Was Madonna any good in "Speed-the-Plow"?

[SomeOtherMe]

Posted: 5/31/23 at 11:41am

Who saw it? How was she?

[GiantsInTheSky2]

Posted: 5/31/23 at 12:18pm

A quick Google search pulls up about half a dozen reviews, featuring keywords “uninspired”, “wooden”, and “tired”. 

[The Other One]

Posted: 5/31/23 at 12:21pm

I did.  She was lousy.  Fortunately Joe Mantegna and Ron Silver were as good as she was bad.  

Madonna always seemed like someone who would be good on stage or screen, but it never happened.  She spoke as though she was practicing for her next elocution class and you always felt how aware she was that she was acting.  She never came to life.  

She looked great, though.

Updated On: 5/31/23 at 12:21 PM

[SomeOtherMe]

Posted: 5/31/23 at 12:31pm

GiantsInTheSky2 said: "A quick Google search pulls up about half a dozen reviews, featuring keywords “uninspired”, “wooden”, and “tired”."

Yes, I'm aware that I could look up professional reviews. I was more interested in hearing what people on these boards thought, as I find that much more interesting than professional critics.

[Jordan Catalano]

Posted: 5/31/23 at 12:39pm

This is one of those performances that largely (I say largely, not definitively for anyone who wants to argue I don’t speak for them personally) has become the stuff of legends, as far as her being awful. She was fine. Definitely not acting that was gonna win her any awards but I think much like “Bad Cinderella” right now, people reeeeally wanted to hate her and so a lot did. And I speak having been able to watch a video of her in it pretty recently. I’ve absolutely seen worse acting in my life and while it’ll never happen, I’d love for her to do another play, having missed her West End debut “Up For Grabs”. 

Updated On: 5/31/23 at 12:39 PM

[SomeOtherMe]

Posted: 5/31/23 at 12:44pm

Jordan Catalano said: "This is one of those performances that largely (I say largely, not definitively for anyone who wants to argue I don’t speak for them personally) has become the stuff of legends, as far as her being awful. She was fine. Definitely not acting that was gonna win her any awards but I think much like “Bad Cinderella” right now, people reeeeally wanted to hate her and so a lot did. And I speak having been able to watch a video of her in it pretty recently. I’ve absolutely seen worse acting in my life and while it’ll never happen, I’d love for her to do another play, having missed her West End debut “Up For Grabs”."

Any chance you know where I might be able to see said video for... Research purposes...

[Jordan Catalano]

Posted: 5/31/23 at 12:47pm

At the homes of private collectors who would never give it out so you have to go to them and watch lol

[SomeOtherMe]

Posted: 5/31/23 at 12:51pm

Jordan Catalano said: "At the homes of private collectors who would never give it out so you have to go to them and watch lol"

Welp. Was worth a try haha

[nealb1]

Posted: 5/31/23 at 1:23pm

Saw the show, and she wasn't very good.  Very stiff, wooden - certainly not comfortable being on stage.  The night I saw it, Sean Penn was in the audience and would take his seat right before the house lights dimmed.  

[Bettyboy72]

Posted: 5/31/23 at 1:40pm

Madonna is serviceable in some roles. Playing herself works best. Her fresh style and confidence in Desperately Seeking Susan led folks to believe she had acting chops. Sadly, acting is not in her wheelhouse.

Vulnerability, the most vital tool in the arsenal of a great actor, is not a strength of Madonna's. And I say that as a fan. She calculates everything. The richest actors find moments in vulnerability that Madonna can't access. 

She also doesn't like to abdicate her power. She's so in her head and worried about how she is being filmed, what the director is thinking and what the final product is like. She has said that being in the present is very hard for her. Again, another requirement for an effective actor. She wants to give her input when it's not appropriate or warranted. She can't trust directors. 

That being said she was always and I mean always compelling in music videos. She knows how to nail those performances. I think it was why she was so successful in Evita. I loved her performance in Evita and I think Patti was cruel to say that Madonna killed the movie. 

[Theatrefan2]

Posted: 5/31/23 at 2:14pm

I'm probably in the minority but I thought she was excellent in Evita and remains one of the best Evas full stop. And the movie one of the best movie musical adaptions (actually prefer it on film than on stage I think).

I can't help but wonder if she would have been more successful on stage if she had done a musical instead.

And I say all that as not a particular Madonna fan.

 

[SomeOtherMe]

Posted: 5/31/23 at 2:24pm

Bettyboy72 said: "Madonna is serviceable in some roles. Playing herself works best. Her fresh style and confidence in Desperately Seeking Susan led folks to believe she had acting chops. Sadly, acting is not in her wheelhouse.

Vulnerability, the most vital tool in the arsenal of a great actor, is not a strength of Madonna's. And I say that as a fan. She calculates everything. The richest actors find moments in vulnerability that Madonna can't access.

She also doesn't like to abdicate her power. She's so in her head and worried about how she is being filmed, what the director is thinking and what the final product is like. She has said that being in the present is very hard for her. Again, another requirement for an effective actor. She wants to give her input when it's not appropriate or warranted. She can't trust directors.

