tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-11627148402828904952024-03-12T20:39:46.763-04:00Molly's MusingsMollyhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/12343358780878886726noreply@blogger.comBlogger293125tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1162714840282890495.post-64347501666999888022018-07-31T22:36:00.005-04:002018-07-31T22:37:33.635-04:00Two at Second Stage<br />
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In the past couple months, I’ve
seen two plays at the Second Stage Theater Company:<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span><b style="mso-bidi-font-weight: normal;"><i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;">Mary Page Marlowe </i></b>and<b style="mso-bidi-font-weight: normal;"><i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;">
Straight White Men</i></b>.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>Both were
interesting, by and large well-acted, yet neither fully succeeded, for
different reasons.<o:p></o:p></div>
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<br /></div>
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In <b style="mso-bidi-font-weight: normal;"><i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;">Mary Page Marlowe</i></b>, deep character
development with no end but death was made more interesting by having multiple
actors playing the eponymous woman at various ages — and not in chronological
order.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>By and by we saw her life, one
scene after another adding to our understanding, just not in order so that,
perhaps, we could understand her better than people who knew her all her
life — in order.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>And since it’s so very well done,
it almost worked. <o:p></o:p></div>
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<br /></div>
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<b style="mso-bidi-font-weight: normal;"><i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;">Straight White Men</i></b>,
however, is flawed. Again, interesting character relationships, but to no resolution.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>Is this why the playwright/director/producer decided
to blame it on the audience during the pre-show by blasting electronic percussion
at an offensively high decibel level, then making a theatre curtain out of a
glitter ball to flash strobe lights at the audience?<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>At least last year’s exceedingly unpleasant production
of <i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;">1984</i> forewarned the audience that
there’d be migraine-inducing effects.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;">
</span>But the audience of <i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;">Straight White
Men</i> was assured that they were being abused to make a point:<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>That some LBGTW+, as explained by two
pointless characters, often felt as uncomfortable as the audience did just by
being in non-LGBTW+ society.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>The relief at
the end of that 30-odd minutes was so great we were bound to be glad of the
play, right?<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>Talk about hitting the
audience over the head with a baseball bat to send a message. Which, by the
way, does not appear to be the point of the play at all.<o:p></o:p></div>
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<br /></div>
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<b style="mso-bidi-font-weight: normal;"><i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;">Mary
Page Marlowe</i></b> by <b>Tracy Letts</b>, directed by <b>Lila Neugebauer</b>. Hereafter “MPM.”<span style="font-size: 11pt;"><o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<br /></div>
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MPM was largely about one woman’s
life of not dealing with her alcohol and sex addictions.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>We first meet her as her first marriage is
coming apart.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>It takes a while, with
this not chronological play, to learn something about why.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>When we meet her mother (passionately
brittle work by <b style="mso-bidi-font-weight: normal;">Grace Gummer</b>) and father
(sympathetically portrayed by <b style="mso-bidi-font-weight: normal;">Nick Dillenburg</b>)<b style="mso-bidi-font-weight: normal;">,</b> we feel the gap between these young
marrieds just after WWII.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>When we meet the
mother again distancing herself from her 12-year-old daughter with alcohol and
a sharp tongue, we see the beginning of Mary’s rugged road.<o:p></o:p></div>
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<br /></div>
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Mary is played by six excellent
actors:<o:p></o:p></div>
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<!--[if !supportLists]--><span style="font-family: "symbol"; mso-bidi-font-family: Symbol; mso-fareast-font-family: Symbol;"><span style="mso-list: Ignore;">·<span style="font: 7.0pt "Times New Roman";">
</span></span></span><!--[endif]--><b style="mso-bidi-font-weight: normal;">Mia
Sinclair Jenness</b> at the age of 12<o:p></o:p></div>
<div class="MsoListParagraphCxSpMiddle" style="mso-list: l1 level1 lfo1; text-align: justify; text-indent: -.25in;">
<!--[if !supportLists]--><span style="font-family: "symbol"; mso-bidi-font-family: Symbol; mso-fareast-font-family: Symbol;"><span style="mso-list: Ignore;">·<span style="font: 7.0pt "Times New Roman";">
</span></span></span><!--[endif]--><b style="mso-bidi-font-weight: normal;">Emma Geer</b>
at the age of 19<o:p></o:p></div>
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<!--[if !supportLists]--><span style="font-family: "symbol"; mso-bidi-font-family: Symbol; mso-fareast-font-family: Symbol;"><span style="mso-list: Ignore;">·<span style="font: 7.0pt "Times New Roman";">
</span></span></span><!--[endif]--><b style="mso-bidi-font-weight: normal;">Tatiana
Maslany</b> at the ages of 27 and 36<o:p></o:p></div>
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<!--[if !supportLists]--><span style="font-family: "symbol"; mso-bidi-font-family: Symbol; mso-fareast-font-family: Symbol;"><span style="mso-list: Ignore;">·<span style="font: 7.0pt "Times New Roman";">
</span></span></span><!--[endif]--><b style="mso-bidi-font-weight: normal;">Susan
Pourfar</b> in her 40s<o:p></o:p></div>
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<!--[if !supportLists]--><span style="font-family: "symbol"; mso-bidi-font-family: Symbol; mso-fareast-font-family: Symbol;"><span style="mso-list: Ignore;">·<span style="font: 7.0pt "Times New Roman";">
</span></span></span><!--[endif]--><b style="mso-bidi-font-weight: normal;">Kellie
Overbey</b> at 50<o:p></o:p></div>
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<!--[if !supportLists]--><span style="font-family: "symbol"; mso-bidi-font-family: Symbol; mso-fareast-font-family: Symbol;"><span style="mso-list: Ignore;">·<span style="font: 7.0pt "Times New Roman";">
</span></span></span><!--[endif]-->And <b style="mso-bidi-font-weight: normal;">Blair
Brown</b> in her 60s-70s.<o:p></o:p></div>
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<br /></div>
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Geer and Brown were the only
Marys who got to smile.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>The 19-year-old (Ms.
Geer) in hope of a different life from that of her mother, and Ms. Brown at
having made it through to sobriety and her third and favorite husband, Andy,
sweetly played by <b style="mso-bidi-font-weight: normal;">Brian Kerwin</b>.<o:p></o:p></div>
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<br /></div>
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<!--[if !supportLists]--><span style="font-family: "symbol"; mso-bidi-font-family: Symbol; mso-fareast-font-family: Symbol;"><span style="mso-list: Ignore;">·<span style="font: 7.0pt "Times New Roman";">
</span></span></span><!--[endif]--><b style="mso-bidi-font-weight: normal;">Tatiana
Maslany</b> is so good that her lack of theatrical experience was
negligible.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>Already broken, her Mary is
tough, aloof, and protective.<o:p></o:p></div>
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<br /></div>
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<!--[if !supportLists]--><span style="font-family: "symbol"; mso-bidi-font-family: Symbol; mso-fareast-font-family: Symbol;"><span style="mso-list: Ignore;">·<span style="font: 7.0pt "Times New Roman";"> </span></span></span><b style="mso-bidi-font-weight: normal;">Susan
Pourfar </b>is a New York actor I have followed for some time, from a far off Broadway
production of <i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;">Turn of the Screw</i>, to <i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;">Tribes</i> and most recently <i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;">Mary Jane</i> at New York Theatre Workshop.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>She never disappoints. Here her Intensity
disguises her pain and perplexity.<o:p></o:p></div>
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<o:p> <table align="center" cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto; text-align: center;"><tbody>
<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEicjUvE6UjPIutSO0OX0x1lgfnD77-WghA15uMpRQw5lfUwEN0K4buktaJlDvVPW_EsP3vd-L4iP4P2M_fCLoO6o_SLQK_FonoUqC7DScLO4spcAvo1ouZYoRGVtVTu248UzxuHrv-v_2xQ/s1600/mary_page_marlowe_-+daughter+son+MPM.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" data-original-height="618" data-original-width="928" height="213" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEicjUvE6UjPIutSO0OX0x1lgfnD77-WghA15uMpRQw5lfUwEN0K4buktaJlDvVPW_EsP3vd-L4iP4P2M_fCLoO6o_SLQK_FonoUqC7DScLO4spcAvo1ouZYoRGVtVTu248UzxuHrv-v_2xQ/s320/mary_page_marlowe_-+daughter+son+MPM.jpg" width="320" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">Kaylie Carter, Ryan Foust, and Susan Pourfar as Mary Page Marlowe</td></tr>
</tbody></table>
</o:p></div>
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<!--[if !supportLists]--><span style="font-family: "symbol"; mso-bidi-font-family: Symbol; mso-fareast-font-family: Symbol;"><span style="mso-list: Ignore;">·<span style="font: 7.0pt "Times New Roman";">
</span></span></span><!--[endif]-->The harshest scene in the play and probably in
Mary Page Marlowe’s life, was the aftermath of a particularly dreadful time when
Mary hit rock bottom, presumably precipitating the end of her second marriage.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span><b style="mso-bidi-font-weight: normal;">Kellie
Overbey</b> is devastating, first in her quiet acceptance of her guilt and just
deserts, and finally in her fury.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>Her
husband, very well played by <b style="mso-bidi-font-weight: normal;">David Aaron
Baker</b>, cannot deal with this Mary and his floundering marriage.<o:p></o:p></div>
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<br /></div>
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<!--[if !supportLists]--><span style="font-family: "symbol"; mso-bidi-font-family: Symbol; mso-fareast-font-family: Symbol;"><span style="mso-list: Ignore;">·<span style="font: 7.0pt "Times New Roman";">
</span></span></span><!--[endif]--><b style="mso-bidi-font-weight: normal;">Blair
Brown</b>’s Mary, having survived her life and three marriages, is the only
Mary with a real smile.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span><o:p></o:p></div>
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<br /></div>
<div class="MsoListParagraph" style="mso-list: l2 level1 lfo2; text-align: justify; text-indent: -.25in;">
<!--[if !supportLists]--><span style="font-family: "symbol"; mso-bidi-font-family: Symbol; mso-fareast-font-family: Symbol;"><span style="mso-list: Ignore;">·<span style="font: 7.0pt "Times New Roman";">
</span></span></span><!--[endif]--><b style="mso-bidi-font-weight: normal;">Kayli
Carter</b> is excellent as MPM’s daughter Wendy, a put-upon (and she really
is!) teenager and a concerned young adult losing patience with her alcoholic
mother.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span><o:p></o:p></div>
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<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify;">
All in all, MPM offers good
direction, good acting, good design, and a just slightly off script by the
always interesting Mr. Letts.<o:p></o:p></div>
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<br /></div>
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<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify;">
<b style="mso-bidi-font-weight: normal;"><i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;">Straight
White Men</i></b> by <b>Young Jean Lee</b>, directed by <b>Anna
D. Shapiro.</b> Hereafter “SWM.”<span style="font-size: 11pt;"><o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify;">
<b style="mso-bidi-font-weight: normal;">The Premise</b>:<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>The father, Ed,
has his grown boys over for the Christmas holidays, harking back to the days of
the boys’ youth, while their mother was still alive.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span><o:p></o:p></div>
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<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify;">
Entertaining as SWM sometimes
was, with some very nice ensemble work and an excellent scenic design by <b style="mso-bidi-font-weight: normal;">Todd Rosenthal</b>, it didn’t seem to know
where it was going.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>Witness the pre-show,
which we were told was part of the play.<o:p></o:p></div>
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<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify;">
<b style="mso-bidi-font-weight: normal;">The Players:<o:p></o:p></b></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify;">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoListParagraph" style="mso-list: l0 level1 lfo3; text-align: justify; text-indent: -.25in;">
<!--[if !supportLists]--><span style="font-family: "symbol"; mso-bidi-font-family: Symbol; mso-fareast-font-family: Symbol;"><span style="mso-list: Ignore;">·<span style="font: 7.0pt "Times New Roman";">
</span></span></span><!--[endif]--><b style="mso-bidi-font-weight: normal;">Armie
Hammer</b> is the youngest brother, Drew.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;">
</span>He is tall and handsome and OK, but this actor’s lack of theatrical
experience shows.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>Without an editor to
cut away, Mr. Hammer did not flow from one scene to the next, even though the
play, unlike <i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;">Mary Page Marlowe,</i> was
in chronological order.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>Not that he made
mistakes, or if he did I was unaware.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>Unfortunately,
he was not alive on stage.<o:p></o:p></div>
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<br /></div>
<div class="MsoListParagraph" style="mso-list: l0 level1 lfo3; text-align: justify; text-indent: -.25in;">
<!--[if !supportLists]--><span style="font-family: "symbol"; mso-bidi-font-family: Symbol; mso-fareast-font-family: Symbol;"><span style="mso-list: Ignore;">·<span style="font: 7.0pt "Times New Roman";">
</span></span></span><!--[endif]--><b style="mso-bidi-font-weight: normal;">Josh Charles</b>
is excellent as middle brother Jake, unctuous to cruel, living in the moment as
well as in the past, frequently “fighting” with his younger brother Drew.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span><o:p></o:p></div>
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<br /></div>
<div class="MsoListParagraph" style="mso-list: l0 level1 lfo3; text-align: justify; text-indent: -.25in;">
<!--[if !supportLists]--><span style="font-family: "symbol"; mso-bidi-font-family: Symbol; mso-fareast-font-family: Symbol;"><span style="mso-list: Ignore;">·<span style="font: 7.0pt "Times New Roman";">
</span></span></span><!--[endif]--><b style="mso-bidi-font-weight: normal;">Paul
Schneider</b> as the eldest brother Matt was quietly full of surprises and
quite marvelous. I am not familiar with this subtle actor’s work but will be
paying attention in future.<o:p></o:p></div>
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<br /></div>
<div class="MsoListParagraph" style="mso-list: l0 level1 lfo3; text-align: justify; text-indent: -.25in;">
<!--[if !supportLists]--><span style="font-family: "symbol"; mso-bidi-font-family: Symbol; mso-fareast-font-family: Symbol;"><span style="mso-list: Ignore;">·<span style="font: 7.0pt "Times New Roman";">
</span></span></span><!--[endif]--><b style="mso-bidi-font-weight: normal;">Stephen
Payne</b> as Ed, the father, seemed a little uncertain of his lines early on
(as the third actor to play this role in rehearsal and previews), but
strengthened as the evening wore on. Mind you, his final scene was quite
unbelievable, but that’s the fault of the writer, not the actor.<o:p></o:p></div>
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<o:p> <table align="center" cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto; text-align: center;"><tbody>
<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjY7rgsYwmRgJ4iU1a5dTq00abkl0JUpKEtv-qVIjLHLbx_BpbTizfdeb0nKgxPnE3LgOycUEmfUkR7QLm95uwTJLHPDHeuOZn7GviTOLf1JjL5WYnPCb7OPtLY82PGeW1-gspreSqr-THG/s1600/SWM+-+dad+and+3+sons+smaller.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" data-original-height="698" data-original-width="1024" height="218" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjY7rgsYwmRgJ4iU1a5dTq00abkl0JUpKEtv-qVIjLHLbx_BpbTizfdeb0nKgxPnE3LgOycUEmfUkR7QLm95uwTJLHPDHeuOZn7GviTOLf1JjL5WYnPCb7OPtLY82PGeW1-gspreSqr-THG/s320/SWM+-+dad+and+3+sons+smaller.jpg" width="320" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">Payne, Charles, Hammer, Schneider. Photo by Sara Krulwich.</td></tr>
</tbody></table>
</o:p></div>
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Matt is presently underemployed
and living with the father, who is happy to have his company.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>While the others leave their messes behind, Matt
cleans up after everyone.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>He says more
than once, “I just want to be helpful.”<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;">
</span>That he does a great deal of work to make everyone else comfortable,
things his mother would have been doing had she been alive, was barely noticed
and not meaningful to his brothers or even his father.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>This of course is insulting to the boys’
mother, and all mothers.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>Matt’s brothers
wonder why, with his brains and college degrees, he’s not doing more with his
life.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>They don’t get him at all.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>He is not behaving like their notion of a privileged
straight white male.<o:p></o:p></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify;">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify;">
Strong relationships of a
lifetime between the brothers are powerful and hilarious.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>If one says something unforgivable and others leave
the room, somehow they come back to dance it off in delightful choreography by <b style="mso-bidi-font-weight: normal;">Faye Driscoll</b>.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>After all, family is family and it seems
they’ll always get along in the end.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;">
</span>Until they don’t and the ‘different’ one, with unaccustomed ideas and
conclusions, is left out in the cold.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>These
three sons have no resemblance to “My Three Sons” of 1960s television.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span><o:p></o:p></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify;">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify;">
By the end it seemed to me that
the play had moved on to gender issues.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>Matt
started being what he considered truly useful when the mother died, and he took
care of the youngest brother the way the mother would have — talked him down
from hysteria, encouraged him to take a shower (you’ll feel better) and then to
have a sandwich (ditto).<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>Throughout Matt
played the mother’s role of feeding the men and cleaning up after them.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>Her loss, which clearly affected each man, made
Matt step into her place.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>And none of
the other men in the family had any respect for what he was doing — to them
Matt had become a loser if he lacked ambition and didn’t use his intelligence
and training to do something “bigger.”<o:p></o:p></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify;">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify;">
Since that was the most
interesting thing to come out of the play, I do not understand why the writer
and director decided to disguise this by implying in the obnoxious pre-show
that the play was about LGBTQ+ issues and punishing the (largely white) audience
with overly loud electronic muzak and glaring strobe lights.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span><o:p></o:p></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify;">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify;">
Theatre and politics go together,
but this pairing ended in a nasty divorce.<o:p></o:p></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify;">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify;">
<br /></div>
<div style="border: solid windowtext 1.0pt; mso-border-alt: solid windowtext .5pt; mso-element: para-border-div; padding: 1.0pt 4.0pt 1.0pt 4.0pt;">
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<i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;">Note regarding a truly annoying and unfair trend in Playbills:<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>In the (not so distant) past, the cast list
was in order of the actors’ appearances, making it easier for the audience to
figure out who played what if they didn’t already recognize the players.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>Lately the listing has been alphabetical by
the performer’s last name, which means that if you didn’t already know the
actor’s name, you won’t learn it from the program.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>For instance, in MPM, there are six men in the
cast.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>One male character had a full name
listed, so was easily identifiable as the father of the main character.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>All other male character names showed just a
first name, so if you missed a mention from the stage in each man’s sole
appearance, you were out of luck.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>I
recognized Brian Kerwin as MPM’s third husband, therefore spotted him
in the program as “Andy.”<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>For the first
two I have no clue, and there were three non-husband male characters.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>If we’re not identifying characters by
“married lover” or “guy at the dry cleaners” in the character list, how can we
know the actor name?<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>Until Playbill goes
back to listing characters in order of their appearance so we can figure out those actors we
don’t already recognize, I will continue to complain about this to all and
sundry.<o:p></o:p></i></div>
</div>
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<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify;">
It’s been a while since Molly
spoke her mind.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>I will try to catch up
this summer, as I did last summer, and fill you in on theatre-going not
mentioned since April (!) of this year.<o:p></o:p></div>
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<br /></div>
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<i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;"><span style="color: #7030a0;">~ Molly Matera, signing off to search for
scraps of paper on which she scribbled her thoughts about other plays….<o:p></o:p></span></i></div>
<br />Mollyhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/12343358780878886726noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1162714840282890495.post-33125908079166439292018-04-21T15:40:00.000-04:002018-04-21T15:40:26.143-04:00Martin McDonagh in a Hanging Mood at the Atlantic Theater Company<br />
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<b style="mso-bidi-font-weight: normal;"><i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;">Hangmen</i></b> made me thirsty, especially after the shock of the
first scene.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>I had read scenic designer <b style="mso-bidi-font-weight: normal;">Anna Fleischle</b>’s comments on the
challenge of this three-setting play, first produced at the Royal Court Theatre
in London, then here in New York to occupy the small space of the Atlantic
Theater Company (formerly a church on West 20<sup>th</sup> street where I’m 99%
sure I saw a delightful <i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;">Much Ado</i>
something like thirty years ago).<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>Each setting
had to be independent of the other two, and yet permanent in a limited
space.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span><o:p></o:p></div>
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<br /></div>
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The first scene is a humdinger.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>A young man is about to be hanged (it’s
England in the early 1960s, Lancashire), screaming his innocence every step of
the way.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>There are arguments and
recriminations and accusations and a rope and a noose and a WHOOSH —- from the
stage and then from the audience as the air rushed out of them when a trapdoor
dropped the protesting young man and he disappeared below the stage.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>Hanged. <span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>Horror.<o:p></o:p></div>
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<br /></div>
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After that opening, the scene is handily turned into a pub —
the comfy corner sort with a warm wooden bar and a landlady truly pulling those
pints of ale — with the jailhouse set rising to hover above as the pub’s
ceiling while the memory of that gallows never leaves anyone in the pub.<o:p></o:p></div>
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As is the norm with playwright <b style="mso-bidi-font-weight: normal;">Martin McDonagh</b>, there is laughter, guilt, laughter, guilt, horror
and fear.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>Hanging is now a punishment of
the past in England, although the hangman the audience saw doing his job in
that first scene — and whose wife runs this pub — doesn’t believe the
moratorium on hanging will last.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>A young
reporter tries to get numbers from him — how many men — maybe women –— had he
hanged?<o:p></o:p></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<o:p> <table align="center" cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto; text-align: center;"><tbody>
<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhrxsGaC241hVYqesN5ow84S3zsFXEljdc4wje57cIdwWLCLRzXo8HlKxd136COtqiMQKgCLd2ZApUAPFrQ-aB6pfKLQLhLAWQ2dAyh46sp0356ZxEclOxeJK2Hsc7ir7355qR-v8a0YRPa/s1600/Hangmen_Syd+and+Harry.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" data-original-height="389" data-original-width="800" height="155" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhrxsGaC241hVYqesN5ow84S3zsFXEljdc4wje57cIdwWLCLRzXo8HlKxd136COtqiMQKgCLd2ZApUAPFrQ-aB6pfKLQLhLAWQ2dAyh46sp0356ZxEclOxeJK2Hsc7ir7355qR-v8a0YRPa/s320/Hangmen_Syd+and+Harry.jpg" width="320" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">Hangmen Syd and Harry (Photo Ahron R. Foster)</td></tr>
</tbody></table>
</o:p></div>
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Harry the hangman’s former assistant Syd, played by <b style="mso-bidi-font-weight: normal;">Reece Shearsmith</b>, with whom Harry had
fallen out, shows up casting doubt on the guilt of that last pathetic young man
hanged, who had been convicted of killing a young woman on a beach.<o:p></o:p></div>
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<br /></div>
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Harry the hangman is a guy next door sort of fellow and is
played by the wonderful <b style="mso-bidi-font-weight: normal;">Mark Addy</b>.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>He’s a hale-fellow-well-met sort of hangman
in the pub:<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>bigoted, bitter, judgmental
but funny. Everything that happens onstage is played with simplicity and
realism, from the ridiculous conversations among the pub’s regular drunks to
the searing doubts cast by the former assistant Syd.<b style="mso-bidi-font-weight: normal;"><span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span></b>Harry’s wife Alice (<b style="mso-bidi-font-weight: normal;">Sally Rogers</b>) owns the pub and has a
complicated relationship with her husband — similar, perhaps to any difficult
transition when one spouse’s retirement creates chaos at home.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>Harry and Alice live above the pub with their
teenage daughter Shirley, whom Harry calls “Mopey.”<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>And they have a spare room.<o:p></o:p></div>
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<o:p> <table align="center" cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto; text-align: center;"><tbody>
<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEj8_Ucd7sT-I4jQKTMMtxyqZK51E2ttypI874aOGif9F5bt-CtmUWVXVhCMqxAjGPKhnu4mJmTWMzU9Mw_zV7YXr1CSckal2SJPW-QCcBIBhSG57_di7i3m7ASumWQZ6OJodDwAMJFpccgJ/s1600/Hangmen_Mooney+and+daughter.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" data-original-height="389" data-original-width="800" height="155" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEj8_Ucd7sT-I4jQKTMMtxyqZK51E2ttypI874aOGif9F5bt-CtmUWVXVhCMqxAjGPKhnu4mJmTWMzU9Mw_zV7YXr1CSckal2SJPW-QCcBIBhSG57_di7i3m7ASumWQZ6OJodDwAMJFpccgJ/s320/Hangmen_Mooney+and+daughter.jpg" width="320" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">Mooney and Shirley (Photo by Ahron R. Foster)</td></tr>
</tbody></table>
</o:p></div>
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The entire small cast is superb, from <b style="mso-bidi-font-weight: normal;">Gaby French</b> as Harry & Alice’s teenage daughter to an unrecognizable
<b style="mso-bidi-font-weight: normal;">Maxwell Caufield</b> as the hangman’s
greatest rival, also now a publican.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span><o:p></o:p></div>
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McDonagh, in concert with his sharp director <b style="mso-bidi-font-weight: normal;">Matthew Dunster</b>, heats it up at the end
of the first act, when the creepy Mooney (who prefers the term “menacing”), a southern
stranger (as in from down London way), tries to rent the spare room from
Alice.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span><b style="mso-bidi-font-weight: normal;">Johnny Flynn</b> does fine work as Mooney insinuates himself in with
the ladies of the family, while scaring the bejesus out of the audience. Instead
of becoming a boarder (which thought fills the audience with dread), Mooney has
a one-sided shouting match with Alice and storms off.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>Meanwhile the “mopey” daughter has gone out without
a word.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span><o:p></o:p></div>
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<o:p> <table align="center" cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto; text-align: center;"><tbody>
<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEghUKBioGrKjlkqCKm2xsCsLC6KkAhk3Mn5Oy-GX2cFU15fFfqS-xoXsX54qh67q4Ylhis5HP9JBgEJxux3HcxsCGzpQOMFvEpHpBQZERPxpgPig-RUV4M6OODfq992P4YKWWc-XyXLfTOF/s1600/Hangmen_Harry+and+Moooney+made+me+thirsty.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" data-original-height="389" data-original-width="800" height="155" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEghUKBioGrKjlkqCKm2xsCsLC6KkAhk3Mn5Oy-GX2cFU15fFfqS-xoXsX54qh67q4Ylhis5HP9JBgEJxux3HcxsCGzpQOMFvEpHpBQZERPxpgPig-RUV4M6OODfq992P4YKWWc-XyXLfTOF/s320/Hangmen_Harry+and+Moooney+made+me+thirsty.jpg" width="320" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">Mark Addy as Harry and Johnny Flynn as Mooney (Photo by Ahron R. Foster)</td></tr>
</tbody></table>
</o:p></div>
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Was the last hanged man truly innocent and is this menacing
Mooney the real killer?<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>Where’s daughter
Shirley gone?<o:p></o:p></div>
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<br /></div>
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Act 2 opens with Syd fanning the flames of fear. The police
are called in when Shirley does not return, and the young reporter Harry had
treated so rudely in the first act comes in to assist in finding the girl.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>In return for a newspaper story about Shirley,
he gets all those numbers he wanted. Connections, relationships, false or
misleading, confuse us all as the tension mounts with everyone wondering
where’s Shirley?<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>Mooney returns and ….
