Notes version, so I can see if I'm interested in reading it/seeing it? Thanks!

[Yankeefan007]

Posted: 3/13/07 at 3:47pm

It's O'Neill's follow up to Long Day's Journey into Night. James Tyrone, Sr. has been dead for a number of years, Mary has just passed away. Edmund, presumably, is off in New York writing plays (but that's never mentioned.)

The focus of the play is on Josie Hogan, daughter of Phil Hogan. Jamie, now Jim, has flirted with sobriety, but has since relapsed following Mary's death. He is in love with Josie, the supposed slut, who, given her reputation is supposedly incapable of finding true love. Phil and Josie hatch a plan to swindle Jim, but, of course, it doesn't work out. That night, after a long, drunken discussion, Jim and Josie fall in love, but realize it will never be.

Spoilers:
It is assumed that Jim dies shortly after the play's end of alcoholism.

Not one of O'Neill's best, but certainly not his worst. It's his last play before his death.

[Cape Twirl of Doom]

Posted: 3/13/07 at 3:54pm

I'm definitely going to try and see this with the $25 student tickets, but I'm not spending more than that.

[MargoChanning]

Posted: 3/13/07 at 3:59pm

I actually think it is among O'Neill's best. After seeing a few productions of it, I think that the maturity, deftness and richness in the writing is second only to Long Day's and Iceman (and it's less repetitive than either of those two). It's certainly a superior play to either of his epic melodramas (Strange Interlude and Mourning Becomes Electra) and has a level depth and control and poetry that goes far beyond anything in his earlier, more experimental works (Emperor Jones, Hairy Ape, Anna Christie). Honestly, I think it stands with his very best.

[keen on kean]

Posted: 3/13/07 at 5:40pm

Thank you, Yankee and Margo. I am thoroughly intrigued and will give this one a try, I think.

[jennykett89]

Posted: 3/30/07 at 9:30pm

Eugh I saw it last night because one of my friends was working on it. It was amazingly well acted for the most part however it was about 45 minutes too long and basically at the emotional climax of the play the audience was getting restless hence ruined it. I wanted to scream out "JUST GET ON WITH IT!". Some people started to leave and at the point I thought that it was minutes away from being over alas I was sorely mistaken.

So basically, it's good but needs some serious cuts.

[Yankeefan007]

Posted: 3/30/07 at 9:37pm

They've already cut about 45 minutes, they're not going to cut anymore.

As I posted in another thread, O'Neill is difficult - for the actors AND the audience. O'Neill takes 5 acts to develop what many can do in 2. Some call it unnecessary, others call it classic.

I fall into the latter category - the text is poetry. The Robards/Dewhurst version showcases this.