The River : POSTSCRIPTS

[jo]

Quite a few celebrities went to see THE RIVER ( Taylor Swift, Bradley Cooper, Naomi Watts and Liev Schreiber, etc.,) but we never knew about the biggest celebrity of all


But did she actually see the play...or did she only see Hugh at the same time when he was performing in THE RIVER?







If she was at the show --

Interesting that Hugh never even mentioned it ( I wonder how he felt emoting before someone like Barbra) and not one audience member tweeted about it -- I wonder if she sat at THE RIVERBANK

I wonder how Cush and Laura felt


Jo

[mamaleh]

I'm not sure she's saying she saw THE RIVER--just that she visited him in NY during his run in that play. If she had been there, I"m sure he'd have posted about it or someone would have snapped a photo, or it would have made the news. At least that's my guess.

Ellen

[mamaleh]

Remember that surprise third woman in THE RIVER? Jessica Love is now appearing in the Off-Bway play AUBERGINE at Playwrights Horizons. I caught a performance the other day; she's in the opening and the final scenes of this little gem of a play. No English or Irish accent this time, mid-Atlantic American all the way.

Ellen

[jo]

Except why bother to say that it was during the time of THE RIVER -- she could have just said that she came to see him in NYC -- which would not be unusual because she has mentioned in one of the promo interviews that she had met Hugh a few times and that he had once brought his family to her house in Malibu? She also said that she was glad that Hugh said "Yes" because she had used his agreeing to do it as " the hook" to persuade the others to join the album

Oh well, maybe she didn't go to CITS ( unless she was wearing a wig or something?) -- but Hugh must have been really thrilled when Barbra came over to persuade him to sing with her

Jo

[jo]

This was probably taken at one of the BC/EFA photo ops during the run --

Josh Henry © ‏@imjoshhenry · 4h4 hours ago  Georgia, USA

The day my passion to produce and perform in #theriver began!
@joenatl @realhughjackman
#hughjackman #theatre

But what's amazing ... and rare ... is Mr. Henry actually did produce and will star in a staging of THE RIVER himself!

DeKalb Neighbor ‏@dekalbneighbor · Sep 1

#Decatur actor brings #Broadway back home with new show "The River"

Here's the background story of how the play becomes a part of theatre attractions in Atlanta for September!


www.mdjonline.com/neighbor_newspapers/dekalb/community/decatur-actor-brings-broadway-back-home/article_e744bb42-704b-11e6-82a3-6bad78dbdc18.html

[jo]

Fans of Hugh Jackman and his body of work have manifested their admiration or regard in so many ways --

*Via seeing a show or a movie multiple times...rewatching it on DVD/BluRay endless times!

*Supporting his show/movie related advocacies such as his campaign for BC/EFA or his charity work for MPTF

*Doing fan art or other artistic interpretations of the characters that Hugh has portrayed!

*Dressing up mostly as Wolverine ( and in the past, as Van Helsing) at comiccons and at Halloween! Dressing up as Peter Allen/Hugh Jackman in gold lame and leopard print shirt at later performances of THE BOY FROM OZ. Or simply wearing the signature leopard print in many forms - as dress, blouse, scarf, pants, coat, gloves, bags, shoes, headgear, accessories like brooches or bracelets or even rings, and or other interesting ideas!

*Keeping film and fan sites active and current!


But nothing beats actually performing the role he has performed because it was influenced by Hugh's portrayal!

*There have been stage reprises of JEAN VALJEAN but it is likely more to do with the revival or concert shows of the show LES MISERABLES which is universally recognized and admired as a brand name! Except maybe the strong and increased awareness of THE SOLILOQUY because of his winning portrayal, whereas previous stage performers never elevated this important song in their performances compared to how Hugh has made it the key song of Valjean! Sorry, Bring Him Home was never Valjean's most important song -- maybe Who Am I ranks closer to The Soliloquy as key to his character portrayal! Of course, Karimloo started doing gym fitness regimes to show off his chest with the imprint of "24601"...although the movie musical Valjean never showed us his chest ( except as an emaciated convict) or his brand

*Mr. Henry's portrayal ( and producing action) in THE RIVER is probably one of the most admirable ways of showing how a show and an actor prodded him to follow the actor's lead!


Jo

[jo]

Interesting group dynamics during pre-show time for THE RIVER!

time.com/4816939/colleagues-group-ritual/

When the Belfast-born actress Laura Donnelly is working on Broadway, she likes to arrive at the theater several hours before the curtain. She eats a relaxed takeout dinner, does yoga, and then performs vocal exercises. “I warm up the same way before any play — I have my set routine,” says Donnelly, who is best known for her role in the TV series Outlander.

But in the fall of 2014, when Donnelly starred alongside Hugh Jackman in the Broadway show The River, she put aside her traditional pre-performance routine and did something else instead.

