The Arts in New York City

I went to watch “The Bald Soprano”. I saw “The Bald Soprano”. I left the theatre of “The Bald Soprano”. Quite honestly, I came out with absolutely nothing initially watching this play. When I first entered the theatre, I was really surprised to see that the theatre was so small and that we were sitting so up close to the actors. I have never been in an environment like this where you are up close with all the actors so I thought this was going to be a deep and meaningful experience for me, instead, I felt completely indifferent coming out of the play because I was just completely clueless about what I had just seen. Nothing made sense to me, from beginning to end. At times, I found the play hard to pay attention to because I just found it so boring while the jokes they were making were unappealing. Sometimes I just took a cursory glance around the audience and saw all these elderly people laughing and wondered why they were laughing. I found the jokes uninteresting and not appealing to me. The actors completely illogical arguments dumbfounded me even farther. I thought, “What’s the point of this play?” but I couldn’t find any answer. The ridiculous scene where you had all of the characters screaming and hollering at each other with random indiscernible comments confused me even farther and even frustrated me at times. Then after that, I saw that the play was starting over again and then I pretty much stopped paying attention because I thought they were going to replay the whole thing again for no apparent reason. Simply put, I thought that the play was just completely pointless and idiotic until… our class discussion on Monday.

After Monday’s class discussion, I finally realized that the play was meant to be the way it was. It was supposed to be trivial and nonsensical which is the way Ionesco satirizes the upper middle class. Ionesco was trying to show the pointlessness of the colloquial ways we use language. He was also satirizing the middle class and how they are preoccupied by trivial aspects of their lives that shouldn’t be important like if when someone knocks on the door, is there always somebody there or is there never anybody there. Even though I now do understand Ionesco’s true intention in writing the play and give him credit, I believe that it should be more evident to the audience what Ionesco’s intention was because I found it pretty hard to discern.

Other then the play itself, I found everything else quite interesting even though I was sitting on the side and found it hard to see the opening scene between Mr. and Mrs. Smith because Mrs. Smith was in the way. The actors and actresses really were into their roles and you could see the passion they had. The set was also designed to stimulate your senses because you could see that the sky was actually on the floor instead of in the sky which made you wonder why the set designer made it like that.

All in all, even though I initially wasn’t at all impressed by this play, I came to realize the true significance of the play started to appreciate it more (but definitely not the jokes).

Honestly, I had expected The Bald Soprano to be somewhat boring. I had always been a broadway musical fanatic (Grease, Wicked, Hairspray, Mamma Mia, Jersey Boys…), so I was not entirely excited to watch a play where there was no constant singing and dancing. Fortunately, this play exceeded my expectations (although I did not necessarily understand much of it). In the beginning, I tried to pay attention to minute details of the production, so I would be able to blog about it later on. I even counted the number of chimes the clock had made, thinking it was some sort of symbolism! However, after a while of trying to understand everything going on in the play, I gave up. The characters seemed to be speaking about complete nonsense. They lost me with the whole “Bobby Watson” confusion (even though it was quite amusing). Eventually, I decided to simply watch the rest of the show without trying so hard to interpret everything they said or did. From time to time, I found myself focusing on the audience rather than the performance. I had my eyes on a friendly looking, elderly lady in the front row, who laughed every few minutes. Occasionally, I found her more entertaining than the play itself. The play became more interesting when the Martins were introduced. I thought it was hilarious when Mrs. Martin kept repeating, “Oh how cuuuriiious it is!!”

Another aspect of the play that I liked a lot was the superb acting. The actors were very dedicated and stayed in character the whole time. With such a great deal of silly and foolish scenes, it was very impressive that not one of them cracked a smile or stuttered one bit. It’s been three days since I have watch the play, and I am still awed by the fact that Mrs. Smith had the bravery to lay herself on the floor, right after it had been brutally drenched by everyone else’s spit. Now that’s professional!

The set up of the stage was very practical as well. When I was seated, I was a bit worried that I wouldn’t be able to fully enjoy the show, since I am not used to watching performances from the sidelines. However, the actors addressed every side of the stage, especially when they were sitting in the ottomans at the corners of the stage.

