One of the best theatrical experiences of the last decade, for me anyway, closes after 718 performances and a Tony win for Best Play 2011. Wish I would have gone to see it one last time.
I don't care who's wrong or right. I don't really want to fight no more. It's time for letting go.
Good riddance. Inane parade of cliches buried under enough theater gimmickry to make people miss how utterly useless an experience it really is.
"If they can get you asking the wrong questions, they don't have to worry about the answers." Thomas Pynchon, GRAVITY'S RAINBOW
"Reality is that which, when you stop believing in it, doesn't go away." Philip K. Dick
My blog: http://www.roscoewrites.blogspot.com/
Why is it a shame? It had a FABULOUS run. Celebrate what it had.
(That being said, I appreciated the puppetry, but didn't care for the show as a whole.)
If we're not having fun, then why are we doing it?
These are DISCUSSION boards, not mutual admiration boards. Discussion only occurs when we are willing to hear what others are thinking, regardless of whether it is alignment to our own thoughts.
The puppetry was wonderful but overall I thought it was greatly overrated. But with that being said, I've never been as tense in the theatre as I was when I saw War Horse.
A little swash, a bit of buckle - you'll love it more than bread.
War Horse is very much an experience and a spectacle as well as being a play. It's a shame to see it close so soon. The West End run is still an incredibly difficult ticket to get and looks like it will be running for a long time.
It's hardly a play. More like a kiddie book with toys being thrown all over the stage.
"If they can get you asking the wrong questions, they don't have to worry about the answers." Thomas Pynchon, GRAVITY'S RAINBOW
"Reality is that which, when you stop believing in it, doesn't go away." Philip K. Dick
My blog: http://www.roscoewrites.blogspot.com/
Nope, thanks, cornflakes were happily unshat in, and hugs taken care of. Just hated every minute of that idiotic WAR HORSE thing.
"If they can get you asking the wrong questions, they don't have to worry about the answers." Thomas Pynchon, GRAVITY'S RAINBOW
"Reality is that which, when you stop believing in it, doesn't go away." Philip K. Dick
My blog: http://www.roscoewrites.blogspot.com/
Saw this shortly after the opening, and again last October. Overwhelmed the first time - totally magical and moving -and this October - pedestrian and overplayed. Kind of sorry that I went back.
I was at yesterday's performance. I had a few problems with the show. I thought the musical "Greek chorus" was weak, especially the a cappella bits. It could have worked with a better singer and a little more thought. I also thought the story was slight and overly sentimental. I think we live in a world that is too cynical to relate to the old "child & his/her horse/dog" kind of drama that was popular in the 40s. But, given all that, I thought the production design and direction elevated it to a first class theatrical experience. We had a great time!
Art has a double face, of expression and illusion.
I finally got to see War Horse at the end of November and loved it. It was, as you mention, overly-sentimental about a boy and his horse but the storytelling and puppetry were beautiful. Another show along with Chaplin that I wish I had had a chance to see a second time.
Really enjoyed it. LOVED it the first time and got choked up. The second time enjoyed it but not as much maybe because the visual wows were a first timer experience then you knew it was coming. Still have not seen the movie version and not sure I want to since I enjoyed the stage version so much.
Loved it on Broadway and loved it again on tour last week in Chicago. It's as cliche-ridden as the plays, musicals and films of the Golden Age, so I don't know why that's such a problem. I found the story compelling, the music beautiful and the stagecraft glorious.
Inane parade of cliches buried under enough theater gimmickry to make people miss how utterly useless an experience it really is.
I don't imagine it was useless to anyone who enjoyed it, like myself. Did you expect the show to be something other than what the creators intended it to be? Or do you deem it useless because it doesn't live up to your standards like most shows you see? Either way, it doesn't sound like other people weren't made to miss anything other than your expectations, which is probably a good thing or they wouldn't enjoy hardly anything.
"What can you expect from a bunch of seitan worshippers?" - Reginald Tresilian
"I don't imagine it was useless to anyone who enjoyed it, like myself. Did you expect the show to be something other than what the creators intended it to be? Or do you deem it useless because it doesn't live up to your standards like most shows you see? Either way, it doesn't sound like other people weren't made to miss anything other than your expectations, which is probably a good thing or they wouldn't enjoy hardly anything."
Quite right, lots of folks got a lot out of it, evidently. I expected the show to be, how shall I put this, not a batch of tedious kiddie story cliches tossed onstage and buried under a lot of over-produced puppet gimmicks and moving pieces of scenery and flashing lights and loud noises, and if that's really what the show's creators intended then hip hoorah for them, mission accomplished. Not the first time flash and dazzle triumphed over anything remotely resembling content, and far from the last.
Frankly, I deemed it useless because it was, well, USELESS. It certainly didn't live up to my standards, you know, those little standards about plot and characterization and general production not insulting my intelligence at every single turn.
Glad you enjoyed WAR HORSE.
"If they can get you asking the wrong questions, they don't have to worry about the answers." Thomas Pynchon, GRAVITY'S RAINBOW
"Reality is that which, when you stop believing in it, doesn't go away." Philip K. Dick
My blog: http://www.roscoewrites.blogspot.com/
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Posted: 1/6/13 at 10:46am