No, I cannot tell you that.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>Suffice to
say that all the stops are pulled out in Act 2, with another rope, another
noose, lightning (courtesy <b style="mso-bidi-font-weight: normal;">Joshua Carr</b>,
lighting designer), thunder, and another hanging question.<o:p></o:p></div>
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<b style="mso-bidi-font-weight: normal;"><i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;">Hangmen</i></b> is oddly lacking in blood (my first McDonagh was <b style="mso-bidi-font-weight: normal;"><i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;">The
Lieutenant of Inishman</i></b>, which was the bloodiest play I’d ever seen) and
may not be McDonagh’s best, but this mystery thriller is a roller coaster ride
of a good evening in the theatre.<o:p></o:p></div>
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<span style="color: #7030a0; font-family: "Bookman Old Style",serif; font-size: 10.0pt;">~ Molly Matera, signing off to watch <i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;">In Bruges</i>.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<br />Mollyhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/12343358780878886726noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1162714840282890495.post-6136442116422452632018-04-21T14:03:00.002-04:002018-04-21T14:06:21.938-04:00Molly is Musing .... a 2018 update<br />
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2018 has been a tough year for Molly so far.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>January brought a death, as January is wont
to do.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>My eldest cousin — firstborn of
my generation as well as first to die.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;">
</span>He comes to mind frequently.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>There
is always much to talk to him about.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>Maybe
he’s listening somewhere, but we’ll never know until it’s too late to blog
about. <span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>My personal fantasy is that he
has joined family members who preceded him to a golf course somewhere (at least
two foursomes hovering about), from which exercise they return “home” where my Nana
is eager to feed them.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>It’s a choice.<o:p></o:p></div>
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<br /></div>
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Update on Cats:<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>Millie
lost a few teeth to the dentist, but otherwise my little three-some is
well.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span><o:p></o:p></div>
<table cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="float: left; margin-right: 1em; text-align: left;"><tbody>
<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEisGhUO-zLiN7cTHVDlCX7JfczjolPblooETrtcw6A-r0oGjLwi93vvsCdILs4CMuLh94rGOw0_PpeiSBcfpKuzIhYs2c9Fpyk3IM7GN0-I9yO_67Gf-VvhXKXtcALauvIaJlaBrs6XOHCy/s1600/Wilbur.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" data-original-height="397" data-original-width="418" height="303" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEisGhUO-zLiN7cTHVDlCX7JfczjolPblooETrtcw6A-r0oGjLwi93vvsCdILs4CMuLh94rGOw0_PpeiSBcfpKuzIhYs2c9Fpyk3IM7GN0-I9yO_67Gf-VvhXKXtcALauvIaJlaBrs6XOHCy/s320/Wilbur.jpg" width="320" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">Wilbur</td></tr>
</tbody></table>
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<o:p> <table align="center" cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto; text-align: center;"><tbody>
<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEihcWyb18oHdf8bP6GqTrk4el9OL3u5efEEuHJDb9eApiiOWng_VepnxnOY1-G-_hcX4aC0a6SYd6A4Jc1ZD0NokAklOuExVx26gn9rubQ2DTo3VEOcm8DCsbR-4sTsu8Tah6_o00G1Bkds/s1600/Chick+and+Millie+watching+Little+Grey.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" data-original-height="536" data-original-width="538" height="318" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEihcWyb18oHdf8bP6GqTrk4el9OL3u5efEEuHJDb9eApiiOWng_VepnxnOY1-G-_hcX4aC0a6SYd6A4Jc1ZD0NokAklOuExVx26gn9rubQ2DTo3VEOcm8DCsbR-4sTsu8Tah6_o00G1Bkds/s320/Chick+and+Millie+watching+Little+Grey.jpg" width="320" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">Chick and Millie watching ....</td></tr>
</tbody></table>
</o:p></div>
<br />
<table align="center" cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto; text-align: center;"><tbody>
<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjystW47gtv-ANODos-KZPpRDFDYlufrxpFK_dbWnvfAlXTWqAMkrqWZOpAYBlU_8kGgTaB8it4TurCqZrTD29KAT280h2_zF5nwTzqEAd3q9r8oDiODcrk69QSL07nMlPVBopsYQKg3bEY/s1600/Little+Grey+April+2018.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" data-original-height="570" data-original-width="573" height="318" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjystW47gtv-ANODos-KZPpRDFDYlufrxpFK_dbWnvfAlXTWqAMkrqWZOpAYBlU_8kGgTaB8it4TurCqZrTD29KAT280h2_zF5nwTzqEAd3q9r8oDiODcrk69QSL07nMlPVBopsYQKg3bEY/s320/Little+Grey+April+2018.jpg" width="320" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">Little Grey</td></tr>
</tbody></table>
<br />
<div class="MsoNormal">
Little Grey escaped her former captor and insists on living
free so long as I feed her twice a day.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;">
</span>She claimed my garden and chased away a big black cat in the warm
weather, but they are now buddies, sharing food and lodgings.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>Of late there’s a third DSH daily, and an
occasional visit from a mixed breed who appears to be part Siamese.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>Later in the evening there had been an opossum,
but most recently there are two young raccoons.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;">
</span>The opossum always walked or ran off in a different direction from the
cats, but the raccoons seem to be sharing the same squat as Little Grey and her
feline friends.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>What next, this human
wonders.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>The animals are all getting
along fine.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>Humans, on the other hand….<o:p></o:p></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
2018 is not fun. And I’m not even thinking about
politics!<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>Perhaps it’s because Spring
refuses to actually Spring but rather hide away from these chilly days. <span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span><o:p></o:p></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<o:p> <table align="center" cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto; text-align: center;"><tbody>
<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhgQxYpuHTwTKjYC8I4QjRBLnjT57Mps3q_Q62TADoDcs9Xd4eIK7DkhZC2T8x3_wtf1d5hCkY91Euuqn-fYPzQClvVyvQ3PX2BFvnaCvy6FZvr8SlOG3Mo7DLfwLJ_eaTJJb15iU9dxUd_/s1600/3rd+weekend+of+spring.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" data-original-height="598" data-original-width="664" height="288" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhgQxYpuHTwTKjYC8I4QjRBLnjT57Mps3q_Q62TADoDcs9Xd4eIK7DkhZC2T8x3_wtf1d5hCkY91Euuqn-fYPzQClvVyvQ3PX2BFvnaCvy6FZvr8SlOG3Mo7DLfwLJ_eaTJJb15iU9dxUd_/s320/3rd+weekend+of+spring.jpg" width="320" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">barely budding</td></tr>
</tbody></table>
</o:p></div>
<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
<br /></div>
<br />
<div class="MsoNormal">
My job, which is a very good job, is nonetheless trying to
kill me.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>I keep trying to get rid of
things at home so that my “heirs” will only inherit good things, not
clutter.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>I’ve barely written a word
since my last post here in early March, until last night when I went to my
local for a couple pints.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> Thus inspired, </span>I scribbled based
on barely legible scratches and kept going from memory of the theatre I’ve seen
this year.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>Little by little, bit by bit,
I’ll post Molly’s musings on those.<o:p></o:p></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="color: #7030a0; font-family: "bookman old style" , serif;"><span style="font-size: x-small;"><i>~ Molly Matera, signing off to talk theatre.</i></span><o:p></o:p></span></div>
<br />Mollyhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/12343358780878886726noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1162714840282890495.post-2783315346422423632018-03-04T14:24:00.000-05:002018-03-04T14:24:41.071-05:00What will we tell the Children?<br />
<div class="MsoNormal">
Last month, I saw the Friday night performance of the
closing weekend of <b style="mso-bidi-font-weight: normal;"><i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;">The Children</i></b> at the Samuel J. Friedman Theatre, presented by
the Manhattan Theatre Club.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>It was a
limited run from London’s Royal Court Theatre, and I am grateful to have come
to my frugal senses in time to order a ticket.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;">
</span>Like the last production I saw that was directed by <b style="mso-bidi-font-weight: normal;">James McDonald</b> — at BAM, <b style="mso-bidi-font-weight: normal;">Caryl
Churchill</b>’s <b style="mso-bidi-font-weight: normal;"><i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;">Escaped Alone</i></b> —<b style="mso-bidi-font-weight: normal;"> </b>the set
was in a box of sorts, so while I was slightly concerned with the height of my rear
mezzanine seat (would I miss any downstage action?), once the play began, I got
it all.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>The box, rather like an
adult-size diorama, was designed by <b style="mso-bidi-font-weight: normal;">Miriam
Buether</b> and represents the downscale home away from home where a
long-married couple, Robin and Hazel (played by <b style="mso-bidi-font-weight: normal;">Ron Cook </b>and<b style="mso-bidi-font-weight: normal;"> Deborah Findlay</b>)
have lived since parts of the coast of England fell into the sea and what was
left was irradiated by a failed nuclear power plant.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>It just so happened that the couple who
inhabit the diorama formerly worked at said nuclear power plant before their
retirement to a lovely country house where they kept cows and chickens. All of
which are now irradiated.<o:p></o:p></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
Into this kitchen/living area comes an unexpected visitor with
whom the couple had worked decades before. This is Rose, played by <b style="mso-bidi-font-weight: normal;">Francesca Annis</b>.<o:p></o:p></div>
<table align="center" cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto; text-align: center;"><tbody>
<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjRxElqy8PvFKXEfeGjvMPLeyfR_sW0XPpLMbDKrPDQ90YDoGNi00RnObO6bic5nNUyS3kphzjal7uyirs0xGFpWjptlZ5tgtTnOFnWmzS_B-2RBBx4hownhInboaT0zLSJ8DBIL6EyRmpm/s1600/Cook+Findlay+Annis.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" data-original-height="489" data-original-width="675" height="231" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjRxElqy8PvFKXEfeGjvMPLeyfR_sW0XPpLMbDKrPDQ90YDoGNi00RnObO6bic5nNUyS3kphzjal7uyirs0xGFpWjptlZ5tgtTnOFnWmzS_B-2RBBx4hownhInboaT0zLSJ8DBIL6EyRmpm/s320/Cook+Findlay+Annis.jpg" width="320" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">Ron Cook, Deborah Findlay, Francesca Annis. Photo Credit: Sara Krulwich (NYT)</td></tr>
</tbody></table>
<div class="MsoNormal">
For the next hour and three quarters, we
wonder what the visitor is doing there, so close to the irradiated land. The dynamics between the threesome vary
between old friends and old enemies, particularly when it’s just the two
women. When the man enters the picture
box, well, that’s interesting.</div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<o:p></o:p></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
They reminisce, they argue, they tell tales of children and
cows.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>When we finally learn why Rose is
there, we’re shocked, but not appalled.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;">
</span>Fair’s fair.<o:p></o:p></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
The playwright, <b style="mso-bidi-font-weight: normal;">Lucy
Kirkwood,</b> was unknown to me. She will be no longer, as this was fine,
intricate writing with interesting living characters (all of them in their 60s)
telling a layered story of personal relationships, personal loss, and personal
responsibility, as well as societal predicaments.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>This is a thoughtful play with plenty of
laughs since, after all, people are pretty funny, and the actors are terrific as
is the precise direction by Mr. McDonald.<o:p></o:p></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<o:p> <table align="center" cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto; text-align: center;"><tbody>
<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgkSxsobZe-porUZOITCYDDjwVddxB2FXpICCmAIG2VrJR9sHQM-_9lQUEjdLszj0Nv5qYcKaS9XS6cDxNwRa_T2HMWKonQpAho9zMQtcLsFdJ5ecGZ1O6QCwLwoXrh80b3iaW8zBBvTw_t/s1600/the-children-cast.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" data-original-height="350" data-original-width="500" height="224" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgkSxsobZe-porUZOITCYDDjwVddxB2FXpICCmAIG2VrJR9sHQM-_9lQUEjdLszj0Nv5qYcKaS9XS6cDxNwRa_T2HMWKonQpAho9zMQtcLsFdJ5ecGZ1O6QCwLwoXrh80b3iaW8zBBvTw_t/s320/the-children-cast.jpg" width="320" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">Rose, Robin, and Hazel (Credit: Royal Court Theatre)</td></tr>
</tbody></table>
</o:p></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
Scenic design by Ms. Buether and lighting by <b style="mso-bidi-font-weight: normal;">Peter Mumford</b> are fitting and fabulous,
atmospheric, and, on occasion, frightening.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;">
</span>I especially liked the surface between the set diorama and the
orchestra, which I slowly realized was filled with water, rather like a moat.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>Reflective water, still, and then rising
water.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>Rising and rising….<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span><o:p></o:p></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
Back in February 2017 at BAM <b>[<a href="http://mollyismusing.blogspot.com/2017/08/what-i-did-those-missing-months-of-2017.html">http://mollyismusing.blogspot.com/2017/08/what-i-did-those-missing-months-of-2017.html</a>]</b>, the last James
McDonald-directed play I saw shared similarities with <i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;">The Children</i>, in another Miriam Buether scenic and Peter Mumford
lighting design, as well as in attitude toward the future.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>Fallible and arrogant humans have made a mess
of things and will suffer the consequences.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;">
</span>No zombies, no robots, no aliens.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;">
</span>Just humans and the results of their hubris.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>Terrific stuff.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span><o:p></o:p></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"><br /></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"><i><span style="color: #351c75;">~ Molly Matera, signing off to continue scribbling about some other performances this winter....</span></i></span></div>
<br />Mollyhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/12343358780878886726noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1162714840282890495.post-37350538991998504782018-01-01T22:34:00.002-05:002018-01-01T22:34:30.215-05:00The Magic of Music at the Belasco<div class="MsoNormal">
Music is mysterious.
It pulls emotions out of us, it urges us to remember for good or ill,
pleasure or pain. It riles us up, it
calms us down. Among other neurologists,
Oliver Sachs particularly has written about music’s healing capacity. Music therapy for people with dementia has
been shown to awaken lost energies and memories.<o:p></o:p></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
The odd story of <b><i>Farinelli and the King</i></b> is an example
of music’s magical power. King Philippe
V of Spain, while some days brilliant, was just as often deeply disturbed,
hiding in his room, fearful of other people, holding conversation with his
goldfish Alfonso. When his wife Queen
Isabella heard castrato Farinelli sing she believed he could help her husband,
so the two made the arduous journey (this was early in the 18<sup>th</sup>
century) from England to Spain for this great experiment. Surely hearing Farinelli’s glorious voice could
awaken the king from his coma-like state.<o:p></o:p></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
This play is based on the real relationship and real story
that Farinelli, a great castrato of the 18<sup>th</sup> century, gave up his
opera career to live with the king and queen of Spain for nine years, singing to keep
the king’s humors level. In addition to
my interest in the subject matter, the play itself more than held my attention
and I cared very much for the characters as written by <b>Claire Van Kampen</b>. It is
most beautifully produced with fine musicians and actors gracing the
stage. Ms. Van Kampen is also the
musical arranger, so clearly knows her subject.
<b>Jonathan</b> <b>Fensom</b>’s designs immediately draw us into the London theatre, the
Madrid palace as well as the house in the forest we experience later. <o:p></o:p></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<b>John Dove</b>’s
direction pulls all these marvelous elements together for a musical and engaging
evening.<o:p></o:p></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<b>Mark Rylance</b>
plays King Philippe V. Mark Rylance is a
genius. Funny, endearing, sometimes frightening and heartbreaking. Philippe is
at his best away from the responsibilities and clutter of court and city life, out in the
forest where he wants to hear the stars singing. Don’t we all. When Jonathan
Fensom’s scenic design transports us to the forest, we too wish to stay.<o:p></o:p></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<o:p> <table align="center" cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto; text-align: center;"><tbody>
<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhT2NwxVZywen1VOY8YtoDxMEKKIOMk1zRA8WJrYpmpxJ-gTU8WF0Z2zSLT-9JsEtj4SH1yUNGlzLvXhGeOVMwH1njh4BuYK_mQwDXc8ZBU21YWEMNFxttNMZ5X8xv7-21ka6Jq0YVScSmU/s1600/Rylance+as+Farinelli.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" data-original-height="1200" data-original-width="800" height="320" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhT2NwxVZywen1VOY8YtoDxMEKKIOMk1zRA8WJrYpmpxJ-gTU8WF0Z2zSLT-9JsEtj4SH1yUNGlzLvXhGeOVMwH1njh4BuYK_mQwDXc8ZBU21YWEMNFxttNMZ5X8xv7-21ka6Jq0YVScSmU/s320/Rylance+as+Farinelli.jpg" width="213" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">Mark Rylance as King Philippe V</td></tr>
</tbody></table>
</o:p></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
Queen Isabella as played by the engaging <b>Melody Grove</b> is practical, powerful and
passionate. She is the one who brings the
audience along on this journey, making us root for her goals to save her
husband.<o:p></o:p></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<b>Dan Crane</b> acts
Farinelli with sensitivity and grace, while <b>Iestyn Davies,</b> a countertenor, sings Farinelli. <o:p></o:p></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
It’s an interesting conceit:
When the scene calls for Farinelli to sing, Mr. Davies enters the stage
dressed exactly like Crane’s Farinelli, and begins to sing and act his aria,
prowling the stage. Crane’s Farinelli
remains, silent, not too close to his alter ego, not too far, communing with
the inner spirit of the singer Farinelli.
