The Rolling Stone is challenging and evocative. The performances, for me, were genuine and thoughtful. Subject matter fairly ordinary (in the best way) so that suspension of disbelief to allow an emotional connection was engaged and sustained throughout the show.
NYC presents so many opportunities to speak with people from all over the world, to hear all kinds of language and the inflections they cast over those language speakers who choose to learn and speak English. Riding the subway is a feast of unintentional eavesdropping. The UK is a country where English is spoken: so London dialect is a 'thing'. I'd think a quite familiar thing?
The story line is conveyed through words and many other elements and I was able to keep up because of the simplicity and straight-forward work of the actors: declamatory pronouncements notwithstanding.
Did no work to prepare myself for the show and am quite happy I didn't. I likely would have been more snarly and jaded. Effectively moving, honestly offered, completely engaging afternoon at the theater for me on Sunday. I believe this show will get better as the run progresses?
Glad to have experienced The Rolling Stone. I look forward more from this author and these performers. I hadn't a clue about any of it? It's nice to have left the show satisfied and encouraged. Bravo. Bravo. Bravo.
I saw the same performance that Mr. Brantley saw and walked away with many of the same reactions. The actors were mostly fine but there was an awful lot of" declaring" going on. I wasn't certain if that was a performer's unfamiliarity with English or the author's or director's choice. I also had difficulty with dialect pronunciations in at least one scene which left me very confused. It is a very involving story line in general and I found myself caring very deeply for some of the characters. I think this playwright has a bright future but he's not quite there yet.
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@Susan Hochberg, it's also interesting that musicals may be rewritten for an American production even after they were successful in the UK, but it looks like that pretty much never happened with plays from the UK - we either take to them here in the US as they were in the UK or we don't. (I had done suggested pre-play reading while waiting on lines for both "Taking Sides" and "Indian Ink" when I was younger and actually enjoyed preparing to see a play. Both had subjects audiences in the UK knew but were not well-known in the US, and neither was seen as perfect in the UK - I was surprised that both plays when they got here did nothing noticeable to change much-discussed flaws, or even give US audiences background that UK audiences knew going in.)