#1
Posted: 10/9/05 at 12:03pm
So, yesterday, I ventured into the city to see Doubt, and absolutley spur of the moment, I stopped by Sweeney Todd to see if they had any availablity for the evening performance, and they did (3rd row Mezz.--great seats)...so I saw two shows in one day, but it was not the day to do that. It was POURING yesterday in the city, and when I left Sweeney, the winds were unbelievable. It was such a disgusting day. Anyway, at least I got two good shows in. Both definitley worth trudging through the awful weather. I will post my Doubt review first as it was the first show I saw. My Sweeney review will be up later tonight or this afternoon.
To begin, you all must see Doubt as it is a splendid production jam packed with four outstanding, incredible, and all must-see performances. The show, for those of you who don't know, is about a priest who is accused of molesting a young, black boy at the church's school. Only one person accuses him and is relentless in her fight to bring him down, even if she may have no cold hard evidence. She is only armed with her doubts. And to top that, no one believes her. Throughout the show, the audience is torn back and forth from story to story, and *SPOILER* by the end, you are never really told if he did it or not, although my opinion is that he didn't. I know Sister Aloyisious did pretend to make that call, and I dont think thats why he left. I think he left the church simply because he wanted his name cleared and he wanted it all to be done with. But, when it is revealed in the final scene that Sister Aloyisious lied about the phone call, the shock has the impact of a truck hitting you. You are so blown away and so shocked and so taken aback. It was incredible to watch the faces of the audience members during this scene and when it is revealed that Sister Aloyisious has doubts about what she did. Just amazing *END SPOILER*
The show was written by Oscar and Tony winner John Patrick Shanley with biting ease and simplicity. That, in my opinion, is the charm of his writing, that it is so amazingly simple but so incredibly powerful. Less really is more here. His writing feels almost organic and it is so splendidly fluent. He really knows how to hit the audience under the belt when theyre not ready, and takes full advantage of that. The second to last scene with Sister Aloyisious and Father Flynn arguing was the most powerful yet simple scene I've ever witnessed from a drama. You wanted to get up and scream at one or the other, you wanted to hug and cry with them and tell them you understood even though you couldn't, you wanted to start applauding the biting remarks passed back and forth. The show evokes such a strong passion and feeling from you that is almost blinding. It is so shocking, so real, so undeniably raw, that you feel like you have begun to know and really get a good grasp around these characters and you can understand their pain. It's an incredibly written script. It's evoctive, engrossing, and gripping. GRADE: A-
The lighting was unimpressive, IMO. Simple, but maybe a little too simple. Nothing special here.
The sets. The sets for this show were a great amount of simplicity and realness. Excellent. I loved how the sets all slid in and out and worked with each scene so amazingly well.
The costumes. A very subtle and simplistic style was taken into effect here. The costumes did a great job of conveying the person wearing them.
The show is directed by Doug Hughes who really knows what he's doing scene by scene and has an uncanny ability to smoothy transfer the show from scene to scene. GRADE: B+
The cast:
-Brían F. O'Byrne as Father Flynn: Such an emotionally raw performance. He does an incredible job of winning the audience back and then losing them with the delivery of some of his lines. He is equal parts frightening, entertaining, involving, and lovable. His performance must be seen to be believed. I did not see him in Frozen, for which he won a 2004 Tony Award for Best Featured Actor in a Play, so I can't compare his two performances, but he is absolutley amazing in this role and if he was half as good in Frozen, I can say right now his Tony was won fair and square. I did not see the other leading actor in a play performances this year (I was extremley short on seeing straight plays this season), but his performance was Tony worthy. He gives Father Flynn such a realness and compassion while also balancing the hate that he holds in.
-Cherry Jones as Sister Aloyisious: The best performance in a straight play that I may have ever seen. It is so hard for me to even begin to describe how superb her performance was. She took a totally different approach character-wise than O'Byrne which may have been a good thing. Instead of creating all these layers and underlying stories that her character had, it seemed as though she just let the lines and the story do that. And it worked amazingly. You could see that she was a strcit, hard ass nun, but when you looked deeper, you could see that there was something, something indescribable, that made you kind of sympathize with her. She is extraordinary.
-Heather Goldenhersh as Sister James: She is obviously learning from Jones, and taking in her every move which is great. She seems to be really naive and vulnerable, but in a way strong. Not strong in the way Sister Aloyisious is, but a different kind of strong. It just can't be described. At first, she was somewhat cloying, but by the end of the show she as an actress had evolved her character so much that her performance became outstanding and simply phenomenal.
-Adriane Lenox as Mrs. Muller: I've never witnessed a more gripping and intense 10-minute performance in my life. She is only on the stage for maybe 10-15 minutes, but she is so great. Definitley Tony-worthy. She took the role step-by-step and let the audience peice together her pain instead of expressing it flat out. The pain that the audience does feel for her is awesome. It is a mix of sorrow and hatred. Of understanding and confusion. This is a great, great performance.
All in all, the show is a must see. The audience ate it up and if you don't go for anything else, go to see this cast. It is the best ensemble I've seen on stage in a while.