At least that’s what it looked like to me, and I was riveted. Crane seems to be subtly reflecting what’s
going on inside the singer Davies.<o:p></o:p></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
This was oddly fascinating to watch and oddly <i>not</i> disruptive to the action.<o:p></o:p></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
Conflict external to the king’s distress is largely supplied
by the King’s wily and seemingly advanced Doctor Cervi, deftly played by <b>Huss Garbiya</b>. The doctor (and Isabella and the King) are in
constant conflict with the king’s minister De La Cuadra, coldly and beautifully
played by <b>Edward Peel. <o:p></o:p></b></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
Queen Isabella originally found Farinelli performing for
London theatrical manager John Rich, who is wittily and convincingly played by <b>Colin Hurley</b>. <o:p></o:p></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
Like the Globe’s last production here at the Belasco Theatre,
the set design is in two levels, the gallery wrapped around and above the
playing area on three sides so that audience members may sit on the stage
surrounding the players, while the upper back gallery is occupied by the excellent
musicians. We can see all, yet they
don’t draw attention from the players. It
is imaginative and impressive and very well used. In the second half, Mr. Rylance adds a third
level as the King chats with the audience as if they were denizens of the
forest. <o:p></o:p></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
If you’ve read what I’ve written in past months about the
musical passions of <b><i>Indecent</i></b> and <b><i>The Band’s Visit</i></b>, you may wonder
about the music in <i>Farinelli and the King</i>. A harpsichord plays the audience in, and is
joined in the half hour before the play starts by a violinist, a cellist, and a
lute player. These and more musicians
accompany much of the action for the evening and afford great pleasure. <o:p></o:p></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
This play was not as effective for me as it will be for
opera lovers. The formal style of
operatic singing awakens no passion in me. Although I intellectually know how powerful
the music is (and I know we cannot know what a castrato really sounded like), I
was not brought to any emotion by the singing.
Mr. Rylance’s performance as the troubled king showed me, however, all I
needed to know about that music’s effect.<o:p></o:p></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
Finally, I must mention the fabulous hair and wigs by <b>Campbell Young</b> that helped set us in
Madrid or the forest and truly complemented the character development.<o:p></o:p></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<i>Farinelli and the King</i>
plays at the Belasco only until March 25, 2018. Performances are marvelous in a brilliant
design, and the play stands on its own without plays of a similar “type” to
compare it to — in any case, nothing and no one compares with Mark
Rylance. If tickets are still available,
get to the Belasco and hear the singing of the stars. <o:p></o:p></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<o:p> <table align="center" cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto; text-align: center;"><tbody>
<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiSp_bb9lkg0kYoJ7p7f3iMBJXA8iYQO9qgSMmNKMu2biMvZq4CgTECzxoIQpEUqnBUF0bWl8SKzF2-IQuEEzbxAG4tq7kfTbqmfHyI3UVVLxsOeHnjLC9FNG9O1K7ftUspWaUBCbCCzKR1/s1600/rylanceat+the+delacorte.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" data-original-height="1459" data-original-width="1094" height="320" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiSp_bb9lkg0kYoJ7p7f3iMBJXA8iYQO9qgSMmNKMu2biMvZq4CgTECzxoIQpEUqnBUF0bWl8SKzF2-IQuEEzbxAG4tq7kfTbqmfHyI3UVVLxsOeHnjLC9FNG9O1K7ftUspWaUBCbCCzKR1/s320/rylanceat+the+delacorte.jpg" width="239" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">Mark Rylance as audience at the Delacorte in 2015. Photo: Matt Hennessy</td></tr>
</tbody></table>
</o:p></div>
<br />
<div class="MsoNormal">
<i><span style="color: #7030a0; font-family: "Bookman Old Style",serif;">~ Molly Matera,
signing off to contemplate a new year.
Be happy and healthy.<o:p></o:p></span></i></div>
Mollyhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/12343358780878886726noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1162714840282890495.post-18994585721434641462017-12-16T23:14:00.001-05:002017-12-16T23:14:47.072-05:00A Seasonal Treat Until Epiphany<div class="MsoNormal">
<b>Fiasco Theater </b>is
playing Shakespeare’s great comedy <b><i>Twelfth Night</i></b> at Classic Stage
Company (136 East 13<sup>th</sup> Street) until Saturday January 6, 2018. Run don’t walk to catch this exciting, funny,
musical, lyrical, pastoral, pastoral-comical, historical-pastoral, pastoral-romantic
comedy best suited to this season. <o:p></o:p></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<i>Twelfth Night</i> is
often described as a perfect comedy and it may well be so. But for that twin thing. The romance is restrained (what with people in
disguise), the comedy is not. And in
this production, the cast is superlative.
May I present:<o:p></o:p></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<b>Andy Grotelueschen</b>
as Sir Toby Belch<o:p></o:p></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<b>Jessie Austrian</b>
as Olivia<o:p></o:p></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<b>Emily Young</b> as
Viola/Cesario<o:p></o:p></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<b>Noah Brody</b> as
Orsino (also co-directed)<o:p></o:p></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<b>Ben Steinfeld</b> as
Feste (also co-directed)<o:p></o:p></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<b>Tina Chilip</b> as
Maria <o:p></o:p></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<b>Paul L. Coffey</b> as
Malvolio<o:p></o:p></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<b>Paco Tolson</b> as
Sir Andrew Aguecheek (among others)<o:p></o:p></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<b>Javier Ignacio</b> as
Sebastian (among others)<o:p></o:p></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<b>David Samuel</b> as
Antonio (among others)<o:p></o:p></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<o:p> <table align="center" cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto; text-align: center;"><tbody>
<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgF8nxWXKGzsqht6dCpyxYWAJSZT1yJbijKrVi3boNcj-5tDAWoh2s6CzwafdSuKIf02K9-1qtWuDu8ujTuBRN-tRRxOcoWPQ4G0PaMwHfE9hXB6t-pVndj6qNBJZos3tAHB30mj3jD5iuy/s1600/The+Company+by+Joan+Marcus.png" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" data-original-height="683" data-original-width="1024" height="213" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgF8nxWXKGzsqht6dCpyxYWAJSZT1yJbijKrVi3boNcj-5tDAWoh2s6CzwafdSuKIf02K9-1qtWuDu8ujTuBRN-tRRxOcoWPQ4G0PaMwHfE9hXB6t-pVndj6qNBJZos3tAHB30mj3jD5iuy/s320/The+Company+by+Joan+Marcus.png" width="320" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">Fiasco Theater at CSC (Photo by Joan Marcus)</td></tr>
</tbody></table>
</o:p></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<b>John Doyle</b>’s
scenic design is flexible and creative, as is costume design by <b>Emily Rebholz</b>. <o:p></o:p></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<b>Andy Grotelueschen</b>’s
Sir Toby may well be the best funniest and most consistently alive I’ve seen,
with a real relationship between him and <b>Tina
Chilip</b>’s happily hilarious Maria.<o:p></o:p></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<b>Ben Steinfeld</b> as Feste
shows himself as a fine comedic actor and musician and singer, quite romantic, and
apparently a good director, since he and Noah Brody directed this production.<o:p></o:p></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<b>Noah Brody</b> is a well-developed
and believable Orsino (although I will always remember the delicious Orsino of <i>Paul Rudd</i> at Lincoln Center).<o:p></o:p></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<b>Jessie Austrian</b>’s
Olivia is a sex-starved delight.<o:p></o:p></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<b>Emily Young</b>’s
Cesario/Viola is witty, strong and quite marvelous.<o:p></o:p></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
As is their custom, when not actively onstage, the members
of the Fiasco Theater sit or stand on the sidelines watching their colleagues
and laughing along. And accompanying one
another on musical instruments and vocals, which makes for a funny, musical,
delightful evening.<o:p></o:p></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
As always, the twins bit in the last scene goes on too long —
how dense are these people — but that’s just a momentary annoyance that may
only happen to people (like me) who’ve seen the play many times.<o:p></o:p></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
So go to 13<sup>th</sup> Street, go online, get a ticket,
celebrate a well-over-200-year-old play.
Just because it’s done all the time doesn’t mean it’s always done as
well as this. Trust Fiasco Theater. Go!<o:p></o:p></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<br />
<div class="MsoNormal">
<a href="http://www.classicstage.org/">http://www.classicstage.org/<o:p></o:p></a></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<i><span style="color: #674ea7;">~ Molly Matera, signing off to go bake Christmas Cookies....</span></i></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
Mollyhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/12343358780878886726noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1162714840282890495.post-10521280467188249632017-12-06T22:20:00.000-05:002017-12-06T22:20:20.206-05:00An Enchanting Evening of Song and Dance at City Center<div class="MsoNormal" style="background-attachment: initial; background-clip: initial; background-image: initial; background-origin: initial; background-position: initial; background-repeat: initial; background-size: initial;">
<span style="background-color: #fff2cc; color: #37441c;"><span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">Last Spring I bought tickets to a "City Center Encore” of <b>Frederick Loewe</b> and <b>Alan Jay Lerner</b>’s <b><i>Brigadoon</i></b>.
City Center typically does “concert” stagings — that is minimal staging, some
costuming, broad stroke choreography. After all, these shows run less than a week
and don’t have much time for rehearsal. Stage actor union rules for staged
readings were stated in the program — performers might have “scripts in hand.” </span></span></div>
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<span style="background-color: #fff2cc; color: #37441c;"><span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">Not this time. This production was put together for a Gala on
the Wednesday, so what I saw that Thursday night was highly polished. <o:p></o:p></span></span></div>
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<span style="background-color: #fff2cc; font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><span style="color: #37441c;">A wonderful scrim separated the onstage orchestra from the
action (sometimes down, sometimes not) on which projections showed NYC,
Scotland, heather on the hills, a forest, all in watercolor softness, with soft
or bold colors depending on the scene.
Each scene was gorgeous, naturalistic without being in the slightest bit
photographic. A steep rounded staircase representing
any number of hills separated the onstage orchestra from the action (except
when the conductor handed a branch of heather to Fiona).</span><span style="color: #222222;"><o:p></o:p></span></span></div>
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<span style="background-color: #fff2cc; font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><b><span style="color: #37441c;">Kelli O’Hara </span></b><span style="color: #37441c;">as Fiona has the voice of an angel but doesn’t leave it at
that. She breathes life into her character — her Fiona is real and warm and alive. <o:p></o:p></span></span></div>
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<span style="background-color: #fff2cc; color: #37441c;"><span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">Choreographer and director <b>Christopher
Wheeldon</b> was respectful of the original Agnes DeMille choreography, which
even I could recognize (women’s hands), but enhanced, streamlined, and strengthened
it. The women dancers were delightful, and the men … Oh my....<o:p></o:p></span></span></div>
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<span style="background-color: #fff2cc; color: #37441c;"><span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">Men in kilts. Dancing. Leaping. Twirling. Gasp.<o:p></o:p></span></span></div>
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<span style="background-color: #fff2cc; font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><b><span style="color: #37441c;">Robert Fairchild </span></b><span style="color: #37441c;">(formerly of the NYC Ballet, who danced <i>American in
Paris</i>, which I now regret not seeing just to have watched his performance) played
the sad and angry “villain” of the piece, Harry Beaton, who is a much more
interesting character than the Americans from the 20<sup>th</sup> century. Ballet
dancers have played Harry in the past on stage, as well as in the film. Fairchild was
magnificent, every movement sublime. He
has not yet developed much vocal guts as an actor, but his body does it all.</span><span style="color: #222222;"><o:p></o:p></span></span></div>
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<span style="background-color: #fff2cc; font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><span style="color: #37441c;">As the second romantic lead, Charlie Dalrymple, <b>Ross Lekites</b> sings smoothly and sweetly.
He sang two of my favorite songs, “Go Home
With Bonnie Jean” and “Come to me, bend to me,” breaking my heart in the process
and moving his fiancée Jean (<b>Sara Esty</b>)
and her friends into their lyrical dance.
Ms.<b> </b>Esty is not much a vocal
presence, but that hardly matters. She was totally present and graceful, telling
her love story with the lines of her body, giving Charlie and us her heart. </span><span style="color: #222222;"><o:p></o:p></span></span></div>
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<span style="background-color: #fff2cc; font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><b><span style="color: #37441c;">Stephanie J. Block</span></b><span style="color: #37441c;"> was a big vocal presence as Meg Brockie, singing the hilariously
tongue-twisting “Me Mother’s Wedding Day.” Once the Americans came to Brigadoon, Meg pined
after Jeff, the sad-sack drunken friend of the leading man, Tommy. <b>Aasif
Mandvi </b>played Jeff with wit and warm sarcasm. As the object of Meg’s
affection/lust, Mandvi totally embodied this potentially depressing character all
the way to his last moments onstage.</span><span style="color: #222222;"><o:p></o:p></span></span></div>
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<span style="background-color: #fff2cc; font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><b><span style="color: #37441c;">Patrick Wilson</span></b><span style="color: #37441c;"> was Tommy, the romantic lead opposite Kelli O’Hara. I’m
not a Wilson fan, I’m afraid. Whenever I’ve seen him he’s perfectly competent,
he just doesn’t interest me. He did his
job well here; a strong singer, performing fine duets with Fiona, and he actually did
more than justice to the overly expository songs of the second act. I always enjoyed Gene Kelly’s depiction of Tommy in the
movie, but then I always enjoy Gene Kelly. Perhaps the role
is just poorly written.<o:p></o:p></span></span></div>
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<span style="background-color: #fff2cc; font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><b><span style="color: #37441c;">Dakin Matthews</span></b><span style="color: #37441c;"> was excellent as Mr. Lundie, who explains the (utterly
absurd but who cares) premise of the play.
<b>Patricia Delgado</b> was expressive
as the woman who clearly wanted Harry Beaton and danced the thrilling funeral
dance. This was far from morose, rather
full of passion and very beautiful.<o:p></o:p></span></span></div>
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<span style="background-color: #fff2cc; color: #37441c;"><span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">It was a truly joyous evening at the beautiful City Center.<o:p></o:p></span></span></div>
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<i><span style="background-color: #fff2cc; color: #351c75; font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif; font-size: x-small;">~ Molly Matera, signing off still hearing the lovely music
and thrilling to Robert Fairchild dancing in my dreams.</span><span style="background-color: white; color: #37441c; font-size: 9pt;"><o:p></o:p></span></i></div>
Mollyhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/12343358780878886726noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1162714840282890495.post-45095948156705000642017-12-02T01:03:00.000-05:002017-12-02T01:03:07.961-05:00Midnight at the Oasis, or Bewitching Omar Sharif<div class="MsoNoSpacing">
<span style="background-color: #fff2cc;"><b><span style="font-family: Cambria, serif; font-size: 12pt;">The
Band’s Visit, </span></b><span style="background-attachment: initial; background-clip: initial; background-image: initial; background-origin: initial; background-position: initial; background-repeat: initial; background-size: initial; color: #37441c; font-family: Cambria, serif; font-size: 12pt;">lovingly directed by the wonderful <b>David Cromer</b>, is a
beautiful piece of theatre with delicious music and characters in a handsomely
constructed evening.</span><span style="font-family: Cambria, serif; font-size: 12pt;"><o:p></o:p></span></span></div>
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<span style="background-color: #fff2cc;"><span style="background-attachment: initial; background-clip: initial; background-image: initial; background-origin: initial; background-position: initial; background-repeat: initial; background-size: initial; color: #37441c; font-family: Cambria, serif; font-size: 12pt;">Based
on the Israeli film of the same name, the play’s book is by <b>Itamar Moses</b>
with music and lyrics by <b>David Yazbek</b>, music that soared and made us
dance in our seats and our souls. Music and love, that’s what <b><i>The Band’s
Visit</i></b> is about. It is seductive and charming, sweet but not treacly.</span><span style="font-family: Cambria, serif; font-size: 12pt;"><o:p></o:p></span></span></div>
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<span style="background-color: #fff2cc;"><b><span style="background-attachment: initial; background-clip: initial; background-image: initial; background-origin: initial; background-position: initial; background-repeat: initial; background-size: initial; color: #37441c; font-family: Cambria, serif; font-size: 12pt;">Patrick
McCollum’s</span></b><span style="background-attachment: initial; background-clip: initial; background-image: initial; background-origin: initial; background-position: initial; background-repeat: initial; background-size: initial; color: #37441c; font-family: Cambria, serif; font-size: 12pt;"> delightful and elegant choreography grows from the
characters’ movements and feelings, easily making its way around <b>Scott Pask</b>’s
imaginative scenic design.<u1:p></u1:p></span><span style="font-family: Cambria, serif; font-size: 12pt;"><o:p></o:p></span></span></div>
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<span style="background-color: #fff2cc;"><span style="background-attachment: initial; background-clip: initial; background-image: initial; background-origin: initial; background-position: initial; background-repeat: initial; background-size: initial; color: #37441c; font-family: Cambria, serif; font-size: 12pt;">While
its music put me in mind of the brilliant <b><i>Indecent</i></b> earlier this
year [http://mollyismusing.blogspot.com/2017/08/],<b><i> The Band’s Visit</i></b>
is much simpler, a snippet — more of a short story than the full novel <b><i>Indecent
</i></b>resembled. Nonetheless, <b><i>The Band’s Visit </i></b>gives deep
satisfaction with interesting characters we can identify with in ordinary and
extraordinary social situations. A small town visited by unexpected strangers,
foreigners. In a small American town, would these foreigners have been taken in
and enjoyed? I may be grumpy and downright depressed about the state of our
nation, but I’m very much afraid not.<u1:p></u1:p></span><span style="font-family: Cambria, serif; font-size: 12pt;"><o:p></o:p></span></span></div>
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<span style="background-color: #fff2cc;"><span style="background-attachment: initial; background-clip: initial; background-image: initial; background-origin: initial; background-position: initial; background-repeat: initial; background-size: initial; color: #37441c; font-family: Cambria, serif; font-size: 12pt;">The
basic story is simple. An Egyptian band is invited to visit an Arab Cultural
Center in an Israeli city to play a concert of traditional music. There are two
towns in Israel with names that sound, to non-Israelis, extremely similar. The
city expecting the band is Petah Tikva. The aforementioned Egyptian band gets
on the wrong bus to the wrong town — Bet Hatikva. According to its residents,
said wrong town not only has no Cultural Center but no culture at all, although
it does have a roller skating rink. It’s a dusty desert town with people who
are terribly bored and hopeless, yet somehow the best humans you could hope for.
The greeting the lost band received was musical and hilarious led by the
thrilling <b>Katrina Lenk</b>, as a local café owner named Dina. A taste: <a href="https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=OzcHlnJ4c1Q">https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=OzcHlnJ4c1Q</a>
Dina
and the Egyptian bandleader, Tewfiq, charmingly played by <b>Tony Shalhoub,</b>
explore one another as they while away the evening, gently discovering each
other’s past and present.</span><span style="font-family: Cambria, serif; font-size: 12pt;"><o:p></o:p></span></span></div>
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<span style="background-color: #fff2cc;"><span style="background-attachment: initial; background-clip: initial; background-image: initial; background-origin: initial; background-position: initial; background-repeat: initial; background-size: initial; color: #37441c; font-family: Cambria, serif; font-size: 12pt;">The
cast is sublime, featuring actors who are musicians, actors who dance or skate,
music everywhere. There’s <b>John Cariani </b>as a young father learning to be
a husband and <b>Etai Benson</b> as a lonely young man who befriends a sax
player with a passion for Chet Baker. Unlikely friendships form, and music
arises from them all. A running theme of what appears to be a hopeless
long-distance romance gives us <b>Adam Kantor</b> staring at a pay phone for
hours, awaiting a call from his girlfriend. When that young man sings, he
breaks hearts.</span><span style="font-family: Cambria, serif; font-size: 12pt;"><u1:p></u1:p><o:p></o:p></span></span></div>
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<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhjr35dmOnQUG_bcLggJ7rQBLvXGs9F3frdNxnvLhqlyXwZ3m4TLsyf84x5eZrTkkCH3ShuKPIKPLFAuwQjiYgYnVQjRRl2dYgQV_rF2SLntYEwRh0UyF_EyeKXP-HZ8kAxPbopg-5SBplh/s1600/tbv.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="528" data-original-width="768" height="220" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhjr35dmOnQUG_bcLggJ7rQBLvXGs9F3frdNxnvLhqlyXwZ3m4TLsyf84x5eZrTkkCH3ShuKPIKPLFAuwQjiYgYnVQjRRl2dYgQV_rF2SLntYEwRh0UyF_EyeKXP-HZ8kAxPbopg-5SBplh/s320/tbv.jpg" width="320" /></a></div>
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<span style="color: #666666; font-size: 9.0pt; mso-bidi-font-family: Arial;">Tony
Shalhoub, Ari’el Stachel and Katrina Lenk (Photo Sara Krulwich)</span><span style="font-size: 9.0pt; mso-bidi-font-family: Arial;"><o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span style="background-color: #fff2cc;"><b><i><span style="background-attachment: initial; background-clip: initial; background-image: initial; background-origin: initial; background-position: initial; background-repeat: initial; background-size: initial; color: #37441c; font-family: Cambria, serif; font-size: 12pt;">The Band’s Visit </span></i></b><span style="background-attachment: initial; background-clip: initial; background-image: initial; background-origin: initial; background-position: initial; background-repeat: initial; background-size: initial; color: #37441c; font-family: Cambria, serif; font-size: 12pt;">is a seductive
musical evening, an exquisite short story with far-reaching themes to which
we’d be wise to pay attention.<u1:p></u1:p></span><span style="font-family: Cambria, serif; font-size: 12pt;"><o:p></o:p></span></span></div>
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<i><span style="background-attachment: initial; background-clip: initial; background-color: #fff2cc; background-image: initial; background-origin: initial; background-position: initial; background-repeat: initial; background-size: initial; color: #37441c; font-family: Cambria, serif; font-size: 12pt;">~
Molly Matera, signing off and offering this: If you have lost faith or
hope, go to <b>The Band’s Visit</b>, then share the joy.</span></i><span style="font-family: Cambria, serif; font-size: 12pt;"><o:p></o:p></span></div>
Mollyhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/12343358780878886726noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1162714840282890495.post-90164463483093941122017-11-19T23:09:00.000-05:002017-11-19T23:09:31.012-05:00The Woods for the Trees....<div class="MsoNormal">
The other night I saw a children’s show at Classic Stage
Company called <i>The Stowaway</i>, a clever
compilation of Shakespeare’s words and phrases in a storyline pulling a little
from here, a little from there, with pirates and shipwrecks, usurping dukes, a little
magic, and a talking ship’s figurehead.
