M. BUTTERFLY Previews- Page 3
M. BUTTERFLY Previews
#50M. BUTTERFLY Previews
Posted: 10/10/17 at 11:21pm
Yikes. I was at tonight's preview and thought the whole thing was very rough; many sections were a downright slog to get through. So much of the set was grey and drab and ugly. For a play with so much wit and beauty in the text, the design aesthetic was not built to match.
I was not nearly so enamored with Owen's performance as some other posters. I thought he was fine with a couple good moments; maybe he will find some more emotional depth with the role as previews go on, though I'm not sure he'll get much help from his director who appears to have left all the actors to their own devices. It's clear Taymor enjoys directing the transitions and opera/dance sequences, but the actual scene work seems to be, up till now, ignored.
The one bright spot is Jin Ha, who is already giving a strong and touching performance. Even Taymor is unable to rob the disrobing scene of its poignancy.
Call me melodramatic, but I think this revival will cause the legacy of the play to take a hit, as well as David Henry Huang's. It could be easy to see this production and say, "Oh wow, I guess the play hasn't aged that well," when that isn't the case at all. The play is smart and wonderful. This just isn't the production to convince one of its many splendors.
Marie: Don't be in such a hurry about that pretty little chippy in Frisco.
Tony: Eh, she's a no chip!
blaxx
Broadway Legend Joined: 6/28/05
#51M. BUTTERFLY Previews
Posted: 10/11/17 at 1:53am
When has Taymor gotten a great performance out of anyone? Never. She is a visual artist who thinks she belongs in theater; she'd be better suited at creating her own style of performance.
Beats me why someone would give someone like her such a character driven piece to work with.
Listen, I don't take my clothes off for anyone, even if it is "artistic". - JANICE
raddersons
Broadway Legend Joined: 11/14/13
#52M. BUTTERFLY Previews
Posted: 10/11/17 at 8:22am
I’m just confused how anyone could read the text and think “This should have a ton of moving parts.” It’s written to be so simply and so wonderfully, how did we end up here?
#53M. BUTTERFLY Previews
Posted: 10/11/17 at 9:14am
Most recent revivals of plays from the 1980s on Broadway have left me questioning the enduring quality of the plays themselves: SIX DEGREES, THE REAL THING, and now M. BUTTERFLY all felt pretty underwhelming. I wonder how CHILDREN OF A LESSER GOD will fare...
“I knew who I was this morning, but I've changed a few times since then.”
#54M. BUTTERFLY Previews
Posted: 10/11/17 at 9:47am
I think Six Degrees still holds up well, even if it's viewed a little more as a period piece nowadays. The Real Thing revival was truly terrible, and I don't think it's fair to judge the play based on that production. How could one even concentrate on the text after that Roundabout snoozefest?
Marie: Don't be in such a hurry about that pretty little chippy in Frisco.
Tony: Eh, she's a no chip!
#55M. BUTTERFLY Previews
Posted: 10/11/17 at 9:52am
Someone needs to start a theatre company in New York called "The Redemption Playhouse" which can stage first rate productions of plays we've written off because of bad Broadway revivals.
Along with THE REAL THING and MADAME BUTTERFLY, I'd add THE MIRACLE WORKER and BYE BYE BIRDIE to the inaugural season.
“I knew who I was this morning, but I've changed a few times since then.”
BakerWilliams
Leading Actor Joined: 2/1/16
#56M. BUTTERFLY Previews
Posted: 10/11/17 at 10:15am
QueenAlice said: "Most recent revivals of plays from the 1980s on Broadway have left me questioning the enduring quality of the plays themselves: SIX DEGREES, THE REAL THING, and now M. BUTTERFLY all felt pretty underwhelming. I wonder how CHILDREN OF A LESSER GOD will fare..."
Don't forget The Heidi Chronicles
#57M. BUTTERFLY Previews
Posted: 10/11/17 at 10:20am
Ugh, that Miracle Worker revival in the round was awful! I spent half the evening staring into the side of a door. If Roundabout's recent Hedda was the first time you had seen the play, I can't imagine you would ever give it another chance.
This is an interesting topic- how much damage does a bad revival do to a property/playwright/composer? Do people just say, "Oh, that was a bad production," or does the harm go deeper?
In the opera world I don't think I've ever lost faith in the material after a bad production. My love of sonnambula wasn't shaken just because some director foisted a misguided staging on the piece. Plays don't seem to be given that same luxury though. They shoulder some of the blame when revivals go wrong. Roundabout loves to revive certain shows that probably don't deserve a Broadway revival (e.g. The Road to Mecca), but what about hits like M. Butterfly. This won Best Play, was nominated for the Pulitzer and ran for 777 performances! I realize most plays are limited runs these days, but how do things go so wrong?
There also just doesn't seem to be interest from the public to see these plays again, unless a Denzel is cast in a starring role. Before anyone knew how bad The Real Thing revival was no one was buying tickets to it. The original Miracle Worker ran for 719 performances and the revival ran for 28. I realize there are many factors at work here, but how can a former hit play, turned hit movie, have so little interest with the general public that it can't sell an advance for more than a month?
