some questions about "Rock N Roll"

Alice's father was the journalist guy. I can't remember his name. The one who was with the ditzy columnist at the party.

Thank you very much.

Some more questions.
Does Esme have a job? And for people who have seen the show in UK, how different is the UK production from Broadway production?

I hope to talk more about this show cause I am sometimes confused yet fascinated by it. There are some beautiful language and ideas in this work.

I got the first piece of quote from a kind Broadwayworld member. Can someone send me the second? These two pieces are my favorite in the show. I was captured and mesmorized by the beauty of the language.

thenewmoon, is there a link to the Vanity Fair essay? I would like to read Stoppard's explanation.

Here's the second quote:

ESME
A man at the shops today… a bit rough-looking, with his head almost shaved but balding anyway… he saw Alice and said, "Hello, it’s you."

MAX
Why?

ESME
He thought she was me. He used to be in a band, he was quite famous, with wild black hair, you know, a great face, he looked, well, he looked like a rock star, but he blew his mind and the band sort of dropped him … and one night, just round that time, before I knew him, before I knew it was him, I saw him in the garden. Just up there. I had my 'O' level results in my underpants – the envelope - which I'd, you know, opened but I thought, "Well, all in good time" – and I’d gone out to the Dandelion to see who was playing, and when I came home late through the garden, he was on the wall tootling on a pipe, like Pan.

(pause)

I wasn't always sure it happened, like a lot of things. But later he had a solo album, and… well, I went to see him play once, at the Corn Exchange, in my red leather bomber jacket I gave Alice. He was in the support band. It turned out to be the last gig he ever played, and he was all over the place… The bass player and the drummer tried to stay with him, they'd find him and he'd lose them again, so they left him to it but he wouldn't give up, he botched his way on and on, fudging chords and scowling with his hair falling over the strings. He'd cut his finger and he was bleeding on the guitar. It was terrible but somehow great. I got up on the stage and danced. He looked at me, sort of surprised. He said, "Oh, hello. It's you." He was the Piper.

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Updated On: 11/15/07 at 10:42 AM

bump.

So how do you relate to the characters in the play? As a person who came from communism country myself, I feel deeply related to Jan. Yet Max and Esme and people from Cambridge left me cold.

Does anyone know if they've got student rush (or general rush) for this? It's about the only thing I'm interested in seeing right now...

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I will see this tommorow.. Its good that frogsfans is gonna be there too. we can probably discuss it during intermission and after the show.. I hope I understand some parts and I dont phase out... LOL ! If only there's tons of Dunkin Donuts coffee in the area.. need more coffee before the show.

Steve- I think I will go tomorrow- see ya there ! Unless I dont wake up at 630 am.

J*

Updated On: 11/30/07 at 09:22 AM

I got it one hour before the show because I do not live in the city and I could only buy ticket the day when I came to the city.

I saw Rock 'N Roll yesterday. I'm not going to make any comments pro or con about the play becauee that sort of thing seems to lead to endless pontificating. However, what truly mystified me was the rapturous reviews re: the acting. I just don't see what all the noise is about Rufus Sewell. He wasn't bad, but, IMO, nothing to write home about either. I've read the play several times and cannot understand for the life of me why sometimes an accent was used and sometimes it wasn't. Brian Cox seemed to be shouting all the time in a one-dimensional performance and Cusack didn't seem to be doing anything more than mouthing the words. This is great acting?

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Regarding Rufus's accent - he speaks in Czech-accented English when his character is speaking English, and in his own natural speaking voice when his character is meant to be speaking Czech to another Czech. The Czech accent is light in the beginning scenes when he had been living in Cambridge, and is more pronounced in Act Two when his character had been living in Prague for 22 years and would be more rusty if he hadn't spoken English in a while. Dismiss it all you want, I think his facility with it is incredible.

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I recommend a good deal of very very strong coffee before you see ROCK N ROLL. You could save yourself the time and expense of sitting through the show and get the informative insert they add to the playbill. Way more interesting and dramatic than the "Play" itself.

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Jordan, enjoy. I know I'm very much in the minority on this show. I am serious about the coffee, though. It was three hours and ten minutes long the night I went.

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