It was a lot of fun, and I was only sorry to see too small an audience. This Trusty Sidekick Theater Company
production deserved more. The play is
technically for kids 5-12, but they let me in without one! Alas, its last performance was November 19th,
so I’m afraid you missed it. Keep an eye
out for this fun company of players presenting original theatre for kids. <a href="https://classicstage.org/shows/2017/11/the-stowaway-or-how-the-mistress-quickly-went-from-madcap-to-majestic/">https://classicstage.org/shows/2017/11/the-stowaway-or-how-the-mistress-quickly-went-from-madcap-to-majestic/</a><o:p></o:p></div>
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Also starting out from East 13<sup>th</sup> Street…<o:p></o:p></div>
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<b>Compare and Contrast: Double
Vision of the Forest of Arden</b><o:p></o:p></div>
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Two productions of William Shakespeare's <b><i>As You Like It</i></b> reveal missing pieces
in each. For Classic Stage Company (CSC),
the usurping Duke Fredrick merely serves to throw people together to fall in
love in the Forest of Arden. On the
other hand, in <b><i>Arden Everywhere</i></b><span style="background: white; color: #37441c; font-size: 9.0pt; mso-bidi-font-family: Arial;"> — </span>the other <i>As You Like It</i> at Baruch’s Performing Arts Center, or BPAC — the new
inhabitants of the Forest of Arden are refugees waiting to see what may happen
next in their lives as determined by unknown others. Banishment leads to refugees — we just didn’t
call them that until <i>Arden Everywhere’s</i>
director <b>Jessica Bauman</b> did. Shakespeare’s Jaques is melancholy in this beautiful
— albeit cold — place, but perhaps we should have been listening to him more
closely.<o:p></o:p></div>
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CSC’s <b>John Doyle</b>
shows us only a simplistic if charming love story — well, several love stories,
which lead to marriages that silence the women who have contributed so strongly
to survival in exile.<o:p></o:p></div>
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<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
Doyle’s <b><i>As You Like It</i></b>, running under two hours,<b> </b>leaves out most of the story and
conflict so that, no matter how pretty the ditties composed by <b>Stephen Schwartz</b>, the evening is almost
pointless. Except, of course, that it
was such a pleasure to watch <b>Ellen
Burstyn</b>’s stillness onstage and hear the simplicity of the Seven Ages of
Man at her hands in her abbreviated performance of Jaques. Abbreviated it was, as was the whole play. <o:p></o:p></div>
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<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
While I enjoyed the <i>Arden
Everywhere’s</i> Jaques as played by <b>Tommy
Schrider,</b> perhaps the actor is too young to deliver the Seven Ages of Man
as well as Ms. Burstyn did. Hers was on
the spot, extempore, as it were. His was
recited.<o:p></o:p></div>
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<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
John Doyle may think he’s stripped the play down to its
elements at CSC, but in fact he stripped it to ten actors in search of a
play. The cast sang Stephen Schwartz’s ditties
very well, particularly <b>Bob Stillman</b>
as Duke Senior. Unfortunately, the addition
of jazzy music did not make up for the lack of a play. Favorite performances in
this production were Rosalind (<b>Hannah
Cabell</b>), Celia (<b>Quincy Tyler
Bernstine</b>), and Phebe (a multi-level <b>Leenya
Rideout</b>) and the inestimable Ms. Burstyn.
<o:p></o:p></div>
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<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
In <i>Arden Everywhere</i>,
the Phebe over-acted terribly, as if she were in a thousand-seat house (she
wasn’t) but <b>Helen Cespedes</b>’ Rosalind
and <b>Liba Vaynberg</b>’s Celia were
fabulous. <o:p></o:p></div>
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<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
Since <b>Jessica Bauman</b>
did not cut away the entire play, <b>Dikran
Tulaine</b> as the Dukes Senior and Frederick got to remove a coat and become
either the nice or the nasty duke before our eyes. This was much more interesting for the audience. Not to mention true to the play even though
it didn’t use the play’s name, while CSC used the name but did something else,
the way films do. <o:p></o:p></div>
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<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
Touchstones were played by <b>Dennis Rozee</b> in <i>Arden
Everywhere</i> and <b>Andre de Shields</b>
in the CSC production. Both performances
were expert and funny while totally different from one another, which is one of
most entertaining aspects of seeing two productions of the same play in close
proximity.<o:p></o:p></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
The Oliver/Silvius in <i>Arden
Everywhere</i> were well differentiated as played by <b>Kambi Gathesha</b>. Some of the cast
at BPAC were not professionals and their inexperience showed, so the play as a whole
had some issues. But at least <i>Arden Everywhere</i> did the whole play, not
just the romantic comedy that CSC’s <i>AYLI</i>
presented. Both evenings were enjoyable,
but <i>Arden Everywhere</i> was far more satisfying.<o:p></o:p></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<o:p> </o:p><span style="text-align: center;"> </span></div>
<br />
<div class="MsoNormal">
<i><span style="font-family: "Cambria",serif; mso-ascii-theme-font: major-latin; mso-hansi-theme-font: major-latin;">Molly Matera, signing off to think about men in kilts.<o:p></o:p></span></i></div>
Mollyhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/12343358780878886726noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1162714840282890495.post-26463062316886150252017-11-12T22:47:00.001-05:002017-11-12T22:47:08.459-05:00Time Dragging at the Roundabout<div class="MsoNormal">
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="background-color: #fff2cc;"><b><span style="background-attachment: initial; background-clip: initial; background-image: initial; background-origin: initial; background-position: initial; background-repeat: initial; background-size: initial; color: #37441c;">J.B. Priestly’s</span></b><span style="background-attachment: initial; background-clip: initial; background-image: initial; background-origin: initial; background-position: initial; background-repeat: initial; background-size: initial; color: #37441c;"> <b><i>An
Inspector Calls</i></b> has tension and mystery, causing anxiety.<o:p></o:p></span></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="background-color: #fff2cc;"><b><span style="background-attachment: initial; background-clip: initial; background-image: initial; background-origin: initial; background-position: initial; background-repeat: initial; background-size: initial; color: #37441c;">J.B. Priestly’s</span></b><span style="background-attachment: initial; background-clip: initial; background-image: initial; background-origin: initial; background-position: initial; background-repeat: initial; background-size: initial; color: #37441c;"> <b><i>Time
and the Conways</i></b> has not.<o:p></o:p></span></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="background-attachment: initial; background-clip: initial; background-color: #fff2cc; background-image: initial; background-origin: initial; background-position: initial; background-repeat: initial; background-size: initial; color: #37441c;">The Roundabout’s production of <b><i>Time
and the Conways</i></b> at the American Airlines Theatre on 42<sup>nd</sup>
Street is beautifully produced and cleverly staged. Costuming, furnishing, sound, lights, it has
all that. And perfectly competent, often
more than competent, performances by the actors.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="background-attachment: initial; background-clip: initial; background-color: #fff2cc; background-image: initial; background-origin: initial; background-position: initial; background-repeat: initial; background-size: initial; color: #37441c;">What it doesn’t have are interesting
characters. Or, barring interesting, at
least likeable characters. All these
people worry about is money they do not earn.
They’re boring. They’re
unpleasant. Some are downright
nasty. By the end of the play, we wonder
if Mrs. Conway’s late husband, who died some time before the play began,
deliberately drowned himself to get away from her bad mothering.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="background-attachment: initial; background-clip: initial; background-color: #fff2cc; background-image: initial; background-origin: initial; background-position: initial; background-repeat: initial; background-size: initial; color: #37441c;">Downton Abbey (constantly brought to mind
in the production’s advertising because of <b>Elizabeth
McGovern</b>’s presence as the matriarch and the television series’ vastly
superior depiction of a family with a certain stature in the beginning of the
20<sup>th</sup> century undergoing a massive change in society in the decades
that follow the first world war) worked because we had time to give a damn, to
know even the villains, to watch the girls grow up. In the three scenes of this play, the fine
acting shows us a good deal but not enough to make us care. <o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="background-attachment: initial; background-clip: initial; background-color: #fff2cc; background-image: initial; background-origin: initial; background-position: initial; background-repeat: initial; background-size: initial; color: #37441c;">At least not me.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="background-attachment: initial; background-clip: initial; background-color: #fff2cc; background-image: initial; background-origin: initial; background-position: initial; background-repeat: initial; background-size: initial; color: #37441c;">What’s most surprising here is that this
production is smoothly directed by the splendid <b>Rebecca Taichmann</b> yet it has no life. It is a set piece of another time, instead of
being <i>about</i> time as Priestly
apparently intended. To read about a
play and be told the author’s intent is not the same thing as getting it by
watching and listening. <o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="background-color: #fff2cc;">The players and designers of this production gave it their all, so the problem was not with them: <o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="background-attachment: initial; background-clip: initial; background-image: initial; background-origin: initial; background-position: initial; background-repeat: initial; background-size: initial; color: #37441c;"><o:p><span style="background-color: #fff2cc;"> </span><table align="center" cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="background-color: white; margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto; text-align: center;"><tbody>
<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgMYJ54JgguBfbPVSquz9dcVVz_niThob3ToehSekT-aWrNJ2al0iLZZzbdiZINLX3rLDvzJcM8_-Bkw5R_S8t8NuwaWMsz8eDWP-_9_xafyAzZsy_LXT_kB8GBogq21TQ8uBIO0ucEb70c/s1600/2-2261_Elizabeth-McGovern%25252c-Brooke-Bloom-and-Charlotte-Parry-in-TIME-AND-THE-CONWAYS%25252c-Photo-by-Jeremy-Daniel-2017.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" data-original-height="329" data-original-width="605" height="174" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgMYJ54JgguBfbPVSquz9dcVVz_niThob3ToehSekT-aWrNJ2al0iLZZzbdiZINLX3rLDvzJcM8_-Bkw5R_S8t8NuwaWMsz8eDWP-_9_xafyAzZsy_LXT_kB8GBogq21TQ8uBIO0ucEb70c/s320/2-2261_Elizabeth-McGovern%25252c-Brooke-Bloom-and-Charlotte-Parry-in-TIME-AND-THE-CONWAYS%25252c-Photo-by-Jeremy-Daniel-2017.jpg" width="320" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">Elizabeth McGovern, Anna Camp, and Charlotte Parry. <i>Photo by Jeremy Daniel.</i></td></tr>
</tbody></table>
</o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoListParagraphCxSpFirst" style="mso-list: l0 level1 lfo1; text-indent: -.25in;">
<!--[if !supportLists]--><span style="color: #37441c; font-family: Symbol; mso-bidi-font-family: Symbol; mso-bidi-font-size: 10.0pt; mso-fareast-font-family: Symbol;">·<span style="font-family: "Times New Roman"; font-size: 7pt; font-stretch: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; line-height: normal;"> <span style="background-color: #fff2cc;">
</span></span></span><!--[endif]--><span style="background-color: #fff2cc;"><b><span style="background-attachment: initial; background-clip: initial; background-image: initial; background-origin: initial; background-position: initial; background-repeat: initial; background-size: initial; color: #37441c;">Anna Camp</span></b><span style="background-attachment: initial; background-clip: initial; background-image: initial; background-origin: initial; background-position: initial; background-repeat: initial; background-size: initial; color: #37441c;"> is bubbly as Hazel,
the pretty one, at least to people like herself. She is mean to her working class suitor, and
predictably marries him so that she fades into a wan imitation of herself19
years later.<o:p></o:p></span></span></div>
<div class="MsoListParagraphCxSpMiddle" style="mso-list: l0 level1 lfo1; text-indent: -.25in;">
<!--[if !supportLists]--><span style="background-color: #fff2cc;"><span style="color: #37441c; font-family: Symbol; mso-bidi-font-family: Symbol; mso-bidi-font-size: 10.0pt; mso-fareast-font-family: Symbol;">·<span style="font-family: "Times New Roman"; font-size: 7pt; font-stretch: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; line-height: normal;">
</span></span><!--[endif]--><b><span style="background-attachment: initial; background-clip: initial; background-image: initial; background-origin: initial; background-position: initial; background-repeat: initial; background-size: initial; color: #37441c;">Anna Baryshnikov</span></b><span style="background-attachment: initial; background-clip: initial; background-image: initial; background-origin: initial; background-position: initial; background-repeat: initial; background-size: initial; color: #37441c;"> is excellent
as the sweet Carol, the favorite who died young<o:p></o:p></span></span></div>
<div class="MsoListParagraphCxSpMiddle" style="mso-list: l0 level1 lfo1; text-indent: -.25in;">
<!--[if !supportLists]--><span style="background-color: #fff2cc;"><span style="color: #37441c; font-family: Symbol; mso-bidi-font-family: Symbol; mso-bidi-font-size: 10.0pt; mso-fareast-font-family: Symbol;">·<span style="font-family: "Times New Roman"; font-size: 7pt; font-stretch: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; line-height: normal;">
</span></span><!--[endif]--><b><span style="background-attachment: initial; background-clip: initial; background-image: initial; background-origin: initial; background-position: initial; background-repeat: initial; background-size: initial; color: #37441c;">Gabriel Ebert</span></b><span style="background-attachment: initial; background-clip: initial; background-image: initial; background-origin: initial; background-position: initial; background-repeat: initial; background-size: initial; color: #37441c;"> does fine work as Alan,
the eldest son, who appears an unambitious doofus but is surprisingly wise<o:p></o:p></span></span></div>
<div class="MsoListParagraphCxSpMiddle" style="mso-list: l0 level1 lfo1; text-indent: -.25in;">
<!--[if !supportLists]--><span style="background-color: #fff2cc;"><span style="color: #37441c; font-family: Symbol; mso-bidi-font-family: Symbol; mso-bidi-font-size: 10.0pt; mso-fareast-font-family: Symbol;">·<span style="font-family: "Times New Roman"; font-size: 7pt; font-stretch: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; line-height: normal;">
</span></span><!--[endif]--><b><span style="background-attachment: initial; background-clip: initial; background-image: initial; background-origin: initial; background-position: initial; background-repeat: initial; background-size: initial; color: #37441c;">Brooke Bloom</span></b><span style="background-attachment: initial; background-clip: initial; background-image: initial; background-origin: initial; background-position: initial; background-repeat: initial; background-size: initial; color: #37441c;"> is strident and
then heartbreaking as Madge the socialist daughter in a sad depiction from
youthful hope to the bitter submission of age. <o:p></o:p></span></span></div>
<div class="MsoListParagraphCxSpMiddle" style="mso-list: l0 level1 lfo1; text-indent: -.25in;">
<!--[if !supportLists]--><span style="background-color: #fff2cc;"><span style="color: #37441c; font-family: Symbol; mso-bidi-font-family: Symbol; mso-bidi-font-size: 10.0pt; mso-fareast-font-family: Symbol;">·<span style="font-family: "Times New Roman"; font-size: 7pt; font-stretch: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; line-height: normal;">
</span></span><!--[endif]--><b><span style="background-attachment: initial; background-clip: initial; background-image: initial; background-origin: initial; background-position: initial; background-repeat: initial; background-size: initial; color: #37441c;">Charlotte Parry</span></b><span style="background-attachment: initial; background-clip: initial; background-image: initial; background-origin: initial; background-position: initial; background-repeat: initial; background-size: initial; color: #37441c;"> gracefully
plays Kay the young writer who broke free of the family, and, despite her disappointed
sadness, at least has dignity <o:p></o:p></span></span></div>
<div class="MsoListParagraphCxSpMiddle" style="mso-list: l0 level1 lfo1; text-indent: -.25in;">
<!--[if !supportLists]--><span style="background-color: #fff2cc;"><span style="color: #37441c; font-family: Symbol; mso-bidi-font-family: Symbol; mso-bidi-font-size: 10.0pt; mso-fareast-font-family: Symbol;">·<span style="font-family: "Times New Roman"; font-size: 7pt; font-stretch: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; line-height: normal;">
</span></span><!--[endif]--><b><span style="background-attachment: initial; background-clip: initial; background-image: initial; background-origin: initial; background-position: initial; background-repeat: initial; background-size: initial; color: #37441c;">Cara Ricketts </span></b><span style="background-attachment: initial; background-clip: initial; background-image: initial; background-origin: initial; background-position: initial; background-repeat: initial; background-size: initial; color: #37441c;">as family
friend Joan, obviously enamored of young Robin.
Like Hazel’s romance, this doesn’t work out too well. Perhaps Priestley was really writing about
sad upper class marriages.<o:p></o:p></span></span></div>
<div class="MsoListParagraphCxSpMiddle" style="mso-list: l0 level1 lfo1; text-indent: -.25in;">
<!--[if !supportLists]--><span style="background-color: #fff2cc;"><span style="color: #37441c; font-family: Symbol; mso-bidi-font-family: Symbol; mso-bidi-font-size: 10.0pt; mso-fareast-font-family: Symbol;">·<span style="font-family: "Times New Roman"; font-size: 7pt; font-stretch: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; line-height: normal;">
</span></span><!--[endif]--><b><span style="background-attachment: initial; background-clip: initial; background-image: initial; background-origin: initial; background-position: initial; background-repeat: initial; background-size: initial; color: #37441c;">Matthew James Thomas</span></b><span style="background-attachment: initial; background-clip: initial; background-image: initial; background-origin: initial; background-position: initial; background-repeat: initial; background-size: initial; color: #37441c;"> smartly
played Robin, the pretty son who will quite obviously be a useless
bounder. Perhaps I’ve read/seen too many
stories of English society between the wars, but that too was terribly
predictable. <o:p></o:p></span></span></div>
<div class="MsoListParagraphCxSpMiddle" style="mso-list: l0 level1 lfo1; text-indent: -.25in;">
<!--[if !supportLists]--><span style="background-color: #fff2cc;"><span style="color: #37441c; font-family: Symbol; mso-bidi-font-family: Symbol; mso-bidi-font-size: 10.0pt; mso-fareast-font-family: Symbol;">·<span style="font-family: "Times New Roman"; font-size: 7pt; font-stretch: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; line-height: normal;">
</span></span><!--[endif]--><b><span style="background-attachment: initial; background-clip: initial; background-image: initial; background-origin: initial; background-position: initial; background-repeat: initial; background-size: initial; color: #37441c;">Alfredo Narciso </span></b><span style="background-attachment: initial; background-clip: initial; background-image: initial; background-origin: initial; background-position: initial; background-repeat: initial; background-size: initial; color: #37441c;">did excellent
work as Gerald Thornton — the nice young man who’s not family but grows up to
be the family solicitor. He had nice
moments of clear silent emotion and repression.<o:p></o:p></span></span></div>
<div class="MsoListParagraphCxSpLast" style="mso-list: l0 level1 lfo1; text-indent: -.25in;">
<!--[if !supportLists]--><span style="background-color: #fff2cc;"><span style="color: #37441c; font-family: Symbol; mso-bidi-font-family: Symbol; mso-bidi-font-size: 10.0pt; mso-fareast-font-family: Symbol;">·<span style="font-family: "Times New Roman"; font-size: 7pt; font-stretch: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; line-height: normal;">
</span></span><!--[endif]--><b><span style="background-attachment: initial; background-clip: initial; background-image: initial; background-origin: initial; background-position: initial; background-repeat: initial; background-size: initial; color: #37441c;">Steven Boyer</span></b><span style="background-attachment: initial; background-clip: initial; background-image: initial; background-origin: initial; background-position: initial; background-repeat: initial; background-size: initial; color: #37441c;"> was excellently
unpleasant as Ernest Beevers, who creeps into a family gathering in the first
scene practically stalking Hazel, returning as her husband in the later time
period. A dislikeable character, Boyer
is of the working class, and while we empathize with his position, we wish he
could rise above the nasty upper class family he married into.<o:p></o:p></span></span></div>
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<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="background-color: #fff2cc;">The production has fine design work, clever and marvelous set design by <b>Neil Patel</b>, and his usual excellent lighting
by <b>Christopher Akerlind</b>, and fine
costumes by <b>Paloma Young</b> (with hair
and wig design by <b>Leah J. Loukas</b>),
respectively.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<br />
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="background-color: #fff2cc;">Finally, I must note the fascinating inclusion of “Hands On,” sign
interpreters of the play who discreetly but clearly signed the entire
performance house left. <o:p></o:p></span></div>
</div>
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<span style="background-color: #fff2cc;"><br /></span></div>
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<span style="color: #741b47; font-family: "georgia" , "times new roman" , serif; font-size: x-small;"><i style="background-color: #fff2cc;">~ Molly Matera, looking for something more pleasing as the Roundabout season continues.</i></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="color: #741b47; font-family: "georgia" , "times new roman" , serif; font-size: x-small;"><i style="background-color: #fff2cc;"><br /></i></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="color: #741b47; font-family: "georgia" , "times new roman" , serif; font-size: x-small;"><i><br /></i></span></div>
Mollyhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/12343358780878886726noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1162714840282890495.post-49356086960839031462017-10-26T21:58:00.000-04:002017-10-26T21:58:04.777-04:00The Two-Play Weekend<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="font-family: "courier new" , "courier" , monospace;"><b style="font-family: "courier new", courier, monospace;"><i><span style="font-size: large;">MEASURE FOR MEASURE</span></i> </b><span style="font-family: "georgia" , "times new roman" , serif;">is a problematical play. Modern audiences
have difficulty comprehending Isabella’s choices, all of the characters are
unlikable, and in the final moments, the Duke may be as low and vain as the
fallen Angelo. <o:p></o:p></span></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="font-family: "georgia" , "times new roman" , serif;"><br /></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="font-family: Georgia, Times New Roman, serif;"><span style="font-family: Georgia, Times New Roman, serif;">The primary problem with the Public Theater’s bizarre production
is that the audience members who do not already know the play, the characters,
the story, will not have a clue what’s happening in this production by the
Elevator Repair Company.</span></span><br />
<span style="font-family: Georgia, Times New Roman, serif;"><span style="font-family: Georgia, Times New Roman, serif;"><br /></span></span>
<span style="font-family: Georgia, Times New Roman, serif;"><span style="font-family: Georgia, Times New Roman, serif;">Some of the acting is fine, but the direction by John Collins is not. Too damn clever in a concept, and greatly lacking in storytelling. The Public Theater calls it "an experimental production." Apparently the experiment is how to not tell the tale. </span></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="font-family: "georgia" , "times new roman" , serif;"><br />Happily, the excellent<b> Scott Shepherd </b>as The Duke was comprehensible and funny and took us all into his confidence. That helped. <b>Rinne Groff</b> was an excellent Isabella, attempting modernity for a difficult character. <b>Pete Simpson</b> as Angelo was just odd, <b>Mike Iveson </b>as Lucio alternated between hilarious and annoying, which sounds like a good impersonation of Lucio. <b>Vin Knight</b> as Escalus was serviceable. Most of the cast, however, was sub-par, for which I believe the director must be held to account.<br /><br />What the Public calls “technological dramaturgy” is reliance on the projection of <b>Shakespeare</b>’s script on the walls of the stage, presumably hoping we’d read the words we could not hear. The beginning of the play was directed for everyone’s speech to be so fast the audience could not comprehend it. It was a relief when the speech slowed to molasses as Isabel met her brother, the lusty Claudio, in prison. This pivotal scene is a painful conversation, and while it may, in reality, feel excruciatingly slow, unfortunately that is not theatrical. The long pauses may have felt emotionally earned to the actors, but not to the audience. Then the play sped back up again, dolls were tossed about, and finally the play was over. <br /><br /><b><i>Measure for Measure</i></b> is a challenge for any director, but there’s no need to toss the baby out with the bathwater.</span></div>
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<div align="center" class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: center;">
<span style="font-family: "courier new" , "courier" , monospace;">#<o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: "courier new" , "courier" , monospace;"><b><span style="font-size: large;"><i>THE TREASURER</i></span></b> </span><span style="font-family: "georgia" , "times new roman" , serif;">by <b>Max Posner</b> at Playwrights Horizons is
beautifully played by a cast of four (two of them in multiple roles). Unfortunately,
conceptually interesting as the play might have been, it has no beginning, a
muddle of a middle, and no ending.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: "georgia" , "times new roman" , serif;"><br /></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: "georgia" , "times new roman" , serif;">Even as directed by the brilliant <b>David Cromer</b>, this doesn’t feel like a play, but a pondering.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: "georgia" , "times new roman" , serif;"><b>Laura Jellinek</b>’s
spare and practical scenic design served the space well, and costume design by <b>David Hyman</b> fit the characters. What
fit the characters even better were the wonderful actors portraying them: <o:p></o:p></span></div>
<ul>
<li><span style="font-family: "georgia" , "times new roman" , serif;"><b style="text-indent: -0.25in;">Peter
Friedman</b><span style="text-indent: -0.25in;"> in the title role — nameless, only “The Son” in the program, to
whom no one refers by name. Straightforward, simple, real, and perhaps the play’s
“Everyman.”</span><span style="text-indent: -0.25in;"> </span></span></li>
<li><span style="font-family: "georgia" , "times new roman" , serif;"><b style="text-indent: -0.25in;">Deanna
Dunagan</b><span style="text-indent: -0.25in;"> is heartbreaking as the mother, Ida Armstrong — she definitely has
a name, and wants everyone to know it. Ms. Dunagan shrinks rather than grows in
the role, her gradual physical decline is perfection. She forces us to enjoy
Ida, no matter how self-centered she was.</span><span style="text-indent: -0.25in;">
</span><span style="text-indent: -0.25in;">After all, while most women grow up to fall into the role of mother, not
all of them are suited to it, or want it. Ida insists she was a child when she
married and when she had her children, but then she grew up and found true
love. It seemed to me that she remained a child leaving everything to her more
romantic second husband and then to her children when he died.</span></span></li>
</ul>
<ul>
<li><span style="font-family: "georgia" , "times new roman" , serif;"><b style="text-indent: -0.25in;">Marinda
Anderson</b><span style="text-indent: -0.25in;"> and </span><b style="text-indent: -0.25in;">Pun Bandhu</b><span style="text-indent: -0.25in;"> play the
remaining roles of The Son’s two brothers as well as a salesperson and other
strangers. Each character is clearly delineated by these fine actors. It was,
however, initially confusing to hear a woman playing one of the brothers.</span></span></li>
</ul>
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<span style="font-family: "georgia" , "times new roman" , serif;">The play, even more than the Son, asks what is really owed
parents who desert their children? “The Son” clearly feels his mother demands
too much and isn’t necessarily entitled to it, but also thinks he’s wrong to
resent her. Ida had no guilt over her poor performance as a mother; why has The
Son such guilt over what he perceives as his poor performance as a son? Dutiful
as he is, because he cannot love his errant mother, he’s sure he’s going to
hell.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: "georgia" , "times new roman" , serif;"><br /></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: "courier new" , "courier" , monospace;"><span style="font-family: "georgia" , "times new roman" , serif;">The play is not dull because the characters — as written and
as acted — are not dull. It just doesn’t go anywhere. Well, perhaps on an
escalator to hell.</span><span style="font-family: "courier new" , "courier" , monospace;"><o:p></o:p></span></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: "courier new" , "courier" , monospace; font-size: x-small;">Note: The program, of course, includes too much opinion from
the artistic director of Playwrights Horizons and the playwright, so the play
cannot live up to their emotional connection with their journey with the play.
