On Wednesday, our class got the opportunity to go see the play The Heiress. After reading Washington Square by Henry James, I was eager to see it in another light, and I was not disappointed.

I think the play was excellent. It wasn’t a carbon copy of the book, but that was not the purpose of it. It did a good job of maintaining the key aspects of the book while adding many humorous and dramatic touches. Unlike the movie, I did not feel the play modernized the book, but rather it just allowed readers to see it come to life like never before. For example, the part involving Catherine’s red dress was really able to be visualized as we could see the vibrant red dress and hear Dr. Sloper’s tone of voice as he spoke to Catherine. The ending was probably my favorite part, as the curtain went down to the fading sound of Morris crying out, “Catherine! Catherine!” It was different from the book, but the dramatic aspect of it was incredible. I never thought I would feel that way about a play, but I was really overcome with emotion when I heard the cries for Catherine as she walked away and the curtain went down. It was definitely another great experience for me, and I was happy I enjoyed it as much as I did.

My first Broadway play. Wow, what an experience! Since this was my first Broadway experience, I really didn’t know what to expect. The theater was beautifully designed. Even though we were pretty far back in the theater, the view of the stage was relatively good. Once I got into my seat, I couldn’t wait for the play to start.

In the opening act, we were introduced to the main characters. Right off the bat, I knew I was going to like the cast. Jessica Chastain, in my opinion, was a great choice to play Catherine. I like how she switched personalities from minute to minute. When Morris was around, she acted awkward and shy, yet, when she was alone, she was lively and witty. David Strathairn, who played Dr. Austin Sloper, also did a fantastic job. I would not have thought of David Strathairn to play Austin, but after seeing him on stage, I would reconsider. I was not really impressed with the character Morris, played by Dan Stevens. Stevens is a good actor, but I do not think that he fit the character. He seemed to be a little too charming. The character of Morris was intended to be a jerk, uncaring about Catherine and caring more about her money. It appeared that Morris actually developed feelings for Catherine in his actions and words, contrary to the plot and back story.

As for the plot, I feel that the playwright and directors took a few too many liberties from the original novel, for better or for worse. For example, Morris is introduced to Catherine by Marian, rather than Mrs. Penniman. That changes the course of the plot because the whole story is centered on the fact that Mrs. Penniman forces Morris onto Catherine instead of allowing her to develop her own feelings. In the play, it seems that Catherine genuinely falls for Morris, without the help of the other characters. In addition, Catherine does not live to please her father in the play as much as in the book. She played a more oppositional role on the stage. For instance, she fought with her father about writing her out of his will. She even agreed to help him write her out.

Finally, the ending. I absolutely loved it! I thought it was a lot more dramatic and theatrical than the ending in the novel. In the last act, Morris was at the house with Mrs. Penniman when the family returns home early. Austin, who was very sick, dies soon after. Morris and Catherine plan to elope, but Morris doesn’t come back that night for her. It turns out that he has chosen to go to Louisiana and California without her. He returns a year later, asking to escape again. Catherine bizarrely agrees, and Morris runs home to pack. While he is gone, Catherine turns to Mrs. Penniman and says something to the effect of, “He wanted my money, and now he wants my heart too.” From the way she said that, it appeared that she might in fact kill him. However, as a plot twist, Catherine closes the windows shades, turns off most of the lights and has the maid lock and bolt the door when Morris arrives. Morris proceeds to bang and scream at the door. After a few seconds, she kills the lights and quietly walks upstairs to her room, leaving him out in the cold. Curtain drops. Amazing!

On wednesday, my classmates and I went into New York City for a second time to see another great performance. This time, we went to go see a  broadway show called The Heiress. Professor Kahan chose a great show to see because it correlated to our reading and writing assignment on the novel Washington Square.

