THE MADRID Starts Previews TONIGHT

[LimelightMike]

Anyone there? Would love to start the buzz going for tis one, the stage return of Edie Falco....

[nybound66]

I was there tonight.

Overall, I must say I was disappointed. Edie is giving a textured performance, as always, I just didn't find the play compelling. Everything seemed to be in pretty good shape, considering tonight was the first preview, but I think time will help a couple of performances in particular. Frances Sternhagen stole the scenes she was in. Great performance, on her part. I was particularly disappointed by the sound design. It sounded "garage-bandy" and didn't seem to fit the world of the play.

I think some will really respond to this show. Unfortunately, I wasn't one of those people. There are, however, some really beautiful moments. Edie and Frances are certainly worth the price of a ticket.

[After Eight]

It dawdles and drones on an uninteresting and irritating journey to nowhere. Everyone talks endlessly, while saying nothing. Edie Falco plays a selfish, unappealing character with a whole collection of blank moues, silences, and glances, all very exasperating.

I throughly hated the author's previous play at this theatre, and I hated this one nearly as much.

[stevenycguy]

What is the running time? (I'm glad many off-Broadway theaters such as MCC, Mint, and 59e59 now list running times on their web sites.)

[chrisampm2]

AfterEight, I'm glad to read the writer's improving.

[After Eight]

Steve,

I was so bored and irritated by play's end that I just ran out into the night without looking at my watch. I just wanted to get out of there. They told me when I entered that it was 2 1/2 hours including intermission.

[Tom-497]

Feeling trapped in an unfulfilling job and/or marriage has served as the basis for many good plays and novels at least as far back as Ibsen and Tolstoy. But The Madrid is so poorly written (and, at the moment, indifferently acted) that it makes such significant, easy-to-understand problems appear trivial and ridiculous.

For example, the play starts with Falco's character portentously (and pretentiously) telling a bunch of five-year-olds that she's never going to come back to teach them again. She seems to think it's a big deal, but throughout this afternoon's performance, I kept thinking, "Big deal, you don't like your job. You're bored with your marriage. Join the club. Grow up."

And I'd guess that response was pretty typical. The audience reaction struck me as quite negative, with people going out of their way to loudly say things like, "At least whatever we see next will be better. No matter what it is."

[bjh2114]

I was there Saturday night and had really mixed feelings. There were some parts that I thought were poorly written and addressed (as mentioned above), but there were parts that I thought were excellent. I thought Heidi Schreck's monologue in Act 2 about her husband was very compelling. I also feel like it didn't fit into THIS play. It felt like there were too many things going on. To me, the whole thing felt very much like a first draft of a play that could have been very good if it had been worked a few more times.

[VernonGersch]

yikes - well there goes my plan for a Sunday night performance.

Kinky Boots here I come

[aaronb]

Yeah, I'm going to echo what everyone else seems to have thought. The play is so inoffensive that it almost seems entirely pointless.

@stevenycguy, I was told it runs 2 hours 15 minutes.
My review of THE MADRID

[WhizzerMarvin TrinaJasonMendel]

I finally saw this last night and I agree with bjh. It feels like a first draft, but I didn't hate it at all. I think Edie and Frances are giving good performances, and the story held my interest more than some of the things I've seen on Broadway lately. Still, the dialogue wasn't written with much style, and while I can appreciate a naturalistic approach the text needed some punching up.

The Madrid is a like non-musical, modern resetting of A Doll's Life. Both are flawed, but you can find something of worth if you stick with them.