Twelfth Night - Shakespear In The Park- Page 11

[#1Elphie]

Posted: 6/25/09 at 10:56pm

Yep, noted and linked above (NYTimes review).

I love that picture of Anne and Raul with their review.
Updated On: 6/25/09 at 10:56 PM

[ray-andallthatjazz86]

Posted: 6/25/09 at 11:09pm

I loved Isherwood's review, and I particularly loved that we didn't have to wait till 1am like we usually have to do when we want to read Brantley's reviews.
I'm particularly thrilled that once again Anne Hathaway got raves in a NY stage appearance. She's really smart, she did the Encores! CARNIVAL (for which she received a love letter from Brantley) and now she is doing this Shakespeare in the Park production which is much more low key than a Broadway show, she's getting her feet wet, and seeing how things go, and I hope that with these great results she finally decides that she is more than ready to commit to doing 8 times a week at a Broadway theatre. Anne, do that PROMISES, PROMISES revival pretty please.

[Hest882]

Posted: 6/25/09 at 11:16pm

So happy about the reviews. Ah, I wish I had a chance to see this again!

[humbugfoto]

Posted: 6/25/09 at 11:49pm

From the New York Blade, very positive but they thought it was a bit too conventional.

http://theblade.net/web/1816

[frogs_fan85]

Posted: 6/26/09 at 9:17am

Isherwood's review was wonderfully written. I really hope I can luck out today via the online lottery or the stand-by line.

[BluCat500]

Posted: 6/26/09 at 11:13am

I was planning to line up at 5am, is that a lost cause now that reviews are out? I'm daunted...Last time I did this was mother courage and I got there at 10pm and ended up first on line as I'm nuts...

any educated guesses? And where precisely do people start lining up?

[frogs_fan85]

Posted: 6/26/09 at 11:16am

If you get there before the park opens, the line forms at the entrance on 81st Street and CPW I believe.

[#1Elphie]

Posted: 6/26/09 at 12:35pm

The New York Post review is interesting. 3/4 stars. Some highlights:
http://www.nypost.com/seven/06262009/entertainment/theater/an_annes_world_176118.htm?&page=1

"The actress(Hathaway)'s anime features (huge dark eyes, impossibly wide mouth) also work to her advantage when Viola dons male clothing and becomes Cesario, since so many Japanese cartoon characters are both sexually indeterminate and oddly neutered.

This may be one of the reasons sparks never really fly between Cesario and Audra McDonald's Olivia. The latter bizarrely goes overboard as soon as her character gets crushed out on her handsome "gentleman" caller.

McDonald, perhaps trying to counter her reputation as a cerebral actress, dials up the eye rolls and girlish giddiness, as if playing to the peanut gallery all the way in Weehawken....

One of the great things about "Twelfth Night" is the way caddish Orsino starts in love with Olivia then finds himself confused by his attraction to Cesario.

Here you never feel anything of the sort. Orsino even looks kind of bummed out at the end, as if he had to content himself with second best when marrying Viola.

It says something about the tone of a production of "Twelfth Night" when you can't wait for Orsino, Olivia and Viola to make room for Olivia's doofus suitor, Andrew Aguecheek.

Lanky, droll Hamish Linklater is perfect as that hapless buffoon. Bouncing about John Lee Beatty's AstroTurf knolls (I kept expecting Teletubbies to appear), he provides the night's most uproarious moments....

So yes, it's a fine and jolly evening. But there's also a little something missing -- an undercurrent of wistfulness, perhaps, a certain melancholia to balance out the laughs. As a result, the show is hard to dislike -- but it's also hard to love."

[Mrfreeze]

Posted: 6/26/09 at 2:20pm

I got there at 5:30 today,there were about 3 ppl ahead of me. But the line really grew quite a bit btwn 5:30 and 6.

Sadly I have to confirm what someone said earlier : being an early bird does not guarentee good seats. I wish they went back to the old system where you did get a good seat if you got there early...