There was, however, to end my review, but not to discourage you, something missing still for me. I would give the show 3 and a half out of four stars, probably, becuase something seemed to be missing, I think it was the writing which lagged at the beginning and was a little slow, but took off at full speed toward the end. Nonetheless, this play is incredible and you all need to go see it now if you haven't already.
To begin, you all must see Doubt as it is a splendid production jam packed with four outstanding, incredible, and all must-see performances. The show, for those of you who don't know, is about a priest who is accused of molesting a young, black boy at the church's school. Only one person accuses him and is relentless in her fight to bring him down, even if she may have no cold hard evidence. She is only armed with her doubts. And to top that, no one believes her. Throughout the show, the audience is torn back and forth from story to story, and *SPOILER* by the end, you are never really told if he did it or not, although my opinion is that he didn't. I know Sister Aloyisious did pretend to make that call, and I dont think thats why he left. I think he left the church simply because he wanted his name cleared and he wanted it all to be done with. But, when it is revealed in the final scene that Sister Aloyisious lied about the phone call, the shock has the impact of a truck hitting you. You are so blown away and so shocked and so taken aback. It was incredible to watch the faces of the audience members during this scene and when it is revealed that Sister Aloyisious has doubts about what she did. Just amazing *END SPOILER*
The show was written by Oscar and Tony winner John Patrick Shanley with biting ease and simplicity. That, in my opinion, is the charm of his writing, that it is so amazingly simple but so incredibly powerful. Less really is more here. His writing feels almost organic and it is so splendidly fluent. He really knows how to hit the audience under the belt when theyre not ready, and takes full advantage of that. The second to last scene with Sister Aloyisious and Father Flynn arguing was the most powerful yet simple scene I've ever witnessed from a drama. You wanted to get up and scream at one or the other, you wanted to hug and cry with them and tell them you understood even though you couldn't, you wanted to start applauding the biting remarks passed back and forth. The show evokes such a strong passion and feeling from you that is almost blinding. It is so shocking, so real, so undeniably raw, that you feel like you have begun to know and really get a good grasp around these characters and you can understand their pain. It's an incredibly written script. It's evoctive, engrossing, and gripping. GRADE: A-
The lighting was unimpressive, IMO. Simple, but maybe a little too simple. Nothing special here.
The sets. The sets for this show were a great amount of simplicity and realness. Excellent. I loved how the sets all slid in and out and worked with each scene so amazingly well.
The costumes. A very subtle and simplistic style was taken into effect here. The costumes did a great job of conveying the person wearing them.
The show is directed by Doug Hughes who really knows what he's doing scene by scene and has an uncanny ability to smoothy transfer the show from scene to scene. GRADE: B+
The cast:
-Brían F. O'Byrne as Father Flynn: Such an emotionally raw performance. He does an incredible job of winning the audience back and then losing them with the delivery of some of his lines. He is equal parts frightening, entertaining, involving, and lovable. His performance must be seen to be believed. I did not see him in Frozen, for which he won a 2004 Tony Award for Best Featured Actor in a Play, so I can't compare his two performances, but he is absolutley amazing in this role and if he was half as good in Frozen, I can say right now his Tony was won fair and square. I did not see the other leading actor in a play performances this year (I was extremley short on seeing straight plays this season), but his performance was Tony worthy. He gives Father Flynn such a realness and compassion while also balancing the hate that he holds in.
-Cherry Jones as Sister Aloyisious: The best performance in a straight play that I may have ever seen. It is so hard for me to even begin to describe how superb her performance was. She took a totally different approach character-wise than O'Byrne which may have been a good thing. Instead of creating all these layers and underlying stories that her character had, it seemed as though she just let the lines and the story do that. And it worked amazingly. You could see that she was a strcit, hard ass nun, but when you looked deeper, you could see that there was something, something indescribable, that made you kind of sympathize with her. She is extraordinary.
-Heather Goldenhersh as Sister James: She is obviously learning from Jones, and taking in her every move which is great. She seems to be really naive and vulnerable, but in a way strong. Not strong in the way Sister Aloyisious is, but a different kind of strong. It just can't be described. At first, she was somewhat cloying, but by the end of the show she as an actress had evolved her character so much that her performance became outstanding and simply phenomenal.
-Adriane Lenox as Mrs. Muller: I've never witnessed a more gripping and intense 10-minute performance in my life. She is only on the stage for maybe 10-15 minutes, but she is so great. Definitley Tony-worthy. She took the role step-by-step and let the audience peice together her pain instead of expressing it flat out. The pain that the audience does feel for her is awesome. It is a mix of sorrow and hatred. Of understanding and confusion. This is a great, great performance.
All in all, the show is a must see. The audience ate it up and if you don't go for anything else, go to see this cast. It is the best ensemble I've seen on stage in a while.
There was, however, to end my review, but not to discourage you, something missing still for me. I would give the show 3 and a half out of four stars, probably, becuase something seemed to be missing, I think it was the writing which lagged at the beginning and was a little slow, but took off at full speed toward the end. Nonetheless, this play is incredible and you all need to go see it now if you haven't already.
Updated On: 10/9/05 at 12:03 PM
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