Old Money

Rating:
Summary: I guess you had to be there.
Review: "Old Money" might be a great play when you see it but it certainly doesn't come across as one when you read it. Set physically in a mansion in New York, temporally it jumps back and forth from the days of WWI to the end of the 20th century. Both story lines are occurring during a summertime party. Each actor plays a role in the contemporary story and another one in the historical plot. While times may change people stay the same, the `in' crowd tries to keep their underlings down be it those without money (modern times) or those without breeding (the past). Youth rebels against age and non-conformists must be shown the error of their ways.

Sounds confusing? Don't worry it isn't just you, it really is confusing. This is a nifty idea that was badly written in the play and comes of as a theatrical trick more than as a telling reminder of the stability of human nature. The fact that one character actually knows the people from both eras and often talks to the past while in the present is even more annoying. Sometime the people from the present respond as if they were in the past and some times they just seem confused themselves.

All in all I read the pay but I would not suggest that anyone else do the same.

Rating:
Summary: I guess you had to be there.
Review: "Old Money" might be a great play when you see it but it certainly doesn't come across as one when you read it. Set physically in a mansion in New York, temporally it jumps back and forth from the days of WWI to the end of the 20th century. Both story lines are occurring during a summertime party. Each actor plays a role in the contemporary story and another one in the historical plot. While times may change people stay the same, the 'in' crowd tries to keep their underlings down be it those without money (modern times) or those without breeding (the past). Youth rebels against age and non-conformists must be shown the error of their ways.

Sounds confusing? Don't worry it isn't just you, it really is confusing. This is a nifty idea that was badly written in the play and comes of as a theatrical trick more than as a telling reminder of the stability of human nature. The fact that one character actually knows the people from both eras and often talks to the past while in the present is even more annoying. Sometime the people from the present respond as if they were in the past and some times they just seem confused themselves.

All in all I read the pay but I would not suggest that anyone else do the same.

Rating:
Summary: I'm still trying to find my way out
Review: There are two storylines in this play, both set at an old mansion in Manhattan. One occurs in the present (they're putting on a party at the mansion), the other occurs in the early 1900s. The people in the present are supposedly rude and unrefined, those in the past are portrayed as better bred, etc. Both stories are about the same old family and could be said to be woven together because scenes from each occur side by side and the characters in each are played by the same actors.

Most of the plays I read are in French, so I was interested in sticking my nose into an American drama. Unfortunately, I chose OLD MONEY. I don't know how this play would come across when acted out, but on paper it is totally confusing and yawn inspiring. People from the past hop on stage to chat with people in the present, but wait -- perhaps they're also in the past. Or they're in both the past and the present. Or neither. But take heart, it often appears that the characters themselves don't know -- they ask each other, "Are you really here?"

Well, dear reader, I no longer am, and I strongly suggest that you don't show up in the first place.

Rating:
Summary: An extraordinary and very moving play
Review: This heartfelt and moving play shifts back and forth in time but maintains a single setting: the living room of a Manhattan mansion. The two contrasting timeframes are used to explicate Wasserstein's themes or art vs.commerce, of love and loss. This is a thoughtful and beautiful work, and I can't recommend it highly enough.

This play should be read by anyone with an interest in American drama.