A Steady Rain reviews - member and critics

This is the place to discuss all of Mr. Craig's work on stage.

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Cyanaurora
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Post by Cyanaurora »

calypso wrote:i steal :twisted:


The auction was great-- I really wanted to be the woman sitting in the front row who was one of the high bidders-- when she was briefly wavering, Hugh casually came over to the edge of the stage, knelt down, and took her hands in his. Needless to say, a few seconds later he stood up to announce "We're now up to ten thousand..."
I wonder what he promised her? :twisted: :twisted: His wife is out of town :twisted: :twisted: :twisted: :twisted: :twisted:
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Post by calypso »

Cyanaurora wrote:
calypso wrote:i steal :twisted:


The auction was great-- I really wanted to be the woman sitting in the front row who was one of the high bidders-- when she was briefly wavering, Hugh casually came over to the edge of the stage, knelt down, and took her hands in his. Needless to say, a few seconds later he stood up to announce "We're now up to ten thousand..."
I wonder what he promised her? :twisted: :twisted: His wife is out of town :twisted: :twisted: :twisted: :twisted: :twisted:
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Post by Germangirl »

And then the show started. It was a good show. I got caught up in it, in the two characters, in the story and the relationship between the two cops and how it was changing. Very good writing. I know that they're getting slammed by the critics and I'm not sure why. I thought it was a great play. I haven't seen many, but the writing was great and both actors were good. I thought Daniel Craig was better in his role than Hugh Jackman, but Hugh was great as well.

When the show ended, they thanked us all, saying that this was the first show they'd gotten through where no cell phone had gone off. (I doubt this, but I know that the cell phones have been a huge issue at this show.) And then they auctioned off their t-shirts. The maximum of any previous show was $11,000 for both shirts, signed and dated. I nearly bid on the shirts when it reached $7,000, simply because it was obvious that one of the bidders was willing to go much higher, but someone else beat me to it. It then became a bidding war between the two, reaching $11,000. At that point, Hugh and Daniel made an offer: They give each bidder two shirts, signed and dated, for $10,000 each. So our show hit a new high for the "Broadway Cares" charity last night. They had signed playbills for $60, signed posters for $300, and you could get a signed picture with them backstage for $2000. I should have gone for the picture backstage. It would have been a cool reminder of the whole experience. Instead, I went a got a key chain handcuffs souvenir and donated some money to the general pot.
yhttp://jpsorrow.livejournal.com/y
The top notch acting in the Weisz/Craig/Spall 'Betrayal' is emotionally true, often v funny and its beautifully staged with filmic qualities..

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Post by Germangirl »

11/23/2009
Jackman and Craig were excellent Saturday night in 'A Steady Rain'. Both actors appeared relaxed and at-home on stage, and the underlying story was funny, touching, and (infrequently) disturbing.

Saturday night, the actors took time after the play to raise money for charity by auctioning off their undershirts (in lieu of set pieces, which is the norm), much to the happiness of the female audience members.

Great evening all around. Highly recommend.
11/9/2009
Ahh...a dark lit stage. 2 hot men and little ol' me. It's just Hugh (Wolverine) and Daniel (007) in my view and a whole lot of intense sighing...no that's not from the play. That's just me...

I find the storyline in it's purest form a tale of two childhood friends dealing with detrimental consequences from one wrong decision. There's nothing to get the blood flowing, when you hear Hugh start off with his charming rogue self spew out profanities like smooth ganache cream. Daniel is no slacker, even though he's the straight-laced character of the two. He more than holds his own, in fact, during his solo scenes, he captivates the moment and draws in the audience with his passion.

The sparse backgrounds do not detract from the dual focus on the actors, the slow building music is also very minuscule but only used when the scene calls for it.

The aftershow with Hugh and Daniel hawking their t's for the cause of Broadway Cares is hilarious. I haven't seen so many women scream since I heard squeals from Twilighter fans at the movies. Hugh and Daniel were gracious and sweet when meeting fans, including yours truly who got the pics and the autographs to prove that life is good.

For poor peeps like me, if you still have your valid student ID, you can wait at the box office before it opens to buy 1-2 tickets for $31.50. The theater only lets 20 student seats in the back row at this price, but they're pretty good seats since the theater is small.

Hugh Jackman and Daniel Craig in A Steady Rain by Keith Huff. I liked it. Interesting. Not your typical Broadway show. It is definetely a play, not a musical. Set ( or lack there of) is minimal- 2 chairs and 2 spotlights. 2 run-down Chicago cops, both with their own individual issues in life and work. Good twits in the story line. Plenty of offensive language.

Great makeup job on Daniel Craig- didn't even look like himself.
I would reccomend it to friends.

I sat in for the previews for this play, 007 vs. Wolverine. Seriously, it's the first thing that comes to mind when you put both of these actors together, right?! Well, I'd heard only good things about Hugh Jackman on Broadway and knew that Daniel Craig had done well with his many roles in on the London Stage.

