Talley's Folly PREVIEW

[After Eight]

"When I saw the original production, the third or fourth cast was playing it, and it was lifeless, tired, not compelling"

When I saw the original production, the original cast was playing it, and it was lifeless, tired, not compelling.

In fact, it was unbearable.

Lanford Wilson wrote some good plays. This wasn't one of them.

[bjh2114]

Wow, didn't realize it was real.....but why?

He says in the play something along the lines of "we should recap for the latecomers before we start" and then he launches into the whole thing again.

[TotallyEffed]

I was a little taken aback by the breaking of the fourth wall as well. It doesn't happen again until the very end of the play. I didn't really understand the point of it.

[mallardo]

It's a Lanford Wilson thing. He breaks the 4th wall - to great effect - in Serenading Louie as well.

[Jon]

John Lee Beatty's set design for the original was a masterpiece.

[Insider2]

Is that picture from the original production or this revival?

[bjh2114]

Original.

[South Fl Marc]

When I saw it for the first time it had the original stars and I LOVED every second of it. Judd Hirsch was wonderful and it made me a huge fan of his.

Thanks for posting John Lee Beatty's original set. It's stunning and one of my favorite set designs ever.

[Mr Roxy]

A friend saw it and said it was slight and boring.

[Auggie27]

Not my memory of the original set, but maybe it's the lighting?

[WhizzerMarvin TrinaJasonMendel]

I saw this tonight. It was kind of weird...not necessarily bad weird, but still processing it. Leagues better than most stuff you'll see at the Laura Pels, and it certainly helped fumigate the place after If I knew you were coming I'd have baked a cake.

I definitely loved the two of them. Burstein and Paulson both are giving masterful performances. Paulson has her accent down beautifully; Burstein is charming and lovable.

The final 20-30 minutes of the play are very engaging, but it's the getting there that takes some patience. There's a lot of meandering around, and it's all very pleasant, but if it weren't for the skills of the two actors I would have been wanting to check the time every five minutes.

It's a shame they aren't doing Talley's Folly in rep with the other two plays. It would be much more satisfying to see this Norman Conquest/Orphan's Home Cycle style. Alone this felt like an appetizer and we were never served the main course or dessert.

[jnb9872]

Saw it tonight, just got back... been a while since I've left a theatre feeling like I was returning back to NYC from somewhere else. It's not a flawless script, and the weak points to me in this production are the tonal shifts; periodically a transitional joke (usually from Burstein's Matt) wouldn't land hard enough to smoothly adjust from one mood to another as the script demands. That having been said, they're nine-tenths of the way to an ideal revival in my book. The script is such a maze of protective layers and hesitant probing, I thought Burstein and Paulson were excellent and delicate in their dance. Burstein especially (but when isn't he especially?) really nails almost every aside and direct address; I've never seen him so casual and natural. It was my first time seeing the play on it's feet, and it really took me in and captivated me. Roundabout should be proud of this one -- another winner.

[Matt Rogers]

I was there tonight as well, and setting my own mixed feelings aside, the audience around me seemed totally lethargic. The woman next to me shut her eyes as soon as it began and her snoring started at about the 30 minute mark. I have never heard so much coughing and hacking in a theatre. I thought I was in a tuberculosis ward, and if my body is not currently incubating flu germs spewed by these people, it will be a miracle. Of course, it's my experience that audiences hack hysterically like this when they are bored our of their minds, so maybe they were doing it just to entertain themselves in the face of crushing boredom and not because they were all contagious morons.

[After Eight]

"Of course, it's my experience that audiences hack hysterically like this when they are bored our of their minds, so maybe they were doing it just to entertain themselves in the face of crushing boredom"


That was the reaction the first time around. Why do companies deliberately
ignore their audience's wants and needs and give them things like this? Audiences pay the freight; yet they're continually played for suckers.

[stevenycguy]

This is the same guy who wrote the talky 3 hour "Burn This" and the upcoming 2.5+ hour talky "The Mound Builders" which starts at Signature Theater in a week and a half. The last 10 minutes of Talley's Folly are very poignant and touching when the guy keeps pressing the woman for an explanation that is finally revealed, but the 87 talky minutes preceding it put many people in the audience to sleep. The 2 cast members are first-rate. This is *not* your modern fast-paced quirky drama with a downtown favorite like Susan Louise O'Connor.

[wexy]

I saw it tonight and I enjoyed it. Wasn't bored at all. Thought Burstein and Paulson were very good.Everyone was awake around me..

[RippedMan]

any pics of this production? That set picture has me curious. Not what I was expecting from this.

[Pammylicious]

Bump...to ensure that I am not crazy

NOT SHOWING UP ON SEARCH...WHAT

[EricMontreal22]

Ha, thanks Pammy! I did a search twice, and it didn't come up on either of the first three pages.

[King of the City]

I saw this on Wednesday and I truly enjoyed it. It took me a while to get into, and they even make a joke along the lines of the audience being annoyed, but when I got into to it I did not want it to stop. The performances were superb and the writing was a little slow at time, but it was overall very easy to enjoy. The set was fine, it served its purpose. I sat in row G (which is actually the 4th row this time around) and had a great view. I would not recommend this to EVERYONE, but if you are a fan of the theatre, you should not miss this show! I was not bored throughout the show, other than the first 5-7 minutes myself. Everyone around me seemed to like it as well.

[EricMontreal22]

Great to read all the thoughts. Having only read the play--I do wish, as others had said, that Roundabout had been more mabitious and was doing all three plays. Honestly the other plays are probably more interesting--and reading them back to back you really appreciate the whole thing more (or at least, *I* did.)

There's a pretty good TV recording of the first, Fifth of July, that was done for PBS and is on DVD as part of the Broadway Archive series, which is worth tracking down (and includes much of its original cast including Jeff Daniels and Swoosie Kurtz, and adding a young Cynthia Nixon, with Richard Thomas--yes, from The Waltons--very good in the lead as Kenneth Talley, a gay parapelegic 'Nam vet, a role he apparently played on Broadway after Christopher Reeve.) For those in the US, Amazon has it streaming for a couple of bucks http://www.amazon.com/Fifth-of-July/dp/B000YDI0GO

[Dollypop]

Add me to the list of people who saw the original production and weren't very impressed by it--and I saw the original cast. Yes, "lifeless" sums it up. I recall that the set was lovely, though.

[Pammylicious]

BUMPITY BUMP

[themysteriousgrowl]

"If I knew you were coming I'd have baked a cake."

Whizzer, I'm dying.

[cglaid]

Is there student rush for this? Or Hiptix?

[EricMontreal22]

Speaking of previews--any reason the main scene in the BWW TV preview of this is repeated...? http://broadwayworld.com/videoplay.php?colid=468922