I been out quite a bit since the end of September seeing all kids of shows: stage plays, installation art, cabarets, night club acts, sketch comedy, musicals, and big company theatre productions. I've been really lucky because I've had friends take me, or offer me free tickets (which is the only way that a person would want to, let alone be able to afford, seeing that much theatre)- however, tonight I had the chance to see August in Osage County (the Broadway tour) presented by Mirvish, and it was such a great show I had to write about it.
Firstly, its a 3 and half hour show (running time 3.15 hrs) and that is a looooooong show to have to sit through, but the entire show was so seamless that you didn't even realize how long you had been sitting for. My friend and I had front row seats and so we could literally see every facial expression and gestures these actors were making, which added to both the humour and the tragedy of the stories they were telling us. And speaking of which, the actors were so solid and their characters were crystal clear that you almost felt like a voyeur peeping into some one's house on a Saturday night watching a family try to piece together the shattered pieces of their broken history and relationships to one another. Even small things like watching their personal ticks, or their nervous habits, were very individual and clear. It was very cool!
I also have to mention that Estelle is 82 years old and she was incredible- she is a force to be reckoned with on that stage. I found myself staring at her watching her every move.. how does a young able bodied person do a role like that every night, let alone Estelle who is 82 years old?!?! She is a superhuman as far as I am concerned.
It was cool to see how the author played with the comedy in the script as well. It is a dark show, about the demise of the Weston family after a tragedy brings them all together. However, as is with most real-life situations, there are points in the play that are genuinely funny, despite the tragic circumstances. I began to notice that the author would set a punchline up, and then follow it with another punchline, and then just as you expect to keep laughing he would plunge the story deep into the dark tragedy of the situation, which not only stopped the audience from laughing, but it takes you to a very different place very quickly, jarring you from the humour that you had just enjoyed. It's very effective, and adds poignancy to the issues at hand in the story.
Mmm. Anyways, it was really really really great.
The other play that I could gush about forever and ever was West Side Story at Stratford. This was such a good production of the play that I left feeling almost sad because of how good it was. I saw those actors on stage and I honestly thought to myself "that isn't humanly possible". The actors in this show are also superhuman. I've seen maybe 5 productions of the show before and watched the movie musical maybe 15 times, but seeing this show was like seeing it for the first time. They flew across the stage with such agility and distinctive movement, it was very precise. It was truly mesmerizing.
To all the performers, directors, tech, and producers: thank you for these two shows. There is so much garbagey theatre out there that one almost begins to despise seeing theatre or having any part of it. These two shows restored my faith in the respective craft and I am very thankful and grateful to have seen them.
In conclusion, a great piece of theatre = the work of superhumans. Anyone heard of the Superhuman School? I think I'd like to apply for next semester.