I found Jackman to be way over the top in his portrayal, a characterture man in blue. Sorry Hugh, but you're better served doing musicals and cartoon characters as you've done in the past.
Craig was spot on and convincing as the whipped friend to an alpha dog. The squirrely little mustache did a lot to change his usual craggy masculine features. Dan's acting chops are weighty. I got a kick out of how both actors did the Chicago cop accent, working through their own Brit and Aussie ones to get there.

During the performance some rude fool's cell phone began ringing. At first those of us in the audience thought it was part of the production, then soon realized this wasn't the case after the caller's repeated tries, three of them in total. By that point, the disturbance had garnered the ire of the actors on stage, both of whom broke character to ask the person politely to turn off their phone.

This interruption could not have occurred at a worse time during the performance. The two actors were heavily into an emotional outpouring, raising intensity towards a climax which was cut off at the knees by the irritating and constant cell phone ring. Kudos to both actors for picking up exactly where they had left off once they had addressed the cell phone cretin.

The screen backdrop was the only prop aside from the two chairs the actors sat on. The backcurtain images were HD and popped out as if you were really out on the grimy urban streets. The storyline, a dated good cop bad cop, would have garnered a better reception - at least by the ladies in the house- if both the hottie actors had found a way to tear their shirts off during one of the scenes. Sigh.
11/8/2009
I'm not sure why the other reviews only gave three stars to this brilliant production (albeit minimal production). To see this dynamic duo in person and up close was really a great experience for us. They both perform with an energy that film really can't capture. To be fair, we had great seats and were only 20 or so feet from the stage, so this experience may vary with your seats.

I won't give away too much about the story itself, but the way it came together was really magical. It is a minimal production, so if you are expecting a big Broadway production with huge sets go somewhere else. There is basically just enough to get the story through, but the acting really stands on its own. Just think two really good story tellers by the dinner table.

There is no intermission, so come prepared to sit for about 1:40 without making a sound. We sat next to a woman who obviously was having a life-changing experience watching this thing and sushing people left and right. I'd imagine given the star power of this play and the ticket prices, this is not unusual. Also, our show had an "auction" at the end, which was for the Broadway Cares Charity. Kind of fun, but ultimately it was these two guys shilling donations and literally selling the shirts (or wife-beaters) off of their backs! Sweat and all! It was fun for me, just because they break character so you see a little of their real personality.

Ok, enough gushing, but bottom line is that this is worth the money if you can still get tickets!
http://www.yelp.com/biz/a-steady-rain-m ... -9mMk8htKg

They truly are two amazing actors up there. And the way Hugh runs the BC/EFA auction is no less entertaining, albeit in a much lighter way.

At yesterday's matinee during the fundraising portion, a woman waved money in the air and shouted out that she'd give $100 if Hugh and Daniel never used the phrase "wife beater"--referring to the auctioned-off undershirts--again. Hugh jumped down from the stage, run towards the back of the orchestra to her, kissed her, grabbed the money, ran back and jumped onto the stage, all to cheers from the audience.

Now that's showmanship.
http://www.talkinbroadway.com/allthatch ... id=1797351
The top notch acting in the Weisz/Craig/Spall 'Betrayal' is emotionally true, often v funny and its beautifully staged with filmic qualities..

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Post by Dunda »

************************

Jackman and Craig were excellent Saturday night in 'A Steady Rain'. Both actors appeared relaxed and at-home on stage, and the underlying story was funny, touching, and (infrequently) disturbing.

Saturday night, the actors took time after the play to raise money for charity by auctioning off their undershirts (in lieu of set pieces, which is the norm), much to the happiness of the female audience members.

Great evening all around. Highly recommend.

************************

Ahh...a dark lit stage. 2 hot men and little ol' me. It's just Hugh (Wolverine) and Daniel (007) in my view and a whole lot of intense sighing...no that's not from the play. That's just me...

I find the storyline in it's purest form a tale of two childhood friends dealing with detrimental consequences from one wrong decision. There's nothing to get the blood flowing, when you hear Hugh start off with his charming rogue self spew out profanities like smooth ganache cream. Daniel is no slacker, even though he's the straight-laced character of the two. He more than holds his own, in fact, during his solo scenes, he captivates the moment and draws in the audience with his passion.

The sparse backgrounds do not detract from the dual focus on the actors, the slow building music is also very minuscule but only used when the scene calls for it.

The aftershow with Hugh and Daniel hawking their t's for the cause of Broadway Cares is hilarious. I haven't seen so many women scream since I heard squeals from Twilighter fans at the movies. Hugh and Daniel were gracious and sweet when meeting fans, including yours truly who got the pics and the autographs to prove that life is good.

For poor peeps like me, if you still have your valid student ID, you can wait at the box office before it opens to buy 1-2 tickets for $31.50. The theater only lets 20 student seats in the back row at this price, but they're pretty good seats since the theater is small.

