August: Osage County

Music Box Theater

This has been reviewed to death, so there isn't much to add. I'm not going to do a full review here in light of how long it has been playing and how much has been written about it. Just a couple of notes, lest I add to the hype...

I believe I saw it after some major cast changes in its second theater since it came to New York. It seems to be holding up well. Except for one thing. I noticed when I saw The Seafarer near the end of its run that the actors had performed the play too many times. They knew the audience laughs too well. They actually started to pause before they made the joke, knowing the laugh was coming. Actors can overperform a piece and lose the natural flow which accompanied earlier performances. August had a touch of that, predicting more is in its future if they aren't careful.

What can I actually say about the play? Its weakest point seemed to be that it was too complete. Clocking in at over three hours, it did all of the thinking work for you. You left with a complete package instead of something your mind could play with and unravel. Ideas were finished, the plot was rounded, end of story. It was like a really fancy, huge feast with not a single leftover.

There were a couple of strange casting calls, people didn't match their physical descriptions very well. The second daughter looked entirely too young to be the age she was claiming to be. And, the granddaughter was supposed to have rather impressive breasts and a very mature body in the play, and she wasn't quite the description. I can only imagine actors were cast according to their acting ability rather than the way they fit the character's description.

August was a birthday present. I had been dying to see it for ages. It was the real deal in terms of good theater. I just wish I'd had more in the way of leftovers.