The Motherf**ker With the Hat

[Cooper]

http://images.broadwayworld.com/topicheaders/motherfer.jpg

 

With a name like that, who won't be interested. "The Motherf**ker With The Hat" is an 80 minutes (without an intermission) play starring Chris Rock, making his Broadway debut. It's an extremely well written play by Steven Adly Guirgis who fits a lot of fast spoken dialogue into those 80 minutes.

 

Chris Rock plays the part of "Ralph", an AA counselor for "Jackie", played by the very talented actor Bobby Cannavale. The relationship between these two men and the women in their lives is the focal point of this play.

 

Although her acting was very good, there were times when I had a problem understanding some of the lines spoken by "Veronica", played by actress Elizabeth Rodriguez. She speaks her lines very quickly and with a heavy Spanish accent. As for Chris Rock, he's a great stand up comedian but was over shadowed by the excellent performance turned in by Cannavale.

 

As for the name of this play, you'll find out very quickly why it's called that.

 

My suggestion, if you've already seen all the other Broadway shows reviewed in this Forum, then, this might be an interesting one to see.

 

Coop

[skynyc]

Thanks Coop for the review. I saw the third preview and it was two hours and ten minutes without an intermission. The first act was a very good set-up, and I was very interested to see how it resolved, but the second act delivered no surprises and it's predictability was tedious at best. I thought Cannevale was very strong, but Rock was completely overshadowed by the rest of the cast, particularly Elizabeth Rodriguez...who was terrific. But all in all, I didn't care for it and didn't review it here.

 

I was so intrigued by the stellar reviews, and Coop's mention that it's been trimmed to 80 minutes, so I had to go back. And it was almost a different show. What a difference. Take out fifty minutes (including the intermission) and the pacing was powerful and palpable. Rock has improved significantly, (although Cannevale still owns this show) and this has gone from being a quick-closing also-ran in my mind to having a real shot for that fourth slot in the Best Play category.

 

(War Horse, Good People and Jerusalem are, I believe, shoo-ins. I had thought that Bengal Tiger at the Baghdad Zoo would get the last spot. But I also wonder if the nominating committee will remember Lombardi, which has been running for 8 months...and whether Normal Heart is considered a revival, even though it's only played Off-Broadway before.)