*********************************

Hugh Jackman and Daniel Craig in A Steady Rain by Keith Huff. I liked it. Interesting. Not your typical Broadway show. It is definetely a play, not a musical. Set ( or lack there of) is minimal- 2 chairs and 2 spotlights. 2 run-down Chicago cops, both with their own individual issues in life and work. Good twits in the story line. Plenty of offensive language.

Great makeup job on Daniel Craig- didn't even look like himself.
I would reccomend it to friends.

*********************************

I sat in for the previews for this play, 007 vs. Wolverine. Seriously, it's the first thing that comes to mind when you put both of these actors together, right?! Well, I'd heard only good things about Hugh Jackman on Broadway and knew that Daniel Craig had done well with his many roles in on the London Stage.

I found Jackman to be way over the top in his portrayal, a characterture man in blue. Sorry Hugh, but you're better served doing musicals and cartoon characters as you've done in the past.
Craig was spot on and convincing as the whipped friend to an alpha dog. The squirrely little mustache did a lot to change his usual craggy masculine features. Dan's acting chops are weighty. I got a kick out of how both actors did the Chicago cop accent, working through their own Brit and Aussie ones to get there.

During the performance some rude fool's cell phone began ringing. At first those of us in the audience thought it was part of the production, then soon realized this wasn't the case after the caller's repeated tries, three of them in total. By that point, the disturbance had garnered the ire of the actors on stage, both of whom broke character to ask the person politely to turn off their phone.

This interruption could not have occurred at a worse time during the performance. The two actors were heavily into an emotional outpouring, raising intensity towards a climax which was cut off at the knees by the irritating and constant cell phone ring. Kudos to both actors for picking up exactly where they had left off once they had addressed the cell phone cretin.

The screen backdrop was the only prop aside from the two chairs the actors sat on. The backcurtain images were HD and popped out as if you were really out on the grimy urban streets. The storyline, a dated good cop bad cop, would have garnered a better reception - at least by the ladies in the house- if both the hottie actors had found a way to tear their shirts off during one of the scenes. Sigh


************************************

I'm not sure why the other reviews only gave three stars to this brilliant production (albeit minimal production). To see this dynamic duo in person and up close was really a great experience for us. They both perform with an energy that film really can't capture. To be fair, we had great seats and were only 20 or so feet from the stage, so this experience may vary with your seats.

I won't give away too much about the story itself, but the way it came together was really magical. It is a minimal production, so if you are expecting a big Broadway production with huge sets go somewhere else. There is basically just enough to get the story through, but the acting really stands on its own. Just think two really good story tellers by the dinner table.

There is no intermission, so come prepared to sit for about 1:40 without making a sound. We sat next to a woman who obviously was having a life-changing experience watching this thing and sushing people left and right. I'd imagine given the star power of this play and the ticket prices, this is not unusual. Also, our show had an "auction" at the end, which was for the Broadway Cares Charity. Kind of fun, but ultimately it was these two guys shilling donations and literally selling the shirts (or wife-beaters) off of their backs! Sweat and all! It was fun for me, just because they break character so you see a little of their real personality.

Ok, enough gushing, but bottom line is that this is worth the money if you can still get tickets!





source: http://www.yelp.com/biz/a-steady-rain-m ... -9mMk8htKg
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Germangirl
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Post by Germangirl »

Germangirl wrote:From start to now - they are so constant, its incredible. Still best earning play. There are only two musicals this week (9-15.nov) that are over 100% as well.
Germangirl wrote:
Broadway Grosses: Sept. 7-13

Production(Theatre) Gross Gross Attendance Prev. Perf. Seats Avg. Paid Admission % Cap.
A Steady Rain(Schoenfeld) $767,663 5,355 5 0 1,071 $143.35 100.0%

Broadway Grosses: Sept. 14-20
A Steady Rain(Schoenfeld) $1,167,954 8,570 8 0 1,071 $136.28 100.0%

Broadway Grosses: Sept. 21-27
A Steady Rain(Schoenfeld) $1,153,779 8,575 8 0 1,071 $134.55 100.1%

Broadway Grosses: Sept. 28-Oct. 4

A Steady Rain(Schoenfeld) $1,096,463 8,666 0 8 1,071 $126.52 101.1%


Broadway Grosses: Oct. 5-11
A Steady Rain(Schoenfeld) $1,276,106 8,685 0 8 1,071 $146.93 101.4%


Broadway Grosses: Oct. 12-18

A Steady Rain(Schoenfeld) $1,239,283 8,672 0 8 1,071 $142.91 101.2%


Broadway Grosses: Oct. 19-25

A Steady Rain(Schoenfeld) $1,213,983 8,676 0 8 1,071 $139.92 101.3%

Broadway Grosses: Oct. 26 - Nov. 1
A Steady Rain (Schoenfeld) $1,187,455 8,667 0 8 1,071 $137.01 101.2%

Broadway Grosses: Nov. 2-8
A Steady Rain (Schoenfeld) $1,201,252 8,663 0 8 1,071 $138.66 101.1%

Broadway Grosses: Nov. 9-15
A Steady Rain (Schoenfeld) $1,202,161 8,665
0 8 1,071 $138.74 101.1%
slightly down this week - at no 4..