Which is why such things should only be read, if at all, after the performance.</span><o:p></o:p></div>
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Mollyhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/12343358780878886726noreply@blogger.com2tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1162714840282890495.post-72164709926545576322017-09-01T18:08:00.002-04:002017-09-01T18:08:40.868-04:00The Final Four of a Half Year of Theatregoing<table align="center" cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto; text-align: center;"><tbody>
<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgKTj6tZSOYtOsjLlesnJmwuP_qYgEQYtgYQKgco2_E4wXgoiROSrXR-Oq5292p4hIzHre04EzD7bkCj934PNMzlfpF1hzSKnn9s2Ka3Ht7wJeNWFP8h71oJs9plmG5-nRs9CgHQ9g8Fs0Z/s1600/LC_20170630.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" data-original-height="666" data-original-width="565" height="320" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgKTj6tZSOYtOsjLlesnJmwuP_qYgEQYtgYQKgco2_E4wXgoiROSrXR-Oq5292p4hIzHre04EzD7bkCj934PNMzlfpF1hzSKnn9s2Ka3Ht7wJeNWFP8h71oJs9plmG5-nRs9CgHQ9g8Fs0Z/s320/LC_20170630.jpg" width="271" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">Lincoln Center, Friday night June 20, 2017. Photo Credit Me.</td></tr>
</tbody></table>
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June ended for me with <b><i>Oslo</i></b> <b>by J.T. Rogers</b> at the Vivian Beaumont Theater at Lincoln
Center. The play was briskly intellectual,
cleverly interesting, occasionally quite funny (people are), its characters were passionate in different ways — and
yet the play was not. <i>Oslo</i> was about the unlikely yet true
secret meetings leading up to the Oslo Accords and the Arab-Israeli Peace
Process back in the 1990s. The
production, directed by <b>Bartlett Sher</b>,
was excellent, with great performances by all, particularly those who played
more than one role. But something seemed
to be missing for me, perhaps because I know that all this passion,
manipulation, energy and sincere effort led merely, after all that, to a temporary
success.<o:p></o:p></div>
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<br /></div>
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Not to mention I’d been overwhelmed by <i>Indecent</i> less than a week before….<o:p></o:p></div>
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<o:p> </o:p> </div>
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<o:p><table align="center" cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto; text-align: center;"><tbody>
<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjavvqKd8j9uzhXLM818Hstxv_fIIifAg0pAbLYEAm2PdfxXhRiqwF6jiSEP-eCBR1JNuxgOOCMMFRuYJf0rnGt1UeNQWoTkoN5iTMi0qpI5KCWlCl745bCTB2hIeRZyA-rSvWHzAAdDaXG/s1600/oslo_Jennifer+ehle+and+Jefferson+Mays.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" data-original-height="390" data-original-width="600" height="208" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjavvqKd8j9uzhXLM818Hstxv_fIIifAg0pAbLYEAm2PdfxXhRiqwF6jiSEP-eCBR1JNuxgOOCMMFRuYJf0rnGt1UeNQWoTkoN5iTMi0qpI5KCWlCl745bCTB2hIeRZyA-rSvWHzAAdDaXG/s320/oslo_Jennifer+ehle+and+Jefferson+Mays.jpg" width="320" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">Jennifer Ehle and Jefferson Mays in OSLO</td></tr>
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</o:p></div>
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⇵</div>
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On the day before Independence Day I saw <b><i>1984</i></b> at the Hudson
Theatre. Alas it was all for show. Lots of shock value, with lighting effects
that may be detrimental to people subject to migraines or epilepsy. <b>Reed
Birney</b> was excellent. The play may
be of possible interest to anyone who did not read the book in school — now
that’s a dreadful thought leading to feelings of hopelessness. Simply put, the
play was not good. <o:p></o:p></div>
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Read the book.<o:p></o:p></div>
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<br /></div>
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<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjazc3S0pxBVuSu_IA2YvO7-wXGPzqnWcVA7xOnAROnqzYpgvDmECUem3Ctmx97HAnmLy07G2ouH5-xeWYUIOKj4GwbEKc7HnXXaRDndtdOaNh5oIIDg3B_OArLB_SPvXB2kMVfc8DVW5zR/s1600/1984+by+George+Orwell.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="499" data-original-width="332" height="320" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjazc3S0pxBVuSu_IA2YvO7-wXGPzqnWcVA7xOnAROnqzYpgvDmECUem3Ctmx97HAnmLy07G2ouH5-xeWYUIOKj4GwbEKc7HnXXaRDndtdOaNh5oIIDg3B_OArLB_SPvXB2kMVfc8DVW5zR/s320/1984+by+George+Orwell.jpg" width="212" /></a></div>
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Then after
Independence Day, more Shakespeare with <b><i><span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;">Hamlet</span></i></b> at the Anspacher Theater at
the Public Theater in its downtown headquarters. Director <b>Sam
Gold</b>’s production was innovative and exhilarating, playing in four hours
that felt like two. <b>Oscar Isaac</b> is a splendid Hamlet, clever and soft, the boy next
door with a secret. He is an actor with
a technical mastery of the language that makes it all sound utterly
spontaneous. The very small cast wove in
and out of multiple characters.
Standouts were <b>Gayle Rankin</b>
as a quirky, golden-voiced Ophelia, <b>Ritchie
Coster</b> as Claudius, <b>Anatol Yusef</b>
as Laertes, and <b>Peter Friedman</b> as
Polonius. Unfortunately, this limited
run closes Sunday. (Yes, that’s <i>this</i> Sunday, 3 September.)<o:p></o:p></div>
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<table align="center" cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto; text-align: center;"><tbody>
<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgU67JrbpE3N0eJn3NB2NjrDm4Veqp6GUHmVSAlNh6qYtq2H-w5CIwVy615bSPgzwvSDXNeSuThe-_ie9wjJKOGZEjFRasYLWhqJsZNyOnvWJmxhMUbJXRv_gQVfrbOAVemw5wY4xiWjZ4c/s1600/14HAMLET-master768sara+krulwich.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" data-original-height="479" data-original-width="768" height="199" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgU67JrbpE3N0eJn3NB2NjrDm4Veqp6GUHmVSAlNh6qYtq2H-w5CIwVy615bSPgzwvSDXNeSuThe-_ie9wjJKOGZEjFRasYLWhqJsZNyOnvWJmxhMUbJXRv_gQVfrbOAVemw5wY4xiWjZ4c/s320/14HAMLET-master768sara+krulwich.jpg" width="320" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">Isaac as Hamlet with Rankin as Ophelia. Photo by Sara Krulwich</td></tr>
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<o:p> ⟱</o:p></div>
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<o:p><br /></o:p></div>
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A couple weeks after loving <b>Sam
Gold</b>’s production of <i>Hamlet</i>, I
saw his production of <b><i>A Doll’s House Part 2</i></b> at the John Golden Theatre. At best, it was annoying. The
play runs a four-act structure in 90 minutes, with mostly two-person scenes
beyond which playwright <b>Lucas Hnath</b>
must grow. For no good reason at all, <b>Jayne Houdyshell</b>’s character suddenly
started swearing right and left. I felt
it was probably so that <b>Chris Cooper</b>,
the sole male in the cast, wouldn’t be the only character using foul
language. And much as I typically like <b>Laurie Metcalf</b>, her Nora made me think
of <i>Roseanne</i>, which is not pleasant
for me. <b>Condola Rashad</b> was oddly intriguing as Nora and Torvald’s grown
daughter. Director <b>Sam Gold</b> may have
received accolades for this one, but I cannot agree this time. <o:p></o:p></div>
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<table align="center" cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto; text-align: center;"><tbody>
<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhFVb36vtSvo0l2x-OXQoqTt_lmQCxUGMC34BQREPi0yS_qLTbJDuyZj5rQ43UZrvKt3JlHrYlB1cMbUDAeBVBOocU2f03PQm4mq6FTPrbXUFDLg01qHxP4wsjgOl_8MOrGtm14bJ9-H2ZU/s1600/28DOLLHOUSE-Houdyshell+and+Metcalf.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" data-original-height="637" data-original-width="768" height="265" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhFVb36vtSvo0l2x-OXQoqTt_lmQCxUGMC34BQREPi0yS_qLTbJDuyZj5rQ43UZrvKt3JlHrYlB1cMbUDAeBVBOocU2f03PQm4mq6FTPrbXUFDLg01qHxP4wsjgOl_8MOrGtm14bJ9-H2ZU/s320/28DOLLHOUSE-Houdyshell+and+Metcalf.jpg" width="320" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">Jayne Houdyshell and Laurie Metcalf. (Photo by Brigitte Lacombe)</td></tr>
</tbody></table>
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<o:p>🔂</o:p></div>
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<br /></div>
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In closing, it was a lively half year of theatre for me. When I look over my notes scribbled after
these performances, one theme repeated.
“Smartphones.” This bane of civilized
discourse creates annoying addicts too self-centered to turn off their "phones" when
requested, too insecure to get through intermission without them. It should be noted that this rude behavior is
not limited to one generation. What a
world. But that’s for another musing.<o:p></o:p></div>
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<span style="color: #7030a0; font-family: "Comic Sans MS";">~ Molly Matera, signing off to enjoy Labor Day Weekend with friends
and family. Be safe and have fun.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
Mollyhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/12343358780878886726noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1162714840282890495.post-3172997325803912212017-08-24T21:42:00.002-04:002017-08-24T21:42:53.758-04:00June was busting out all over…and I went to the theatre.<div class="MsoNormal">
In June I went back to Brooklyn for <o:p></o:p><b><i>Cirkus Cirkor</i></b> at the BAM Opera House. </div>
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<i> <o:p></o:p></i></div>
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<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEg4Zq6BF8ikM3aCzuh8LoI-s9ymvCQtlyfgKdUuQVcJUpjSNxjXa3MQ5b_mD2pxLeK5hOzBJUlQtI_fq29zbDzwDjzq2m3kZYw_rOd8J_-5Lf5uLVWgS-APKVhOquMCmYQ17iS9bkY1DNNb/s1600/Cirkus+Cirkor+at+BAM.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="464" data-original-width="613" height="241" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEg4Zq6BF8ikM3aCzuh8LoI-s9ymvCQtlyfgKdUuQVcJUpjSNxjXa3MQ5b_mD2pxLeK5hOzBJUlQtI_fq29zbDzwDjzq2m3kZYw_rOd8J_-5Lf5uLVWgS-APKVhOquMCmYQ17iS9bkY1DNNb/s320/Cirkus+Cirkor+at+BAM.jpg" width="320" /></a></div>
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It was not our first time enjoying this
wonderful Swedish troupe, nor will it be the last. The Cirkus excels at death
defying acrobatics. These people are
awe-inspiring (and always inspire me to exercise, if only for a few days). One of the astounding acrobats, at the
opening of the second half, came forward and told us all to stand up, put our
feet together, and close our eyes. She
also advised those of us on the edge — by which she meant the first row of the
Mezzanine — to be careful! Our
bodies would be constantly moving in tiny jerks to retain balance. When you’re
not reading an e-mail or walking or driving or anything, stand still and close
your eyes, and you’ll feel it — your new balance. It was a pleasing exercise in the middle of a
thrilling evening.<o:p></o:p></div>
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Check their scheduled appearances here — in 2017, they’re in
Europe, but they usually play the U.S. every year or two! <a href="https://cirkor.se/en/node/26523/turneplan">https://cirkor.se/en/node/26523/turneplan</a><o:p></o:p></div>
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<table align="center" cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto; text-align: center;"><tbody>
<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjyei7P7Pg5vSgZgLCD2SupORL5YV-Y9v2Vk8Ku5ulM71pXQwS0E8IYcLGVsyGP_-zDRUvdA1RgF7cOKbPLu5u6UWhAY3w_kVnaLxIejFcxFiroyTpgLmoyrKIJ9ParlQ9eH6jeB4MM8SNQ/s1600/tn-500_031.kristine-nielsen2c-kate-burton2c-and-kevin-kline-in-a-scene-from-broadway27s-present-laughter-photo-by-joan-marcus.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" data-original-height="414" data-original-width="600" height="220" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjyei7P7Pg5vSgZgLCD2SupORL5YV-Y9v2Vk8Ku5ulM71pXQwS0E8IYcLGVsyGP_-zDRUvdA1RgF7cOKbPLu5u6UWhAY3w_kVnaLxIejFcxFiroyTpgLmoyrKIJ9ParlQ9eH6jeB4MM8SNQ/s320/tn-500_031.kristine-nielsen2c-kate-burton2c-and-kevin-kline-in-a-scene-from-broadway27s-present-laughter-photo-by-joan-marcus.jpg" width="320" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">Kristine Nielsen, Kate Burton, and Kevin Kline in<i> Present Laughter</i>.</td></tr>
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Then back to
Broadway for Americans playing Brits:<o:p></o:p></div>
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<b><i>Present Laughter</i></b> at the St. James is not <b>Noel
Coward</b>’s best play, and this production seemed almost set in stone. Of
course, <b>Kevin Kline</b> was brilliant;
and yet, the piece so lacked spontaneity that it just rode around him, like
stationary horses on a merry-go-round. Still,
<b>Cobie Smulders</b> made an excellent
Broadway debut. <b>Kate Burton</b> was quite
fine as the “estranged” wife, <b>Kristine
Nielsen</b> hilarious if formulaic as Kline’s long-suffering secretary, and
they all made <b>Susan Hilftery</b>’s
costumes look fabulous on <b>David Zinn’s</b>
gorgeous set, where I would be happy to live. And <b>Reg Rogers</b> was marvelous. The
production, directed by <b>Morris von Stuelpnagel</b>, was
expertly done for what it was; however, I felt there was a desperation to the
play. Perhaps influenced by the cameras filming it that evening. Perhaps
because it was a play Noel Coward wrote for himself to play in ... Perhaps it was all about the danger of me
looking forward to something too much. I left the theatre a bit disappointed. <o:p></o:p></div>
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<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgUMqRD2sbKuid-ZfQIsxh3h_-rBJyPEHrG9xjMOyjuMx6Xaqlf0FOhX7jrsAokLLEQA74xFFvZ58c8YnhDhjMSLZrjchVgkN9tnvv9IOSojRKbESeCWZ7XSSRES_db9J76WblldU_BpIS9/s1600/19indecent1-master675++sara+krulwich.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" data-original-height="486" data-original-width="675" height="230" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgUMqRD2sbKuid-ZfQIsxh3h_-rBJyPEHrG9xjMOyjuMx6Xaqlf0FOhX7jrsAokLLEQA74xFFvZ58c8YnhDhjMSLZrjchVgkN9tnvv9IOSojRKbESeCWZ7XSSRES_db9J76WblldU_BpIS9/s320/19indecent1-master675++sara+krulwich.jpg" width="320" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">The Joyous cast of INDECENT (Photo by Sara Krulwich)</td></tr>
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Later in June, <i style="font-weight: bold;">Indecent</i> at the Cort Theatre was threatening to close. I’d walked by the theatre all spring, more
and more interested. Suddenly it was the weekend the play was scheduled to close, so I broke my own rule and trucked into
Manhattan for a Saturday matinee.
Theatre instincts won out over MTA dread. <o:p></o:p></div>
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The play <b><i>Indecent</i></b> by <b>Paula Vogel </b>and this production created by Vogel and director <b>Rebecca</b> <b>Taichman</b> combined their radiant talents and hearts to create sheer
brilliance: This is what theatre is
about. <i>Indecent</i> is light years beyond
other plays of the season. Its subject
matter ranges over religious life, pogroms, homosexuality, immigration, prejudice in
all its forms, life in the theatre, censorship, and love. Oh, the
love. <i>Indecent</i> is not a musical, but it has music and flowing, aching choreography
by the scintillating <b>David Dorfman</b>, on
top of imaginative story-telling that brought us into the lives of human beings
in frightening times. My absolute
favorite play of the season, <i>Indecent</i>
is heart breaking and joyous at the same time.
