Several weeks ago, Kurt, Christian, and I went to see Of Mice and Men performed at the Longacre Theatre. I don't often go to plays or musicals (talk about wasting away my NYC experience) but we were excited to see James Franco, Chris O'Dowd, and Leighton Meester on stage in this rendition (yes, I can be swayed by celebrities). It had been a while since I read the book back in high school, so the story wasn't exactly fresh in my mind. Luckily its a pretty simple premise and easy to follow along.
James Franco as George was good but pretty much just yelled a lot. I wanted to like Leighton Meester as Curley's wife but she was shrill and had a terrible accent (maybe she isn't meant to be a likable character anyway?). Chris O'Dowd as Lenny was excellent. He really stole the show in my opinion. The detail and construction of the stage sets was incredible. They rolled on tracks and descended from the ceiling to switch between scenes.
There was no photography allowed in the theater but I snapped that middle one before getting yelled at by an usher. Kurt nabbed that bottom one of the cast during the final bow. I don't think I'll be attending shows every week but it was a treat to take in one of the city's more cultural draws. If only I could find some reasonably priced Book of Mormon tickets...