Marie: Don't be in such a hurry about that pretty little chippy in Frisco.
Tony: Eh, she's a no chip!
#58M. BUTTERFLY Previews
Posted: 10/11/17 at 10:30am
The Front Page was another revival which I don't think deserved a revival over other more interesting plays, but it was a major blockbuster sellout. That was pretty much entirely because of the starry cast, though. If Noises Off revival had failed (which it did financially, I guess), but critics loved it - I doubt it would ever have been brought back.
Failed musical revivals don't have to worry about the same fate though, because the "memory of the original" survives through cast albums.
Caption: Every so often there was a rare moment of perfect balance when I soared above him.
#59M. BUTTERFLY Previews
Posted: 10/11/17 at 10:33am
The Miracle Worker revival was baffling to me too. I mean, I think the reason it didn't run is that it was very poorly done: miscast, badly directed and ill-conceived in the round (would this play ever work in the round?) but I would have thought there would be some audience for it, beyond a three week run.
I do think audiences have an intuitive 'hunch' when a revival is going to fire on all cylinders. Take the recent HELLO DOLLY revival. It's not that the public was clamoring for a revival (and I don't think the announced revivals with Patti LuPone and Kristin Chenoweth would have been anything big at the box office) - but the perfect combination of Bette Midler in Hello Dolly directed by Jerry Zaks sounded like a winner.
That said, I would have though that a Julie Taymor directed M. BUTTERFLY would be a stunning affair, a perfect combo --- so who knows...
I forgot Marianne Elliott (prior to her big successes at the RNT) directed the Hilary Swank production of THE MIRACLE WORKER which closed on the road a couple years before the Allison Pill / Abigail Breslin staging. A quick look at those reviews sounds like it was equally ill-conceived.
And yes, I do feel those two bad productions have damaged the reputation of the play. Which is a shame, as I think THE MIRACLE WORKER is a truly, wonderful play. Somebody eventually will come along and do a first rate revival, with the right star, and it will be seen as revaletory again. Hopefully its just not done at the Roundabout Company.
“I knew who I was this morning, but I've changed a few times since then.”
Updated On: 10/11/17 at 10:33 AM
#60M. BUTTERFLY Previews
Posted: 10/11/17 at 10:57am
Having worked with Taymor in the past, she is not an actor's directer. Even Anthony Hopkins publicly blasted her for that. She sees a production as almost non-sequitur visual vignettes. Story telling and character driven work is not her forte. She likes to hold things at a dstance and admire them. Anything with feelings and human interaction she tends to not be interested in.
Those Blocked: SueStorm. N2N Nate. Good riddence to stupid! Rad-Z, shill begone!
#61M. BUTTERFLY Previews
Posted: 10/11/17 at 11:06am
I'm surprised she didn't just direct all around M.BUTTERFLY then. There are virtually no stage pictures and the opera sequences are even flat. Maybe she tried here to put her usual visual flair aside to 'direct a play' -
“I knew who I was this morning, but I've changed a few times since then.”
#62M. BUTTERFLY Previews
Posted: 10/11/17 at 12:38pm
Proving once and for all she is not really a director.
Those Blocked: SueStorm. N2N Nate. Good riddence to stupid! Rad-Z, shill begone!
RippedMan
Broadway Legend Joined: 8/14/05
#63M. BUTTERFLY Previews
Posted: 10/11/17 at 12:54pm
I mean we can take shots at her all we want, but she's got that Lion King money still rolling in, and that show does have some gorgeous moments. I mean, her and her team did figure out a way to tell that story on stage, and it works.
I'm a big fan of hers. I'm such a big visual person, so I know, at least going in, that we're going to get something interesting or cool to look at it. So I'm bummed to hear this is such a dud. I'm still wondering how this show cost upwards of $7 million?
#64M. BUTTERFLY Previews
Posted: 10/11/17 at 1:03pm
7 Million Dollar budget for this production? No way. Not on stage at least. The sets and costumes are totally simplistic. Unless it was like 1 million for Clive Owen, 4 Million for Julie and 2 million on everything else.
“I knew who I was this morning, but I've changed a few times since then.”
#65M. BUTTERFLY Previews
Posted: 10/11/17 at 1:32pm
Ripped, I have always found Lion king to be very schizophrenic. On one hand it tells a Disney story and it is then laced with Taymor art installations and stage pictures. Yes, it is still raking it in. Good for Disney, Good for Taymor. Personally I found it, after the first 10 minutes and a couple of scenes throughout, to be quite boring. I might be alone in this. I found her earlier off-Broadway work much more appealing.
Those Blocked: SueStorm. N2N Nate. Good riddence to stupid! Rad-Z, shill begone!
