Profile for MemorableUserName

Twitter is still good for some things

It's a Stagelight.

 

If you think calling Paltrow "the personification of 'privilege'" is nasty, be sure to avoid the NYT article posted above, which describes her as a "preening, out-of-touch celebrity" and has this description of her portrayal of the show in the thread title:

"Linus Karp, in drag, plays Paltrow with the drawling malice of a pantomime witch. She’s an entitled girlboss whose altruistic affectations mask a sociopathic character,"

"the wellness products Paltrow peddles via her Goop brand are acidly described as being “for rich white women”; and there are a number of jokes at the expense of Paltrow’s daughter, Apple Martin, all centering on her unusual first name."

Curtain call

https://www.reddit.com/r/Broadway/comments/1fhmbr0/curtain_call_for_marsha_mason_and_patti_lupone_at/

Tonight's show is still on sale on Telecharge, so I doubt it's been canceled yet (though that doesn't guarantee it won't be). Someone on Reddit suggested the understudy is being prepped for tonight.

According to this Tweet, a voter's tickets for tonight were canceled because one of the ladies isn't going on (and the PR rep obviously wants them to see both actresses), not because the show is canceled.

https://x.com/Maximinalist/status/1835004870018863313

I agree Sutton is the frontrunner "right now" as the OP specified in their question if not their response, if only because she's the only leading actress in a musical to open so far this season. I'm hesitant to call anyone else even a contender until we see how they and their shows are received (even though Audra, being Audra, can likely be written in--in ink--for her customary nomination now).

I wasn't going to say it, but...this site is Broadway World. This forum is still listed as the Broadway Forum on the Chat dropdown above. It hardly seems unreasonable for people on the Broadway Forum of BroadwayWorld to contemplate whether, or hope that, shows will go to...Broadway.

A few more I didn't catch last night:

The Daily Beast:

‘The Roommate’ on Broadway: Patti LuPone and Mia Farrow Do the Dark Side

CRIMINAL MINDS

Patti LuPone and Mia Farrow play roommates—one running from her shady past, the other embracing a shady future—in Jen Silverman’s Broadway play.

https://www.thedailybeast.com/the-roommate-on-broadway-patti-lupone-and-mia-farrow-do-the-dark-side

 

Broadway News

The Broadway Review: Jen Silverman’s ‘The Roommate’ is bolstered by its stars

Megawatt performers Patti LuPone and Mia Farrow sprinkle stardust on playwright Jen Silverman’s hollow comedy about 60-something roommates.

https://www.broadwaynews.com/the-broadway-review-jen-silvermans-the-roommate-is-bolstered-by-its-stars/

 

Slant

‘The Roommate’ Review: Mia Farrow and Patti LuPone in an Uneven Comedy of Manners

At its funniest, The Roommate is a comedy of manners, an unapologetic throwback.

https://www.slantmagazine.com/theater/the-roommate-review-mia-farrow-patti-lupone/

Oh Mary is the one to prioritize since it's better. You can still see Once Upon a Mattress on November 5 (or can you get cheaper tickets for OM in November? That's the only reason I can think of to delay.) Cole hasn't missed a performance, but with Covid and who knows what else could happen, I would do OM first (and then if they're out next week, you can try again in November).

4 stars from Time Out

https://www.timeout.com/newyork/theater/the-roommate-broadway-review-mia-farrow-patti-lupone

"But these two deeply seasoned actors—Farrow is 79 and LuPone is 75, though their characters are somewhat younger—transcend the schematics of their roles. LuPone is justly celebrated as one of our great musical-theater divas, and here she reminds you that she can also be highly effective in nonmusical parts. She is convincing both as a tough nut and a cracked one; her Robyn has just enough hurt behind the necessary toughness. Her function in The Roommate is largely supportive, however; the play is essentially Sharon’s story, and Farrow tells it masterfully: Her voice spans octaves to dazzling effect, and she positively glows as she peels behind Sharon’s mild mannerisms to reveal an exultant shrewdness. While Farrow has been funny in the past—her diction-class scene in Radio Days is priceless—she is not an actor we associate primarily with comedy, which makes her triumph in this role all the more all the more satisfying. What a delightful surprise. "

NY Sun is positive

With the Celebrated Jack O’Brien Directing Mia Farrow and Patti LuPone, Jen Silverman’s ‘The Roommate’ Is in the Best of Hands