I was overcome. The play extended another 5-7 weeks past its closing date, but it is
gone now, and I’m so sorry for everyone who did not see it. <o:p></o:p></div>
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<o:p> <table align="center" cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto; text-align: center;"><tbody>
<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEi0KMKzwdUtO1_3kSGutPob5C0s1iaiVLKTApfEMHiyX39QQOsqhxxduXetb22lJTxWBXuBmHlf3ggyoLc9ZdHZ8LlgU8hJVTuFUG1aPz7fcovLGu0i7tTBWuDdGsqD0INHb6E8SSVeLiWS/s1600/indecent-broadway-rain-scene.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" data-original-height="377" data-original-width="670" height="180" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEi0KMKzwdUtO1_3kSGutPob5C0s1iaiVLKTApfEMHiyX39QQOsqhxxduXetb22lJTxWBXuBmHlf3ggyoLc9ZdHZ8LlgU8hJVTuFUG1aPz7fcovLGu0i7tTBWuDdGsqD0INHb6E8SSVeLiWS/s320/indecent-broadway-rain-scene.jpg" width="320" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">Photo by Carol Rosegg</td></tr>
</tbody></table>
</o:p></div>
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I must call out <b>Richard
Topol</b>’s gorgeous work as Lemml, the Stage Manager, and yet that's misleading because every performance was sterling, between actor/musicians and
musician/actors. Oh hell, I’ll just list them all: Cheers to exemplary work by <b>Katrina Lenk, Mimi Lieber, Max Gordon
Moore, Tom Nelis, Steven Rattazzi, Adina Verson, Matt Darriau, Lisa Gutkin </b>and<b> Aaron Halva.</b></div>
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Also outstanding were <b>Christopher
Akerlind’s </b>Tony-winning<b> </b>lighting design, <b>Matt Hubbs</b>’ sound design, scenic
design by <b>Riccardo Hernandez</b>, costume
design by <b>Emily Rebholz</b>, projection
design by <b>Tal Yarden</b>, hair and wig
design by <b>J. Jared Janas </b>and<b> Dave</b> <b>Bosa</b>, and the soul-baring and joyous work of Co-Composers and
Co-Music Directors <b>Lisa Gutkin</b> and <b>Aaron</b> <b>Halva</b>. <o:p></o:p></div>
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And oh, the rain.<o:p></o:p></div>
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<i><span style="color: #7030a0; font-size: 8.0pt;">Molly Matera, signing off BUT I do have
good news: For those who missed INDECENT onstage,
it will be aired on PBS Great Performances on November 17: </span></i><a href="http://www.playbill.com/article/broadways-indecent-sets-november-air-date-on-pbs-great-performances"><i><span style="color: #7030a0; font-size: 8.0pt;">http://www.playbill.com/article/broadways-indecent-sets-november-air-date-on-pbs-great-performances</span></i></a><span class="MsoHyperlink"><i><span style="color: #7030a0; font-size: 8.0pt;">
Mark your calendars and DVR!</span></i></span><i><span style="color: #7030a0; font-size: 8.0pt;"><o:p></o:p></span></i></div>
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Mollyhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/12343358780878886726noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1162714840282890495.post-33195152943140787652017-08-22T21:00:00.000-04:002017-08-22T21:00:30.439-04:00Julius Caesar Meets Fox News<div class="MsoNormal">
In early June, <b>William
Shakespeare’s<i> Julius Caesar</i></b> at
the Delacorte Theater (The Public Theater’s Shakespeare in the Park) was fun
but imperfect, although not for any of the reasons Fox News and their followers
thought. It is always a political play, of
course. Theatre companies of the past four centuries have used it to do
theatre’s job of holding that mirror up to “nature,” reflecting whatever the
current leadership, in any country, was doing.
The play did its job of throwing a spotlight on the ambition of the
current power base and its adherents. This
time the right wing was terribly upset by a production that showed an actor
resembling Donald Trump as <b><i>Julius Caesar</i>, </b>the deliciously slimy<b> Gregg Henry</b> keeping the production's promises<b>. </b>Those very same right-wing pundits were
not at all bothered, in fact they were utterly silent, when the Guthrie cast an
Obama lookalike as Julius Caesar a few years back. I trust we can all judge the significance of
that.<o:p></o:p></div>
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<o:p> <table align="center" cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto; text-align: center;"><tbody>
<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEj3DBqQQDvvxDrzW7k86cKaek-RaZ-x5O1SkF0hfOYeyr9Lthj1x9cmCv4BhV8zL1i8Odo7gah0j8OR8CmUbC_DH2mta2HVayZ7gBv7ZqJdCk0z65BAlroRwmbQdgd1kvptzttdon-bDIxU/s1600/10CAESAR1-master768sara+krulwich.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" data-original-height="512" data-original-width="768" height="213" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEj3DBqQQDvvxDrzW7k86cKaek-RaZ-x5O1SkF0hfOYeyr9Lthj1x9cmCv4BhV8zL1i8Odo7gah0j8OR8CmUbC_DH2mta2HVayZ7gBv7ZqJdCk0z65BAlroRwmbQdgd1kvptzttdon-bDIxU/s320/10CAESAR1-master768sara+krulwich.jpg" width="320" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">Tina Benko and Gregg Henry as Calpurnia and Julius Caesar onstage at the Delacorte. (Photo Credit: Joan Marcus)</td></tr>
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</o:p></div>
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For those who do not know, back in 44 B.C.E., Julius Caesar
was stabbed in the Roman Senate house. That’s
history. In Shakespeare’s play there are
just a handful, perhaps two hands, of conspirators. Really there were more like 60, but that’s
too large a cast for most stages or theatre companies. Shakespeare was no fool.<o:p></o:p></div>
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Fox News thought it highly significant that “everyone” who
stabbed Caesar was a minority or a woman.
In fact, Brutus was played by a stalwart of the Public Theater (and now
television), <b>Corey Stoll</b>, who is a
white male. Really their response just
shows that the right wing does not read the classics or attend the theatre in
NYC or anywhere else, where color-blind casting has been the norm for years.<o:p></o:p></div>
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Some aspects of Oscar Eustis’ production were sharp and
funny, but some pushed the play a bit off course. It’s all very well to cast the marvelous <b>Tina Benko</b> as Calpurnia with an oddly
Melania-like accent and <b>Elizabeth
Marvell</b> as Marc Antony, playing it as a cross between a southern politician
and C.J. from <i>The West Wing</i>. Most of the performances were highly effective.<o:p></o:p></div>
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<o:p> <table align="center" cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto; text-align: center;"><tbody>
<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjnC3ILttASOx-VUUqXEDGA0AuPg2Up2-iOR-inUWI2AS0ipA5gb_5T0KgWg2Hyogd2FRO8Sm-U5MaVjAfKOU4gU6q-feBx2SRr5Ie5VLede7OA6RqQKkPWisbeiMxgyaBRT9tofku8OTUg/s1600/julius_caesar_production_still.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" data-original-height="523" data-original-width="928" height="180" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjnC3ILttASOx-VUUqXEDGA0AuPg2Up2-iOR-inUWI2AS0ipA5gb_5T0KgWg2Hyogd2FRO8Sm-U5MaVjAfKOU4gU6q-feBx2SRr5Ie5VLede7OA6RqQKkPWisbeiMxgyaBRT9tofku8OTUg/s320/julius_caesar_production_still.jpg" width="320" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">Elizabeth Marvell as Marc Antony at the Delacorte. (Photo Credit: Joan Marcus)</td></tr>
</tbody></table>
</o:p></div>
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However, the war in Rome after Caesar’s assassination was
not between hippies and storm troopers, but a civil war between relative
equals. Cinna the Poet was murdered by an ignorant and easily manipulated mob,
not by state police. Veering off-book in the second half struck the wrong note
after the humor of <b>Gregg Henry</b>’s
characterization of Julius Caesar. Sometimes it’s not about taste, but about
logic. Just telling Shakespeare’s story of Julius Caesar is quite significant
enough.<o:p></o:p></div>
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<span style="color: #351c75; font-family: Verdana, sans-serif; font-size: x-small;"><i>~ Molly Matera, signing off until the next remembered evening of theatre....</i></span></div>
Mollyhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/12343358780878886726noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1162714840282890495.post-2382439210990385142017-08-17T23:04:00.001-04:002017-08-17T23:04:27.745-04:00Back in the Pre-USSR, Natasha Pierre and plenty more<div class="MsoNormal">
In May, I entered a Russian samovar or the interior of the Imperial
Theatre on West 45<sup>th</sup> Street. Onstage
and everywhere, the Broadway production of <b><i>Natasha Pierre and the Great Comet of 1812 </i></b>has
transformed the theatre into Napoleonic era Russia<b><i>.
</i></b>While I have nothing against Josh Groban, I chose to see <b>Dave Malloy</b> (who returns to the role next
week) as Pierre while Mr. Groban took a well-deserved vacation. It was a fabulous and exhilaratingly
different evening.<o:p></o:p></div>
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Scenic Designer <b>Mimi
Lien</b> redesigned the entire interior of the theatre to create the Russia of
Tolstoy’s “War and Peace.” <b>Paloma Young</b>’s costumes fit each
character like a bespoke glove, accompanied by fitting hair and wig design by <b>Leah J. Loukas</b>. With the complementary
arts of lighting (<b>Bradley King</b>) and
sound design (<b>Nicholas Pope</b>), this
production and the fabulous characters and atmosphere and social politics
actually inspired me to once against attempt to read that hefty Tome. <b>Sam
Pinkleton</b>’s choreography took flight all around us and director <b>Rachel Chavkin</b> brought it all together in a wondrous whole.<o:p></o:p></div>
<table align="center" cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto; text-align: center;"><tbody>
<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgyGBhW7hfeQ6VbD37dQr8RZaU2oe6j4AgMIKXO0P_X6P0OHYObp7fAlcYD2xGIN4M7XDQSYGR7ri3uWx_iZdYZnB8Ch2fTpXkM1Q9u6Uh2o0wKILrhQ4JAXFjDq_h4YXtN0WbAzymOKUn_/s1600/transformed+Imperial+Theatre.PNG" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" data-original-height="591" data-original-width="495" height="320" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgyGBhW7hfeQ6VbD37dQr8RZaU2oe6j4AgMIKXO0P_X6P0OHYObp7fAlcYD2xGIN4M7XDQSYGR7ri3uWx_iZdYZnB8Ch2fTpXkM1Q9u6Uh2o0wKILrhQ4JAXFjDq_h4YXtN0WbAzymOKUn_/s320/transformed+Imperial+Theatre.PNG" width="268" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">a highly unusual seating chart</td></tr>
</tbody></table>
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<b>Dave Malloy</b>, the
composer, lyricist, book writer and orchestrator of the piece and originator of
the role Pierre Off Broadway, has a gruff, bearlike demeanor and voice, and his
Pierre was a grounding force in that extraordinary cast. They are an athletic bunch, from leads to
chorus and ensemble, moving among and around the audience at all levels. This production has no second or third wall
let alone a fourth.<br />
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After Malloy as Pierre (no, he hasn’t got Groban’s pipes,
but his solid presence lends Pierre the gravitas he deserves) my favorite
performer and his inseparable character was <b>Lucas Steele</b> as the roué and cad, Anatole, in a flamboyant
performance as that despicable creature we adored. <b>Den</b><b>ée
Benton's </b>Natasha was a delightfully lusty and foolish ingenue with the
voice of an angel, whose best friend Sonya was well played by <b>Brittain</b> <b>Ashford</b>. <b>Amber</b> <b>Gray</b> is marvelous as Pierre’s wicked wife Hélène. There is no weak link in this astounding
cast.<o:p></o:p></div>
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<table align="center" cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto; text-align: center;"><tbody>
<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEghZUN9-JvackZeLO8wJjcLJs0mlNI_EvwR9-cCuOx4S4B54kx1jfXzDth7AOpX_db5i_Q64AcH8hmp6E4ecEjxM0RONipxJzbttrF8zbPacpMbszUcnxHYxrlWegFgjLt5DMyXzdYNG22X/s1600/15NATASHAJP-master675krulwich.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" data-original-height="500" data-original-width="675" height="237" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEghZUN9-JvackZeLO8wJjcLJs0mlNI_EvwR9-cCuOx4S4B54kx1jfXzDth7AOpX_db5i_Q64AcH8hmp6E4ecEjxM0RONipxJzbttrF8zbPacpMbszUcnxHYxrlWegFgjLt5DMyXzdYNG22X/s320/15NATASHAJP-master675krulwich.jpg" width="320" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">Denee Benton as Natasha</td></tr>
</tbody></table>
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And the music. It
soars it sings it dances it bounces it pines it weeps. Mr. Malloy is sensitive to every nuance, multi-talented, capturing the
flavor and rhythms of Russia in a very American musical.<o:p></o:p></div>
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I don’t generally care for environmental theatre after a day
of working —I do not want to work as audience as well. But the ensemble of <i>Natasha Pierre….</i> are psychic — they knew instinctively which
audience members just want to sit and enjoy the experience and which want to
take part. They left me alone but sat on
the step next to me.<o:p></o:p></div>
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<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEirLirPC8j0W_9OFZEzgVLicMtFzZpal-C-08oVBHzqb7Dj7XXh3ooheDXIi7u_1iXVIbtKpGWq1kg8vtyFomtAlj0hEDfwqRyoCGBeoINLdRVjUrWNhMaN9p2UV3A102HLW5ptw29xHxyI/s1600/Great+Comet+Playbill.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em; text-align: center;"><img border="0" data-original-height="394" data-original-width="250" height="320" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEirLirPC8j0W_9OFZEzgVLicMtFzZpal-C-08oVBHzqb7Dj7XXh3ooheDXIi7u_1iXVIbtKpGWq1kg8vtyFomtAlj0hEDfwqRyoCGBeoINLdRVjUrWNhMaN9p2UV3A102HLW5ptw29xHxyI/s320/Great+Comet+Playbill.jpg" width="203" /></a></div>
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I cannot say too much about this production of this
wonderful musical play. I absolutely
loved it and recommend it to all and sundry. Go. Bring
your in-laws. Soon. It closes September 3, 2017!</div>
<o:p></o:p><br />
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<span style="font-family: "Arial",sans-serif; font-size: 10.0pt; mso-ansi-language: EN-US; mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-bidi-font-size: 11.0pt; mso-bidi-language: AR-SA; mso-bidi-theme-font: minor-bidi; mso-fareast-font-family: Calibri; mso-fareast-language: EN-US; mso-fareast-theme-font: minor-latin;"><i><span style="color: #351c75;">~ Molly Matera, signing off
to listen to the score in peace….not war</span></i></span></div>
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Mollyhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/12343358780878886726noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1162714840282890495.post-88467210817436153592017-08-13T21:45:00.002-04:002017-08-13T21:45:33.807-04:00What I Did Those Missing Months of 2017...<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="color: #002060;">It has been brought to my
attention that I’ve not posted anything — about cats or gardens or theatre,
nada — in months. Apologies. I’m here, my cats are here, my garden is growing,
and I’ve seen a number of plays and dance programs and such in New York City in
the past six months. <o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span style="color: #002060;">To catch you up, in January I
saw….<o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<b><i>Beauty Queen of Leenane</i></b> at BAM<o:p></o:p></div>
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This was <b>Martin
McDonagh</b>’s first produced play, which played in Europe and Broadway twenty
years ago, directed then and now by <b>Garry
Hynes</b>. I did not see it then. The first McDonagh play I saw was <i>The Lieutenant of Inishmore</i>, one of the
funniest, most macabre and bloody plays I’ve ever seen. And, I believe, the play that taught me the
word “fecking.”<o:p></o:p></div>
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<i>The Beauty Queen of
Leenane</i> is hard to describe: it’s dour and depressing and dismal. People are mean, and yet a lot of it comes
out funny. That’s what McDonagh does, he
makes you laugh and feel guilty for laughing.
As a McDonagh play, I expected some violence, and pretty crazy people,
which he provided.<o:p></o:p></div>
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The second act was directed to run so slowly that all the
echoes of Act I that may have been fabulous from a literary point of view were
totally predictable theatrically, which is annoying and made the act very
long. Mind you, when we got to the big
reveal, it was astonishing, and <b>Aisling
O'Sullivan</b>, who played Maureen, was just marvelous. As was the woman who played Maureen twenty
years ago, who plays the mother this time around, <b>Marie Mullen</b>. <o:p></o:p></div>
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While I enjoyed most of it, I did get bored during the
second half and overall was rather disappointed. <o:p></o:p></div>
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In February, I went to Carnegie Hall and enjoyed <o:p></o:p></div>
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<b>Bamberg
Symphony. </b>It was j<span style="color: #37441c; mso-bidi-font-family: Arial; mso-bidi-font-size: 10.0pt;">ust
wonderful, I so enjoy being at Carnegie Hall.
In the first half, the solo violinist did a little “Caprice” as a sort
of encore (after he snapped his bowstring and had to borrow a bow from the
First Violin), and at the end of the second half the orchestra did a brief
encore as well. The sound is awe-inspiring in this magnificent place. The program was Mozart’s Overture to </span>Don Giovanni, Mendelssohn’s Violin Concerto,
and finally Mahler’s Symphony No. 5. A lovely
evening.<o:p></o:p></div>
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Then came<b><i> Man of Good Hope</i> </b>at the BAM Opera
House (from South Africa’s Isango Ensemble and Young Vic, based on a book by
Jonny Steinberg and directed by Mark Dornford-May). The evening began with a bang as the full
cast played half a dozen marimbas joyously, then ran around the steeply raked
stage trading places. The audience, wide awake, left their dull days behind.<o:p></o:p></div>
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The conductor stepped on to the playing space with a tall
man in traditional Somali garments and white skull cap. This was Assad Abdullahi, whose story we
followed for two hours, from the age of 8 in Somalia when his mother was murdered
in front of him, traveling across borders throughout Africa with different
groups until he ended up in Capetown, South Africa, in his adult life.<o:p></o:p></div>
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Performances were marvelous across the board. While the singing and dancing were uplifting,
the play needs cutting so as not to bludgeon the audience. We saw refugees treated like refuse, beaten,
killed, driven away. Terrifying. The pounding of the repeated indignities
visited on the main character and his family and friends, while the audience was
shocked and appalled, that same pattern, over and over, does beat the audience
into shutting down. The unvarying story of misery: attack, move on, find clan,
family, even a wife, lose them: In a
life, this is all devastating. An
audience (at least an American audience) will turn off with the
repetition. All in all, an exciting and
memorable piece of work.<o:p></o:p></div>
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The last February theatre outing was to BAM for<o:p></o:p></div>
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<b><i>Escaped Alone</i></b> by <b>Caryl
Churchill</b>, from London’s Royal Court Theatre, well directed by <b>James McDonald</b>. Odd, interesting, often funny, almost
Pinteresque. Beckettesque? Excellent performances by <b>Linda Bassett, Deborah Findlay, Kika
Markham, June Watson</b>. It appears to
be, perhaps, the end of the world, and four women sit in a back garden talking about
ordinary things, ordinary life, and some unusual bits as well. This idyllic
scene is interrupted by Ms. Basset’s character, Mrs. Jarrett, stepping to one
side as the curtain falls to show garish screens of horror. She tells stories
about the first days, the third weeks, how humanity survives whatever it is
we’ve done to ourselves. Then she’s back
in the garden. Which is the real world?<o:p></o:p></div>
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This pattern repeats -- garden, chat, the horrors of the after....apocalypse? WWIII? garden chat, horrors, garden chat....Four women on a nice summer afternoon. Maybe.</div>
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<i>Escaped Alone</i> is
hilarious, frightening, and more than worth your time if it shows up at a
theatre near you.<o:p></o:p></div>
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March was busy, starting with<o:p></o:p></div>
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<b><i>Joan of Arc: Into the Fire</i></b> at the Public Theater. This was, at best, disappointing. Its 95 minutes felt like more than 2 hours. The absurdity of a teenage girl with
religious mania singing about “freedom” in the 15<sup>th</sup> century started
the evening off badly. The good news is
that the woman who played Joan was fabulous:
<b>Jo Lampert</b>. See her, hear her do anything. <b>David
Byrne</b>’s music was uninspired and his lyrics were simplistic and
puerile. Effects were great. They burned her at the stake. Onstage.
Unfortunately, this extraordinary visual was destroyed because the play
wasn’t over. There was one more tedious
scene, which took place 24 years after Joan’s death when her mother (played by <b>Mare Winningham</b>) goes to the cardinals
and bishops to plead for Joan to be retried and found innocent so she can go to
heaven where she belongs. Dull final
scene with a remarkably dull song with eight guys looking at her dumbly. Dreadful.<o:p></o:p></div>
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Just remember the name <b>Jo
Lampert</b>.<o:p></o:p></div>
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<b><i>Latin History for Morons</i></b> at the Public was pointless. Even its
90 minutes were too long.<o:p></o:p></div>
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A gift of a production of <b><i>The Skin of Our Teeth</i></b>,
written by <b>Thornton Wilder</b> in 1942,
at Theatre for a New Audience was delightful and imaginative. Director <b>Arin
Arbus</b> captured the madness in the wild crazy funny evening at the Polonsky
Shakespeare Center, imaginatively enlivened by excellent music. <b>Mary
Wiseman</b> was a marvelous Sabina. A great time was had by all.<o:p></o:p></div>
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One flaw by TFANA of which I must disapprove – something my
friend experienced recently at the Guthrie – the program listed performers NOT
in order of appearance but in alphabetical order by their last names. Not helpful to a curious audience member and
not respectful to the performers and musicians. <o:p></o:p></div>
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<b><i>The Play That Goes Wrong</i></b> played at the Lyceum. It is hilarious, ridiculous, tight, well-staged
(though marred by some visibility problems due to the transfer of venue from
its original London home). <i>The Play That Goes
Wrong </i>written so well by <b>Henry Lewis,
Henry Shields, </b>and <b>Jonathan Sayer</b>
that I could not believe it was written at all, was directed by <b>Mark Bells</b> and is about set pieces
breaking, actors doing or not doing things at the wrong times in the wrong
places, and tech crew interacting with the audience. Every actor’s nightmare (except being nude)
came alive in wakefulness. I laughed
hard for the whole play. Some people thought it was a poor man’s version of <i>Noises Off</i>, but they must have been
grumpy at the time. Just laugh.<o:p></o:p></div>
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<b><i>Linda</i></b> by <b>Penelope Skinner</b>
at the Manhattan Theatre Club at City Center, directed by <b>Lynne Meadow</b>. Set in the
beauty industry, it follows the disappointment of a woman who fought for female
equality in her career, sacrificing family relationships without even noticing,
only to find after two decades that nothing changed. Interesting and depressing. Wonderful performance
by <b>Janie Dee</b> as Linda, and the entire
cast. A thought-provoking evening.<o:p></o:p></div>
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<b><i>Sweat</i></b> by <b>Lynn Nottage</b>
moved from the Public Theatre to Studio 54 where I saw it after it had won the
Pulitzer Prize. The play was exciting, poignant,
topical. <i>Sweat</i> has a chuckle or two because human beings are funny, but it
is depressing as all hell. Brilliantly
acted, it is Theatre that Holds a Mirror Up to Society and is consequently
infuriating, sad, and damn good. <o:p></o:p></div>
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The play’s action starts in 2008 and goes back to 2000 so we
know how everyone got here. It’s a slow build.
