What you say makes sense. I felt, overall, it also won me over. I liked most of the production aspects very much.
But I didn't like the audience dining onstage. It was distracting and didn't make sense. And it was downright ludicrous during the sex scene (were they having sex in a restaurant?), especially since at my performance the man sitting closest to the couple was practically giddy, as if it was a private sex show for him. Yuck. Maybe even worse was when Cranston went into the audience - had to wrestle with a Disney Store shopping bag, and the rest of his interactions with two men on either side of him felt like comedy filler. That part was unnecessary, but almost worth the great video pan shot of the audience afterward.
So much of the rest of the production, though, I thought was so excellently done (and I completely fell for the "out of body" Cranston at the end), and I appreciate the chances Ivo van Hove takes here (much more than View, though I may be in the minority there). I wish I had sat audience right, where my line of sight focused more on the newsroom set.
I saw the film when it came out and remembered little of the details. This was pretty much its own piece, for me. I agree with others that Goldwyn was miscast (the one thing I remember perfectly from the film is William Holden) - he didn't even seem to be from the era (there were other out-of-place details as well).
I paid less for this ticket than for Hamilton over a year ago - still plenty. It has much more value than what I paid for Lifespan of a Fact, though I know others liked that more than I did. |
