A Lie of the Mind
Saturday I went to see Mr. Jeff Wills in A Lie of the Mind at Manhattan Theater Source (www.theatresource.org, playing now thru the 28th). I'll be grading it on a scale of 1-10, with 10 being the best, on what I'm sure you'll agree are the essentials for a piece o' theater.
1. Ease of getting there and back: 8. I took the 5:30 DeCamp bus into the city. It used to take half an hour to 40 minutes to get into the city, but lately the traffic backs up starting before Hoboken, and inching our way through the helix, we made it into Port Authority at 7pm. However, from there it was just a straight shot on the A train to W4th and then a few blocks walk to the the theater. Finding the theater in the space was a different story - the space is a bookstore on the first and second levels, so you go up a flight of stares and end up turning left into a room with couches in it, and it's really not clear where the theater is. Because while there is a sign on the little door that says "Quiet, Performance in Progress", there is not a sign that says "Tiny Theater Located Behind Tiny Door."
2. Space and Chair Situation: 7. The theater is very very small, but the sightlines are good. They've got some issues with their HVAC, so they blast cold air before the show and then it gets warmer and warmer during. The chairs had cushions but my ass was numb after 10 minutes.
3. Audience: 9. They smelled like soap and fine shampoo during Act I. I had to take a point off during Act II because someone cut one, but in general they struck me as being fine individuals.
4. Script: 9. Sam Shepherd, what a guy. I had to take a point off because he just goes on and on and on sometimes and that can get boring. Still tho', for family comedy-drama's with plenty of homoeroticism and inecestumous sexual tension, plus western accents, you can't go wrong with Shepherd. Also, dude, he's married to JESSICA LANGE.
5. Hotness of Actors: 10+. Todd D'Amour, DAMN! When you buy tickets to A Lie of the Mind, you're gettin' tickets to Mr. D'Amour's gun show fo' sho'. That dude is RIPPED. What's that you say, Mr. D'amour, your next show is a one-man show based on A Streetcar Named Desire, titled Stanley? Color me THERE (if it's a musical. It's a musical, right? "A stranger's just a friend you haven't meeeet! STREETCAR! tm Simpsons.)! Also, Mr. Jeff Wills sports a more than usually luscious mane of flowing dark-brown hair. The ingenue gets almost naked and is pretty hot too. Basically everyone's pretty attractive.
6. Actors and Direction: I'm not going to give these a number, because these items, unlike hotness, can't be quantified. The actors individually were pretty good, and as an ensemble they were tight, and direction-wise, there were some pretty pictures onstage and the story was told in a straightforward manner, which I appreciate very much. If I were a reviewer I'd say it was, 'an ambitious attempt that produces more compelling moments than stumbling ones.' But I'm not one, whew, so, yeah. I got bored at parts, but was mostly involved. The two moms in particular were very very good.
7. Overall experience: 5. You'd think the overall score would be higher, but I have to blame DeCamp and some Jersey assholes for the low score - I got back to Port Authority in plenty of time to catch the 11:45 bus, which was 45 minutes late. This was bad enough but add to it some jerk calling DeCamp every 5 minutes and blustering about how they've lost a customer. Yeah right, like there's another better bus he can take. Jerk.
So in conclusion, go see the show, but dress in layers, and if you can, take the train.
1. Ease of getting there and back: 8. I took the 5:30 DeCamp bus into the city. It used to take half an hour to 40 minutes to get into the city, but lately the traffic backs up starting before Hoboken, and inching our way through the helix, we made it into Port Authority at 7pm. However, from there it was just a straight shot on the A train to W4th and then a few blocks walk to the the theater. Finding the theater in the space was a different story - the space is a bookstore on the first and second levels, so you go up a flight of stares and end up turning left into a room with couches in it, and it's really not clear where the theater is. Because while there is a sign on the little door that says "Quiet, Performance in Progress", there is not a sign that says "Tiny Theater Located Behind Tiny Door."
2. Space and Chair Situation: 7. The theater is very very small, but the sightlines are good. They've got some issues with their HVAC, so they blast cold air before the show and then it gets warmer and warmer during. The chairs had cushions but my ass was numb after 10 minutes.
3. Audience: 9. They smelled like soap and fine shampoo during Act I. I had to take a point off during Act II because someone cut one, but in general they struck me as being fine individuals.
4. Script: 9. Sam Shepherd, what a guy. I had to take a point off because he just goes on and on and on sometimes and that can get boring. Still tho', for family comedy-drama's with plenty of homoeroticism and inecestumous sexual tension, plus western accents, you can't go wrong with Shepherd. Also, dude, he's married to JESSICA LANGE.
5. Hotness of Actors: 10+. Todd D'Amour, DAMN! When you buy tickets to A Lie of the Mind, you're gettin' tickets to Mr. D'Amour's gun show fo' sho'. That dude is RIPPED. What's that you say, Mr. D'amour, your next show is a one-man show based on A Streetcar Named Desire, titled Stanley? Color me THERE (if it's a musical. It's a musical, right? "A stranger's just a friend you haven't meeeet! STREETCAR! tm Simpsons.)! Also, Mr. Jeff Wills sports a more than usually luscious mane of flowing dark-brown hair. The ingenue gets almost naked and is pretty hot too. Basically everyone's pretty attractive.
6. Actors and Direction: I'm not going to give these a number, because these items, unlike hotness, can't be quantified. The actors individually were pretty good, and as an ensemble they were tight, and direction-wise, there were some pretty pictures onstage and the story was told in a straightforward manner, which I appreciate very much. If I were a reviewer I'd say it was, 'an ambitious attempt that produces more compelling moments than stumbling ones.' But I'm not one, whew, so, yeah. I got bored at parts, but was mostly involved. The two moms in particular were very very good.
7. Overall experience: 5. You'd think the overall score would be higher, but I have to blame DeCamp and some Jersey assholes for the low score - I got back to Port Authority in plenty of time to catch the 11:45 bus, which was 45 minutes late. This was bad enough but add to it some jerk calling DeCamp every 5 minutes and blustering about how they've lost a customer. Yeah right, like there's another better bus he can take. Jerk.
So in conclusion, go see the show, but dress in layers, and if you can, take the train.
posted by walkinhomefromthethriftstore at 5:23 AM
1 Comments:
Awwwwwwww!
Art can be arduous, especially when you have to bus there and back. You're still my favorite critic.
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