China Doll Previews Thread- Page 8

#176China Doll Previews Thread

According to Pam herself, she knew what she was getting into.

"He thought I might be a good fit for the play," she said. "I read it and liked it."

http://www.northjersey.com/arts-and-entertainment/theater/director-s-hard-work-on-china-doll-pays-off-1.1446124?page=all

#178China Doll Previews Thread

Duplicate post.

#180China Doll Previews Thread

Mr Roxy said: "Hate, the first 4 letters of your name says it all... I have no intention of trading insults with someone like you."

Well, which is it?! Pick a side.

#182China Doll Previews Thread

Now remember, we mustn't be too harsh on shows lest we be accused of unnecessarily bashing shows (see above)

Carry on.

#184China Doll Previews Thread

I think the real reason is he is all tapped out and cannot get an original idea. To claim it is political is beyond absurd.

#186China Doll Previews Thread

Just testing the new spoiler functionality...

Mr Roxy is a 

#188China Doll Previews Thread

Mr Roxy said: "Does it play out the entire scheduled run or does it do a quick folderoo?"

Bad shows don't fold early. Shows that can't sell tickets fold early. And this is selling well... I picked a random Saturday night in mid-December, and it was all premiums in front, scattered regular prices tickets in the rear and some sides, so... the run will go on.

#190China Doll Previews Thread

There are so many who take glee in a shows troubles on BWW that it is mind boggling

I stand by my statements so I will merely say I will not be too harsh in the future. If I do not like a show I will just say that, leave it at that and not say anything negative again. Conversely , I will just say I like it and not be overly gracious in my statements to avoid being called a shill. In this way, all my bases will be covered.

#192China Doll Previews Thread

Have you read some of the other posts in this thread? Some are downright vicious and nasty. They put mine to shame.I will refrain from saying anything further. I saw the Anarchist and did not care for it. For a variety of reasons, I will not see this. This is as generic as I will be

Let us end this discussion now.I will stay away from this thread as I have nothing more to say on the subject.

#194China Doll Previews Thread

A friend of mine had an extra ticket to today's matinee, so I did have the opportunity to see the show after all.

I hope I'm not lambasted for this but... I actually liked China Doll quite a bit.  I'm not sure how much my low expectations influenced my reaction, but I can honestly say I was seldom bored, and certainly never contemplated leaving. The plot is certainly not as paper-thin as many here seem to make it out to be: Yes, the impetus of the events is the tax on the plane and the difference between the Swiss versus American tail numbers, but the implications of the one plot point are far reaching, leading to a discussion of privilege, politics, invasive security measures, immigration status, etc. Christopher Denham has more direct interaction and dialogue with Al Pacino than I expected, and there are a few scenes early on between them in typical Mamet not-so-naïve mentor-mentee relationship fashion that were quite good.

The rumor that Pacino is having lines fed to him through his prop headset and reading off of any number of teleprompters embedded into the set could very well be true, but I got the sense today that they're becoming far less of a crutch than they may have been in the beginning of the run, as Pacino was definitely giving a performance, and I found him to be engaging and equal parts funny and menacing when the role called for it. It's certainly true that Pacino's character spends about 70% of the show talking to various people on the phone, but my interest in the conversations only waned when Pacino's energy level dipped; he did seem to hit a low point at about the 40 minute mark of the first act, but rebounded for the climax before the intermission.  The ultimate climax of the play was also typical Mamet and the twist, if you can really call it that, evokes a similar act of deception that Mamet employs in Race and other works.  The now infamous scene that Riedel calls out in his article didn't elicit any laughter today, perhaps they've enhanced the quality of the prop that they're using?

Also, I had the pleasure of seeing Pam MacKinnon come up to the mezzanine right before the beginning of Act Two. I told her that I was enjoying the show very much, and she seemed happy that I thought it was playing well to the last row of the mezzanine, where I was sitting. I also got to praise her work directing Who's Afraid of Virginia Woolf, which I absolutely adored. My friend also told her that Riedel can go to hell and she got a genuine chuckle out of it.

China Doll is absolutely not the abomination I thought I would be seeing today. Honestly, this feels like a play in similar vein to Mamet's Oleanna with the two-character set up and the constant one-sided phone calls, etc. I have never read any vehemence toward that show, and I'm legitimately surprised at how much people have despised this one. I consider it an afternoon enjoyably spent at the theatre. To each his own! 

#196China Doll Previews Thread

Blender2 said: "Mr Roxy said: Ripping  show incessantly is a BWW mainstay.

That's too bad.  But seems really true.  I really wanted to come on and talk about the play.  But many people here seem to come here to rip apart shows.  (Not everyone, of course.  But many.)  

All you have to do to see how dumb this comment is is read any of the threads on King Charles III, to name just one recent play that wasn't ripped apart here.

#198China Doll Previews Thread

I also heard the rumor about the lines being fed through an earpiece and a laptop onstage. If this is true it rubs me the wrong way. I know that this is not the first time something like that has been done but it seems like if you have trouble learning lines one should spend more time learning them before the rehearsal process or the rehearsal process should be longer. I am probably starting another thread but I do not care to spend money to see a BROADWAY play where the lines are being fed to the actors.