According to Gatecrasher, audiences who attended Monday’s preview performance of Matthew Broderick’s new play were ready to shoot “The Starry Messenger.”
When a Broadway-bound show does a preview, you can expect that there will still be some kinks to work out, however Broderick’s performance was plagued from the beginning. The actor didn’t know his lines and had to ask for a prompt ten times in the first act. It could be a loooooong week for the actor, as shows are scheduled through Friday.
“Broderick should be fined for this sort of thing,” one angry user wrote. “The theater, the producers, Kenneth Lonergan (the director) and Broderick should be ashamed to have let an audience in for this.”
Another Broadway fan who hadn’t even seen the show chimed in: “For God’s sake, they are charging good money for this, and it is indeed unconscionable to use these as rehearsals. I only hope they do cancel this week of performances because I, too, have a ticket, and I don’t want to endure this either.”
Perhaps audience members were being a bit harsh. It was just a preview, after all, and a source close to the show says that a recent casting change may have led to the play’s rocky start. Merwin Goldsmith replaced Jonathan Hadary just this past weekend.
But our insider says Broderick’s flubs were more than just a few butchered lines. “It was an overall mess,” said the source. “He kept apologizing under his breath after he forgot a line, and everyone in the audience started to feel awkward.”
It’s a bad start for Broderick and his “Starry Messenger” run, which comes right after some unkind critical notices for Sarah Jessica Parker’s hubby. Several outlets panned his performance in “The Philanthropist,” which ran from April to June. While one review commented on his “dullness,” others even got a little personal, dissing the sideburns he grew for the part.
Audiences can be so harsh. He was probably too busy taking care of the newborn twins he shares with SJP to be studying lines. Cut a dork a break. The producers of the show obviously agree that there’s lots of work yet to be done. The show’s release date has been bumped a week to November 23rd.
Please excuse my temp Alzheimers!.. Those twin adopted babies My little pony ‘stealth blackmailed bargined for.. when she caught him…??!!!’ adopted and instantly abandoned to Daddy to care, as she must sacrifice her needs and desires to the legions of fans.. her STELLAR STAR [ha!] career; are giving him mommy brain with their needs.. colic, irregular hr feedings, nanny frets and crying stages every moment of the day and night..
WTF? Get out of here, Courtney!
WHAT ??????
I work in the theatre industry, and I have never heard of someone calling for a line while there is an audience in house. I can’t even believe someone responded to the request. Make it up for christsakes.
He clearly could use some advice from Ian McKellen:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=nyoWmkhRyp8
This is by far one of the best clips from “Extras” — still funny even watching it again. McKellen sounds so sincere while he’s explaining himself you almost believe he’s actually serious.
Ohhh, Sir Ian. If he were only fifty or so years younger, he would have my heart.
Re: “Audiences can be so harsh. He was probably too busy taking care of the newborn twins he shares with SJP to be studying lines. Cut a dork a break.” Sorry, but that doesn’t fly — audiences have a right to be harsh considering how much they pay for theater tickets in New York. If I’m paying some $50 or more of my hard earned money to see a performance by a known actor, I’m also going to being expecting it to be done in the utmost professional manner — preview or no preview. The conflicts that arise from working and raising a family are Broderick’s problem and his alone, not the audience’s.
I agree. As I found this is the definition for preview:
preview US, prevue [?pri?vju?]
n
1. an advance or preliminary view or sight
2. an advance showing before public presentation of a film, art exhibition, etc., usually before an invited audience of celebrities and journalists
3. (Performing Arts / Theatre) a public performance of a play before the official first night
vb
(tr) to view in advance
Basically you just get to see the finished product BEFORE it’s shown to a mass audience. If there were so many kinks they should have canceled said preview. The audience did not pay to watch a rehearsal.
Regardless of the dictionary definition, a preview performance in theatre is typically a performance which is open to the public before the show is ready to offically premiere.
It is provided that a preview performance will have slight mishaps (usually technical ones- actors have been rehearsing for months, and the tech is usually only set a few days before the performance) and that is why tickets usually cost less than regular performance prices.
That being said, there is no excuse for an actor to be calling line during a preview. If he doesn’t know his lines for the preview, he isn’t going to know them for the opening. Not to mention a professional actor should be able to keep in character regardless of difficulties with lines.
As bad as it sounds, I hope there was something terrible distracting him. It might be more excusable if we learned a close friend passed away, or something else staggering.
Otherwise, he should be ashamed of himself.
Wow, that’s surprising. I saw him and Nathan Lane in The Producers on Broadway (God…eight years ago???) and he was just amazing. This is disappointing.
THATS BECAUSE THE STARRY MESSENGER IS DECODING THE MYSTERIES OF THE COSMOS AND THE PRODUCERS IS JAZZ HANDS.
THIS SHOULDN’T BE A SURPRISE, IT’S FERRIS BUELLER.
:( That makes me sad. I love Matthew! Wish I could’ve seen him in the Producers on Broadway.
I have been to previews of several major broadway shows (Shrek, Catch Me If You Can, Young Frankenstein, to name a few) and they are generally expected to be finished works. Yes, there are slight technical problems here and there (Shrek was delayed about 20 minutes because they couldn’t get a set piece working) but the acting should be perfected and professional. Previews are not glorified dress rehearsals–they are advance showings. The fact that this was a preview in no way excuses Broderick’s shoddy and completely unprofessional performance. For God’s sake, the man called for lines multiple times in front of the audience!! They have every right to be angry.
That being said, he was fantastic in The Producers, and I’m really sad that things aren’t going well for him.
“Matthew Broderick Sucks”
Wendie you left out the word “dick”
“Matthew Broderick Sucks Dick”