Three Days of Rain - jaw dropping bad

I don't know where to begin. I got tickets to see this because I had seen the play 5 years ago in London (Colin Firth, Elizabeth McGovern, David Morissey) and enjoyed it and wanted to see another version. And of course with Julia.

I had been reading the reviews and posts, and here are my thoughts. (I tried to post on an existing thread, but could not find the appropriate one, but that's another story...)

Julia - I was so disappointed. Flat flat flat. I'm not a big fan of Elizabeth McGovern on stage, but by comparison, she's positively magnificent next to the performance that Julia did.

Paul Rudd - a decent performance. But not in the league, imo, of the nuanced performance given by Colin Firth.

Bradley Cooper - very good, best of the lot in NY. I preferred David's interpretation, but it was a close call, and very little to complain about. I preferred David's cadence, which I thought brought out more humor. But this is just a minor quibble.

I detected no chemistry at all between any of the characters in NY.

So the problem is...???

I think the play is a good one, especially if well performed. Is Julia that bad of a stage actress? Why could Mantello not get a decent performance out of her?

I thought there was a lot of irony and wit in the dialogue that just fell flat, so I thought the interpretation of the text was missing. In the first act, when Walker was chiding Pip to dazzle us with his theories on Booliean Algebra and Umberto Ecco, the interpretation of that part was brilliantly played by Colin. Where were those zingers from Paul? I heard him speak the lines, but the interpretation felt like a dud.

In the second act, Ned and Lina are supposed to fall in love. It was painful for me to watch Paul and Julia, because I felt nothing between them. Why would either of these people fall in love with each other? And Ned tells Lina that he didn't have the courage to be a flanneur, a wanderer, a walker. His delivery was, imo, flat. Did no one pick up the fact that he named his son Walker? No one that I was with did. And it's because the delivery was so flat.

It was painful to watch. Did the actors not "get it"? Did they not see the wit, the sarcasim, the irony in the dialogue? Did the director not see? Why did this play land like a thud? imo. I know others really liked it. But having seen another version, I thought this version was borderline ghastly.

I enjoyed this revival - but I did not think it was particularly good. I loved the set and lighting and I adored the score. It was just a thrill to see Roberts on stage - good or bad.

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I haven't seen either of these productions... but I do understand the frustration you must have felt sitting in the theatre knowing the level this play could have risen to, but didn't.

I can relate to that.

Thanks for sharing your review, LaurenB!

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Updated On: 6/9/06 at 02:32 PM

"It was painful to watch" -LaurenB-

I thought the exact same thing.

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I enjoyed it, and I thought that Roberts was decent. Although, it's quite obvious that Mantello doesn't know how to direct. Luckily, Glengarry had a tremendous cast of actors who worked well together.

I enjoy Roberts' performance as well.

I will definitely return once more before the show closes.

And shouldn't the title read "jow droppingLY bad?"

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There's no reason why they wouldn't.

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