Previews begin tonight for the third Broadway revival of Eugene O'Neill's Hughie starring Academy Award Winner Forest Whitaker in his Broadway debut opposite Tony Award Winner Frank Wood and directed by Tony Award Winner Michael Grandage!
Holy God. If you're ever wondered how long one hour can be, go see this. One of the most impressive set designs I've ever seen accompanied by a mind numbingly tedious play.
I did not go to the stage door. As for the play, I just don't understand why this was revived. Maybe myself and most of the audience who walked out like we were part of a funeral procession just didn't "get it", but I do understand why this is a rarely seen O'Neill play.
I'm going to hold off on commenting in depth because Whitaker doesn't know his lines yet, and that's surely why the start date was delayed. Right now it's an exercise in marking blocking and trying to remember the next thing said. He frequently walked upstage to drink from a water cooler (part of the set), and a stage manager gave him his line while he drank.
Obviously, he can be a very good actor so maybe things will really improve by opening, but it's a very very slight piece and needs a hell of a performance to make it worthwhile. I hope for the best. I'll see it again in the future if I can get comps. I'd say we should have gotten a retroactive discount for a not-ready-to-be-seen production, but then no one hour play should be charging this much.
the set design is absolutely fantastic, as is the lighting.
At one point, a woman in a row ahead of us took out her cell phone and I kid you not, a lot of people automatically leaned forward to (what I can only guess) see if they could see what time it was on the phone.
Jordan Catalano said: "Holy God. If you're ever wondered how long one hour can be, go see this. One of the most impressive set designs I've ever seen accompanied by a mind numbingly tedious play."
I'm sorry to hear this! I already bought two of the Time Out New York 25 for $25 tickets, which seem like great seats in Orchestra Row O, for April so hopefully the show will be tighter and Whitaker will hone his performance by then.