lost_girl

A new review of Harbor from Out magazine

Cracks in the Homo-American Dream: Chad Beguelin's Harbor | Out Magazine


Erin Cummings also posted a new Vine clip

https://vine.co/v/hMwbd6gQQP1

Weenlau

So by now I've read most of the reviews of Harbor, but I still missing something. Not regarding the storyline, because it's understandable if nobody wants to write spoilers (and from "private" reviews I could anyway get the ending); but what I'm mostly missing is a detailed description of the actors in their roles. For me it seems, everyone is focusing on the story itself, have 1 or 2 sentences on the actors (like who played in what, and plays which character now), but not much is mentioned about the work these actors put into the play.
The closest to my "review taste" was the one which varo_kamry wrote here regarding Ted's rant. That was the thing I really liked, and I wish to read something similar about the whole play.

WildRose

Most of the private reviews I read so far were rather detailed but I agree with you on the more 'official ' reviews. I LOVED Mark's very detailed and personal POV on Randy and his stage hubby's bathroom scene. It made it so vivid for me which I really appreciate considering chances are slim to none I'll ever get to see Randy on stage in a play.

The very talented and kind Trish (toot_too on LJ ) posted a rather detailed and interesting (as always ) report about an after show Q&A Randy and the cast had last night (I think. ) I'll ask her permission to post a link here.

I LOVE cute BTS vine clip (I was about to post the link in here )


Cute Randy pics with fans

Manu9

I hope she'll give you permission to post it here for everyone to read

Chris31

Randy & Erin did an interview with Frank DiLella and the interview will air on a channel called NY1. Unfortunately that channel is on Time Warner Cable in NYC. I don't get it here. So I won't be able to see it. But if you're in NYC and you have Time Warner Cable, it's supposed to air not this weekend but next weekend. Frank said he'll keep Erin posted on exactly when it's going to air.


ETA Frank DiLella works for On Stage Across America. It is Time Warner Cable's monthly TV show dedicated to theater from Broadway to High School.

WildRose

Trish (toto_too514 on LJ ) agreed to allow me to post her report on Randy and his Harbor cast Q&A in here.

Randy answered two questions which were directed to entire cast, and they all gave a response.

One was about the changes that were made after first week of previews. Erin felt Donna changed the most, making her less evil and a bit more vulnerable, so she was not completely unlikable. Randy said, "My character Kevin really didn't have big changes."



The other was about where will everyone be in the future. After Erin gave a rather long description of Kevin and Donna waking up the next day in sleazy motel and discussing their options in a Denny's. She thinks she gives up her dream of singing and cruising and a double-wide trailer, and instead settles for a single wide and stays put, trying to do better by the new baby (Who Alexis has dubbed Sapphire Moon) but still resenting the kid and dying sad and lonely.



Randy looked at her and said, "Well, I don't think that." He thinks Kevin does get his **** together and gets a job. Erin says, "Yeah, in Denny's." Randy said, "No, I went to college, remember? He thinks Kevin does make something of himself. Alexis thinks that all four of them stay somehow connected and form a makeshift family.


One other comment was about the staging of the play... Paul and Alexis saying the much smaller stage space was much more demanding... but both Randy and Erin commented that they didn't have a problem adjusting, since they weren't in the Westport Production.


Randy was wearing a brown long-sleeved Henley w/ a few buttons, well-worn skinny jeans w/ stuffed pockets, and a rather nice looking pair of mint green "chukka" style boots. Alexis smiled and pointed to them and then whispered something to Randy which made him smile.


Randy's Aunt was in the audience tonight, but I'm not sure if he was aware of it, or at least where they were sitting until she asked a question. Then Erin yelled out, "That's Randy's Aunt." LOL! She also had relatives in the audience. He was waiting in the lobby w/ both his Aunt & Uncle afterwards, but did stop and take the time to sign a few Playbills and what looked like some QAF DVD's and even came back down a few steps to take some pics. He then took the steps two at a time up to the little bar on the second floor where his Aunt & Uncle were waiting

galesgirl645

Aww! he's so cute

Manu9

Thanks for posting Trish's review

I hope someone will tell us poor people who can't watch it, what Randy says in that interview.