Auggie27
Broadway Legend Joined: 10/13/03
#66M. BUTTERFLY Previews
Posted: 10/11/17 at 2:02pm
I thought the "Night, Mother" revival was highly damaging to a play I considered a masterwork in the original Tom Moore staging with iconic performances by Bates and Pitoniak. Falco and Blethlyn were in different worlds, and what had seemed so effortlessly real and immediate felt like saggy television. I know the play well -- it reads like the brilliant, wisdom-infused journey it is -- and was shocked how a wrong-headed production can damage the text's rep. Many turned on the play.
"I'm a comedian, but in my spare time, things bother me." Garry Shandling
#67M. BUTTERFLY Previews
Posted: 10/11/17 at 2:05pm
SNAFU said: "Ripped, I have always found Lion king to be very schizophrenic. On one hand it tells a Disney story and it is then laced with Taymor art installations and stage pictures. Yes, it is still raking it in. Good for Disney, Good for Taymor. Personally I found it, after the first 10 minutes and a couple of scenes throughout, to be quite boring. I might be alone in this. I found her earlier off-Broadway work much more appealing."
I agree. "Circle of Life" is, of course, stunning. But other than that... I'm hard-pressed to recall much of its inflated running time.
"...everyone finally shut up, and the audience could enjoy the beginning of the Anatevka Pogram in peace."
RippedMan
Broadway Legend Joined: 8/14/05
#69M. BUTTERFLY Previews
Posted: 10/12/17 at 2:54pm
RippedMan said: "I'm a big fan of hers. I'm such a big visual person, so I know, at least going in, that we're going to get something interesting or cool to look at it."
Inexplicably, my husband and I were somehow convinced to purchase heavily discounted tickets to Spiderman: Turn off the Dark. The only redeeming value of that show was the opening spider-women sequence with the unfurling golden silk streamers, which I understand was designed by Ms. Taymor. It bore absolutely no resemblance to the rest of the show, which we thought was inane and a complete waste of two hours.
"Michael Riedel...The Perez Hilton of the New York Theatre scene"
- Craig Hepworth, What's On Stage
RippedMan
Broadway Legend Joined: 8/14/05
#70M. BUTTERFLY Previews
Posted: 10/13/17 at 2:26am
I don't know, I guess I'm a big fan. I grew up watching her Titus flim, and have always been a fan of hers. I think she's a visionary. No, I don't need to see her staging of "Death of a Salesman" or some other actor heavy show, but her "Midsummer" in Brooklyn was stunning and interesting. I just love what she can do with a stage. I think this show on paper seems a good fit for her, but sounds like a disaster.
Wilmingtom
Broadway Legend Joined: 7/18/11
#71M. BUTTERFLY Previews
Posted: 10/13/17 at 4:53am
I am among those enthralled by Dexter's original production, the clean simplicity with which that complex, profound story was told being in perfect balance. This is not a play that wants fussy conceptualization imposed upon it, which is why I thought Tamor was a strange choice from the start. And I do believe a poor production can damage the reputation of good material. Unlike many on this board, most theatergoers are not aficionados, able to discern between a bad play and a bad production. There are folks who, after seeing an inept high school production of Gypsy, will say, "I hate that show. It was terrible." and will never see another production of it. Of course high profile failures are more destructive. When someone tells their pals who don't regularly go to the theater, "I saw that on Broadway and it sucked," none of them are likely to attend your community theater production or a tour coming through town.
Gizmo6
Broadway Star Joined: 6/16/17
#72M. BUTTERFLY Previews
Posted: 10/13/17 at 7:11am
I bought a ticket for this before I knew Torch Song was extending.
I wonder will this last till late November?
#73M. BUTTERFLY Previews
Posted: 10/13/17 at 10:48pm
I saw this tonight and I, personally, adored it. The sets are a bit clunky but I felt they worked for the most part. If I didn't know Taymor directed this and someone told me after, I probably would have thought they were lying. It's very "simplistic" for her. But the fantastic performances overshadowed everything else for me. I really really enjoyed it.
#74M. BUTTERFLY Previews
Posted: 10/14/17 at 1:29am
dave1606 said: "...The staging is such a let down. I thought Julia Taymor's A Midsummer Night's Dream was really magical and thought this seemed like a good fit for her. As everyone has mentioned this "low-tech" staging is clunky and incredible distracting. At one moment tonight Clive Owen had to shoveone of the panels off stage forcefully...and it was awkward. When your star is moving scenery and it doesn't look good I think there is a problem.
I found it hard to focus on the play because there was always a stagehand running on or off stage moving something or a panel sliding (or not) into place. As it has been mentioned when the pieces don't make symmetry, it just seems sloppy. I'm sure some of this will be tightened during the preview period, but I can't imagine that it is ever seamless.
The worst thing I can say is that these panels are often just plane ugly. The grey on grey early on was hideous...."
I'm not here to argue you with you, because (a) I never expected much from Taymor, and (b) I haven't seen the production.
I just want to mention that many East Asian performance forms use stagehands dressed in black. It is the convention that the spectators pretend that anyone dressed in black is "invisible". Was that what Taymor was going for?
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