I fully enjoyed this broadway show. I thought that it was very similar to the novel and the characters in the play were just as I interpreted them to be in the novel. I loved the humor in the play as well. Just as the irony and humor was incorporated into the novel, it was also incorporated in the play. Even though I thought all the characters did a fantastic job with their specific roles, I thought that Jessica Chastain played Catherine Sloper’s role perfectly. She was very awkward, ungraceful, and unsocial just as we read in the novel. I even felt that her appearance in the play was very similar to what I have read in the novel.

One particular part of the play that I really enjoyed was the final scene. In the novel, when Morris Townsend came over Catherine’s house after a few years without seeing her, Catherine told Morris that she does not even want to be friends with him and to leave her house immediately. I thought that exact scene would also occur in the play. However, I was greatly mistaken. In the play, Catherine tricked Morris to believe that she agreed to marry him that night. However, just like he did to her a few years ago, she completely ignored him when he came to pick her up. She got her revenge on him. I thought this scene made the play much more enjoyable and exciting. I liked the final scene in the play much more than I did in the novel.

I was ver happy to see this play with my classmates. It was a great way to visualize what I have read in the novel. It was a great night with great people that I will never forget.

On Wednesday night, we ventured out into the city again to see The Heiress. This wasn’t my first experience with seeing a play, but it was my first with my new Macaulay friends, and like the opera experience, it is one that I will never forget. I had a lot of fun being with my friends and I was able to see a great play.

I’m going to avoid comparing the play to the book, as I mentioned in my last post, I’ve come to accept that a play, or a movie, will be different from the book. All I would like to say in regards to that is that I liked the way that the creators of the show put the story of the play together. I felt that the story was a little rushed, but it was necessary in order to not drag out the play too much.

Overall, the play had a lot of humor in it and I enjoyed that. All of the characters had a humorous part to contribute to the play. I enjoyed a lot of Catherines awkward movements and responses. One in particular movement and response was when she would just curtsey slowly when she would see someone or when she would just answer someone who asked a long winded question with a peculiar “Yes.”

So, I want to start by saying that I enjoyed all of the actor’s performances. My favorite performance has to be by Judith Ivey, who played Mrs. Penniman. The way that she played Mrs. Penniman was pretty close to how to my image on what imagined her being like when I was reading the book. If I were to rewrite the part of my paper again when I had to choose actors to play the parts of the characters, I would have chosen her instead of my original selection of Kathy Bates. Many parts of the play that involved her had a lot of humor that I enjoyed.

On Wednesday, October 17th, we went to see The Heiress on Broadway, starring Jessica Chastain as Catherine Sloper, David Strathairn as Dr. Austin Sloper, Dan Stevens as Morris Townsend, and Judith Ivey as Lavinia Penniman.

I thoroughly enjoyed Strathairn and Ivey’s performances as Austin and Lavinia; they really embodied the characters from the book, in my opinion. However, I didn’t really like Stevens’ work as Morris. He seemed far too sincere throughout the play and I actually felt bad for him, unlike in the book. I also disliked Chastain’s portrayal of Catherine – until the end, at least. I know that Catherine was a dull and simple girl in the novel, Washington Square, but I just found her to be mind-numbingly boring in the play. Her voice was monotone pretty much all the way through, and I just found it annoying after a certain point.

The end of the play was different from the ending in the story, and in my opinion, it was much more dramatic and entertaining. As boring as I found Catherine to be for the majority of the play, I definitely thought that she made up for it in the end. In the book, Catherine simply asked Morris to leave. In the play, she led him on. She promised, once again, to marry him, and he ran off to pack his bags. When he came back, she had closed the curtains and turned off the lights and had gone upstairs to her room, totally ignoring him. As I said earlier, I actually felt bad for Morris because in the play he seemed so sincere, but if this had been the ending in the book, I would have really enjoyed it and supported Catherine’s decision. I honestly think it would have been the perfect ending in the book.

Being able to watch this play was a fulfilling experience for me. Reading the book, I couldn’t see everything unfolding in front of me, though I was able to visualize scenes in my head. Going to Broadway to watch The Heiress allowed me to see these scenes acted out in front of me, and it really added to my appreciation of the story.