Broadway Grosses: Nov. 6-22
A Steady Rain
(Schoenfeld) $1,170,859 8,645 0 8 1,071 $135.44 100.9%

Broadway Grosses: Nov. 30 - Dec. 6

A Steady Rain (Schoenfeld) $1,292,210 8,670 0 8 1,071 $149.04 101.2%
Last edited by Germangirl on Tue Dec 08, 2009 6:50 am, edited 1 time in total.
The top notch acting in the Weisz/Craig/Spall 'Betrayal' is emotionally true, often v funny and its beautifully staged with filmic qualities..

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Post by trueblue »

We then headed down to Time Square to see A Steady Rain. It's a two man play about two Chicago cops. Oh, and who were the two men playing the cops? Well, that would be Daniel Craig and Hugh Jackman (insert high pitch girly scream here). It was amazing! I wasn't so sure how I would like the two man show thing, but these guys pulled it off sooo well. I truly have a new found respect for Daniel Craig. He started talking in his Chicago accent and I couldn't believe that this man was James Bond. He truly is a talented actor. Hugh Jackman did a fabulous job as well. The two had great chemistry. I really enjoyed the play. It kind of jumps around a lot, but I thought it was written so well that you could follow. It had a lot of surprises. Good show!

My favorite part was at the end when both actors came out to do a little blurb about donating money to Broadway Cares (most shows do this this time of year). This show was slightly different because instead of just donating money they had an auction for the two white beaters that Daniel and Hugh were wearing for the show. Sarah and I almost lost it when they started stripping down to the white beaters. Both shirts went for $10k! The people that won got to go back and meet the guys and have their pictures taken with them. They also offered for people to donate $2k to go back and get your picture taken with them. I was so tempted, but I was strong and restrained myself.

http://manhattan-my-hometown.blogspot.c ... sarah.html

Pics and a vid included in the link. :wink:
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Post by trueblue »

Stalking Wolverine and James Bond on Broadway

Or, how waiting for Hollywood hunks Hugh Jackman
and Daniel Craig in the freezing New York rain left this author starstruck
EVERY TIME I VISIT NEW YORK, ONE OF my favorite places on earth, I crash at my friend Vanessa Ira’s cozy Upper East Side apartment. No, it’s not on Fifth Avenue, but it might as well be for all the wonderful things in the vicinity that Nen, who has lived in New York for some 15 years and who works in the magazine business, often shows me.

As a treat for her hospitality, I usually take Nen to a Broadway show. Luckily, I read that on Broadway, Hollywood hunks Hugh Jackman and Daniel Craig—otherwise known as Wolverine and James Bond—are doing a talkie on Broadway for only 12 weeks, up to Dec. 6. No song-and-dance, just 90 minutes of no-intermission drama.

The premise was promising. In “A Steady Rain,” Jackman and Craig would be playing two Chicago cops who had been friends since childhood, and who would come up against a dilemma of morals as well as emotions-Denny (Jackman) is domineering and crooked, while Joey (Craig) is the more morally upright sidekick who also happens to be in love with Denny’s wife. “Jackman and Craig as cops? All of gay New York will be there,” harped one writer in Time Out New York.

After the play opened on Sept. 29, the reviews pretty much said the same thing: the material was no big deal, and it was like the two stars opted to take time off from Hollywood to do some “serious” stuff, so could their agents please find them some material? In his next day’s review in the New York Times, Ben Brantley declared that the play was “best regarded as a small, wobbly pedestal on which two gods of the screen may stand in order to be worshipped.” The general consensus, however, was that Craig was more believable. Whatever—Nen and I were out to ogle, not analyze.

And that’s how we ended up outside the Schoenfeld Theater on West 45th St. one Thursday night (again, non-weekend shows were cheaper) in October, when winter weather had unexpectedly come in the fall and upset a lot of New Yorkers. To top it off, the rain that had accompanied my flight from San Francisco had made it to Manhattan, leaving us with wet, icky 31-degree weather.

Nen and I huddled under an umbrella until they opened the doors and let us in, and the excitement was palpable. Happily, the Schoenfeld (where Nen and I had seen the revival of “A Chorus Line” a couple of years before) was a small theater, so a right mezzanine seat still allowed you to see the actor’s face.

The ushers were unusually, irritatingly persistent. “Please, please turn off your cell phones,” the lady in charge of our row kept repeating. You couldn’t blame her, though; the celebrity show TMZ had just reported that, a week or so earlier, Jackman had actually stopped in the middle of a monologue when a cell phone started ringing. “You want to get that?” he said. The worst part was, the moron who owned the phone just let it ring, probably too embarrassed to move, while Jackman paced for a while. “Come on, just turn it off,” he repeated before picking up where he left off.

