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Post by bagheera on Mar 7, 2007 18:52:04 GMT
Oh I'd so love to go to NYC in the autumn! I don't think my finances will stretch to it though then there's all the guilt I'd feel about the carbon fottprint thingy.
But I did get to see R'n'R in London and there'll be a few reviews here I hope so I can vicariously enjoy the whole experience.
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Post by ukelelehip on Mar 19, 2007 3:21:31 GMT
From The International Herald Tribune"Rock 'n' Roll," the newest Tom Stoppard play and a sold-out hit in London, will move to the Shubert Theater on Broadway in October, the British theater producer Sonia Friedman and Boyett Ostar Productions have confirmed. Casting details for the New York production have not been announced. ----------- The Shubert is kinda big, I seem to remember. I saw Spamalot there. At least they did standing room for that show. Which works for me financially. There is hope still  Wheeee!!  Seating Capacity 1460 Total Orchestra 670 Mezzanine 410 Balcony 351 Boxes 16 Pit (Add'l) 13 Wheelchair 5 Standing 26    |
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Post by maxx02 on Mar 19, 2007 3:40:10 GMT
oh my god. make it stop.... 1500 seats. well that's a nice intimate venue to catch every nuance on Rufus' face. What a waste...
<sigh>
RUN ROOF! RUN!
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Post by ukelelehip on Mar 19, 2007 3:42:05 GMT
Hey, they're going to milk it for all its worth, it doesn't surpise me at all.
I guess the pressure is on though. If they don't do well in ticket sales, they'll be gone like that. I suggest everyone who is interested in going sould try getting tickets early in the run. Broadway can be bloody fickle.
Although, Coast of Utopia is a big hit so maybe I'm worried over nothing.
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Post by maxx02 on Mar 19, 2007 4:53:02 GMT
Hey, they're going to milk it for all its worth, it doesn't surpise me at all. I guess the pressure is on though. If they don't do well in ticket sales, they'll be gone like that. I suggest everyone who is interested in going sould try getting tickets early in the run. Broadway can be bloody fickle. Although, Coast of Utopia is a big hit so maybe I'm worried over nothing. Okay, as a person who as seen both of these, here's my opinion. Coast is a gorgeous elegant production. The director had an amazing vision. He did not have the talent he needed to really drive the show. It sags and drags all over the place and there is almost no nuance in any of the performances but the staging is so luscious you forgive it. I can tell you from sitting in the lobby and trying to talk to people that the message was lost on nearly everyone. They didn't have a clue what Stoppard was saying. But it doesn't matter because you can watch Coast for simply what's going on and ignore the deeper meanings. It's that opulent and beautiful. Rock 'n' Roll has one of the most dynamic actors working in theatre today(we assume.) I watched him drag the show along by main force on more than one occasion in London despite the pace the rest of the cast seemed to think was appropriate. And the power of his performance raced through the production like a blaze even when he wasn't on stage. That said, R'n'R sags or did in London in any scene with Brian Cox who seemed intent, grudgingly so, on maintaining his own laconic pace no matter what Rufus' performance dictated. That will not wash in NY if it's staged as plainly as it was in London no matter how brilliant Rufus happens to be. What R'n'R doesn't have in beauty and elegance Rufus more than makes up for... IF Rufus does the show. If they cast the rest of the show sensibly and prune the dead wood instead of keeping it on (and I have some very definite ideas about who should go--I'd love to see Cherry Jones in Sinead Cusacks role because I'd love to see her work with Rufus. They would be magic together.), it will be a poetic production. I think, I have always thought, Rock 'n' Roll would have a limited run in New York because I don't think we have the patrons to support it in the US. Once the ladies who lunch and the people who go to say they saw it are done there will be a very small pool of people who really enjoy theatre left to watch it. And maybe that's what they are thinking as well. Sell as many tickets up front as possible because the window will be very narrow. I don't think Rock 'n' Roll can be a big hit in the States. I'd love to be wrong. That said, this time table screws up my life. Curse you Rufus and your little dog too...  And if you don't win the Tony next year for best actor I'm going to... do something. I'm sure what yet, but something... like wear orange shoes for a month in protest. |
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Post by ukelelehip on Mar 19, 2007 5:21:09 GMT
So Maxx, what would be your ideal casting for the NY production?
