| Subject: The Magic Box Theatre Critic |
Author:
Rack_the_warlock
|
[
Next Thread |
Previous Thread |
Next Message |
Previous Message
]
Date Posted: Thu, Feb 26 2004, 7:40:16 am PST
Well, you’ve asked for it – why does that sound so ominous – and now you’re gonna get it. Mr Warlock’s review of “When Harry Met Sally”
Last Saturday was one of those cold but sunny days. There was a freshness and crispness in the air that helps to wake up and invigorate people. The journey down to London was thankfully uneventful, I had allowed sometime for a little “inadvertent sightseeing” or as most people call it “being totally lost” and delays. This gave me the opportunity to do some window shopping around Piccadilly Circus (No teddy, I wasn’t looking to buy a window) and Regent Street.
The theatre where the play was being staged, The Theatre Royal Haymarket, isn’t all that big and appeared smaller than Nottingham’s own Theatre Royal. But then this one was built in 1820 and was the replacement for the original, built in 1720 and known as The Little Theatre until 1766 when, under the instigation of the Duke of York, the theatre was given a Royal patent and became The Theatre Royal. I got to the theatre about an hour before the curtain was up in order to see if I could get a picture of Alyson as she arrived. After much waiting around the small crowd was informed that both Luke Perry and Alyson were already inside ~ oh hum I thought, still better luck later….how wrong I was.
The interior has changed quite a bit from the original John Nash design (No teddy no him from “A Beautiful Mind”) although the exterior remains largely unchanged.
It didn’t take too long for the theatre to fill up and it looked pretty much like a sell-out audience to me. This was the first performance after the opening night and I thought that there might be the odd hitch, but things appeared to run very smoothly. The stage was painted white and didn’t appear to be very big but what was seen as the back of the stage was the back wall for Sally’s flat in the opening act. I had thought that I’d seen this film, but as I watched the story unfold I realised that I’d either seen it and completely forgotten all about it (possible) or that I actually hadn’t seen it at all save for the much parodied erm…erm.. well you know the bit. As I can’t recall the film it’s heard to tell how much Marcy Kahan’s adaptation sticks to the screen play, but one thing struck me afterwards was how little depth is given to the characters. Harry is a corporate lawyer and we know little else about him same goes for Sally, who is some kind of journalist but in which area or field is never explained. It was a little like watching a film without the film part. So perhaps in retrospect, not the ideal raw material to try to convert into a play. Having said that, the main thing that the people here had paid for was to be entertained so did it deliver on that front – well yes is the answer. Of the two leads I thought that Luke look a little more relaxed, this was Alyson’s stage debut. But Ms. Hannigan did bring a perky, bright eyed Sally to the mix., more Michelle than Willow. If memory serves, the film was nominated for an Oscar and you tell by the number of laughs that it registered with the audience that this was not lost in translation to stage (did you notice how I slipped that film in there teddy – clever hugh?). The biggest cheer was for the obvious part, although I found one of the ensemble cast’s brilliant portrayal of a bar fly worthy of mention, especially his drunken fall off a bar stool in a sort of lunge at Sally. The pay off line “I’ll have what she’s having was spoken by a young man and not an older woman as in the film, which seemed to lose something to me. The two main supports Jake Broder and Sharon Small did a respectable job as the pairs two best friends Jack and Marie. During the scene changes film was projected of “real life” couples explaining how they met and fell in love onto a moveable front partition. This I found help to keep to audience occupied during the changes, the film was explained later in the play as Marie’s video installation (she was some sort of artist) and finished with Harry and Sally proclaiming that they had met and fell in love in three months, well twelve years and three months to be exact. This is another point where the play loses out to a film version, Harry and Sally don’t physical appear to age over the course of the relationship – perhaps they’re vampires.
All in all not a bad way to spent 2 hours 20 minutes.
As you weren’t allowed to take pictures even after the play had finished and the cast were doing a curtain call (I tried and got told off for my troubles) I once again waited outside by the stage door. There was a crowd there already mostly clutching some Willow Buffy merchandise. We waited and we waited. Then we waited some more. The crowd started to thin out, after about half an hour we were informed that they had left via the front entrance. Oh hum, I thought, no pictures ~ but still not as bad as the infamous Nancy Wilson incident. As I made my way home I wondered whether it was such a good idea to buy a T-shirt during the interval that said “You’re the most attractive woman that I’ve never wanted to sleep with”. I’m now convinced that wearing it will have many a wooded fish come my way.
The End.
(Mr Warlock would like to point out that he know nothing about acting but does have a vast depth of ignorance to draw upon)
[
Next Thread |
Previous Thread |
Next Message |
Previous Message
]
| |
Feedback: 