August: Osage County
When theater is good, there’s nothing like it. Last night Jess and I were treated to one of the best things I’ve seen on Broadway in a long time, August: Osage County. The Gotham Gal saw it right after it opened and absolutely loved it, so we made plans to see it on our date night. It did not disappoint.
The play is about the Weston family of Osage County Oklahoma and what happens after their father dies. It’s a pretty typical anchor for a story, but this one’s a doozy. The acting, particularly the mother Violet, played by Deanna Dunagan and shown in the photo above, and the oldest sister Barbara, played by Amy Morton, is outstanding. Both Dunagan and Morton received Tony nominations for best actress. That will be a hard choice to pick a winner from those two. The play is also up for a Tony and has already won a Pulitzer.
I am telling you, if you see one show on Broadway this year, make it August: Osage County. A warning though, it’s three hours long with two intermissions. That would normally kill me, but I was on the edge of my seat all night last night.
Comments (Archived):
Agreed! I saw this with a few friends back in March and didn’t know much about it going in (one of the friends was an actor visiting from Chicago – where it originally started and he had always wanted to see it but never did). Needless to say, like you, I left quite pleased. How often does that happen going in blind to a show on Broadway?
I was lucky enough to catch the opening at steppenwolf in Chicago. It got a standing ovation at the end of the 2nd act when Amy Morton says, “I’m running things now!” First time I ever saw a standing O at INTERMISSION….At that moment, I texted several friends saying, “this is going to win the Pulitzer.” It was theatre’s best moment in this young 21st C.
that second act was amazing. it just got better and better. i want to go back and see that act again.
Fred – agree. I saw this a few months back and loved it. Probably the best play I’ve seen.
thanks for the tip!
me and the venture vixem will check it out in a few weeks
i would love to hear a conversation about the arts and venture capital, or economics..the arts are a huge addition to quality of life, and we don’t know how to measure their value. so they have little economic value, in the way some use the term. of course they have economic realities, and the hit syndrome fuels a lot of content. but they seem to basically be subsidized art forms, especially opera, all community theater, etc. historically, patronage was the way, still is.my take, we need theater, and we need to expand the concepts of value, economics and profit in some way, (in the same way as sooner or later external costs and social costs need to be built into say, petrol costs, etc.) and am interested in how these two needs can line up. europe gets it, the opera in paris gets 700 million, the one in new york city, maybe a hundred
Do you have any suggestions?
the process is already underway in terms of changing ideas of what is valuable … meaning, years ago, we had to make a product, a thing, to sell, and now, creating an experience is the biggest of businesses …in the way you enjoy umair’s pov about quality and the influence of tech upon strategy, i also think there is a shift coming regarding quality of experiences, and the intentions behind creating them are more and more obvious as the internet enables a kind of global intuition … i love jerry salz’s writing on art lately, starting to call bs on some big names. and saatchi’s site, http://www.saatchi-gallery.co.uk is getting 60 million hits a day, so the hunger to learn about the experience business is there (his site is worth more than his collection, is my guess)i realize i am saying nothing, but the short answer is, more quality …. and thanks for pointing out a play i had not heard of
That was not ‘nothing’ThanksFred
Hmmmmm, now I wished I lived in NYC!
Hey! When do we get to see this play in Australia. From what I read about it. I wish!