A holiday itinerary for New York is incomplete without the inclusion of a Broadway show. Being a performing arts writer, I’d probably be booed out of the stage community if I returned from my holiday in Manhattan with no ticket stub from one of the 40 theatres that line the flashy Broadway district to wave around.
The onerous task of narrowing down Broadway musicals or plays began long before I had booked tickets to the United States. Determining what to watch involved a vetting process, taking into consideration TripAdvisor reviews of long-running musicals, feedback from friends and Twitter and Facebook followers suggestions. The crowd-pullers have always been musicals such as The Lion King and Les Misérables. But then, in a moment of fangirl foolishness, I disregard all those recommendations and settled on splashing out a hefty Dh1,000 for China Doll, one of the highest priced plays on Broadway this season.
What's that and why, you ask? One name: Al Pacino. Seeing that tickets for just the preview performances of this play by Pulitzer Prize-winning playwright David Mamet, which began on October 20, were almost sold out two months prior, makes it less embarrassing to admit that the major draw to this production was the Academy-, Emmy- and Tony-Award winning actor in the lead. Of course, there was box office evidence of the Al Pacino-Mamet collaboration success with the revival of Glengarry Glen Ross in 2012. Who passes up an opportunity to see them recreate magic on stage?
Definitely not the hundreds who had queued up on the Broadway street outside Gerald Schoenfeld Theatre that night. According to reports, the play grossed about US $1.1 million (Dh4.03m) in the first six preview performances alone, a spectacularly high figure for a show that isn’t a musical.
China Doll, which officially opens this week, is about a wealthy old man who, on the eve of his retirement, buys a plane for his young fiancé and the legal mess that ensues.
About 10 minutes into the play, which surprisingly began on the dot at 8pm, the admiration bubble burst.
Al Pacino’s gruff voice was inaudible every time he paced around the stage. His jargon-laden monologues could have benefited from crisper writing. Perhaps then the actor could have focused on delivery rather than rely so heavily on teleprompters for lines. During the interval, a group of audience members had to discuss what transpired in the first act to collectively reach a conclusion on the storyline. The couple sitting next to me never returned for the second act, and I’m sure I heard someone snore during an excruciatingly long soliloquy, too. That’s your verdict right there. Walking out of the theatre, the general consensus was that even the presence of a celebrated actor could not redeem this uninspiring script.
How did I get over it? I had to remind myself of the legendary actor's scene in The Godfather where his character, Michael Corleone, meets with Sollozzo. It helped erase the bitter memories of the two hours that had passed.
aahmed@thenational.ae
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Publisher: EA Sports
Consoles: Nintendo Switch, PlayStation 4&5, Xbox One and Xbox Series X/S
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Started: 2020
Founders: Alexander Heller, Rama Allen and Desi Gonzalez
Based: Dubai, UAE
Sector: Entertainment
Number of staff: 210
Investment raised: $75 million from investors including Galaxy Interactive, Riyadh Season, Sega Ventures and Apis Venture Partners
Zidane's managerial achievements
La Liga: 2016/17
Spanish Super Cup: 2017
Uefa Champions League: 2015/16, 2016/17, 2017/18
Uefa Super Cup: 2016, 2017
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Favourite place in UAE: Al Rams pearling village
What one book should everyone read: Any book written before electricity was invented. When a writer willingly worked under candlelight, you know he/she had a real passion for their craft
Your favourite type of pearl: All of them. No pearl looks the same and each carries its own unique characteristics, like humans
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