Portland Center Stage **Photo credit: Owen Carey**April 14 - May 10, 2009
Review by peanutduck
Three-quarters exposition played overly tongue-in-cheek and lead by weak protagonist (Frost) makes for undramatic journey towards a payoff (Nixon’s confession) downloadable from youtube. Stageworthy: Tony Cisek’s scenic design – backdrop of elegant, mod-style cubes that frame and amplify media and light play; gliding, wood-static screens that fashion an obscured televised reality.
i must confess that after seeing the fotos from the movie for the last 6 months, this foto makes it look like a college show.
ReplyDeleteshallow maybe, but one needs very little excuse to avoid spending $40and risking 3 hrs trapped in a bad show.
i think i heard it was good actually.
It's under 2 hours and has $10 rush tickets.
ReplyDeleteyes, if you want to stand in line for a hour or so.
ReplyDeleteno thanks.
(add the show time to the wait time and it's 3 hrs)
Actually it's less than 2 hours. I saw it Sunday and it was really good. Nixon in particular was exceptional. such a tough role! Darius, Coopwood and Michael Fisher Welsh are all outstanding. I thought the set was good. I liked both of Rose's show's this year at PCS but LOVED The Receptionist at CoHo. I still think about that show.
ReplyDeleteDef go see Frost Nixon.
The minute peanutduck enjoys a show she sees, I will fall over dead.
ReplyDeleteReally?
ReplyDeletepeanutduck likes a lot of shows. Have you been paying attention? Raved about "Dreamgirls" last year, if I recall, for one.
Well, I did enjoy How to Disappear... and bobrauschenbergamerica quite a bit. So they're out there!
ReplyDeleteI never understand any of Peanutduck's reviews. They are always so odd, with crazy wording and invented words, and not at all enlightening. Does Peanutduck really think that her review of How to Disappear looks like a good review?
ReplyDeleteon the whole, i find peanutduck's reviews to be more interesting and fair and intelligent than most others.
ReplyDeletedoubtless more time will bring more perspective, but for the moment, it is a good voice to have.
Kinda need to make up words when you only get 50 to say your piece.
ReplyDeleteRight?
Saw the show this afternoon. Rose Riordan continues to display her remarkable skill this Portland theatre season. It's well executed and tight storytelling with strong performances all the way around - but with a take-your-breath away performance by Bill Christ as Nixon. Go see it.
ReplyDeletereally?
ReplyDeletei thot her production of
pillowman
showed little skill as a director.
perhaps this one is director proof.
And your spelling of "thot" shows little skill as an intelligent human being.
ReplyDeleteOh my.
This comment has been removed by the author.
ReplyDeletewhat is wrong with "thot" ?
ReplyDeletewow.
talk about discrimination.
could it be that you feel negatively towards the poster as you don't agree with their viewpoint and that it has nothing to do with their choice of how to spell things shorthand?
hmmm?
oh my, indeed.
ReplyDeleteyou clearly have nothing to say
2:04.
and you clearly think that spelling is an indicator of intelligence.
woe is you my friend, woe is you.
do you refuse to patronize a business that uses the word "nite"
on their sign?
what r ur thots on that?
Yes "2:04"
ReplyDeleteYour pointless attack seems ever-so-slightly defensive.
Can it be that you were involved in some capacity in the production of "Pillowman"?
Is that what has crawled into your
undies?
This is a rhetorical question.
I didn't much care for Riordan's Pillowman either, but I don't really know what it would take to make that script watchable. Her work on "The Thugs" and "The Receptionist" was impeccable.
ReplyDeleteHaving seen Pillowman on Broadway, I can tell you that it is far beyond "watchable" and approaches
ReplyDelete"profoundly brilliant."
In fact it was the best thing I saw on that trip, which included maybe a dozen shows.
I agree!!!
ReplyDeleteI saw it with Billy Cudrup, Jeff Goldblum, Zeljko Ivanek and Michael Stuhlbarg. Directed John Crowley.
And by the way it's "The Pillowman"
I know how sensitive folks on this blog can be about specifics and spelling and abreviations and such like.
God forfend you might post a typografical error. Get it?
I saw The Pillowman on broadway as well and thought it was brilliant - I am a McDonagh fan - but I loved Riordan's production. Her Topulski was as good as Goldblum and thought the production was mysterious and dark. What I really think is that if it's done at PCS it just can't be good - because that's just how it's done on Followspot. I generally always look forward to her work. It's so easy to post vitriol under "anonymous".
ReplyDelete"vitriol" means caustic and destructive.
ReplyDeletei don't see anything like that re rose.
i see opinions that lean toward the negative in terms of her work as a director.
the topulski i saw in pdx was not good, but i understand the original guy left for another gig rather suddenly.
2:04 here.
ReplyDeleteUm, no...wasn't involved with The Pillowman. In fact, auditioned for it, but wasn't cast.
I just think that spelling the word thought as "thot" shows a level of stupidity, that's all.
Is spelling an indicator of intelligence?
Oh, my, yes. And if you don't think the world out there judges you by such things, try working in an HR department for five minutes.
If you spell words wrong on your cover letter, you're unlikely to get an interview.
Show some intelligence, or just shut up. Please.
wow dude.
ReplyDeletemellow out!
thot is NOT a misspelling.
it is shorthand.
it is "text speak"
NO ONE is interviewing for a job here.
man oh man, if you've got some pills to help you relaax, please take 'em ('em = them)
love ya, mean it.
Apparently 2:04 does not understand what the word "rhetorical" means.
ReplyDeleteClearly 2:04 hates his job.
ReplyDeleteHere is what I do not understand about this site.
ReplyDeletePosts are removed if they are deemed an "attack" on the poster.
But it all subjective.
It is all in the "tone"
A poster may call someone unintelligent; this is fine; this is acceptable.
But if you call a poster "an idiot"
as i did, you are censored, removed.
(It was you 2:04 that I called an idiot).
Here is what the dictionary says an idiot is:
mentally deficient
Here is what it says about someone who is deemed "unintellligent":
"lacking in the ablilty to understand new situations and information"
So in fact someone who uses a new and popular abbreviation of the word "thought" is certainly then, intelligent, as per the definition.
As for 2:04 being an idiot, I don't think so -- I don't think he is mentally deficient.
I do think that he uses his intellect to say silly things about non-issues, however.
And furthermore, I believe the phrase "shut up" could be construed as "an attack."
ReplyDeleteSo, 2:04 should be deleted for using this harsh phrase, in my opinion.
It is needlessly agressive, shows a distinct lack of resourcefulness, and lowers the dialogue to grade-school level.
Well, it might be a little late to try to preserve any high standard of debate herein.
ReplyDeleteGradeschool level seems to be the norm around here.
And as for "text-speak" -- I personally like it -- it saves space and is fun to decipher.
Everyone gets an opinion about the shows on this site. But can we please dispense with the petty, small minded waste of time devoted to how someone spells the f-ing word THOUGHT?
Because then we can focus on theatre, which is what this site is for.
Would that be reasonable?
Would love to see more comments about the show and less bickering about semantics.
ReplyDeleteYou people need to get a life.
ReplyDeleteclearly your idea of a "life"
ReplyDeleteis to leave meaningless cliche comments on a blog that find yourself above.
so not only are you dull and hackneyed, but contradictory as well.
perhaps it is you sir, who needs to seek a meaningful pursuit.