Before each show, the play’s three actors and a few backstage personnel would form a circle in the theater’s lobby. Each night, the group would agree on a new category, such as a type of tree, or a sexual position, or a cartoon character who is blue. Then one of the actors would take a football, shout an example that fit the category (Papa Smurf!), and toss the football to the person directly across the circle, who’d then shout her word (Superman!), and toss the football onward.

After the entire group had caught and thrown the football a few times, they’d choose a second category, and, with the football still making its rounds, start shouting a second set of words and tossing a tennis ball to each other. “It got sillier and sillier. That was the charm of the game,” Donnelly says. “We’d usually end up falling down and laughing.”


When Ian Rickson, the show’s director, first asked Donnelly to incorporate the ball tossing into her preshow routine — supplanting some of her solo habits — she was slightly miffed. “It felt like I was being taken out of my ability to control how I warm up,” she says. Over time, her view shifted. “I began to realize that this was much more beneficial than my own personal warm-up,” she says. “[The group ritual] was a really great way of reconnecting. It gave us such a sense of being one company, and a real camaraderie, that was really useful. It’s something I’d be very keen to do with any company in the future.”

More...

At the lobby of Circle in the Square?? Hmmm...maybe backstage instead ?

Hey, do you guys remember spending the time ( while waiting for Hugh to arrive) chatting in the warm comfort of the inside lobby


Hugh, Laura, and Cush all were theatre-born, so the ritual was probably not outlandish to them...I wonder about big name FILM actors who tread the boards for the first time encountering such kind of physical/mental/emotional warmups before performing? Is it different with plays compared to musicals? Of course with musicals, there will be more emphasis on vocal warmups...but is the psychological aspect of putting oneself into another character for 2 hours ( more or less) and interacting with co-actors be challenging on a different level?



Jo

[mamaleh]

Maybe the writer meant the downstairs lobby, where the show-related merchandise is sold. I doubt such a ritual would be practiced in a space open to public view.

Ellen

[jo]

Maybe not even there -- isn't that where the restrooms are located? Many people who are early coming in stop by the restrooms before the show so they don't have to be in a long queue during intermission? Or have I forgotten the layout of CITS


Wherever it happened, it sounded like a complicated ritual


Jo

[jo]

Laura Donnelly is in a new play THE FERRYMAN ( again by Jez Butterworth) at the West End.

www.broadway.com/buzz/188996/laura-donnelly-on-starring-in-londons-the-ferryman-and-the-hell-of-working-with-hugh-jackman/


Excerpts --

Was working on a three-hander like The River useful prep?

The thing about that play was how different it was and how intimate and in no way similar to Jerusalem, which had come before it. I loved the fact that I got to explore something so unique and completely against what everybody was expecting, so when Jez told me about his plans for this next play, I was immediately 100% on board.


What are your memories of doing The River on Broadway in 2014 with Hugh Jackman?

It was hell [laughs]! No, Hugh is one of the most wonderful people I have ever met professionally or personally. He’s an incredibly nice man who has charisma for days, and what was amazing was that he could walk into any theater on Broadway and know the name of everyone from the people at the door to the bar staff. He’s just so interested in what is happening outside himself.


Was it odd playing a character in The River [the so-called “Other Woman”] who didn’t have an actual name?

We spent a lot of time on that play looking for clues to the character in the text, so I think in my mind she had a different name in London to what she had on Broadway. I had to do a lot more creating with who I thought [the character] was than I have had to do with Caitlin.

[jo]

This auction was hysterical

[mamaleh]

So funny. Well, at least the other bidder won't hurt him.

Ellen

[jo]

Maybe this is gushing -- but I was reading a review of a revival of COMPANY in Barrington ( Massachusetts) and the reviewer made a direct comparison re charisma. The reviewer categorically said Aaron Tveit had as much charisma and magnetism as Hugh Jackman!


No offense meant to Aaron but I have seen him live ( Catch Me If You Can...and Norbert Leo Butz stole the attention from him) and in Les Miserables ( Eddie Redmayne stole the attention from him) -- no comparison at all. He can sing and act -- but he is lacking that indefinable manly charm and spark. I even thought that he lacked the Apollo-appeal of the Enjolras character in Victor Hugo's actual novel of Les Miserables.

I mention this on this thread -- because if you had seen the play THE RIVER live... or had just watched the auctions on YouTube -- you can immediately sense how the audience laps up everything Hugh says and does. He has it in spades!


Jo

[hughmanity]

I (and many tv critics) thought Tveit also fell a little flat in the role of Danny Zuko in the Grease Live television production.

Aug 16, 2017 21:44:05 GMT -5 jo said:

Maybe this is gushing -- but I was reading a review of a revival of COMPANY in Barrington ( Massachusetts) and the reviewer made a direct comparison re charisma. The reviewer categorically said Aaron Tveit had as much charisma and magnetism as Hugh Jackman!


No offense meant to Aaron but I have seen him live ( Catch Me If You Can...and Norbert Leo Butz stole the attention from him) and in Les Miserables ( Eddie Redmayne stole the attention from him) -- no comparison at all. He can sing and act -- but he is lacking that indefinable manly charm and spark. I even thought that he lacked the Apollo-appeal of the Enjolras character in Victor Hugo's actual novel of Les Miserables.

