Saturday, October 24, 2015

China Doll

Until I have words to describe this disaster, please check out what others are saying... here.

*Note: I saw final dress rehearsal on Tuesday 10/20.

The Haunted Train

I went to see this show because my roommate was the music director/the band -- I say "the band" because there was only a piano. First of all, I'd never been to Theater For A New City on the Lower East Side before. It was... not the nicest space ever. There are a bunch of theaters in the building, and "The Haunted Train" was in a small basement theater. I guess you could call the theater a black box since it's literally a room made of cinder blocks that is painted black. The theater space itself was perfect for this particular show.

There were two moments of this new musical that were so preachy I wanted to get up and walk out. A show about mental illness is bound to have preachy moments, and "The Haunted Train" was no exception. Let's start a revolution so patients locked up in psych wards aren't taken advantage of! Here here! Interestingly enough, the few times the script was weakest were the times the music died down the most.

The songs were the most entertaining part of the show -- partly because the voices of the five actors were incredible. We all know it takes an amazing voice to get me really into a musical. The main character, Cloyd, played by Jarrad Biron Green was just a total delight to watch and listen to. Everyone else sang beautifully, but Green could act and sing (often at the same time).

Overall, I was impressed by this musical. It wasn't perfect, but it wasn't the worst thing I've seen in the last few weeks by far. Did it feel a bit like a rip-off of "Next to Normal" once in a while? Yes. But it was original enough that I wasn't totally bothered by the last song ending on the word "light" a la the finale of N2N (okay fine, that one ends on "dark" but you know what I mean). My biggest problem was the length -- 100 minutes with no intermission. Cut out the two preachy parts and it would've cut down the show and been a much more reasonable length. But having no intermission in a musical that deals with mental health and being locked up was very smart, as it gave off an air of danger. While it was obvious you weren't locked in and unable to get out during the duration of the piece (we were told we could get out if necessary through a VERY loud door), once the lights went out it was clear you were supposed to feel as though you were in the hospital right along with Cloyd.

I was told by someone I went to college with who happened to see the show the night before I did that a giant rat scurried across the stage at one point... did I mention the theater itself was janky?

Monday, October 19, 2015

The 39 Steps

Last year when I was at McCarter, I saw Ken Ludwig's "Baskerville" many times and experienced the show from the inside out. I wish I had seen "39 Steps" BEFORE seeing "Baskerville" because they're so similar and one clearly took tropes and ideas from the other. The Off-Broadway production of "39 Steps" was very low-key and seemingly low-budget. The acting, aside from the lone woman who was an understudy, was superb. The lone woman didn't seem to know what it means to project because I had trouble hearing her throughout the show.

I like the Union Square Theatre quite a bit and it was the perfect location for this show. Unfortunately the audience was very small - maybe 100 people were there. But every single person on that stage gave off the aura that they were having fun and loving every second of the performance. That's an amazing feeling as an audience member - to feel like the actors aren't concerned about the number of butts in seats, but rather just living in the moment and performing.

I didn't dislike the show, but I didn't love it either. Nothing blew me away, but I enjoyed myself.

The Gin Game

Alright. So, I'm writing this after the reviews came out, and the NY Times review is a rave as I knew it would be. I'll start by saying I was given a comp to the show, and it's no shock that my opinions on shows can be skewed when I don't pay for my ticket.

By no means was this a bad piece of theater, but it just wasn't exciting or noteworthy. I cannot imagine paying full price to just sit and watch these two actors (no doubt they're legends) bicker and play gin rummy for two hours. Someone told me that the show was basically watching your grandparents fighting except on a stage. But why do I want to see that when I could just experience it? (Well not anymore if you know what I mean, but at one point I could've.)

I'm glad I got to see James Earl Jones and Cicily Tyson onstage - both were great. I have nothing bad to say about the play, production, or performances. I just didn't really care about what was happening. I didn't have much of a stake in the outcome. The play went around and around in circles, never really going anywhere. The audience seemed to be LOVING it, totally eating every word up. At one point I turned to my friend and asked why the audience was applauding, because really there was rarely a need for the abundance of applause. People were getting so into it! And I was kind of like oh okay well I'm glad I saw Mufasa onstage before... well, before he can't perform any longer.

Thursday, October 15, 2015

Ripcord

Never in my life have I been so utterly dismayed by a first act only to love the second act of a play. The utter dislike of the first act was no fault of the acting or direction, rather the play itself. So many bizarre and unfathomable things happen that I found myself wondering if was actually seeing a piece of professional theater with a world renowned actress. Too much was going on. I think that's what the issue was. There were too many set changes and blackouts. I was constantly taken out of the world of the play.

But the second act was quite remarkable. The story line took a turn for the better, the relationships between characters were more interesting and realistic, and I just got a lot more out of the second act. Ripcord was not the best show I've seen lately, but certainly not the worst. It was nice to see Holland Taylor, and she was fabulous as expected.