While the action follows not unfamiliar formulas, the playwright traces the bond forged between the characters with a piquant wit and gentle, compelling insights. Both are beautifully served by the players under O’Brien’s sharp direction.

https://www.nysun.com/article/with-the-celebrated-jack-obrien-directing-mia-farrow-and-patti-lupone-jen-silvermans-the-roommate-is-in-the-best-of-hands

 

Theatermania is positive

https://www.theatermania.com/news/review-patti-lupone-and-mia-farrow-cohabit-in-the-roommate-on-broadway_1749815/

"Silverman has some astute and unsettling things to say about the invisibility of older women in our society, and how that could be a superpower in the right (or wrong) hands. The Roommate is not exactly the feel-good comedy of the year, but it will make you laugh and think a little harder about whom you discount in life — at your own peril. It may also make you want to give your mother a call. You never know what kind of trouble she might be getting up to."

Isherwood in WSJ is a rave

‘The Roommate’ Review: On Broadway, an Odd Couple in Iowa

Patti LuPone and Mia Farrow star in Jen Silverman’s funny, moving Broadway play about a brash New Yorker who leaves the city and moves in with an innocent Midwesterner.

https://www.wsj.com/articles/the-roommate-review-on-broadway-an-odd-couple-in-iowa-3b5631c0

"Portraying women who are written as polar opposites—straight and gay, rural and urban, naïve and wised-up—Mia Farrow and Patti LuPone find a lovely symbiosis, both for their characters and themselves, in “The Roommate,” a bright, funny and delicately moving comedy by Jen Silverman about, more than anything else, the rocky ground of more-than-middle age, and both the rich rewards and the perils of loneliness that it may bring."

The other NY Stage Review review:

THE ROOMMATE: BOULEVARD COMEDY, SITCOM-STYLE

By Frank Scheck

★★★☆☆ Mia Farrow and Patti LuPone star in Jen Silverman's play about two women from very different worlds.

https://nystagereview.com/2024/09/12/the-roommate-boulevard-comedy-sitcom-style/

Variety:

‘The Roommate’ Review: Mia Farrow and Patti LuPone Bring Out Each Other’s Best in a Charming Double Act

https://variety.com/2024/legit/reviews/the-roommate-review-mia-farrow-patti-lupone-broadway-1236142188/

The Wrap

‘The Roommate’ Broadway Review: Mia Farrow and Patti LuPone Get Stranded in Iowa

Jen Silverman’s new comedy wastes the talent of two great performers

https://www.thewrap.com/the-roommate-broadway-review-mia-farrow-patti-lupone/

"It is too early in the Broadway season to call something the worst. That caveat aside, “The Roommate” is the saddest spectacle of wasted talent on Broadway since Andre De Shields played a gorilla in “Prymate” in 2004."

Washington Post

Mia Farrow is extraordinary. Patti LuPone is Patti LuPone. Both are worth seeing.

The two veterans elevate Broadway’s “The Roommate,” a play about lost souls in rural Iowa.

https://www.washingtonpost.com/entertainment/theater/2024/09/12/roommate-review-mia-farrow-patti-lupone/

Holdren in Vulture is negative

The Roommate Barely Unpacks Its Own Boxes

https://www.vulture.com/article/theater-review-roommate-lupone-farrow-silverman.html

"Before the play begins, its title appears in pink block letters splashed across the back wall. When the play begins, its stars walk in side by side, and the big pink text on the wall changes to show us their names in capital letters almost as tall as they are: MIA FARROW & PATTI LUPONE. They half-smile politely. They receive applause. They leave. Lights up, music down, they come back, and the play gets going.

One could easily argue that O’Brien is simply dealing with the inevitable: People are going to clap for Mia and Patti, so let’s just get it over with. But it does matter. Because “let’s just get it over with” is no kind of first event. Nor is “clap for the celebrities.” If this drop of water reflects the whole ocean, what it’s showing us is that we’re being set up for a superficial encounter: Appreciate the presence of these two famous actors, laugh when they say something funny, and watch them get whisked away in their Uber Blacks afterwards. (Seriously, I’ve never seen actors flee a theater so fast; my show companion and I had been standing outside the Booth for what felt like 30 seconds getting ourselves in order before the applause went up and the SUVs pulled past, one with a Patti-focused vanity license plate … so I guess not an Uber after all.)"

USA Today

'The Roommate' review: Mia Farrow is sensational in a decent Broadway comedy

https://www.usatoday.com/story/entertainment/music/2024/09/12/the-roommate-broadway-review/75142375007/