No understudies were announced before the show, and my heart leapt. Then, with a flick of a switch, the lights were on, and the two actors were seated in chairs, facing the audience on a bare set. I pinched Nen in the dark. Hugh Jackman was absolutely larger than life, and looked 10-feet-tall on stage.

Daniel Craig, meanwhile, was smaller and appeared more in character, walking with a slight stoop and sporting what Brantley called a “milquetoast mustache and cowed mien” befitting his timid character. The Englishman had the more authentic accent, as well.

Unremarkable

Brantley was right—the material was unremarkable, the actors too pretty. Nen and I agreed that Jackman belonged in musicals
, because you just couldn’t buy the idea that he was down on his luck or heartbroken. Craig, in his Broadway debut, was more convincing. John Crowley’s direction of the Keith Huff play was lacking in high points, but I have an added beef with costume guy Scott Pask, who made the story even less believable: Craig was way too well-dressed, his jacket immaculate, his shirt spotless. Even the tie was perfect, unlike those of TV cops who look like they haven’t ironed their collars in days.

Again, Brantley had a point when he said the words would have been “marginally more credible spoken by a couple of sweaty, paunchy American actors instead of a buff pair of superstars from England and Australia.” Touché.

Be that as it may, eye candy they undoubtedly were. By the time Nen and I left the theater, we were ready to play Stagedoor Junes and wait in the rain. We were about 20 ft from the stage door, lined up parallel to the street. Then the security guy announced, “Over here, nice and easy,” and created a new line. We scurried over, and ended up behind only two rows of people.

A limousine parked on the curb. Then the stage door opened, and Daniel Craig stepped out, only a few feet from where I was, close enough to lunge at. His smile was almost shy, and he went from one side of the crowd of about 50 people to the other, signing autographs and actually taking people’s cameras to photograph himself with them. He was the sexiest thing, and I swore my mouth hung open, even as Nen kept trying to push me forward. “Great Broadway debut,” I yelled. Craig looked up, trying to spot the speaker, and said softly “Thank you.” I took one look at his incredible light blue eyes, and froze—absolutely torpe in the face of Bond, James Bond!

After about 10 minutes, and with a modest wave of his hand, Craig got into the limousine and was gone. Another limousine took the same parking space, and after a few minutes, out strode Jackman in a fedora, his throat wrapped in a warm gray muffler. The crowd screamed as he began posing and signing. The first thing I noticed were his teeth, and I thought: Chiclets. They were as straight, white, and perfect as Chiclets. He was much bigger than I expected, and looked about 6-ft-tall. Now I understand what they really mean when they say movie stars have an unexplainable presence, because Hugh Jackman is a STAR.

A woman yelled: “We turned off our cell phones for you!” and Jackman laughed almost sheepishly, as if slightly embarrassed by his diva moment. Not that he should be—I still wish he had disemboweled the cell phone moron with his adamantium claws, which would have been more dramatic than the poor play. A group behind me then chanted, “Ozzie, Ozzie, Ozzie,” and the Australian actor’s face visibly lit up as he yelled “Ozzie!” right back.

Nen kept pushing me forward, but again I could only stare. By then, however, we were both avowed Craig fans, so when a woman behind us yelled, “You stole the show!” Nen snapped back loudly, “No, he didn’t!” Fear of being lynched by the Ozzie-loving mob snapped me out of my trance, just in time to see Jackman wave, throw kisses and disappear into his limousine.

“Ikaw talaga, you’re going to get us beaten up!” I told my friend with a laugh, even as we gushed over both actors, but more specifically over Craig. “Thank you, Alya!” Nen said, giving me a hug. And we walked down Times Square, giggling and exhilarated over coming within smooching distance of both Wolverine and James Bond on the same night. Only in New York!

http://lifestyle.inquirer.net/artsandbo ... n-Broadway

3 pics in the link. :wink:
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Germangirl
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Post by Germangirl »

What a gold digger you are, Blue :D
Jocelyn - your hug again. :lol: I think, I have seen it from three different perspectives by now :wink: He´s smiling, when doing it. Now - how is that?
The top notch acting in the Weisz/Craig/Spall 'Betrayal' is emotionally true, often v funny and its beautifully staged with filmic qualities..

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trueblue
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Post by trueblue »

Germangirl wrote:What a gold digger you are, Blue :D
:D Just incredibly lucky when it comes to finding Daniel things.Unfortunately,not so much when it comes to finding money. :lol:
Germangirl wrote: Jocelyn - your hug again. :lol: I think, I have seen it from three different perspectives by now :wink: He´s smiling, when doing it. Now - how is that?
Lucky Jocelyn! :D
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Post by Germangirl »

From ALL THAT CHAT

Finally got to seeing this and I'm glad I did. I scored a 2nd row aisle seat at the last minute so it was great to see the spit up close in person.

