Monday, June 2, 2014

Casa Valentina

Okay, first I have to say that I was so impressed with how nice the inside of the theater was. It was my first time at the Samuel Friedman theater, and it was impossible not to notice how clean and fresh everything from the paint on the walls to the chairs were. As someone who cares about that kind of stuff, it was nice to see a space so well taken care of.

I didn't go into this show with any expectations at all. I knew the play was nominated for a few Tony awards, but I hadn't read much about it. Literally I found cheap tickets and was just bought them. The lighting designer does a lot of work at my sister's school so she has worked with him before and we figured it would be fun to see a show he worked on. It's unusual for me to go into a show completely blind. I mean, I guess I wasn't completely blind -- I had seen some of the actors in other shows and obviously I know all about Harvey Fierstein and Joe Mantello. But in terms of what I was going to be sitting through, I had no idea.

It was so good. Honestly, I had such a great time. The story was interesting, exciting, and emotional. The play was just on the right side of political.

For me, it was a lot of fun to see actors I had previously seen in other roles (in musicals) in such a different environment. Most notably Gabriel Ebert.

The ending killed me. Without giving too much away I just have to say that I love a good white death light and it was used perfectly.

Shows where it's obvious the actors feel strongly about the parts they are playing are always going to be the most memorable to me and Casa Valentina was no exception. When you see a lot of theater you get to the point where it becomes obvious when actors are just phoning in their performances. I didn't feel that here at all. Everyone was engaged the whole time and that meant that the stakes were incredibly high. I mean, how could they not be? Everything was on the line for these people. Their careers, their relationships, their relationship with themselves. High stakes makes for great theater, especially when the audience is on the edge of their seats waiting to see what happens. And nothing about the plot was obvious. At intermission I turned to my sister and asked her what she thought was going to happen and she said she had no idea. It's not everyday I find myself struggling to think of possible endings.

I'm pretty sure I've seen less this season on Broadway than any other season in the last nine years (my first Broadway show was 2006). So I'm having a really hard time making my predictions for Sunday night. In any case, I'll be rooting for Casa Valentina.

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