Anyway, I got an amazing ticket six rows back from the stage. The show is at a theater at Lincoln Center with stadium seating, so any seat would have been fine in the orchestra section, but my seat was ideal. Because the show was only discounted 30 percent, it was still a bit pricey, but it was well worth it.
I loved this play. It was amazingly well staged. The life-size horse puppets are extraordinary. The horses had so much personality that you totally accepted them as real characters in the show. If you have the chance to see it, I highly recommend it if you can take this emotional story of World War I. Tears were running down my cheeks by the end. Yes... puppets made me cry. It is easy to understand how it won the Tony for best play last year.
Of course, my friend Elaine, an avid horse lover, would love parts of this show, but she could not take the tragedy. Years ago, we went together to see the film, The Horse Whisperer, and there is a scene where a horse is struck by a huge truck and Elaine went hysterical. You could tell it was about to happen and she slid down on the floor in panic. When it did happen, she loudly sobbed for a prolonged period. I had to remind her that it wasn't real. She would have to be committed if she sat through War Horse. Not to give too much away, but there are some equine deaths in the show (and some human deaths). The program explained that more than 8 million horses died in WWI. Elaine... Do Not See This Show!Though seeing this show was largely a positive experience, there were a few negatives. If you have ever seen a Wednesday matinee of a broadway show, you know there are primarily two categories of people in the audience--high school students and senior citizens. The kids, overall, were fairly well behaved. They sometimes laughed at inappropriate moments and were a little noisy, but because this was such a great show, I think they were too involved to misbehave.
The seniors on the other hand were not so great. I think some older people forget they are in a live theater show and not in their living room where they can freely comment on what's happening around them without bothering others. I sat between a woman with a bad cold who was constantly blowing snot for the entire performance, and an old lady who's husband and her had seen the Steven Spielberg movie of War Horse and were constantly making comments like, "I don't remember this part in the movie." I had to give them some looks. They got the message.
2 comments:
I was prepared to say how I really envied you seeing this show and how much I'd love to have seen it on the stage myself. I've deliberately avoided the film, knowing that despite the animal welfare policy in its making, as well as its c.g. trickery, I still would have been terribly upset at the depiction of animal suffering and death. But now in the light of what you say above on your own reaction to it, I'm not sure that I could take the live show either.
As for the remarks of the 'Seniors' in your last paragraph, it does fill one with despair in knowing that even mature audience members can look on a film interpretation as being THE definitive version when, of course, it's so often an adaptation of material from another source. Differences are to be expected - even substantial ones.
I think the preview for the season was a great idea!I’m glad you got to see it .
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