I will be there also and am looking foreward to this play, which will be somewhat different from the film.
Of course it'll be COMPLETELY different from the iconic 1961 film since this production is based on the original novella which was vastly different from the 1961 film. Holly Golightly was more in the Marilyn Monroe mode in the novella -- a totally different visual from waif-ish Audrey Hepburn PLUS the original story isn't set in Givenchy fashionable 1961 but many years earlier.
Those who are expecting to see the film on stage with "Moonriver" and a delicious early 60s jazzy bossa nova Henry Mancini score will be PISSED!
Holly Golightly is nothing like Marilyn Monroe in the novella, physically or psychologically. She's slim, sophisticated-chic, intentionally vulgar, and simultaneously whip-smart and self-deluded.
I believe Capote did at some point say that he envisioned Marilyn--but that was in the 70s when he said a lot of stuff... I agree with you Newintown.
I think the playwright for this is a great fit--and I appreciate they're going back to the novella (as much as I love the film on its own terms, the novella is stronger.) That said, I disagree with Brody and I suspect there will be at least some strong similarities to the film. I believe the director is the same director who did the UK stage version that people were underwhelmed by that WAS very much the film--and I think they may find some iconic elements just too hard not to reference. I'll be happy to be proven wrong.
I read Breakfast in school last year and her spirit is a lot more MM then AH. Truman and Marilyn were friends who did spend time together and based a lot of Holly on MM. He was very unhappy with the casting of AH, thinking she was horribly miscast. afterall HG was a blonde runaway from Texas, not a british stuck-in-the-mud.
Have to say, I'm completely in love with the costumes already from Coleen Atwood's sketches alone. I don't know what's changed from the London production but I feel like Emila Clarke will be a much better fit that Anna Friel was. Incidentally Anna was blonde, like Holly was originally, I don't know if they're going to do that with Emila purely because it might make her a little too like Daenerys.
As for the show, it ran about 2:45 tonight. (The first act alone felt double). I am not familiar with the book or the movie so maybe if you are, it may be a different experience. I found the first act to be so uneventful and boring that it just dragged on. The first few scenes happened, but nothing happened in them really helped later on in the story. The moment they end the first act with is the perfect moment, but everything leading up to it, is just so boring. Most of the first act, I was wondering how much longer until intermission.
The second act, however, actually had a plot that flowed smoothly and definitely got your interest. Some of the scenes in the first act finally fit together, but there are still plenty of moments that just fall flat. Also, the nude scene in the middle of the act, I felt, was completely unnecessary as it didn't really do anything for the story. It was more of a here you go. Enjoy seeing them naked. It just was odd for me (not nudity, just having nudity in this show.).
Although the book itself is pretty dreadful, Emilia and Corey really blew me away, Corey in particular. They both play the roles with such ease, it is hard to believe that they both made their Broadway debuts tonight.
Hopefully they tighten the first act a lot and make changes to make the show run 2 hours. It really didn't need to be as long as it does. I hate it when a show that needs a lot of work only has a 14 day preview period. I doubt much will be changed within this time frame. I hope I am surprised and will probably return after opening.
It's not terrible by any means, but I don't think the preview period is long enough for the team to make the changes that need to be made.
The first act "builds up"--if you could even call it that--to the revelation that **SPOILER** Holly is married and her husband is looking for here. However, this act one ending is rendered useless when he husband is done away with 15 minutes into act 2. **END SPOILER**
The second act has more of a plot than the first, which is a jumble of unrelated scenes and vignettes interspersed with Cory Michael Smith's character narrating. Much of the show is Smith breaking the fourth wall and narrating in lieu of a scene occurring. Sometimes it works, sometimes it doesn't. I enjoyed Smith and thought he was utterly spectacular in COCK earlier this season, he's less impressive in this show but the character is so dull and poorly written that it's hard for smith to bring his spark and energy. I did enjoy him, but I wish he was in a play in which the writing showcased him and his immense talent as well as COCK's writing did.
Clarke is pretty wonderful, Holly also isn't too well-written, but she's gorgeous and has a sort of magnetism to her that just draws you to her when she's onstage. She looks stunning in the costumes and though her accent seems a little awkward--it seems like she eased up on her own accent and the result is good for the most part, but slips into some awkward almost American-sounding accent as well.
There's some pretty unnecessary nudity (full frontal from Cory Michael Smith, if anyone was wondering) near the middle of act two that just seemed sort of shoehorned in there for good measure.
The play just sort of wanders, though. It meanders and weaves around and never really goes anywhere, Smith's ending monologue seems misplaced and doesn't seem like a real ending to the show. The constant breaking of the fourth wall was annoying because there was nothing driving it, Fred was just addressing the audience with no device built around it.
As soon as I left, I thought of the best way to make the monologuing work without rewriting the show: Throughout the entire play, Smith's character mentions how he only writes about history and therefore he won't write about Holly because she isn't history. A simple solution to the awkwardness of the narration would be to simply introduce that FINALLY after years without Holly, Fred is writing about Holly because she now is history, and the resulting writing is the play the audience is seeing onstage.
I enjoyed it more than this all lets on, but there' no denying it needs a LOT of work.
I was there last night and my companion and I walked out during intermission as did many others. i found it totally unbearable and lacking in plot. I felt myself falling asleep during parts of it. Unless they do major work to it, they will be paying folks to see it.
LENSTERSF dont be! its the first preview, the same sort of things were said after the first preview of Cinderella and they fixed it and now it has gotten overwhelmingly positive reviews.
Too bad Greenberg is resorting to his lazy habit of having actors tell us the story, rather than act it (as he did with more than half of Take Me Out, and all of Three Days of Rain). Looking forward to seeing it anyway.
You don't start a show that's almost 3 hours long at 8pm on a Monday night. I had to be up at 5:30am for work the next day and I am still dragging after sitting through that. The cast is made up of people making their Broadway debuts. The story really drags and is not told in a very compelling manner. The loud yawns throughout the theater were nonstop. I could hardly keep myself awake due to the material and the late 8pm curtain. Next time start it at 7pm!!!!!!
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Posted: 3/4/13 at 09:44am