...before it ends its run at Lincoln Center on April 29th. David and I both thumbs-upped this play when we saw it in previews but you don't have to look hard for other strongly positive responses: in his review for the Observer, John Halipern called it "the finest new American play I've seen in a long while", and Mark Armstrong at Mr. Excitement hails it as a "victory for the timeslessness of great drama". Even the Times raved and said you should see it. What are you waiting for, a discount code? Go to broadwayoffers and use code DC45LCT for $45 tickets. Don't wait, because as this gripping (Andy Propst, American Theater Web) and excellent (LudlowLad, Off-Off Blogway) new play of substance finishes out its limited run, you won't be the only one who's suddenly scrambling to see it.
With a student I.D., you can get up to two tickets for $10 each. You can even do it right now, online. At broadwayoffers use code DC4TONY for advance student tickets and just bring the I.D. with you when you collect the tickets at the box office.
And you should have no trouble getting a ticket. For this run of "Dying City" they've added additional seats to the theater, which means that now the Mitzi Newhouse sleeps more than 300!
ReplyDeleteI heard a rumor that you slept through the original Broadway production of Arthur Miller's All My Sons in 1947.
ReplyDeleteWell, that's partly true. I slept through half of the CAST of the Broadway revival of "All My Sons" in 1987. Don't always rely on David Bell as a trustworthy source.
ReplyDeleteThis post seems oddly like an advertisement. Do any of the bloggers have an affiliation with LCT or Shinn?
ReplyDeleteI haven't seen the play yet (have plans to do so on Wednesday 4/18) so can offer no insights towards the quality (or lack thereof) of the piece, but since when does SS use its bandwidth to blatantly advertise? Unfortunately it seems that TONY's proclamation that bloggers can have their opinions swayed to return favors might JUST be true.
I would love to be proven wrong.
As far as I know, none of us have anything to do with either entity (and Shinn IS an entity). I will let Patrick respond on his own behalf, but I'm guessing he posted this discount offer because we all like to cheerlead the theater, especially if we've seen something we like.
ReplyDeleteJeffrey - David and I aren't getting a thing in exchange for posting the discount code and have no affiliation that should call its good, clean, theatre-loving intentions into question. We've been asked dozens of times before to promote this or that (usually by recycling a press release more often than posting a code) but we resist. It seemed like a door that could open too far and suck us somewhere we don't want to be.
ReplyDeleteIn this case, David and I had already seen it (finagaling tickets like anyone else, if that matters to you) and we both think it's an important new play. Undoubtedly we were asked if we might post the code BECAUSE we had already written the show up positively. I don't see any conflict at all in reminding people that it's closing, that we liked it, and that the discount codes are still active.
That said, you'll rarely see such a thing on here - so far, in about sixteen months of racing David, I've posted the discount offer for Essential Self Defense which came with full disclosure, and David has posted codes for two downtown shows that he is wildly enthusiastic about. I believe that that's the sum total.
You can be sure that you get our honest opinions here. In fact, it's the currency of this site, and part of why the recent business with the TONY article and the ESD comps rubbed me the wrong way. The subtext of this race is to convey the excitement of attending live theatre, which comes in more varieties than most people in New York realize. Once in a while, yes, we might want to put a code out there for something special that we liked such as Dying City. (Frankly, if journey's End wrote and asked us to post a code we'd do that too - there's one all four of us raved about and it kills me to see it barely scraping by on Broadway)
You can blame my enthusiasm if the post reads like an advertisement; if you've been reading us for a while you surely know what we are about here.
And please do come back after you see it and let us know what YOU thought.
Patrick,
ReplyDeleteThanks for the clarification. If I'm reading you correctly, LCT approached you and asked to post the code. You, having enjoyed the play, agreed to provide this bit of free advertising. I guess it just depends on how you look at it. I don't begrudge having enthusiasm for shows (even when its misplaced, as I think you have with Essential Self Defense), and this is fundamentally your blog so who am I to say anything, but having read it, it just strikes me as very odd for a contributor to return to a show that he has already reviewed in order to convince others to buy tickets. I guess I was under the false impression that this blog exists only to document your impressions of shows after having seen them, and nothing more.
Granted, there's been appeals to save the Papermill and the like on the site as well, and I haven't said anything before. And its your blog, do what you will. Just piping in with a bit of reader confusion.
It all goes back to Essential Self-Defense, doesn't it! ;) By the way, I'm seeing that again on Sunday on my dime.
ReplyDeleteYour impressions are appreciated, Jeffrey. I don't want the blog to veer too far away from its course, which you've summed up very nicely, and probably a pow-wow is overdue to get a firm policy about atypical posts. But yes, you read me correctly, and although I appreciate you taking the time to express your confusion, I still am pleased and untroubled to have posted the discount code, especially after having the chance to elaborate on it in this exchange with you. Thanks.
Ok, I went, can't say I didn't try. This may be a new American play by a new American playwright, but that's not enough. Too much focus on an "interesting" structure that doesn't actually work or make for any amount of intriguing drama. performances are fine, but just fine. and when a play is so lacking, fine performances turn to boring performances.
ReplyDeletehey, thanks for coming back and having your say, Jeffrey. I strongly disagree, but you already knew that ;)
ReplyDelete