The actual, single “incident” that changed everybody’s lives happens
more than halfway through Act 2. An
incident of some sort has been expected since the beginning of the first
act. It raises far more questions than it
answers because life is not simple with heroes and villains, black and white,
or linear action. The play is riveting, important,
stimulating, and so well acted that I was really angry and almost shouted back
on occasion. Very tight cast and excellent
direction by <b>Kate Whoriskey</b>.<o:p></o:p></div>
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<b><i>Pacific Overtures</i></b> @ Classic Stage Company was wonderful. Never
having seen the original, I was not bothered by the differences — the traditional
all-male cast was augmented by one woman, and the play was edited to run 90
minutes with no intermission. Soaring
voices told a fascinating, little known story.
The narrator sounded just like George Takei, and then there he was,
onstage! That was oddly thrilling. Very glad to have experienced this play live,
and now I understand and love the songs much better than I had just listening
to a Sondheim album.<o:p></o:p></div>
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<i><span style="color: #002060;">Well, that’s quite enough after months of nothing. Next week:
May, June and July. Promise.<o:p></o:p></span></i></div>
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<i><span style="color: #002060;">Signing off to write the next batch….<o:p></o:p></span></i></div>
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<span style="color: #7030a0; font-family: "AR CHRISTY";">Molly
Matera, 13 August 2017<o:p></o:p></span></div>
Mollyhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/12343358780878886726noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1162714840282890495.post-60784574709187809452017-01-25T22:34:00.001-05:002017-01-25T22:34:19.232-05:00The Elements of "Orange Julius"<div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; margin-bottom: .0001pt; margin-bottom: 0in;">
<span style="font-size: 10.0pt;">Last Wednesday night, Rattlestick
Playwrights Theater & Page 73 presented the New York Premiere of “<b><i>Orange
Julius</i></b>” by <b>Basil Kreimendahl</b>
as directed by <b>Dustin Wills</b>.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span style="font-size: 10.0pt;">At the end of 90 minutes of fine acting
by the small cast on the compact stage, I asked myself, “What was that play
about?” <o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span style="font-size: 10.0pt;">“<b><i>Orange Julius</i></b>” has many elements.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span style="font-size: 10.0pt;">The five-person cast was fabulous,
particularly <b>Stephen Payne</b> as Julius
and <b>Mary Testa</b> as his long-suffering
wife France — I do not recall ever hearing her name, but that was her name
according to the program. Of course, it
was his name that was important: Naming
a Vietnam vet “Julius” allowed him to make a joke about Orange Julius while
linking his name with Agent Orange. <o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span style="font-size: 10.0pt;">Mr. Payne and Ms. Testa played with
utter naturalness, creating organically grown and shaped and developed characters
in beautifully textured performances. <o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span style="font-size: 10.0pt;">Their children were called “Nut” (played
by <b>Jess Barbagallo</b>) and “Crimp” ( played by <b>Irene Sofia Lucio</b>). The first time we see her she’s crimping her
hair and threatening to crimp that of her little sister. These two have a lovely sibling rivalry,
taunting, teasing, helping one another.
A real relationship on paper, although a real connection between Mr. Barbagallo and Ms Lucio seemed lacking. <o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEg0sUpTuTu3qNBnH9LsC6qYE6MCk77gZV2ZAr1vwzSejvlndNjKcTCP45gfy8Sjw8AesQbpZxS3FcO8-UWDk8KiFSgFJ_fVjapO6f9XMg06IrgxBmYfSJoyc1VQiA-S1s5VA48xqH_dvngm/s1600/Orange+Julius+rehearsal+pictured+are+Stephen+Payne+and+Jess+Barbagallo+credit+Bruce+Cohen.JPG" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" height="240" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEg0sUpTuTu3qNBnH9LsC6qYE6MCk77gZV2ZAr1vwzSejvlndNjKcTCP45gfy8Sjw8AesQbpZxS3FcO8-UWDk8KiFSgFJ_fVjapO6f9XMg06IrgxBmYfSJoyc1VQiA-S1s5VA48xqH_dvngm/s320/Orange+Julius+rehearsal+pictured+are+Stephen+Payne+and+Jess+Barbagallo+credit+Bruce+Cohen.JPG" width="320" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">In rehearsal: Stephen Payne and Jess Barbagallo (Photo Credit: Bruce Cohen)</td></tr>
</tbody></table>
</span></div>
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<span style="font-size: 10.0pt;">The play takes place in the family
garage, which sometimes seems to play a living room, sometimes a car, and, when
the garage door is open, Vietnam. <b>Kate Noll</b>’s set design was simple and clear,
evoking a time, an economic class, a trap.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<br /></div>
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<b><span style="font-size: 10.0pt;">Montana
Levi Blanco</span></b><span style="font-size: 10.0pt;">’s costume design was
excellent — every person was wearing clothes befitting the character. That’s
good costume design, to be essentially unnoticed. The small space was well lit by <b>Barbara Samuels</b> and the sound by <b>Palmer Hefferan</b> was effective. Director <b>Dustin
Wills’</b> staging used the tight quarters to excellent advantage.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<br /></div>
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<span style="font-size: 10.0pt;">The play begins in the 1980s, told in
flashbacks by an ever-present onstage narrator — Nut — who talks way too much
and is not quite reliable. She — or he —
is earnest, but memory is not fact, as noted when Nut says he was 7, 9, or
8. Later she was 12, or 10 or 13. <o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<br /></div>
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<span style="font-size: 10.0pt;">Nut is of small stature. While referred to throughout as a girl, a
daughter, a sister, Nut is played by a male. Nut speaks of wanting to go through a past
life regression, to the audience, and to his mother when still pre-pubescent. Is this play Nut’s past life regression? The confusion is not clearly settled (perhaps
not for Nut either), even when Nut’s older sister offers him/her a training bra. Nut at some point was a girl, but enters the
Vietnam scene clearly as a male. <o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<br /></div>
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<span style="font-size: 10.0pt;">Nut is simultaneously engaging and
annoying. Sister “Crimp” is sometimes
mean or angry, always the epitome of a big sister bestowing wisdom and love on
her younger sister, Nut. At least one
character is missing, a brother referenced in several scenes but never seen. Is he dead?
Is he in a hippie commune feuding with his Vietnam vet father? There’s a story left untold. Not every story need be told, yet the missing
brother nagged at me and held my interest longer than Nut did. Because Nut is telling the story, it’s an
awful lot about him/her when it is Julius and Mary who are the most interesting
characters.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<br /></div>
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<span style="font-size: 10.0pt;">Back to my original question: What is this play about? What point is playwright Kreimendahl trying
to make?<o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<br /></div>
<div class="MsoListParagraphCxSpFirst" style="line-height: normal; margin-bottom: .0001pt; margin: 0in; mso-add-space: auto;">
<span dir="RTL" lang="AR-SA" style="font-size: 10.0pt; mso-bidi-font-family: Arial; mso-bidi-theme-font: minor-latin;">ە</span><span style="font-size: 10.0pt;">The effect of war on the next generation?<o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<br /></div>
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<span dir="RTL" lang="AR-SA" style="font-size: 10.0pt; mso-bidi-font-family: Arial; mso-bidi-theme-font: minor-latin;">ە</span><span style="font-size: 10.0pt;">The
aftermath of science used for evil (i.e., Agent Orange)?<o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<br /></div>
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<span style="font-size: 10.0pt;">Possible fact:
Julius went to war, was attacked by American military industrial complex
and fatally poisoned with Agent Orange.
It was vile from the very beginning and it took decades to kill, but
kill it did, via multiple cancers.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<br /></div>
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<span style="font-size: 10.0pt;">Not quite possible fact: Nut says that in Vietnam, a girl was born the
same day he was and her father too had been poisoned with Agent Orange. The Vietnamese father was dead and the girl
was born with bulging eyes that could never close. <o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<br /></div>
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<span style="font-size: 10.0pt;">Is that true? How
could Nut know that? We only know what
Nut tells us, shows us, but we readily believe that Julius was poisoned with
Agent Orange and died a slow death psychologically and physically. Therefore, should it not follow that we
believe that a girl was born in Vietnam the same day Nut was, with a birth
defect, possibly connected to the poisoning of her father with Agent Orange.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<br /></div>
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<span dir="RTL" lang="AR-SA" style="font-size: 10.0pt; mso-bidi-font-family: Arial; mso-bidi-theme-font: minor-latin;">ە</span><span style="font-size: 10.0pt;">Is
the play about the nature of Self? Of Truth?<o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span style="font-size: 10.0pt;"> <table align="center" cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto; text-align: center;"><tbody>
<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhUq9HwfitO45ocVaVm0nLaxU3keksLelFpITEXppnrEskH3NZm1QEFTyrdQA5DhY3GErbze0phBZq7jHV4nUoZ9wBD9A0z62dDUGtYV5HyfPObAnLwjOY18mw9lyR4go8KXvkmrRZrZf7m/s1600/Orange+Julius+rehearsal+pictured+Dustin+Willis+and+Ruy+Iskander+please+credit+Bruce+Cohen.JPG" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" height="240" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhUq9HwfitO45ocVaVm0nLaxU3keksLelFpITEXppnrEskH3NZm1QEFTyrdQA5DhY3GErbze0phBZq7jHV4nUoZ9wBD9A0z62dDUGtYV5HyfPObAnLwjOY18mw9lyR4go8KXvkmrRZrZf7m/s320/Orange+Julius+rehearsal+pictured+Dustin+Willis+and+Ruy+Iskander+please+credit+Bruce+Cohen.JPG" width="320" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">In rehearsal: Director Dustin Wills and Ruy Iskandar (Photo Credit: Bruce Cohen)</td></tr>
</tbody></table>
</span></div>
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<span style="font-size: 10.0pt;">There are many flashbacks to Vietnam played
beyond the open garage door with Julius and the angry foulmouthed soldier “Ol’
Boy” (only named in the program), well played by <b>Ruy Iskandar</b>. Julius and “Ol Boy” are there, but so is “Nut.” Or at least the actor is. Was his “past life” self there, is he playing
someone else, is he playing his father?
But Julius was in the same scenes.
It’s not that they weren’t good compact little scenes. It’s that they didn’t make much sense as a
part of the whole. Is this Nut in his
memories of another life? Has this character
in Vietnam anything to do with Nut? Are
any of Nut’s memories reliable? <o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span style="font-size: 10.0pt;">An old television is on a worktable in
the garage. It is often on through the
play, showing old films and television programs and a lot of “Platoon.” I do not have clear memories of that film,
just the scenes repeatedly shown in movies about war movies. An audience cannot be expected to remember
the film, and yet I think much of it was re-enacted in the Vietnam flashbacks,
so what was the story of Julius and why was Nut re-enacting “Platoon?”<o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span style="font-size: 10.0pt;"> <table align="center" cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto; text-align: center;"><tbody>
<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhZGG8RlV5lNvYkoMi4qusYYTLUFvTLONVIWlKaGPo1TLD7MZgsDslddsfCxik5s8NQVxrq0kpUEDv0cq3wUCcafKaO1GZjnFBjhLchGpCndutdgN4MFckcs5c1reYb4hEYSuHQb7tHY1_Y/s1600/Orange+Julius+rehearsal+pictured+is+Irene+Sofia+Lucio+%2526+Mary+Testa+credit+Bruce+Cohen.JPG" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" height="240" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhZGG8RlV5lNvYkoMi4qusYYTLUFvTLONVIWlKaGPo1TLD7MZgsDslddsfCxik5s8NQVxrq0kpUEDv0cq3wUCcafKaO1GZjnFBjhLchGpCndutdgN4MFckcs5c1reYb4hEYSuHQb7tHY1_Y/s320/Orange+Julius+rehearsal+pictured+is+Irene+Sofia+Lucio+%2526+Mary+Testa+credit+Bruce+Cohen.JPG" width="320" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">In rehearsal: Irene Sofia Lucio and Mary Testa (Photo Credit: Bruce Cohen)</td></tr>
</tbody></table>
</span></div>
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<span style="font-size: 10.0pt;">Meanwhile, Nut’s sister grows up to be a
nurse who is defecated on by a patient she was turning to prevent
bedsores. While this was clearly not on
purpose, still, this is what she thinks her life is, being “dumped” on. She is
bitter. Her choices seem to be based on
what she knows she can do (take care of sick people) but which do not please
her. She tried to help her mother care
for her father, but France wouldn’t always allow it. France needs help and cries out for it, but
does not accept it from her children. Ms.
Testa’s pain is heartbreaking. <o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<br /></div>
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<span style="font-size: 10.0pt;">It’s difficult to know over what time
period the episodic play takes place:
mostly in the 1980s, although once Nut says it’s 2004. There are some touching moments, some funny
ones, some sad ones. Late in the play, and presumably in time, France tries to
feed her husband baby food, which may be all that he can stomach. He pushes the spoon away, makes a mess as a
child would, and pushes France’s hand away.
He then gently clasps her wrist.
He is still Julius, her husband.
The moment is brief, but memorable. Julius is broken, supported by his
family. He is angry, he is in pain, he
has terrible memories. France is
cracking under the strain but holds the family together no matter what. Sister “Crimp” traveled in and out, seemingly
always there until we’re told she lived in another part of the country. At some time or another. Time matters.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<br /></div>
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<span style="font-size: 10.0pt;">Nut appears to have been transgender in
a time that would not be forgiving or understanding. That issue, however, comes off as a sidebar,
a distraction from the real story of Julius & France. If the play is supposed to be about Nut discovering
herself as male, why isn’t that the story?
Why not tell Julius’ story with a son?
We don’t know why Nut is telling us all this, and since she or he isn’t
a reliable narrator, we may never know.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<br /></div>
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<span style="font-size: 10.0pt;">All in all, I liked everything about the
production except the play, because the playwright could not make up his mind
as to what it was about. Many
interesting elements, interesting moments, interesting characters. But too many
elements. It was a surprisingly long 90
minutes.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<br /></div>
<br />
<div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; margin-bottom: .0001pt; margin-bottom: 0in;">
<i><span style="font-size: 10.0pt;">~
Molly Matera<o:p></o:p></span></i></div>
Mollyhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/12343358780878886726noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1162714840282890495.post-62633092208896170532016-11-20T20:00:00.007-05:002016-11-20T20:04:10.725-05:00Goldoni's "The Servant of Two Masters" at TFANA<div class="MsoNormal">
The Samuel H. Scripps mainstage at the Polonsky Shakespeare
Center is a wonderfully designed performance space: it is multiple theatres in one, so flexible one
may not recognize it from one season to another. This production’s proscenium staging worked perfectly.
<o:p></o:p></div>
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<b><i>The Servant of Two Masters</i></b> is silly, absurd, crass, ridiculous,
pointless, and very, very funny.
Downright hysterical in fact, based on commedia dell’arte, a theatrical
structure that set standard character types into scenarios, the characters
performing functions in standard plots that usually involved lovers, tricksters,
and hungry servants. Characters were
typically masked (and therefore recognizable in every town the troupe wandered
into) except for the young lovers. There
are always young lovers. The
actors/characters often improvise the actual scenes, filled with slapstick,
physical humor, and often violence. Midway
through the 18<sup>th</sup> century, <b>Carlo
Goldoni</b> put this scenario on paper. <o:p></o:p></div>
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<br /></div>
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Something like 270 years later, <b>Christopher Bayes</b> (director) and<b> Steven Epps</b> (lead actor, the hungry servant Truffaldino) have
taken Carlo Goldoni’s play (as adapted by <b>Constance
Congdon</b>) and discarded whatever words interfered with the laughs they were
looking for, which probably change nightly.
This is a living theatrical form, dependent on current events and the
audience’s knowledge thereof. Like
improv, but with a storyline providing more overall structure. <o:p></o:p></div>
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<br /></div>
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Considering the political humor running riot through the
performance, I wish I could be transported back in time to hear what they all
said before the election.<o:p></o:p></div>
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<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
The evening started with Italian music your grandparents
(maybe great grandparents) played and listened and danced to. No, not Dean Martin or Al Martino, earlier
than that, back in the old country, the kind with mandolins and guitars and
small accordions — like this: <a href="https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=5FlNBuS7YgM">https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=5FlNBuS7YgM</a>. With music in our ears, magic appeared around
the wonderful mainstage with a Roman arch creating the proscenium and strings
of patio lights illuminating the theatre like starlight. It was <i>delicioso</i>.<o:p></o:p></div>
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<br /></div>
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Briefly, the servant of two masters has two masters because
he has no money and he’s very hungry and his first master didn’t give so much
as a centime for a hunk of bread.
“Federigo” (spoiler alert:
actually the late Federigo’s sister Beatrice in disguise for most of the
play) won’t have money until “he” goes over the books of deals with Pantalone,
father of the young woman to whom Federigo was affianced. And therein lies a tale. The second master turns out to be Florindo,
for whom Federigo/Beatrice is searching, the man who killed Beatrice’s brother
Federigo in a duel over her and who is her lover. No one recognizes anybody, of course. Poor Truffaldino, the incompetent servant, is
still hungry halfway through the play!<o:p></o:p></div>
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<br /></div>
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Meanwhile another young couple’s wedding plans start out
blessed but upon the return from the dead of Federigo, well, the first
arrangement must take precedence, which infuriates the Dottore, father of
Silvio, the beloved of Clarice. Love is frustrated, Beatrice reveals herself as
a woman to Clarice so of course they’re now like sisters, while the true lover,
Silvio, is jealous and behaves very foolishly.
Oh, what will become of them all?<o:p></o:p></div>
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<br /></div>
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And Truffaldino is still hungry. When he finally has a chance to eat, it’s
catch as catch can: food flies over the
curtain to be caught and tossed by Truffaldino juggling with the two highly
energetic waiters (<b>Aidan Eastwood </b>and<b> Sam Urdang</b>) while he’s also juggling
the service of a meal to each of his masters.<o:p></o:p></div>
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<o:p> <table align="center" cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto; text-align: center;"><tbody>
<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjcR3igCNpj-GsAoSOcn-jhVSsFl0eTvcTHXNgne1Fgx0pCcIcweGQ6C2wCDq1599AcqMW5AXDmNNDiW0v1WMCovrF5MUxT5cMAB-T6PpWwmf0RmUeIQlPSv0El1MTaf3vCZ_VmEpGDV85V/s1600/IMG_1953-AEastwood-SUrdang_GerryGoodstein.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" height="202" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjcR3igCNpj-GsAoSOcn-jhVSsFl0eTvcTHXNgne1Fgx0pCcIcweGQ6C2wCDq1599AcqMW5AXDmNNDiW0v1WMCovrF5MUxT5cMAB-T6PpWwmf0RmUeIQlPSv0El1MTaf3vCZ_VmEpGDV85V/s320/IMG_1953-AEastwood-SUrdang_GerryGoodstein.jpg" width="320" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">The juggling waiters (Photo by Gerry Goodstein)</td></tr>
</tbody></table>
</o:p></div>
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The play is filled with music (all played by <b>Christopher Curtis</b> and <b>Aaron Halva</b>), including television
advertising jingles from 30 years ago, snippets of show tunes, some pretty
ditties for the ladies to sing (by Aaron Halva), pratfalls and slaps, a little
swordplay, and an evening of ridiculous fun.
<o:p></o:p></div>
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<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
This company of players knows how to milk a laugh, go off
and around the bend and then, like good jazz musicians, bring the story back on
track and move along briskly. And they
all sing wonderfully. <o:p></o:p></div>
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<br /></div>
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The star of the show is Truffaldino portrayed with high
energy by the remarkable <b>Steven Epps</b>. He runs from one master to another, he leaps,
he weeps, he receives beatings, he is a hoot and a half.<o:p></o:p></div>
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<br /></div>
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I didn’t even recognize one of my favorite actors from the
Fiasco Theater Co., <b>Andy Goteleuschen</b>
playing the Dottore, father of the whiny lover Silvio (<b>Eugene Ma</b>).<o:p></o:p></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<o:p> <table align="center" cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto; text-align: center;"><tbody>
<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEh8XE5XXdOzWl_ghAAJ4PHWK_WLcKUsZl8Bl_l3tbj1aa8N3eO_xjs-N3DumRLvbIkMuLg1sDylrmj6ct25kyy_8AWscYqyImP9dyt0VC1DpyU-Qn7Fyow-ecno4SFEG1w9ptfMVaWpbnZg/s1600/IMG_1915-SEpp-AGilmore_GerryGoodstein.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" height="213" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEh8XE5XXdOzWl_ghAAJ4PHWK_WLcKUsZl8Bl_l3tbj1aa8N3eO_xjs-N3DumRLvbIkMuLg1sDylrmj6ct25kyy_8AWscYqyImP9dyt0VC1DpyU-Qn7Fyow-ecno4SFEG1w9ptfMVaWpbnZg/s320/IMG_1915-SEpp-AGilmore_GerryGoodstein.jpg" width="320" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">Steven Epps as Truffaldino and Allen Gilmore as Pantalone. (Rehearsal photo by Gerry Goodstein)</td></tr>
</tbody></table>
</o:p></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
Pantalone, father of Clarice, sometimes friend and sometimes
enemy of the Dottore, was well played by <b>Allen
Gilmore.</b><o:p></o:p></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<b>Orlando Pabotoy</b>’s
Florindo brought down the house when he came out brushing, or perhaps caressing,
his wig.<o:p></o:p></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<b>Liam Craig</b>’s Brighella
the Chef is creepy but not as nasty as the Brighella character often is in Commedia.<o:p></o:p></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<b>Liz Wisan</b> never
fooled me, I knew she was a woman dressed as a man! But the audience always knows, it’s the
characters onstage who aren’t playing with a full deck. As Beatrice in disguise as her dead brother
Federico, Ms. Wisan did a fine job as alternately winsome and tough.<o:p></o:p></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<b>Adina Verson</b> is
very charming, sings beautifully and is hilarious as Clarice.<o:p></o:p></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
Finally, <b>Emily Young </b>is sweet, funny and poignant as Smeraldina, the typical lady's maid conspiring with her mistress only
to fall for the not in the slightest bit wily Truffaldino. She also had a fine time speaking as a modern
feminist standing up for women’s rights against the vulgarians coming into
power.<o:p></o:p></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<o:p> <table align="center" cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto; text-align: center;"><tbody>
<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhkMi8N48TyXLQScz4bw93HkORmKcG2qCYDM8tC8C0Mah2qPHzD23DtjXKse0RY1ZiyNIbsE8a02-ZBPq6oR95cSxQteq5cNMHHtfAO1dKlvZJoi62yE-dwqNjdAlCeQbJaXF1ZO2d02kLf/s1600/IMG_2287-Cast_GerryGoodstein.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" height="213" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhkMi8N48TyXLQScz4bw93HkORmKcG2qCYDM8tC8C0Mah2qPHzD23DtjXKse0RY1ZiyNIbsE8a02-ZBPq6oR95cSxQteq5cNMHHtfAO1dKlvZJoi62yE-dwqNjdAlCeQbJaXF1ZO2d02kLf/s320/IMG_2287-Cast_GerryGoodstein.jpg" width="320" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">Cast unrecognizable without their masks, except for the Dottore (L) and Pantalone (4). Rehearsal photo by Gerry Goodstein..</td></tr>
</tbody></table>
</o:p></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
My feeling about nine out of ten of the shows I see is that
they run a little longer than they need to — and this very, very funny show was
not an exception. It could lose 10, 15 minutes. Just not the intermission, which is needed
for the audience to catch their breaths after over an hour of laughing as well
as for the bathroom break implied by Truffaldino. I suspect <i>which</i> 10 minutes is arguable — something
I felt lasted too long, such as Pantalone’s leg business, probably did not
appear so to others.<o:p></o:p></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
There’s no down time in <i>The
Servant of Two Masters</i>, it’s just chock a block non-stop, full of laughter
and song. If you’re sensitive to raunchy
innuendoes, verbal or physical, you might be offended once or twice, but
really, in today’s world, aren’t we offended by someone or something multiple
times a day? Grin and bear it for the
sake of the rest of the life-giving oxygen provided by all the laughter.<o:p></o:p></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<br />
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="color: #7030a0; font-family: "comic sans ms"; font-size: 8.0pt;">~ Molly Matera, signing
off to read TFANA’s always entertaining program with quotes
about the playwrights, the play, the times.
