Realistic Joneses...See, I don't love everything...

[skynyc]

I had a friend in from out of town and he didn't want to see "a silly musical". Was sad to have missed Glass Menagerie and the Shakespeare productions with Mark Rylance.

 

I discussed a number of options with him, and when he heard that Toni Collette and Marisa Tomei were in Will Eno's new offering at the Lyceum, he almost shouted into the phone..."THAT'S THE ONE."

 

Using a discount code from Playbill.com, I got a pair of terrific seats for $89 each to see this terrific cast.......

 

.....in a dreadful play. LOL

 

Now, I know that some folks like Mr. Eno's work. The intelligentsia will be quick to point out that I am too simple to appreciate the natural feel of his dialogue, and nuances of his plots. After all, this play is here because of the RAVE that Christopher Isherwood gave the production last year at Yale Rep.

 

But this style of slice-of-life theater with real people, awkward humor and even more awkward pauses, etc. I just find him kind of pointless. I didn't care for The Open House, currently running at the Signature, but heck! that was only $25. I can watch a set for 80 minutes for $25. ;-p (I will confess that I enjoyed Thom Paine a couple years ago...)

 

The cast IS quite amazing. Michael C. Hall (from the TV show Dexter among other things) has the most outrageous lines, and Toni Collette is not unlikeable. I would love to hear why Tony-winner (for both acting and playwriting) Tracey Letts thought enough of this work to be the only returning cast member from the Yale production. And Marisa Tomei is fine in an uninteresting role.

 

The audience the night I was there seemed to agree more with me than Mr. Isherwood...the lady directly in front of me literally curled up in her seat, put her head on her husband's lap and slept through the whole thing. And the laughs kind of petered out as the play progressed.

 

In another post about his trip to NY, Frankly Rich also shared that he didn't love this one. I will be very curious to hear further opinions. (There are many new discounts, including tdf for many performances.)

 

Next time I am offered a ticket to a Will Eno play...even for free, I will probably just take the train to central Jersey, walk into a diner and ask to be seated at a table with four people who don't know each other.

[foxy]

I wanted to see this play primarily for Michael C. Hall who I've always had a crush on but I guess I'll have to wait for him to be in a better play. Too bad.

[Frankly Rich]

Wow! If skynyc thought it was bad, it must be really bad. If he had taken my opinion, poted here a week ago, i could have saved him some money:

 

Outside Mullingar was slightly more entertaining than The Realistic Joneses. Mullingar was doing its final performance, so maybe they did their best for the final show.

 

"Realistic Joneses was such a dud, with stupid characters doing stupid things. Both shows had two couples who lived next door or nearby. We saw then interact 2 on 2, one on 2, 2 on 1, etc. each character had his chance to make a fool of himself or herself, and they certainly succeeded at that. Ostensibly the play is about words and why we use them. Since all words are made up, why can't we make up our own words when we communicate? It never gets better than that."

[Frankly Rich]

The NY Times review the show today and spoke well of it. Both the Post and Daily News were less enthusiastic, agreeing that the second half was all downhill.

(And, if I review my post above, I'd tell myself to proofread more!)

[skynyc]

Isherwood loved it! No surprise, because it was on the basis of his rave of the production at Yale last year that this transferred at all. I still don't get it. But I have never pretended to be among the intelligentsia. I like to be entertained, and if I have to think to do it, that's great.

 

But if I have to think about what I have to think about thinking about, I get...shall I say bored? Distracted?

 

But I do think that there's a place for this kind of art in all venues. I just wish that I didn't have to pay $89 (which was a 35% discount) for it. I guess this is why I didn't hate paying $25 for Eno's OPEN HOUSE at the Signature earlier this year.

 

Live and learn. Isherwood disparages most things that I like as well.