(P)review of Good People at the Huntington Theater

[Wee Thomas2]

Saw the final dress rehearsal of this show last night at the Huntington. Had seen the show on B'way so pretty much knew what to expect, but had lowered my expectations due to the fact that this wasn't a Broadway cast, and that it was a dress rehearsal (previews start tonight).

I was impressed.

First, a couple of points about this being a rehearsal:

Center Orchestra was empty. A few special guests were in the Side Orchestra seats. The rest of us (150 or so?) were in the balcony (no Mezz at the Huntington). Full cast, full lights, full costumes, full sets. There was a photographer in front of the front row of the Orchestra for much of the show, moving around and taking what appeared to be publicity stills.

There was someone in front of the Orchestra well over the side with a script and a light, following the dialogue carefully, in case they were needed. And they were, there was one request from the stage of "Line?", and two or three other points where an actor stopped and was fed a line. One place where the person interrupted and provided a line that was skipped (it appeared about 2-3 minutes of the show would have been missed if they hadn't gone back). Considering how much dialogue there is in this show I think they did a great job.

There were some missed light cues, and once a spotlight went on, off, on, and off, and a scene was finished with less than optimal lighting.

And now the show:

Having seen this before, I was keen on seeing what differences there might be. And, having a mind like a sieve, I'm sure I missed many of the changes.

Things I noticed:

The music going into and out of the scenes was different. I recall only one bit of music from NY, a piece by Dropkick Murphys (the show takes place in South Boston, so that's appropriate). I didn't notice that last night, but did hear some more generic Celtic music (heck, it could have been the Dropkicks), and a piece by the Young Dubliners (Fisherman's Blues, for any fans). No mention of the music in the Playbill equivalent. The sets for the first act were very similar to the B'way sets, the set in Mike's house was very different.

The acting was great. Johanna Day takes on Frances McDormand's role and does a great job, both with the acting and with the accent. Michael Laurence as Mike was (IMHO) better than Tate Donovan just for the reason that he kept his accent much more consistently than Donovan did. The supporting players were all excellent, especially Nancy Carroll in Estelle Parson's role as Dottie.

My only quibble is that Johanna Day seemed a bit young for the part of Margie. I can't find her DOB anywhere on the web. McDormand was better expressing the world weary life that Margie had gone through, but other than that, this looks like a very strong production.

The audience really enjoyed the show, especially the local referneces, of which there were plenty. Plays usually don't do so well here, so I hope they can keep the house full for a month of performances.