[Kevn520]

Posted: 6/26/09 at 3:33pm

I was there at 6am, and was disappointed that the seats weren't that great, even though I was in the first 40 people in line. What's the point in getting there early?

[broadwaybaby086]

Posted: 6/26/09 at 3:38pm

Agreed, Mr. Freeze and Kevn.

A friend and I moved to some empty seats in the front center section a few weekends ago, and the people sitting next to us said they had politely asked for better seats and the ticket distributers obliged. Perhaps that's the key, but I really don't know why they don't do it that way. When I've waited in line, I've always received seats in the upper sections, despite getting there before 7am.

[scaryclowns2232]

Posted: 6/26/09 at 6:37pm

I'm really upset.

I got there at 6 am this morning and got seats, but it doesn't look like the weather is going to let this thing go on.

But lets pray it does...

[luvtheEmcee]

Posted: 6/26/09 at 6:43pm

Storms like this tend not to last; and the weather is only supposed to improve as it gets later. They might have to delay, but I think they'll be able to go on. It seems like they're not particularly quick to cancel, and will try to do it if they can.

[#1Elphie]

Posted: 6/26/09 at 8:59pm

I like this article about Esparza; seeing him act out Shakespeare with Star Wars action figures is something I'd like to have seen! And he has sweet things to say about Anne.

http://news.yahoo.com/s/ap/20090624/ap_en_ot/us_theater_raul_esparza_1

[broadwaybaby086]

Posted: 6/26/09 at 11:59pm

Got back a little while ago from tonight's performance; it was better than the first time! Tried standby line and got there around 7:40 and was able to get a seat; it seems like most (in the lengthy line) were able to get in, if not all. Thank you, freak rain/hailstorm.

[Mrfreeze]

Posted: 6/27/09 at 12:01am

I was very impressed with tonight s performance. The entire cast improved so much since the beginning. It s a lot tighter,there s a lot more energy and everybody seems to have more fun with it, especially Anne. She really found the character and gave herself a lot more freedom to play.

Even the final scene was more hallarious thanks to that new boost of energy from the cast.

It was a blast! No wonder the critics loved it!

[stevenycguy]

Posted: 6/27/09 at 10:04am

When you say "tighter" , do you mean the running time has been cut down? Does it now get out at 10:55pm instead of 11:10pm? (It makes a big difference with my train schedule.)

[broadwaybaby086]

Posted: 6/27/09 at 11:55am

To answer your question; I can't verify exactly, but I think we got out at around 11:15. The show did not start until at least 8:10 (when I was still standing in the standby line), though.

[Mrfreeze]

Posted: 6/27/09 at 5:54pm

By tighter I meant that it picks up where it was dragging a little before.
We def did not get out before 11 that s for sure.

[luvtheEmcee]

Posted: 6/27/09 at 7:35pm

Tighter tends to refer to the feeling of the performance, and how "locked in" the actors are to the material and each other, not running time. When Twelfth Night gets out depends not only on when they start, but by how close they're able to keep intermission to 15 minutes; but you can probably bet on the start of both acts not happening exactly when they should.

[yay_gerb]

Posted: 6/27/09 at 10:22pm

Can anyone tell me where their seats were if they rushed really early/overnighted for tix?

[luvtheEmcee]

Posted: 6/27/09 at 10:26pm

I arrived at 6:15 a.m. and got 5th row seats, dead center. But there's not always a correlation between what time you go and how good your seats are, so I think I just got lucky.

[orangeskittles]

Posted: 6/28/09 at 12:10am

I got there at 8 and was in section C row W. It was relatively centered so the distance didn't bother me so much. The racoon who decided to sit next to me during the second act did.

[Chrysanthemum62001]

Posted: 6/28/09 at 12:19am

Aaah, that is disturbing. They can be down right mean!

If the Public Theater stopped allowing people to bring in food, it wouldn't be such an issue. But of course, the food is an important part of the experience.

[Kevn520]

Posted: 6/28/09 at 12:19am

I got there at 6am and was in section J, row Q.