Where to begin?...Is it a "small" play? yes, but there are plenty of small plays that have been very good and plenty of bigger more extravagantly produced plays that have left me feeling very hungry. I think some of the negative comments about its "smallness" I've read on here and in some of the reviews are a result of it's heavy usage of monologue. I agree that it's a little tedious and perhaps a tad bit amateurish to have what seemed like 50% of the play told to the audience directly by the individual characters. It can feel "cheap" at times and extremely unrelenting as you wish that the characters would just play out a scene normally and talk to each other instead of to us. However, when you consider the scope of the action and the details that the actors have to convey, I don't agree that this play is unfinished, not fully realized or that it's "just a study in acting" as I think I read in one post early in the run.

First of all, as I said, the plot is fairly jammed with action. But also, the characters have a fair amount of nuances and quirks to convey which is more than enough to make them meaty characters instead of cliches as Brantley's review claims. I disagree with his comment that Jackman's like-ability works against him. I think Jackman's portrayal of Denny as charming makes him more interesting as a flawed family man than it would have been had he played the character just as a "monster" as Brantley prefers. Jackman's Chicago accent is not very good compared to Craig's spot-on version but that is probably the only weakness I'd be able to name in their performances. Like many others I too was particularly impressed by Craig's ability to shrink into the role of the "weaker" man considering all the beefcake shots of his pecs that exist. And I feel no need to apologize for including the star wattage aspect of this production in my assessment instead of just judging the play as written. I think a large part of the fun, (and completely justifiable) is seeing these two action stars handle 90 minutes of non stop talking.

So while not groundbreaking, this production is definitely more than a trifling project for Hollywood actors; both the content and the delivery of it make for a very satisfying event.
All that chat
http://www.talkinbroadway.com/allthatchat/index.php
The top notch acting in the Weisz/Craig/Spall 'Betrayal' is emotionally true, often v funny and its beautifully staged with filmic qualities..

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Germangirl
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Post by Germangirl »

From NY Times


November 22nd, 2009 6:59 pm
Rating: 5 stars
29. Excellent two-person drama

My husband and I, long-standing theatregoers, saw this play last night and found it to be riveting. Craig and Jackman got beyond their movie persona and did a fine job with the nuanced roles written by the playwright. It struck me as a play that could be performed by excellent actors in regional theatres for years to come. The Playbill revealed that this is the first of a trilogy about Chicago cops and I look forward to the others appearing in NY eventually.

My take on Brantley's negative review is that he knew the play would succeed with these two stars regardless of his opinion so he decided to try to influence the audience through petty spite.

As for the reviewers who complained about a two character play, I feel sorry for them as some of the best theatre in recent years has been with one or two person plays: I AM MY OWN WIFE with Jackson Mayes, Anthony Sher as Primo Levi, Avery Brooks as Paul Robeson, Christopher Plummer as John Barrymore. These intimate experiences, if well-written, can have great impact.

As for those who criticized this as being too similar to various TV cop shows, I'd agree that the themes are similar but that's true of any great stories that can be done in different formats. I think this playwright did an excellent job of using the immediacy of the theatre and his skill with language to create a special evening.

p.s. For those who will be seeing it in the next few weeks, you are in for a special treat as Jackman and Craig handle the traditional after-curtain plea for donations to Broadway Cares in a delightfully non-traditional and charming way.
The top notch acting in the Weisz/Craig/Spall 'Betrayal' is emotionally true, often v funny and its beautifully staged with filmic qualities..

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Germangirl
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Post by Germangirl »

Real good


A Steady Rain

Stunt casting will never be the same again. Over the last several seasons, regular theatregoers have seen an increasingly strong trend toward big movie stars traipsing to Broadway for a few months of “legitimate" work before decamping to Hollywood and its infinitely better exposure and considerably larger paychecks. Most of these turns (Julia Roberts in Three Days of Rain and Jennifer Garner in Cyrano come to mind) have made it sadly clear why personalities that flourish on film can fizzle onstage. But with the monumentally successful casting of A Steady Rain, Keith Huff’s new play at the Gerald Schoenfeld, the bar has been raised so high that every potential one-timer should seriously consider staying home instead of inviting comparison.

Hugh Jackman’s and Daniel Craig’s names hardly need to be mentioned, of course. They’ve been setting fire to the box office, and have already made this play a monster-sized hit and 2009-2010’s first true must-see. After all, Jackman is Wolverine from the super-popular X-Men movie franchise, and Craig is the current and highly acclaimed James Bond. These men, who can (and do) command multimillion-dollar salaries without batting an eye, taking on a 90-minute two-hander written by a largely unknown playwright and staged by a director (John Crowley) who’s also not a household name is in itself an event.