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Post by maxx02 on Mar 19, 2007 15:12:10 GMT
The more I think about this, the more I can't fathom what they are thinking. I'd hate to be in the last couple of rows on any level. Has there ever been a straight play in such a large theatre? Did anyone read the reviews of this in London? One of the things they remarked on over and over was the delicacy of Rufus' performance... How is anyone going to catch that in the balcony? And I have doubts about even hearing Rufus in the back of the theatre because of the way he utilizes his voice.
Do they realize it's not a musical?
As to my ideal cast... hum, let me ponder it. I know that Nicole Ansari would be in it. I thought she was fabulous. I think Pete Sullivan would as well because I liked him too. I wouldn't mind Sinead Cusack, I'd just like to see Rufus work with Cherry Jones. She's so talented. Everyone else I think I'd replace. Now with whom...
On another note, I could swear that there is a smaller theatre on Shubert Alley that is used for straight plays, but I can't remember the particulars or what it's called.
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Post by ukelelehip on Mar 19, 2007 16:51:22 GMT
Could it be the Booth? The Pillowman played there in 2005. Nice little theatre. I can't imagine RnR at the Shubert. Perhaps they are confused and meant "We Will Rock You?"  |
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Post by rai on Mar 19, 2007 17:20:31 GMT
The Booth would be so much better than the Schubert!! Geez, why don't they see if they can book The Meadowlands? Speaking of The Coast of Utopia, I have a bookstore customer who wants the trilogy, but it doesn't seem to be available from the publisher yet. For any of you who have seen the play(s), were they selling them at the theatre? Rai |
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Post by etherealtb on Mar 19, 2007 18:02:52 GMT
God, I hope that's not the theatre. I hate seeing plays in large theatres. That's what we usually get here in LA and it sucks, 'cause you have to pay through the nose to get close enough as you would be in a smaller venue. I guess the other side of the glass being half full is that at least by choosing this theatre they think lots of people will want to see R&R.  |
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Post by ukelelehip on Mar 19, 2007 18:13:22 GMT
Speaking of The Coast of Utopia, I have a bookstore customer who wants the trilogy, but it doesn't seem to be available from the publisher yet. For any of you who have seen the play(s), were they selling them at the theatre? Yes, I've seen them at Lincoln Center and also at the Strand Bookstore in NY. Grove/Atlantic is the publisher, it's a really nice (paperback) boxset. www.strandbooks.com/app/www/p/profile/?isbn=0802140033 |
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Post by rai on Mar 19, 2007 19:07:08 GMT
Thanks for the book info, Uke!
Rai
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Post by Terri Mac on Mar 22, 2007 23:03:54 GMT
[On another note, I could swear that there is a smaller theatre on Shubert Alley that is used for straight plays, but I can't remember the particulars or what it's called. ]
GOOD NEWS/BAD NEWS
I think it's the Bernard B. Jacobs Theatre (WHICH IS A SHUBERT ORGANIZATION THEATER BY THE WAY!!!!) and it is at 242 West 45th Street, which is right through Shubert Alley. RNR would be great at this more intimate theater, it only seats around 1,000. (Maybe they meant "a" Shubert theater, not "the" Shubert Theater . . . That's the good news . . . the bad news is that Frost/Nixon is supposed to be taking it over at the end of the month. So doesn't that mean it couldn't be this one. . . I'm not sure now . . . what do you think?
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Post by Terri Mac on Mar 25, 2007 0:15:29 GMT
I really do think it might be the Jacobs Theatre where RNR will show. I was in Manhattan today over by the Shubert. (Spamalot is currently playing there) They're advertising that they are adding more shows on the weekends. There's no way this play will be closing -- it's sold out every day. But the Jacobs (which is part of the Shubert organization) has Frost/Nixon which is only a 20-week limited run. So Frost/Nixon runs at this theater from March 31 to September, just in time for Rock N Roll to move in! I know nothing has been said definitely yet, but you have to admit, the paper did mention Shubert and we do know that it's coming in the fall. It would fit. I know you were all hoping even smaller scale theater, but I actually think (from what all of you who have seen it say) that this particular theater may work nicely. I saw Martin Short there in Fame Becomes Me and though 1,000 seats sounds like a lot, the mezzanine seats overhang the orchestra seats at about the 10th row, so it is actually an intimate setting.
Terri
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Post by ukelelehip on Mar 25, 2007 4:13:49 GMT
Sounds good to me and makes sense too. Fingers crossed. The proper Shubert would just be madness. Plus, if SPAMALOT is doing well, there is no reason to pull the plug. Surely SPAMALOT pulls in more punters than RnR.
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Wheeee!! 
