Divamensch

Richard and I saw this Arthur Miller play on Broadway on 12/22.  It wasn't really on my radar, but it had gotten so many rave reviews, and everyone I know who saw it (including my freakin' dentist) said it was brilliant.  We found tickets in the balcony for under $40, so why not?

 

I'm so glad we saw it, it was stunning.  It's a production from London, directed by Ivo van Hove, the Dutch director who did the production of *Antigone* we saw at BAM in September, with Juliette Binoche.  He is a genius, he does all the things you need a director to do: he delivers the story, he amps up the drama, he illustrates the relationships between the characters, and he does something you don't expect.

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The star of the show was Mark Strong as Eddie.  This guy is having the worst mid-life crisis of all time.  He just cannot get out of his own way.  Strong lived up to his name and had better be remembered when the Tony nominations come out.  But you know, Tony has a very short memory, and this show will have been closed for five months by the time Tony pulls into town.  Plus Ivo van Hove's next Broadway show, *The Crucible*, is opening in April, so I suppose they'll have to clear a path for that.  BTW we have tickets for that, too.  I'm already excited for it.  Van Hove also deserves a nomination as Best Director of a play, by the way.  I wonder if he could get it twice, for both shows?

 

One more thing, and I'll be deliberately vague so as not to be a spoiler: this show had one of the most shocking moments I've ever seen onstage.  A real <<coup de theatre>>, and you don't see those very often.