What We're Up Against previews
What We're Up Against previews
#1What We're Up Against previews
Posted: 11/1/17 at 8:41am
I caught a preview of What We're Up Against last night and although I can't say it's a great play, there is a certain level of fascination to the proceedings as Theresa Rebeck has written a thinly-veiled account of her time at NBC writing Smash.
While watching the play I thought back many times to Rebeck's essay that ran in EW several months ago (http://ew.com/books/2017/03/31/read-smash-creators-essay-about-being-fired-from-her-own-show/). The action of What We're Up Against has been moved to 1992 and instead of Network TV the setting is an architecture firm, but the rest remains the same. Krysta Rodriguez plays Rebeck, the second non-secretary female hired at the firm, and she's "eight times smarter" than anyone else who works there. (Rebeck is not insecure.)
As the character keeps reminding everyone, all she wants to do is work. All she cares about is the work. No one will put her in a writer's room, let alone pen her own episode of Smash; she has been given the smallest office down the hall by the water cooler to top it all off. The other writers in the office are working the season's storyboard, but they just can't get Christian Borle's character arc quite right. All of the other writers, including a young, entitled guy hired by the network after Rebeck (played amusingly by Skylar Astin) keep throwing out ideas, but they all stink. Alone in her broom closet Rebeck has come up with the genius idea of how to fix Borle's arc, but no one wants to accept it- all for various reasons. At one moment Rebeck begs the other, older female writer (Marg Helgenberger), who is willing to compromise herself and be a "nazi-sympathizer" to the male network hierarchy, to even steal her idea and present it because at this point she doesn't care if she gets credit (ha!), all she wants is to see her project come to fruition.
Of course, Rebeck makes many valid points here, but the characters are never characters, but rather talking points. We learn nothing about the any of the characters outside of what they think of and/or relate to women's rights in the work place.
Rodriguez gives a, forgive me, balls to the wall performance and has some fun early 90's costumes and hairstyles. She rocks and I want her to join the Dynasty reboot on the CW stat.
What would have made this a much better play is if Rebeck actually would just write about Smash. She's obviously got lots of tea to spill, so what is she waiting for? Fear of a lawsuit? Can't sue if it's the truth. I look forward to hopefully seeing that play someday.
Marie: Don't be in such a hurry about that pretty little chippy in Frisco.
Tony: Eh, she's a no chip!
#2What We're Up Against previews
Posted: 11/1/17 at 9:04am
I also saw this yesterday and very much enjoyed it. The play moves very quickly and the actors are at the same time over-the-top and yet completely realistic. Ms. Rodriguez does a great job with her intelligent, skilled employee who feels undervalued and lashes out because of that in ineffective ways. Really, all of the actors were excellent.
The theatre itself seemed to have some seating issues with people being moved around multiple times before the show started, so they need to figure that out. Aside from that, I found this night at the theatre to be a winner.
#3What We're Up Against previews
Posted: 11/1/17 at 9:14am
I caught a preview of What We're Up Against last night and although I can't say it's a great play, there is a certain level of fascination to the proceedings as Theresa Rebeck has written a thinly-veiled account of her time at NBC writing Smash.
This play actually precedes SMASH. It was first produced in 2011. I don't know if it's been revised (I'm seeing it this weekend), but I don't think it's strictly accurate to call it a retelling of her time on SMASH.
"You travel alone because other people are only there to remind you how much that hook hurts that we all bit down on. Wait for that one day we can bite free and get back out there in space where we belong, sail back over water, over skies, into space, the hook finally out of our mouths and we wander back out there in space spawning to other planets never to return hurrah to earth and we'll look back and can't even see these lives here anymore. Only the taste of blood to remind us we ever existed. The earth is small. We're gone. We're dead. We're safe."
-John Guare, Landscape of the Body
#4What We're Up Against previews
Posted: 11/8/17 at 9:31am
I thought this was entertaining but I felt like I was at a reading rather than a full production. It is slight, and like Whizzer said, none of the characters are developed, they're all talking points. But the cast is great and it moves quickly (the show would probably be about 80 minutes if it weren't for the intermission.)
A little swash, a bit of buckle - you'll love it more than bread.
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