WildRose

I'm loving the image of Randy taking two steps at the time to go upstairs to meet his aunt

Weenlau

Thanks for posting the review.

Reading these "private" reviews, I'm always surprised how well people can describe the clothing of certain people. I never really pay attention.

WildRose

Trish is really one of the best in describing these things I love those fan reports because they're the next best thing as to actually Randy on stage *sigh*

galesgirl645

Yeah we can experience seeing him act on stage through those reviews and videos

WildRose

Yes, and I'm always grateful for people who share their reports and even pics but I'm sure it's not the same as actually seeing him live on stage during a play

Manu9

Seeing him in person on stage would be amazing, but I guess this is the best next thing.

varo_kamry

Very good review of Harbor. This critic actually gets it

DavidMixner.com - Live From Hell's Kitchen

Michael Gordon's Review: No Safe 'Harbor' From Uncertainity
Aug 13 2013
With the legalization of same sex marriage in 13 states and the increasing number of gay and lesbian couples who are having kids through adoption or surrogacy, today’s modern family looks a lot different than it did even 10 short years ago. However, Chad Beguelin’s thought-provoking new play Harbor, which recently opened at 59 E 59 Theatres, gamely suggests that the bygone days of marriage inequality may have offered safe harbor—or at least plausible deniability—to those gay folks who do not necessarily yearn for 2.5 kids along with their white picket fence.

Such are the sentiments voiced by Ted (Paul Anthony Stewart), a well-healed gay architect, to his husband Kevin (Randy Harrison, from Queer as Folk), in a tirade about entitled parents whose lives are consumed by their children, or, as Ted refers to them, “bacteria-laden petri dishes.” Ted’s rant about the downside of parenting is part of a chain of events set in motion by the sudden arrival of Kevin’s vagabond sister, Donna (Erin Cummings), who lands on the doorstep of the newly-married (and newly-hyphenated) couple’s palatial Sag Harbor home with her 15-year old daughter, Lottie (Alexis Molnar), in tow.

The first-half of Harbor, ably directed by Mark Lamos, moves along briskly with sitcomish banter that highlights Donna’s crudeness, Lottie’s precociousness and Ted’s and Kevin’s superficiality (kudos to costume designer, Candice Donnelly, for outfitting these gay yuppies in seersucker's, tan khakis and Ralph Lauren Polo's, and to set designer, Andrew Jackness, for the oh-so-tasteful colonial furniture that adorns the single living room set where all of the play’s action unfolds). It soon becomes clear that the preternaturally insightful Lottie (who reads Virginia Woolf and Edith Wharton) is, essentially, the only real grown-up in the group, a point that is hammered home by Donna’s persistent plea to her disapproving daughter, “Come on, don’t be a biatch!”

Early on in Harbor, the biggest problem faced by Ted and Kevin seems to be figuring out how to shorten Donna’s visit, thus avoiding what Kevin calls a potential “Blanche DuBois” situation. But Donna has a trump card up her sleeve off which she hopes to leverage to launch her show biz career and distance herself (and Lottie) from the smelly van that they arrived in and, for that matter, lived in, before reaching Sag Harbor. In revealing Donna’s agenda and its implications for Ted, Kevin and Lottie, Harbor takes a sharp detour from sitcom territory, as Mr. Beguelin poses interesting questions about what it means to be a parent and whether or not one’s choice to avoid parenthood is an act of selfishness or self-preservation. In so doing, Mr. Beguelin raises the stakes for, and adds layers of complexity to, his characters.

For example, it becomes clear that Kevin and his sister are more alike than either would care to admit, both arrested in their development, and thus unable to realize their artistic dreams as a writer and performer, respectively. Ms. Cummings and Mr. Harrison effectively convey their characters’ pain and confusion in the face of difficult choices that they must make if they are to have any hope of living fulfilled lives. Moreover, Ms. Molnar, in the play’s most challenging role, adroitly reveals to us the frightened child in need of parental guidance that lies beneath the veneer of Lottie’s self-sufficiency.

As alliances shift and Harbor reaches its unforeseen conclusion, we walk away uncertain of the characters’ fates as well as whether there will be a happy ending for any of them. This, certainly, is a good thing, and most definitely a stark distinction from the neatly tied-up bows that mark the end of an episode of your average sitcom.