These two are different, however, because they don’t need to “learn the ropes.” Jackman won his Tony for playing Peter Allen in The Boy From Oz in 2003, was a West End smash in Trevor Nunn’s lamentable 1998 reconception of Oklahoma!, and starred in Sunset Blvd. and Beauty and the Beast in his native Australia before that. Craig starred in high-profile productions of Hurlyburly and Angels in America in London, and originated the role of the triplicate young man in Caryl Churchill’s A Number. Even audiences that can’t place either or both as existing beyond the local multiplex are getting the rarely proffered guarantee that these actors really know what they’re doing. They’ve proven their stamina, their voices, and their willingness to take live chances.
The only thing that could improve this experience would be if the play itself were good. And, believe it or not, it’s not at all bad.

A Steady Rain, which was originally produced by Chicago Dramatists in 2007 and subsequently won two Joseph Jefferson Awards, is solid, but not a contemporary theatrical classic. Its story about two Chicago police officers and lifelong friends is on the flimsy side, notable mostly for the way it presents and deconstructs two competing visions of masculinity: the hard-edged go-it-aloner, and the more sensitive and nurturing I’ll-be-home-for-dinner type. The former is Denny (Jackman), a second-generation Italian who insists that he and he alone will provide for his wife and family, even if he has to take risks and bend the law backwards to do it. Joey (Craig), is highly single, a recovering milquetoast with a fading drinking problem, whom Denny is trying to reform by showing him the good life at his house with his wife, Connie, and his two kids. Once it’s obvious that Joey’s bond with Connie is as strong as with Denny, it’s not hard to guess how things will go when the men are tested in the field.
To make matters worse, the play is composed mostly of conversations with and speeches to the audience, monologue-style narration of the sort that’s usually an uncomfortable substitute for action and interaction. (Scenes about the fraternizing with prostitutes, frequent gunplay, and even cannibalism that define Joey and Denny’s world almost certainly wouldn’t be boring.) Scott Pask’s set even highlights this: It’s a shadowy room with little more than two chairs and two lamps hanging overhead (Hugh Vanstone did the lighting), the stifling picture of a police interrogation chamber. Crowley’s staging, which includes a few elements perhaps too dreamlike to accentuate the harder-edged reality of the script, doesn’t do much to dissuade you of the notion you’re seeing a he-said-he-said romp, a good-cop-bad-cop routine writ large but too small to tell you much about Joey and Denny, Craig and Jackman, or especially yourself.

What Huff does, and what makes this an ideal vehicle for high-caliber stars, is allow plenty of room for uncertainty within the “I did this, I did that” limits of the form. The guys may speak mostly to us, but they’re working separately, weaving threads that only occasionally overlap. One might utter a statement the other needs to correct, openly or surreptitiously; a key detail or fact that one leaves out may not be an accident, as the other proves later. You believe, from the first moment to the last, that these men have lived their lives intertwined, and Huff uses that to fuel his story, showing how their friendship is challenged, bent, broken, and repaired, almost entirely within the natural subtext of two guy’s guys who aren’t exactly apt to reveal their deepest feelings. So even though Joey and Denny tell us everything they do, there are an unusual number of gaps when it comes to explaining why.
That’s where adventurous actors with think-on-their-feet stage experience become essential, and Jackman and Craig are able to scribble on this blank slate of a play right to the edges, in ways uniquely theirs. The betrayed exasperation Jackman brings to Denny’s chastising the world’s lack of logic as walls start collapsing around him could come from no one else: part whine, part commandment, all machismo that’s more blood oath than affect but more ineffectual than commanding. Craig is utterly convincing as both the wispy Joey who needs Denny to fight his battles and the more confident man who’s unafraid to take what he wants, even if he shouldn’t have it - his overflow of gentleness and absence of malice prevent you from detesting behavior that, by the end of the play, has become highly questionable.

But Jackman and Craig know when to leave space blank, as well - they present Denny and Joey as empty vessels that only the other can fill, which opens so many doors for the triumphs and tragedies the play documents over the course of one rainy summer. And they keep you guessing throughout. Craig plays the secretly opportunistic Joey as completely without guile; Jackman imbues Denny with a good-natured humor and reluctant charm, when the character seems to demand off-putting brusqueness and even violence in the way he approaches his daily affairs. These choices go against expectations, but they work because they help you understand both men better. Violating the script’s apparently stated precepts in this way is not a beginner’s choice, and it requires real chops to pull off when the material itself is less than absolutely scintillating.
They do throughout exactly what great actors must: not only make the roles their own, but make it difficult to imagine they could (or should) be played any other way. Theirs is a terrific pairing, one that makes a satisfying but forgettable script into something memorable and electrifying for reasons that go well beyond merely seeing big movie actors onstage. It’s great talent using good material to show the amazing things they’re capable of when they’re allowed to let loose. Producers and audiences everywhere - assuming they can get tickets - should look at A Steady Rain as the ultimate example of the magic that smart star power - and smart star casting - can work.
http://www.talkinbroadway.com/world/SteadyRain.html
The top notch acting in the Weisz/Craig/Spall 'Betrayal' is emotionally true, often v funny and its beautifully staged with filmic qualities..

