Mark Twain Tonight Tickets

My mom bought be a cassette (remember those) of one of Hal Holbrook's performances as Mark Twain and for 30 years I've been trying to make it to one of his live performances. And there were moments of this performance that were great. But there were many parts that were not. On the one hand, Mr. Holbrook is in amazing shape for being 91 and the fact he is still performing is remarkable. But there were many times where he was clearly a man in his 90th decade. He would often stammer and trip over words. In between segments (and sometime sentences) he would often appear to lose his train of thought, resulting in an awkward stretch of silence. Some parts of the performance were incredibly funny and you could see a hint of what once made these performances so great, but you had to squint to appreciate that. The 20-minute rant about Congress was neither funny nor particularly well executed and led to a significant portion of the audience leaving at intermission, myself included.

Hal Holbrook is now 90 years old and has transformed a man who died at the age of 74 into an immortal. I saw the original TV broadcast when I was a kid back in 1967 and even at that age was enthralled and thoroughly entertained. In college and grad school 10-20 years later I had opportunities to see this National Treasure (HH) play another National Treasure (MT) twice and considered myself a very luck person indeed. To see him do this performance once again (now as a retired person) is nothing short of miraculous. For the unfamiliar, this performance re-creates for us, now, the way people in the late 1800's-early 1900's would have actually experienced Mark Twain himself: live on stage telling his own stories and recounting his personal travels and experiences. He was arguably one of the earliest examples of the stand-up comedian. (Think John Stewart minus 150 years but at least equal with respect to IQ points#. Yes, I did not like a couple of specific things: I think whoever is in charge of such things should do a better job with sound. The first several minutes of the performance was marked by volume that was both a bit too loud and somewhat distorted and I believe many less familiar audience members may have missed a lot of good lines/build up because of this. This did improve over the course of the performance, perhaps they were tweaking it as time went on or maybe our ears adjusted. Of the performance itself, IMHO Mr. H did drag out the "drowsiness" of a story character a bit too long. This may work well in smaller venues like Ford's Theater in DC, but in a larger auditoriums somehow it seems rather more draining. Otherwise I enjoyed the performance immensely even though it contained much more "serious" material #i.e. regarding corporate interference in politics and hypocrisy in religion# than more amusing stories. But this is very well received in Wisconsin given our current state political situation. The fact that Twain was writing about these same issues over a hundred years ago actually raised a small hope in me that perhaps we too will somehow survive these times. Bottom line is: If you are at least passingly familiar with, and can appreciate Mark Twain's literary "voice" and are willing to tolerate some technical limitations you really ought to take the opportunity to enjoy what must likely be one of the few more actual live performances of "Mark Twain Tonight!" it's hard to imagine that anyone else will be able to resurrect Mark Twain other than the Deity Himself.

Hal Holbrook is amazing! Over 90 years of age and he has the whole thing memorized.. The shoe is funny and serious and wonderful.

Hal Holbrook is a living legend. He may be 90, but his energy us of a man half that age. I highly recommend this gem of storytelling.

I was one of the privileged to see Hal Holbrook's Mark Twain Tonight. I believe that is was the closest you could come to actually meeting Mark Twain and has inspired me to read more of Mark Twain's books.

At 90 Hal is still Mark Twain for this generation!

Hal Holbrook is delightful in his signature performance as Mark Twain. There is a twinkle in his eyes throughout. He is having a good time, as well as the audience is. The first half of the performance is a bit slow. One isn't quite sure whether some of the long pauses are calculated or are attributed to a loss of train of thought. Perhaps, Mark Twain had a propensity for "stream of consciousness"? The second half perked up a bit with clever quotes and perfect timing - deserving a standing ovation!

Hal Holbrook was once good at this. he now needs to retire.

While Mr Holbrook's tenacity was admirable, I feel he is due for retirement. His performance Failed to cover 50% of his material and it was sometimes painful to watch him struggle. I wish him a happy retirement and hope he is not forced to work for financial concerns.

This was a great show, filled with Mark Twain philosophy and humor. It is amazing how true Mark Twain's observations from 1905 are today. A very entertaining show that I would highly recommend.

I saw Holbrook perform in Baton Rouge nearly 40 years ago. He was good then. Maybe he should consider retiring; in the first act he rambled, repeated, was anything but sharp and funny. At one point in the second act, he stopped speaking to the audience and stared offstage with hands deep in pockets, wiggling about as if he had to relieve himself. It was uncomfortable to watch, unbearable to hear. His interpretation of Huck's drunk father was maudlin and almost incomprehensible, as was the next bit about Jim's daughter who had scarlet fever, and both were delivered almost exactly the same way. If we had not been sitting in the middle of the row, we would have walked out.

Poor sound quality during first Act. Mr. Holbrook seemed to ramble and forget his train of thought. Not much energy on stage,

What was a wonderful and interesting performance by Hal Hollbrook was spoiled by the sound system. (According to Heyman Center personnel, the system was the show's system, not HC's). We had to really concentrate and strain to hear--only about 1/2 of the entire performance was clearly audiable Our group kept asking "what did he say"!!!!!!!!!! What a pain.

We were very disappointed in the show. The performance was fair, at best. The sound quality could have been much better. It was very difficult to understand Mr. Holbrook during the first half of the show. We paid too much for a "fair" performance.

No one will doubt the talented actor was 100% accurate... 100% cynical plus 100% bitter. You could hear a pin drop as he mystically had us hanging on to every word. Perhaps in the hope that the next story would be less caustic than the last. If you thought Twain was about a good-natured chuckle (as I naively did) think again. Demonstrates a considerable talent twisted into a world-view where every institution (particularly religion- so many will cheer) is burnt to the ground, then sadly finding there is nothing left to hang on to...or to hope in. No stained glass windows left to break...only bitterness and a full box of matches. If you need a pick-me-up stay away. If you need assurance that there is no good left in the world, get a front seat. Makes the opposite message of FAITH, HOPE and LOVE that much more attractive and necessary!!

The dialogue and person were great! The audio was a shamble! Many times I would close my eyes in hope that it would enhance my listening to enjoy the dialogue of the character. I booked these tickets in January when they went on sale because I am a fan of Mark Twain's common sense perspective. I also purchased tickets for relatives. I was totally disappointed with the audio! Great venue, great seats, the audio ruined it.

The first half was unforgettable Twain/Halbrook; the last half was so bad it ruined the first half; seemed like a completely different show and not entertainment Twain would be proud of.

Both my husband and I have been faithful fans of Hal Holbrook for years, but this was not his best night. This was the first time we've seen him as Twain and we eagerly anticipated the evening. Unfortunately, he seemed distracted and lacked the energy of every other performance it's been our privilege to witness, either on stage or screen. We were very disappointed but would see him again with the hope we would catch him when he's on his mark.

It is always a cause for joy to see Mr. Holbrook's classic performance as Mark Twain, but this was not one of his better performances. The first half was fine, but the second part of the show bogged down badly in an unintelligible and far too long excerpt from Huckleberry Finn.

That WAS Mark Twain on that stage - - If you have ever wanted to meet Mr Twain - - you HAVE to see this show!!!