Alan Cumming's solo Macbeth

[Play Esq.]

Anyone going tonight? I'm on the fences about buying tickets and could use some thoughts/opinions from people here.

I'm seeing DruidMurphy this evening and will be happy to swap thoughts.

[rjm516]

The most incredible thing at the Edinburgh festival. GO! Run!

[luvtheEmcee]

I can't verbalize how much I wish I could get there for this. Argh.

[Play Esq.]

RJM: Can you elaborate? What makes this a "must" production? I do love the play, but I find it difficult to believe that any single actor can create the same satisfying "Macbeth" experience as a complete cast. (The recent Sean Bean and Patrick Stewart-led productions are the first that come to mind...brilliant productions, each!)

I would be happy to be proven wrong. Cumming is quite a formidable actor...but a Macbeth? Not so sure....

[PlayItAgain]

I'm seeing it tonight, very excited

[PlayItAgain]

I'll write a longer comment when I get home, but wow what an amazingly disturbing & unsettling production with a career defining performance by Cumming's

[Play Esq.]

...looking forward to your response. Just left conversations on a homecoming and I wish I had a similar experience. Sadly, I did not.

[somethininthestars]

i assume that row AA is dreadful, considering the low price point... Can you (or anyone) speak to that vs the cheap balcony seats? Or the boxes?
thanks. i reallyreallyreally want to see this, and would prefer not to make a regrettable choice on tickets...

[PlayItAgain]

I was in row B (actually the 5th row) and the view was great for 50 bucks, Cummings is not on a microphone so the closer you can get the better (i'd say where I was, was perfect).

As for the production, it starts out a little clunky (like the first 10 minutes), but the creepier it gets the better. It will definitely help to have a familiarity with Macbeth and the way the production is presented you really have to listen to whats being said to follow along. The set is really awesome and there are some interesting video effects. The only thing I think could have helped was a brief intermission, if only because its a lot to take in all at once. If this somehow made it to Broadway (a commercial producers would be smart to do a 10 week run) Cumming would win a Tony hands down. Also while its being billed as a one man show, there are 2 other actors playing a doctor and nurse in the psych facility that do speak.

[GlindatheGood22]

I hopehopehope this comes to Broadway, but my fear is that it's too soon for another Macbeth.

[PlayItAgain]

thats the thing, this isn't just another macbeth, its honestly a production telling the story of a really ****ed up guy using the text of macbeth.

[GlindatheGood22]

So wish I could see this, because it just so happens that I like my Macbeth like my Cabaret - really, really fwcked up.

[somethininthestars]

The 5th row sounds great - but is the 1st just looking straight up? Can you see anything?
I saw MARY STUART from the front row a couple of years ago, waaay to the side, and though it was restricted view - mostly from being so far to the side, mostly it was cool to be so close.
But i know in some theaters, the show deck is high enough the front row should be in recliners...
Anyone have thoughts on how well the orchestra is raked? i am not tall, would way in the back be any good..?
Thanks.
I saw Alan Cumming in The Bacchae there a few years ago from very far away in the balcony... i'd rather be closer than that, but the availability is looking pretty limited,

[luvtheEmcee]

If you want to see something that badly, wouldn't you rather see it from a crappy seat than not at all? I say if you can afford it, go. It sounds pretty once-in-a-lifetime.

[somethininthestars]

Yup.
Just trying to figure out which direction i'd prefer my crappy seat to be in...

[PalJoey]

I'm seeing it tonight. Don't laugh at me, but I bought the tickets thinking it was a production by the Scottish National Theatre WITH Alan Cumming in the title role.

I was imagining an entire cast of Scottish actors in a brilliant Scottish production of "The Scottish Play."

I knew he had released an audiobook doing a one-man adaptation, but I thought it was adapted from this production. I didn't realize it WAS this production!

[Dangerous Jade]

Is the Row BB worth it for $85? I'd love to see it next week. Somethininthestars mentions that Row AA would be dreadful, I've never been in the theater so can anyone who has give me an opinion on BB? Would a whole row make a difference. Thanks.

[TheatreFreak05]

For some reason I thought this was scheduled to come to New York (not necessarily Broadway). Am I making that up?

[PlayItAgain]

its playing in NY right now.... (pay attention)

[TheatreFreak05]

uuuuuuuuuh.... woops. Thought everyone here was talking about the Fringe Festival still. haha

[PalJoey]

All right. That was pretty brilliant.

I admired him before. Now I am in awe. And the poetry of the play came through gorgeously.

We were in BB. Go ahead and buy AA. The closer you are, the better.

[whatever2]

Pal Joey: agree fully. all the other wonder of it aside, it was a MASTERFUL performance; cummings commanded the stage for 105 minutes non-stop. i don't think i've ever witnessed a feat quite like it.

*** POSSIBLE SPOILER ALERT ***

one thing a friend and i disagree on, though: was there significance to the apple beyond its utility as a device to distinguish characters? one of us says yes (because the orderly replaced it), the other says the orderly was just being kind.

care to cast a deciding vote?

[PalJoey]

No, I don't it has greater symbolic import.

What did you and your friend decide his offstage crime was? Ultimately, it doesn't matter, but we thought that clearly he had killed a baby or child, because of the emotional resonance of the doll and the sweater. But I also thought he had been a serial killer.

As I said, ultimately it doesn't matter. All that matters is the text and the bits of the framing story that the setting and the other characters make clear.

Brilliant, brilliant, brilliant. Something I'll think about for a long time.

[After Eight]

Quite a feat by Alan Cumming, but the play is better served with a full cast.

[fosca3]

Question --

I have a ticket in Row K, but it looks like today there are seats in AA

I know PalJoey said closer is better -- I just wondered how high the stage is, and if I'll miss some things from the front row?

I'm thinking of getting another ticket and finding a home for my first one

Thanks for any help

[PalJoey]

K will be fine.

Moments from this are still with me.

GO, people, GO!