That being said she was always and I mean always compelling in music videos. She knows how to nail those performances. I think it was why she was so successful in Evita. I loved her performance in Evita and I think Patti was cruel to say that Madonna killed the movie."

I remember reading an article about the making of Evita (the movie) a few years ago and it saying that Madonna initially demanded script approval. Alan Parker absolutely refused and she finally agreed to let the director direct since she wanted the role so badly. Maybe this is why Evita is one of the projects that she seems to be most proud of, even after all these years? I feel like in her mind, that was her being the most vulnerable she's ever going to be.

Updated On: 5/31/23 at 02:24 PM

[BrodyFosse123]

Posted: 5/31/23 at 2:34pm

One of Alan Parker’s demands before signing Madonna onto the EVITA film was that she sign a legal contract stating that she would not interfere with his creative process.  She accepted these terms and he did give her costume approval as he’s stated that she knew best what suited her. 

[Jumpin_J]

Posted: 5/31/23 at 3:21pm

I saw it. In a word, no. 

[darquegk]

Posted: 5/31/23 at 4:00pm

Madonna was a cultural blind spot of mine until this past week: I’d never dug deep and really explored her beyond her pop singles and the living meme she has become later in life. 
 

But after watching her first few concert videos… I get it. We expect the “singing dancing highly theatrical force of nature and sex symbol” quadruple threat from female pop stars today. Britney was the most effortlessly sexually compelling. Lady Gaga has the most versatile voice. But Madonna had fantastic presence, and the most innate theatrical dance skill. If the Madonna who hasn’t yet coronated herself had done a musical, she might have given a performance for the ages. Instead, the living legend Madonna did a play.

[Jarethan]

Posted: 5/31/23 at 4:01pm

IMO the play was mediocre, but mercifully short.  I thought she was fine in not much of a role, I.e., anyone could have probably been fine in it, assuming they were reasonably cast in the first place.  She neither shamed herself or set herself apart.

[Scott19]

Posted: 5/31/23 at 5:15pm

 @Jarethan is bang-on. The play was meh and short. Silver and Mantegna were good. And I thought Madonna was fine. The role didn't demand much of her. That's what she delivered.

The thing that I remember more than the play was the crazy stage door scene when we were trying to exit the theatre. Barricades everywhere. It took some effort to get out of the area.

[SomeOtherMe]

Posted: 6/1/23 at 9:40am

Scott19 said: "@Jarethan is bang-on. The play was meh and short. Silver and Mantegna were good. And I thought Madonna was fine. The role didn't demand much of her. That's what she delivered.

The thing that I remember more than the play was the crazy stage door scene when we were trying to exit the theatre. Barricades everywhere. It took some effort to get out of the area."

Much like a lot of todays stage doors, unfortunately.

[Bettyboy72]

Posted: 6/1/23 at 10:48am

Madonna can't get a fair break though, in terms of reviews. The critics are brutal to her. I really enjoyed "W.E." I thought she did a good job directing. It's a gorgeous film and very well acted. To me, it's no different than a Tom Ford film. However, Tom is lauded with praise and Madonna gets eviscerated. 

I did love how Elton John took time on the Golden Globe Red Carpet that year to be petty about her and say how her song Masterpiece was awful and would never win. It won. I'm sure that was very satisfying for Madonna. 

I love the song Masterpiece. 

[The Other One]

Posted: 6/5/23 at 7:05am

I agree that WE deserved more respect and that Madonna is good in the film version of Evita, but the air left the stage when Scene Two of Speed The Plow began and I think you can lay the blame squarely on her.  Karen is not as well written as Gould and Fox, but Elisabeth Moss had no trouble holding her own with her co-stars in the 2008 revival and apparently Felicity Huffmann didn't when she replaced Madonna, either.  I've also been in one SPT production of the play and seen another.  Madonna just didn't bring it.

Critics and stage fanatics often overdo it when it comes to critiquing a movie or non-theater celebrity performing on Broadway.  The star in question is almost never as bad as the public outcry would have you believe. I suppose Madonna's performance was closer to bland than lousy, which I described it as in my above post, but nothing about it made me suspect she might be good in a different play (which I did think about Julia Roberts when I saw Three Days of Rain). Someone who saw her in the four-performance run of Goose and Tomtom might feel differently.

 

Updated On: 6/5/23 at 07:05 AM

[Owen22]

Posted: 6/5/23 at 8:18am

No.

[ChgoTheatreGuy]

Posted: 6/7/23 at 6:58pm

I remember seeing her in a preview performance and once the show started, the audience was dead silent waiting for her to appear on stage.  When she did finally show up, there were flashbulbs from cameras lighting up the audience and the show came briefly to a complete standstill for a few minutes.  I think that there was nothing more distracting or unprofessional to have that happen, thankfully, her co-stars acted as if nothing had happened at all...

[OMG U Guyz]

Posted: 6/7/23 at 7:20pm

She was not. But it’s also the moment I discovered I didn’t  like most of Mamet’s work so that may have colored my opinion. 

Updated On: 6/7/23 at 07:20 PM

[sabrelady]

Posted: 6/8/23 at 6:50pm

All I can remember is a rhyme from that time-

I strain in vain to train Madonna's brain.

Guessing  not so much.