Normally I don't really write reviews about things I don't like. I choose to focus more on the positive and I tend to have the attitude that if I don't like it I don't want to give it any sort of attention (you know that saying "no publicity is bad publicity"?). But I think I need to stop being so freaking nice and trying to please everyone. So here it goes: my first official bad review.
Last night I got free tickets to an "off-broadway" play, "The Lady Swims Today." First off, that's a horrible name for a play. But the description I read made it sound alright: "Welcome to the Carney Hook Marina Motel, where three, desperate men are tempted to join the heist of a lifetime. It's summer, 1984, Eddie has a plan to steal two million dollars off a boat on the Chesapeake Bay, and he needs a crew to pull it off. When these schemers and dreamers come up against three women with plans of their own, the course to a fortune is threatened by more than bad weather. The Lady Swims Today, by Howard Brown, is a drama in the tradition of Key Largo and The Petrified Forest, with film noir shadows and flashes of comedy." And since the tickets were free, I went. I think my friend who saw the play with me said it best: "I felt like I was watching a rough draft."
Obviously heist storylines are never, you know, relatable to me or grounded in my version of reality. But they can still be believable and I can still follow the action and enjoy a good heist story, especially if I can relate to the characters. Throughout this whole play I rarely understood exactly what was going on, and I don't think I ever believed it. Half the acting was very over-the-top (which was the only thing film noir about the play besides maybe some of the terrible dialogue, so it just seemed out of place), although I mostly believe that was the director's fault because the actors seemed talented enough. But none of the characters were believable or relatable and none of their actions seemed to have any kind of logical motivation, which is a fault with both the writing and directing. Also, in terms of casting, if you're going to have a "charming, suave" character that all the ladies go for, he should actually be charming and suave instead of greasy and sleazy. The "used car salesman" cliche comes to mind. Not once did I believe that any of the women in the play would ever be attracted to him. And sadly, very little of the play was funny. Maybe the show could've worked as a kind of screwball comedy of sorts because every time I laughed (or well, the few times I laughed due to funny content rather than because the play was just so ridiculous) I felt a wave of hope that maybe the play would turn itself around. Plus, as a comedy, extreme characters and situations and randomness are much more fitting and the whole suspension of disbelief thing is usually easier with comedy.
One little beam of light shining through this dark cloud of a play was Kelli K. Barnett. She played stripper/girlfriend Alice Bender. She was great as an obliviously naive but somehow at the same time jaded and wise stripper bimbo. I believed her performance most of the time and her character was, for the most part, likable. One thing I did not like was how her character had sex with her boyfriend's 17 year old son (not during the play but as part of her character history that was referenced a few times). I really just did not see how that moved the plot forward in any way, shape or form and it just made her character seem trampy and weak. But again, that's a problem with the writing and not the acting.
So there you have it folks. My first bad review. I will sum it up by saying I'm glad I didn't pay to see this show, though (because I'm not good at being mean) I will add that I don't necessarily feel like I wasted hours of my life or anything that extreme. Tata dahlings.
Last night I got free tickets to an "off-broadway" play, "The Lady Swims Today." First off, that's a horrible name for a play. But the description I read made it sound alright: "Welcome to the Carney Hook Marina Motel, where three, desperate men are tempted to join the heist of a lifetime. It's summer, 1984, Eddie has a plan to steal two million dollars off a boat on the Chesapeake Bay, and he needs a crew to pull it off. When these schemers and dreamers come up against three women with plans of their own, the course to a fortune is threatened by more than bad weather. The Lady Swims Today, by Howard Brown, is a drama in the tradition of Key Largo and The Petrified Forest, with film noir shadows and flashes of comedy." And since the tickets were free, I went. I think my friend who saw the play with me said it best: "I felt like I was watching a rough draft."
Obviously heist storylines are never, you know, relatable to me or grounded in my version of reality. But they can still be believable and I can still follow the action and enjoy a good heist story, especially if I can relate to the characters. Throughout this whole play I rarely understood exactly what was going on, and I don't think I ever believed it. Half the acting was very over-the-top (which was the only thing film noir about the play besides maybe some of the terrible dialogue, so it just seemed out of place), although I mostly believe that was the director's fault because the actors seemed talented enough. But none of the characters were believable or relatable and none of their actions seemed to have any kind of logical motivation, which is a fault with both the writing and directing. Also, in terms of casting, if you're going to have a "charming, suave" character that all the ladies go for, he should actually be charming and suave instead of greasy and sleazy. The "used car salesman" cliche comes to mind. Not once did I believe that any of the women in the play would ever be attracted to him. And sadly, very little of the play was funny. Maybe the show could've worked as a kind of screwball comedy of sorts because every time I laughed (or well, the few times I laughed due to funny content rather than because the play was just so ridiculous) I felt a wave of hope that maybe the play would turn itself around. Plus, as a comedy, extreme characters and situations and randomness are much more fitting and the whole suspension of disbelief thing is usually easier with comedy.
One little beam of light shining through this dark cloud of a play was Kelli K. Barnett. She played stripper/girlfriend Alice Bender. She was great as an obliviously naive but somehow at the same time jaded and wise stripper bimbo. I believed her performance most of the time and her character was, for the most part, likable. One thing I did not like was how her character had sex with her boyfriend's 17 year old son (not during the play but as part of her character history that was referenced a few times). I really just did not see how that moved the plot forward in any way, shape or form and it just made her character seem trampy and weak. But again, that's a problem with the writing and not the acting.
So there you have it folks. My first bad review. I will sum it up by saying I'm glad I didn't pay to see this show, though (because I'm not good at being mean) I will add that I don't necessarily feel like I wasted hours of my life or anything that extreme. Tata dahlings.
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