| TALES FROM RED VIENNA (Tonight) | |
| Posted by: | enoch10 02:20 am EDT 03/15/14 |
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| this isn't a great play. it isn't an especially good play but it deserves a better production than this. it needs, especially at the end of act II, crashing minor chords because for all practical purposes it's a soap opera. it wants to be the kind of old fashioned well made play that held sway until all those dirty hippies in the village started attacking structure and academics ruined everything with their theory - so essentially it's written for the old man chasing kids off his lawn and the cleaning woman folding laundry and watching her stories. unfair? i agree. inaccurate? i agree to that, too. the problem is that is exactly the feeling i got watching this anemic production completely lacking any vitality or vigor. it isn't the playwright's fault. he wrote a better piece than what's up there. he's hobbled by two insurmountable handicaps; a director who doesn't understand where the beats in his play are and who gave nothing (unless it was bad) to a horribly miscast actor. nina arianda does everything she can not to come off as a good actor in a bad production. she fails. tina benko and catherine chalfant would be fine if they weren't caught up in pacing that always feels either too fast or too slow. it's like they're hitting their marks but the play itself is always step behind. then there's poor michael esper, who was terrific in the THE LYONS so it's not like the guy can't act. but who the hell cast him in this part? and why on earth did the director shape (or more accurately fail to shape) this kind of performance out of him? POSSIBLE SPOILERS - if you've seen the play imagine this: imagine a more muscular and FAR more masculine performance than this. imagine a man full of the joy of life. a man full of swagger and bravado. a man with some balls. a well educated, lusty, hungarian peasant. because that is exactly what the playwright wrote. i don't for a second lay the blame for this performance on the actor. it's the kind of performance you see when the director does't understand the character. the saddest thing is, given how hard arainda - all the women in fact - work, if the character that was written had shown up everything else wrong about the production would have been if not fixed then at least glossed over enough for an enjoyable evening in the theater - which this was not. costumes and make up are wonderful and the sets and the lights are excellent. you know, they don't write 'em like this anymore. productions like this are the reason why. | |
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| Interesting take on the casting | |
| Posted by: | BroadwayLouBlaze 03:11 pm EDT 03/16/14 |
| In reply to: | TALES FROM RED VIENNA (Tonight) - enoch10 02:20 am EDT 03/15/14 |
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| Do you think though that casting that "type" of actor would have just played into the lazy melodrama of the whole thing. Or maybe it did not strike you as being that. Interested in your thoughts? Also, don't forget He was a post war socialist journalist in Vienna. I don't know, that might have added a real vibrant dimension to things. Of course, would/could this have drawn more attention to the political subtext? I am not sure the play could really carry that weight. But I am with you in terms of something...anything to add a much needed intrigue and drive. Which is what I assume you are suggesting. | |
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| re: Interesting take on the casting | |
| Posted by: | enoch10 04:25 pm EDT 03/16/14 |
| In reply to: | Interesting take on the casting - BroadwayLouBlaze 03:11 pm EDT 03/16/14 |
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| >> Do you think though that casting that "type" of actor would have just played into the lazy melodrama of the whole thing. no. not at all. i think it could have potentially saved the production. i can't stress enough how much i don't blame the actor for this. i've seen him before. he's good. i think he was miscast but the problem is still the director. miscast or not he could have been better than he was if he had just played the character as written. she had him playing jorgen tesman when he should have been playing zorba or tevya or, at the very least, some combination of eljert lovborg and judge brack. that wasn't an actor with no talent it was an actor undone by a director who didn't understand the character. | |
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| re: Interesting take on the casting | |
| Posted by: | BroadwayLouBlaze 06:19 pm EDT 03/16/14 |
| In reply to: | re: Interesting take on the casting - enoch10 04:25 pm EDT 03/16/14 |
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| Oh...ok. I think we may have slightly different takes on this character. But we are in the same ballpark. You know in thinking abouthis play...I really do npt feel I have seen it. The production is so far from where I think it wants to be. the show as a whole just does not resonate. | |
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| Agree completely.......and then some. | |
| Posted by: | BroadwayLouBlaze 02:40 pm EDT 03/16/14 |
| In reply to: | TALES FROM RED VIENNA (Tonight) - enoch10 02:20 am EDT 03/15/14 |
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| There were moments, I would say that the direction was not so much a misread of the play as it was a non read of the play. There were moments throughout which had the look and feel of nothing more than traffic direction. I never felt there was ever that much at stake. And I think you are SO right, it was the staging. Actually, quite a lot is at stake for the Arianda character( forget the name). But for the most part her journey never feels very compelling. I mean...poor thing has not gone to the Philharmonic in a year and a half. That makes us care?? I am being a little pedantic here but she seemed pretty shallow to me. That...I attribute to the writing. Also, this is 1920 Vienna? Well maybe in dress but not in dialogue. Stylistically the production ( and the writing) is just all over the place. They are in previews but it feels as if they are in about the third week of rehearsals. As "gone to lunch" as the direction feels, I am not convinced that there is really all that much of a play here. I do think Nina Arianda Is an extraordinary actress. Just fascinating. Drifting off throughout the evening, I would return my focus to her and it brought me back to the world of the play. She could not keep me there for very long but there was always the sense of a deep, thorough,organic connection to the material. (Not unlike what Streep does for me). But even with that, you are so right...you could always see the work here. I can understand why this role would appeal to her. There is an interesting arc to her character. There is a lot " stuff" going on in her world. But, this whole enterprise, like a big block of cement, attaches itself and (though she fights mightily) drags her to the bottom of its turgid, murky, melodramatic sea. This was a tough and ultimately negligible two hours and twenty. | |
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