I mention this on this thread -- because if you had seen the play THE RIVER live... or had just watched the auctions on YouTube -- you can immediately sense how the audience laps up everything Hugh says and does. He has it in spades!


Jo

[jo]

Laura Donnelly stars in a new play ( The Ferryman) by Jez Butterworth in the West End--

www.irishnews.com/arts/2017/09/11/news/actress-laura-donnelly-on-how-uncle-s-ira-murder-inspired-hit-west-end-play-1130900/

The play relates to ( but not about) the sectarian violence in Northern Ireland years back...

but this is an interesting piece of news mentioned in the article :

It's not through sheer coincidence that Butterworth chose this very personal experience as his subject matter, of course – he and Donnelly have been partners for several years and have a one-year-old daughter together. The Antrim Road-reared actress tells how the play came about.

[jo]

Laura Donnelly has been nominated for an Olivier Best Actress award for her role in Jez Butterworth's new play THE FERRYMAN. She competes with such prominent actresses like Imelda Staunton, Audra McDonald, and Lesley Manville.

www.telegraph.co.uk/theatre/olivier-awards-mastercard/best-actress-nominations/

[jo]

Laura Donnelly won Best Actress - Drama at the Oliviers for her role in The Ferryman! The play also won for Best Play ( Jez Buttterworth) and for Best Director ( Sam Mendes). The play is due to transfer to Broadway ( Bernard Jacobs) in October 2018. It is a long play - 3 hours and 15 minutes.

Here's Ben Brantlee's review --

www.nytimes.com/2017/05/04/theater/review-the-ferryman-in-jez-butterworths-ireland.html

[jo]

An interview with Laura Donnelly.

She played the Other Woman in THE RIVER and will be coming back to Broadway in October. It will be in the Olivier award-winning new play by ( real-life partner) Jez Butterworth THE FERRYMAN. Laura won Olivier Best Actress honors for the role set in northern Ireland during the time of the sectarian violence. The play also won Olivier awards for playwright Butterworth and director Sam Mendes.

www.belfasttelegraph.co.uk/life/weekend/belfast-actress-laura-donnelly-on-starring-in-play-inspired-by-uncles-ira-murder-37154487.html

[jo]

[mamaleh]

I still can’t figure that one out, but it was interesting watching HJ gut that trout.

Most memorable performance: when HJ accidentally nicked his finger and the paramedics came running to the rescue immediately after the show. Fortunately, the cut appeared to be not dangerous.

Ellen

[jo]

Enigmatic, huh

But it was also quite an experience watching Hugh show his full acting range - just facial/body language and a rich speaking voice ( loved one scene where he was delivering almost a poetic soliloquy or ode), without any distracting action scene or musical note/step. And if you were lucky with a riverbank seat, the experience was even more unusual! Whether water spigot- or couch-side

I think Jez Butterworth will eventually revise this piece of meditation... as it did seem as if some of his thoughts were still halfway wandering in the play itself.

Was it about The Man's inability to find what he could not define as his ultimate goal... or just reliving an unbelievable childhood experience that pushed his imagination even as he grew up and became The Man seeking The Woman?

Almost inscrutable!


PS: Even with that very good session hosted by NYTimes Patrick Healy with Hugh and Ian Rickson - I still would like to hear what Hugh has to say on what pushed him to consider this play for staging on Broadway. Was it the meditative nature? I once attempted to read a book he said was one of his top 5 literary gems - it was SIDDARTHA - I could not finish it because I was getting stuck with the deep messages it was trying to convey.

Note : "Siddhartha, novel by Hermann Hesse based on the early life of Buddha, published in German in 1922. ... SUMMARY: The theme of the novel is the search for self-realization by a young Brahman..."

Jo

[jo]

A little more than 5 years ago --

Translated from Spanish by GOOGLE--

I will never get over this play with my perfect
@realhughjackman

This day I saw how great an actor he is.
#TheRiver#NYC

[njr]

New show on AMC starring Cush Jumbo - The Beast Must Die:
A week after its streaming premiere, this emotional crime drama makes its cable debut. Cush Jumbo (The Good Fight) is wrenchingly affecting as Frances Cairnes, a grieving mother seeking answers and vengeance for the hit-and-run killing of her young son while on vacation. She returns to the Isle of Wight, confronting newly arrived Detective Inspector Nigel Strangeways (The Serpent’s Billy Howle) on his first day, rattling him with her intensity. As he begins looking into what appears to be a cover-up, Frances sets her sights on finding who’s responsible. (In episode 2, streaming on AMC+, she locks in on the arrogant and wealthy George Rattery, played by Mad Men’s Jared Harris.)

Nancy

[JH4HJ]

Just FYI - fund raiser for Broadway Cares/Equity Fights AIDS

The River opening night Playbill, signed by Hugh Jackman



auction page