The play expresses to the audience that people tend to make mountains out of molehills. In the play, the Smiths managed to have an argument for a good five minutes over something as frivolous as whether someone was at the door when the doorbell rang. The Bald Soprano also proves that adults, no matter how mature and sensible they may seem, have their irrational sides. For example, during the end of the play, all the characters went ballistic, screaming and storming at each other with words and sounds that made no sense at all.

Overall, I enjoyed most of the play. There were various parts I was extremely confused about, such as the fireman’s “relative” story and the maid’s “fire” poem, but at least they made me burst out laughing. Fortunately, I understood more about the play afterwards, when I read the director’s note in the playbill. Next time I watch  play similar to The Bald Soprano, I’d be sure to do a bit more research beforehand.

I don’t even know where to begin. The writer’s block I’m experiencing right now is almost as frustrating as the confusion I felt while watching the play.

(3 hours later)

(4 hours later)

(4.5 hours later)

While sitting in the car on my way to West Babylon it suddenly hit me. I didn’t actually like the play. The jibberish, the double standards, and the nonsense was all too much for me to handle. Let’s start with the fact that the opening scene was a mixture of “clucks” and pretentious remarks : “…and that’s because we live in the suburbs of London…and our last name is Smith.” I understand that Ionesco was purposely trying to make fun of the upper middle class but I didn’t find the jokes funny, most fell flat.

“Wait, what?”  was literally what I was thinking as I sat there staring at the Fire Chief reciting stories for his audience. I didn’t get it, but maybe that’s because I was distracted. I mean, seriously, the scenery was upside down. Not to mention the sky was on the floor. I took this time to look out at the people who paid fine money to go to the theater that night. Everyone, and by everyone I mean the people over 55, seemed to be thoroughly enjoying the Fire Chief’s rant about the aunt of that cousin who also had a friend who had a sister-in-law who had a nephew that did something that I missed entirely.

Screaming, yelling, and a lot of sexual tension are the perfect words to characterize this single act play. After the words “bald soprano” were spoken, the entire show evolved into an atrocity. I really like how this directly relates to God of Carnage. As soon as Annette, put simply, throws up in Veronique’s living room it’s all over. It seemed to be that certain acts were key to revealing the true sides of each character in each play.

I don’t think the play spoke to the New York audience very clearly at all. If a group of some of the smartest kids in NYC (all modesty aside) could not understand the point Ionesco was trying to make, then how can anybody?

Maybe I didn’t like it because I’m a logical person, maybe I didn’t like it because I actually had to work to find a meaning, or maybe I didn’t like it because it just wasn’t good.

I am not going to lie. I hate phonies and people who put on airs. I hate everything about them. Perhaps this is why I loved the Bald Soprano.

I believe I fell in love with the play the moment I heard the first “cluck” from the gentlemen as the simpering women yammered on constantly. This is what I enjoyed particularly- all the yammering. The script, while albeit completely unconventional and at all times nonsensical- contained an artistic value that was too real to ignore. I felt that the inarticulate babble that spewed constantly from these people’s lips was extremely similar to inane chatter I find myself immersed in whenever I visit my extended family. These people in the show tried to put up the appearance that they were these lovely people in “the suburbs of London” when in reality they were nothing more than some people who were as lost as anyone else, and who were extremely replaceable as was illustrated in the end of the show. But what I especially loved was the set. The fact that the entire thing was upside down was marvelous and I think it really illustrated the central theme that these people were trying and failing to keep up the appearance of being normal. The infernal clock that kept chiming, a ridiculous number of chimes may I add, simply added to the effect that there was something really wrong with the whole scene. I enjoyed everything so much I didn’t even mind the awkward proximity the audience was seated in in relation to the stage.

This play was perfect to perform in New York. Don’t get me wrong, I love New York and I think it’s the best place in the world to be, but this play definitely related to those putrid Manhattanites that host their own pretentious dinner parties in their two million dollar townhouses. They are a dime a dozen, people seeking desperately to conform to society’s accepted doctrine. I think this play does an apt job of mimicking the language they use and how false it is.

So yes, I loved every confusing, muddled and garbled second of this crazy show. I especially loved the moment where everything broke down and they were screaming without any rationality. I believed that that moment was a true expression of humanity-we can all pretend to be something that we aren’t, but honestly how long is it until we all just break down and scream “cascades of caca”?