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Germangirl
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Post by Germangirl »

A Steady Rain
November 30, 2009

First things first: Yes, both Hugh Jackman & Daniel Craig look really hot onstage together, but, no, they do not take their clothes off.
Like most theatre queens, I bought tickets for this show the day they were available online. The simple concept of these two men onstage together was too good to pass up, regardless of the vehicle.
I saw Jackman’s Tony-winning performance in Boy From Oz, and he’s a very likable and dynamic stage performer. I’d heard good things about Craig’s performances. So, given all of that (and the fact that they’re incredibly attractive), I was excited.
Then, there’s the play they chose. A terse, 90 minute two-person piece by Keith Huff focusing on the events surrounding a police partnership’s dynamic, A Steady Rain is not a happy play. Included in the plot are the typical cop items: department politics, race-baiting, a ying-yang energetic-reserved dynamic, an explosive & controversial circumstance, and family involvements. Ultimately, its not a great play. The pacing was off, and those cop clichés were just a bit too simply tied together.
I also found the performances uneven. Hugh Jackman way overplayed the role, apparently feeling he needed to hit a home-run on every line. He simply went too big. Where was the director, a normally restraining John Crowley, on this? The role was the more energetic of the two, but it didn’t need to swing so wildly.
Daniel Craig, on the other hand, was a model of restraint. He gave the stonger, more aligned performance here, and deserves all the hails he gets. The role isn’t particularly developed, but he gave a nuanced, cautious performance that made me wish he were in a different play entirely.
Conversely to the power of the play, the two hot stars are using their celebrity to their advantage. As most shows do in the holiday season, A Steady Rain is raising money for Broadway Cares. Some shows offer poster signings, others capitalize on any celebrity taking part in the production. Equus auctioned off Daniel Radcliffe’s Equus t-shirt, 33 Variations sold signed copies of Jane Fonda’s biography, and here both stars are auctioning off the tank-tops they were during that show’s performance. Generally, they’re raising $3,000-$4,000 per show – which is incredible. Then I was there, two people both offered $7,000 each – which they both won the auction with (and got backstage photos with the two stars). Just incredible.
And, frankly, given that these are the two stars, I’m not surprised.
Overall, I didn’t love the show, but I’m glad I went. Does that make sense? It doesn’t to me, but that’s just how I feel.
http://shonufflives.wordpress.com/2009/ ... eady-rain/
The top notch acting in the Weisz/Craig/Spall 'Betrayal' is emotionally true, often v funny and its beautifully staged with filmic qualities..

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Germangirl
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Post by Germangirl »

Germangirl wrote:
Germangirl wrote:From start to now - they are so constant, its incredible. Still best earning play. There are only two musicals this week (9-15.nov) that are over 100% as well.
Germangirl wrote:
Broadway Grosses: Sept. 7-13

Production(Theatre) Gross Gross Attendance Prev. Perf. Seats Avg. Paid Admission % Cap.
A Steady Rain(Schoenfeld) $767,663 5,355 5 0 1,071 $143.35 100.0%

Broadway Grosses: Sept. 14-20
A Steady Rain(Schoenfeld) $1,167,954 8,570 8 0 1,071 $136.28 100.0%

Broadway Grosses: Sept. 21-27
A Steady Rain(Schoenfeld) $1,153,779 8,575 8 0 1,071 $134.55 100.1%

Broadway Grosses: Sept. 28-Oct. 4

A Steady Rain(Schoenfeld) $1,096,463 8,666 0 8 1,071 $126.52 101.1%


Broadway Grosses: Oct. 5-11
A Steady Rain(Schoenfeld) $1,276,106 8,685 0 8 1,071 $146.93 101.4%


Broadway Grosses: Oct. 12-18

A Steady Rain(Schoenfeld) $1,239,283 8,672 0 8 1,071 $142.91 101.2%


Broadway Grosses: Oct. 19-25

A Steady Rain(Schoenfeld) $1,213,983 8,676 0 8 1,071 $139.92 101.3%

Broadway Grosses: Oct. 26 - Nov. 1
A Steady Rain (Schoenfeld) $1,187,455 8,667 0 8 1,071 $137.01 101.2%

Broadway Grosses: Nov. 2-8
A Steady Rain (Schoenfeld) $1,201,252 8,663 0 8 1,071 $138.66 101.1%

Broadway Grosses: Nov. 9-15
A Steady Rain (Schoenfeld) $1,202,161 8,665
0 8 1,071 $138.74 101.1%
slightly down this week - at no 4..

Broadway Grosses: Nov. 6-22
A Steady Rain
(Schoenfeld) $1,170,859 8,645 0 8 1,071 $135.44 100.9%


Broadway Grosses: Nov. 23-29

Production(Theatre) Gross Gross Attendance Prev. Perf. Seats Avg. Paid Admission % Cap.
A Steady Rain(Schoenfeld) $1,199,574 8,666 0 8 1,071 $138.42 101.1%
The top notch acting in the Weisz/Craig/Spall 'Betrayal' is emotionally true, often v funny and its beautifully staged with filmic qualities..

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