Or perhaps watch the 1952 film, <i>Scaramouche!</i><o:p></o:p></span></div>
Mollyhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/12343358780878886726noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1162714840282890495.post-30924589828565856432016-11-20T20:00:00.005-05:002016-11-20T20:03:41.245-05:00Goldoni's "The Servant of Two Masters" at TFANA<div class="MsoNormal">
The Samuel H. Scripps mainstage at the Polonsky Shakespeare
Center is a wonderfully designed performance space: it is multiple theatres in one, so flexible one
may not recognize it from one season to another. This production’s proscenium staging worked perfectly.
<o:p></o:p></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<b><i>The Servant of Two Masters</i></b> is silly, absurd, crass, ridiculous,
pointless, and very, very funny.
Downright hysterical in fact, based on commedia dell’arte, a theatrical
structure that set standard character types into scenarios, the characters
performing functions in standard plots that usually involved lovers, tricksters,
and hungry servants. Characters were
typically masked (and therefore recognizable in every town the troupe wandered
into) except for the young lovers. There
are always young lovers. The
actors/characters often improvise the actual scenes, filled with slapstick,
physical humor, and often violence. Midway
through the 18<sup>th</sup> century, <b>Carlo
Goldoni</b> put this scenario on paper. <o:p></o:p></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
Something like 270 years later, <b>Christopher Bayes</b> (director) and<b> Steven Epps</b> (lead actor, the hungry servant Truffaldino) have
taken Carlo Goldoni’s play (as adapted by <b>Constance
Congdon</b>) and discarded whatever words interfered with the laughs they were
looking for, which probably change nightly.
This is a living theatrical form, dependent on current events and the
audience’s knowledge thereof. Like
improv, but with a storyline providing more overall structure. <o:p></o:p></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
Considering the political humor running riot through the
performance, I wish I could be transported back in time to hear what they all
said before the election.<o:p></o:p></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
The evening started with Italian music your grandparents
(maybe great grandparents) played and listened and danced to. No, not Dean Martin or Al Martino, earlier
than that, back in the old country, the kind with mandolins and guitars and
small accordions — like this: <a href="https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=5FlNBuS7YgM">https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=5FlNBuS7YgM</a>. With music in our ears, magic appeared around
the wonderful mainstage with a Roman arch creating the proscenium and strings
of patio lights illuminating the theatre like starlight. It was <i>delicioso</i>.<o:p></o:p></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
Briefly, the servant of two masters has two masters because
he has no money and he’s very hungry and his first master didn’t give so much
as a centime for a hunk of bread.
“Federigo” (spoiler alert:
actually the late Federigo’s sister Beatrice in disguise for most of the
play) won’t have money until “he” goes over the books of deals with Pantalone,
father of the young woman to whom Federigo was affianced. And therein lies a tale. The second master turns out to be Florindo,
for whom Federigo/Beatrice is searching, the man who killed Beatrice’s brother
Federigo in a duel over her and who is her lover. No one recognizes anybody, of course. Poor Truffaldino, the incompetent servant, is
still hungry halfway through the play!<o:p></o:p></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
Meanwhile another young couple’s wedding plans start out
blessed but upon the return from the dead of Federigo, well, the first
arrangement must take precedence, which infuriates the Dottore, father of
Silvio, the beloved of Clarice. Love is frustrated, Beatrice reveals herself as
a woman to Clarice so of course they’re now like sisters, while the true lover,
Silvio, is jealous and behaves very foolishly.
Oh, what will become of them all?<o:p></o:p></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
And Truffaldino is still hungry. When he finally has a chance to eat, it’s
catch as catch can: food flies over the
curtain to be caught and tossed by Truffaldino juggling with the two highly
energetic waiters (<b>Aidan Eastwood </b>and<b> Sam Urdang</b>) while he’s also juggling
the service of a meal to each of his masters.<o:p></o:p></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<o:p> <table align="center" cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto; text-align: center;"><tbody>
<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjcR3igCNpj-GsAoSOcn-jhVSsFl0eTvcTHXNgne1Fgx0pCcIcweGQ6C2wCDq1599AcqMW5AXDmNNDiW0v1WMCovrF5MUxT5cMAB-T6PpWwmf0RmUeIQlPSv0El1MTaf3vCZ_VmEpGDV85V/s1600/IMG_1953-AEastwood-SUrdang_GerryGoodstein.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" height="202" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjcR3igCNpj-GsAoSOcn-jhVSsFl0eTvcTHXNgne1Fgx0pCcIcweGQ6C2wCDq1599AcqMW5AXDmNNDiW0v1WMCovrF5MUxT5cMAB-T6PpWwmf0RmUeIQlPSv0El1MTaf3vCZ_VmEpGDV85V/s320/IMG_1953-AEastwood-SUrdang_GerryGoodstein.jpg" width="320" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">The juggling waiters (Photo by Gerry Goodstein)</td></tr>
</tbody></table>
</o:p></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
The play is filled with music (all played by <b>Christopher Curtis</b> and <b>Aaron Halva</b>), including television
advertising jingles from 30 years ago, snippets of show tunes, some pretty
ditties for the ladies to sing (by Aaron Halva), pratfalls and slaps, a little
swordplay, and an evening of ridiculous fun.
<o:p></o:p></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
This company of players knows how to milk a laugh, go off
and around the bend and then, like good jazz musicians, bring the story back on
track and move along briskly. And they
all sing wonderfully. <o:p></o:p></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
The star of the show is Truffaldino portrayed with high
energy by the remarkable <b>Steven Epps</b>. He runs from one master to another, he leaps,
he weeps, he receives beatings, he is a hoot and a half.<o:p></o:p></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
I didn’t even recognize one of my favorite actors from the
Fiasco Theater Co., <b>Andy Goteleuschen</b>
playing the Dottore, father of the whiny lover Silvio (<b>Eugene Ma</b>).<o:p></o:p></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<o:p> <table align="center" cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto; text-align: center;"><tbody>
<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEh8XE5XXdOzWl_ghAAJ4PHWK_WLcKUsZl8Bl_l3tbj1aa8N3eO_xjs-N3DumRLvbIkMuLg1sDylrmj6ct25kyy_8AWscYqyImP9dyt0VC1DpyU-Qn7Fyow-ecno4SFEG1w9ptfMVaWpbnZg/s1600/IMG_1915-SEpp-AGilmore_GerryGoodstein.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" height="213" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEh8XE5XXdOzWl_ghAAJ4PHWK_WLcKUsZl8Bl_l3tbj1aa8N3eO_xjs-N3DumRLvbIkMuLg1sDylrmj6ct25kyy_8AWscYqyImP9dyt0VC1DpyU-Qn7Fyow-ecno4SFEG1w9ptfMVaWpbnZg/s320/IMG_1915-SEpp-AGilmore_GerryGoodstein.jpg" width="320" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">Steven Epps as Truffaldino and Allen Gilmore as Pantalone. (Rehearsal photo by Gerry Goodstein)</td></tr>
</tbody></table>
</o:p></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
Pantalone, father of Clarice, sometimes friend and sometimes
enemy of the Dottore, was well played by <b>Allen
Gilmore.</b><o:p></o:p></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<b>Orlando Pabotoy</b>’s
Florindo brought down the house when he came out brushing, or perhaps caressing,
his wig.<o:p></o:p></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<b>Liam Craig</b>’s Brighella
the Chef is creepy but not as nasty as the Brighella character often is in Commedia.<o:p></o:p></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<b>Liz Wisan</b> never
fooled me, I knew she was a woman dressed as a man! But the audience always knows, it’s the
characters onstage who aren’t playing with a full deck. As Beatrice in disguise as her dead brother
Federico, Ms. Wisan did a fine job as alternately winsome and tough.<o:p></o:p></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<b>Adina Verson</b> is
very charming, sings beautifully and is hilarious as Clarice.<o:p></o:p></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
Finally, <b>Emily Young </b>is sweet, funny and poignant as Smeraldina, the typical lady's maid conspiring with her mistress only
to fall for the not in the slightest bit wily Truffaldino. She also had a fine time speaking as a modern
feminist standing up for women’s rights against the vulgarians coming into
power.<o:p></o:p></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<o:p> <table align="center" cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto; text-align: center;"><tbody>
<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhkMi8N48TyXLQScz4bw93HkORmKcG2qCYDM8tC8C0Mah2qPHzD23DtjXKse0RY1ZiyNIbsE8a02-ZBPq6oR95cSxQteq5cNMHHtfAO1dKlvZJoi62yE-dwqNjdAlCeQbJaXF1ZO2d02kLf/s1600/IMG_2287-Cast_GerryGoodstein.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" height="213" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhkMi8N48TyXLQScz4bw93HkORmKcG2qCYDM8tC8C0Mah2qPHzD23DtjXKse0RY1ZiyNIbsE8a02-ZBPq6oR95cSxQteq5cNMHHtfAO1dKlvZJoi62yE-dwqNjdAlCeQbJaXF1ZO2d02kLf/s320/IMG_2287-Cast_GerryGoodstein.jpg" width="320" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">Cast unrecognizable without their masks, except for the Dottore (L) and Pantalone (4). Rehearsal photo by Gerry Goodstein..</td></tr>
</tbody></table>
</o:p></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
My feeling about nine out of ten of the shows I see is that
they run a little longer than they need to — and this very, very funny show was
not an exception. It could lose 10, 15 minutes. Just not the intermission, which is needed
for the audience to catch their breaths after over an hour of laughing as well
as for the bathroom break implied by Truffaldino. I suspect <i>which</i> 10 minutes is arguable — something
I felt lasted too long, such as Pantalone’s leg business, probably did not
appear so to others.<o:p></o:p></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
There’s no down time in <i>The
Servant of Two Masters</i>, it’s just chock a block non-stop, full of laughter
and song. If you’re sensitive to raunchy
innuendoes, verbal or physical, you might be offended once or twice, but
really, in today’s world, aren’t we offended by someone or something multiple
times a day? Grin and bear it for the
sake of the rest of the life-giving oxygen provided by all the laughter.<o:p></o:p></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<br />
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="color: #7030a0; font-family: "comic sans ms"; font-size: 8.0pt;">~ Molly Matera, signing
off to read TFANA’s always entertaining program with quotes
about the playwrights, the play, the times.
Or perhaps watch the 1952 film, <i>Scaramouche!</i><o:p></o:p></span></div>
Mollyhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/12343358780878886726noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1162714840282890495.post-46131423576693716022016-11-16T22:19:00.002-05:002016-11-16T22:19:47.512-05:00Theatre as Warning: Red Bull Theater’s Coriolanus at the Barrow Street Theatre<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="background-color: white;">The Red Bull Theater’s production of William Shakespeare's <i>Coriolanus</i> at the Barrow Street
Theatre is ensemble playing at its best, directed by <b>Michael Sexton</b>. The small
and tight-knit ensemble played early Romans and Volscians of all classes. <o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="background-color: white;">About five centuries
before Julius Caesar was stabbed in the Curia, the Roman patricians and
warriors and plebeians had defeated their previous king, Tarquin the Proud, and
established the Roman Republic. This was
not a republic in which all citizens were equal, but it was a start. The play’s plebeians of the early republic become
a character as a group with a common view.
When the play begins, the plebeians (lower class, working class, what
you will) have “tribunes” to represent their interests in the patrician
Senate. Essentially the tribunes can be
seen as go-betweens (like your local councilman, congressman, etc.), and can
misinterpret or misrepresent (willfully or not) the plebeians to the patricians
and vice versa. The plebeians want their fair share of grain (of which the patricians have more than they need). The patricians don't want to give anything away. This society is
blatantly stratified. <o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="background-color: white;">Caius Marcius is a
fine soldier but a socially inept patrician.
Too soon after the Roman army has gotten rid of “Tarquin the Proud,”
Caius Marcius behaves with much too much pride, setting himself up for a fall
after rising as a military hero and gaining the surname Coriolanus after
conquering the Volscian city of Corioli.
His politically ambitious friends and family want him to accept the
Consulship of Rome (the highest elected political office of the Roman Republic). I doubt it will
surprise anyone that this does not turn out well <o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="background-color: white;">The splendid cast
elucidating the story and the people are:<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="background-color: white;"><b>Dion Johnstone</b> is a powerful and articulate Coriolanus. Strength and fury emanate from him except
when he’s speaking to his mother, wife or son.
He is powerful, passionate, a bit dense, and very arrogant.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<table align="center" cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto; text-align: center;"><tbody>
<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgSF3EFumYPaZ9Hv8eibivr_JloJVXW0wgi0ScXKwMJ7R7b8YU0OxRrXxrNts2xQWFmrHNfuLF5boOPw6qlLSqwNS8vHFrV-VoGpAKi7Q6xhvUlVUwfMGotNooI25g0EVOoe-ZaOLtd1jsu/s1600/family.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="background-color: white; margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" height="234" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgSF3EFumYPaZ9Hv8eibivr_JloJVXW0wgi0ScXKwMJ7R7b8YU0OxRrXxrNts2xQWFmrHNfuLF5boOPw6qlLSqwNS8vHFrV-VoGpAKi7Q6xhvUlVUwfMGotNooI25g0EVOoe-ZaOLtd1jsu/s320/family.jpg" width="320" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;"><span style="background-color: white;">Virgilia, Coriolanus, and Volumnia in front, Cominius and Titus Lartius behind. (Photo By Carol Rosegg)</span></td></tr>
</tbody></table>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="background-color: white;"><b>Lisa Harrow</b> was ruthless as Coriolanus’ mother Volumnia. Her love for him displaced by her own
ambition, Volumnia is not an easy character to like, but Harrow makes her
three-dimensional.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="background-color: white;"><b>Patrick Page</b> was engaging but sleazy. He is just a politician, but his heartbreak
at Coriolanus’ rejection of him in the second half of the play is real. His Menenius Agrippa was a Southern styled
good-old boy. While amusing, this
choice seemed rather tired, even trite since everyone else in the play has city
or homogeneous accents. Like the production, Mr. Page has political points to
make.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<br />
<table align="center" cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto; text-align: center;"><tbody>
<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEibScqEWE_cJIutSmxiZcxCPYDBPZov0_wBJgsuZafoRfXZ6QlO5-e6m03L01E0Ie_BOYvgOT5XSGs8JJJj2IOBqGx5ICjpY6o3AknH49wwzItdxRjhWsyoC4upXaJqcvqZ4_Lr6hm-4KTZ/s1600/Menenius.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEibScqEWE_cJIutSmxiZcxCPYDBPZov0_wBJgsuZafoRfXZ6QlO5-e6m03L01E0Ie_BOYvgOT5XSGs8JJJj2IOBqGx5ICjpY6o3AknH49wwzItdxRjhWsyoC4upXaJqcvqZ4_Lr6hm-4KTZ/s1600/Menenius.jpg" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">Patrick Page as Menenius Agrippa (Photo by Carol Rosegg)</td></tr>
</tbody></table>
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<span style="background-color: white;"><b>Matthew Amend</b>t as Tullus Aufidius did not look like a
tough warrior so he had to act it, and he did.
He spent a great deal of time off center, and I enjoyed watching him out
of the corner of my eye as he responded — or didn’t — to Coriolanus. His building fury is only broken by the death
of the man he ordered killed, a man as like him as a brother.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<o:p style="background-color: white;"> <table align="center" cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto; text-align: center;"><tbody>
<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjUgCh1g76GlYq_T7rMP7lv0vCBcsJwEz42H982jE6a6j3EcIvBd3DdvaoDB2oCT0HFYb19g3dPTe6e9rFho5FkP80eQxx6mUJx_thVVU_R3Z2-h6cnb6-G-NNHQ6GfCfwnxsi08qM-OP_l/s1600/Johnstone+and+Amendt_Rosegg.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" height="320" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjUgCh1g76GlYq_T7rMP7lv0vCBcsJwEz42H982jE6a6j3EcIvBd3DdvaoDB2oCT0HFYb19g3dPTe6e9rFho5FkP80eQxx6mUJx_thVVU_R3Z2-h6cnb6-G-NNHQ6GfCfwnxsi08qM-OP_l/s320/Johnstone+and+Amendt_Rosegg.jpg" width="276" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">The banished Coriolanus and Tullus Aufidius (Photo by Carol Rosegg)</td></tr>
</tbody></table>
</o:p></div>
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<span style="background-color: white;"><b>Aaron Krohn</b> played a strong Cominius, Coriolanus’ long-time friend and general. Krohn
comes into his own as the sensible and sensitive friend to Coriolanus back in
Rome. <b>Zachary Fine </b>was Coriolanus’ fellow soldier and friend Titus Lartius.
Both are also transformed to be part of the plebeians of Rome, slipping easily
into other speech patterns and beliefs. Fine also plays a sodden member of the
Volscian Aufidius’ staff and was charming and funny opening the production’s
second half with great hilarity — this should be no surprise from the man who
played Crab and Valentine in the Fiasco Theater Company production of <i>Two Gentlemen of Verona</i> at TFANA in
2015 [<a href="https://mollyismusing.blogspot.com/2015/05/2-shakespeares-and-upstart-crow.html">https://mollyismusing.blogspot.com/2015/05/2-shakespeares-and-upstart-crow.html</a>]. <o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgrnzaP03sFYS6aEpYjDSEoSbQ0cWTQvYyE6tQ0iEY1nxBE6DS0WDeb47Ed0eiO4FCmcOT4E-RYJVeb2YbXK2CnYrmp4PvsEnpsHe5CgnOCJXHy2huXFyOOP485GvtKKtQH2F4L9-tVTFcw/s1600/Fine+Pumariega+Johnstone+Krohn_Rosegg.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" height="180" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgrnzaP03sFYS6aEpYjDSEoSbQ0cWTQvYyE6tQ0iEY1nxBE6DS0WDeb47Ed0eiO4FCmcOT4E-RYJVeb2YbXK2CnYrmp4PvsEnpsHe5CgnOCJXHy2huXFyOOP485GvtKKtQH2F4L9-tVTFcw/s320/Fine+Pumariega+Johnstone+Krohn_Rosegg.jpg" width="320" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">Titus Lartius, Coriolanus, and Cominius (Photo by Carol Rosegg)</td></tr>
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</o:p></div>
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<span style="background-color: white;">The plebeians are
easily manipulated by the two tribunes who are supposed to represent the plebeians
but who have agendas of their own. These
two are well played by <b>Stephen Spinella</b>
(Sicinius Velutus) and <b>Merritt Janson </b>(Junius
Brutus). Sicinius makes me very angry, but Spinella is so good and was honestly
physically afraid of Johnstone’s Coriolanus that my anger with him faded, if just
for the moment.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="background-color: white;"><b>Rebecca S’Manga Frank</b> played multiple roles, from Coriolanus’ wife
Virgilia who she completely differentiated from angry Roman plebeians calling
for Coriolanus’ banishment.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<br /></div>
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<span style="background-color: white;"><b>Olivia Reis</b> played Coriolanus’ small son.
Her face was a child’s face until she reappeared as a courtesan in the
Volscian camp or a Roman plebeian, when she became an entirely different
physical person. <o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="background-color: white;"><b>Edward O’Blenis</b> did excellent work as First Citizen in Rome,
an angry man, powerful and skilled at goading his fellow plebeians to
revolt. In the Volscian city of Corioli,
he is the lieutenant to Tullus Aufidius.
<o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="background-color: white;"><b>Christina Pumariega</b> played a broad range of roles, each better
than the last, from the Roman patrician Valeria to an acrimonious plebeian to a
bawdy wench in the town of Corioli.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="background-color: white;"><b><i>Coriolanus</i></b> is the story of a man who was not temperamentally
suited for public office. He was a fine
solider and general. He knew himself inappropriate to be Consul but allowed
those with more ambition than he had push him to accept the honor. What he may not have seen, since
understanding people was not his strong point, was that each friend and relative
who urged him on wanted to live in the reflection of a Consul’s power. That was for themselves, not for him, not for
Rome. Inevitably his unfitness surfaced,
his unfiltered mouth insulted every person he did not consider his peer, that
is, most of mankind and particularly the plebeian class whose votes (“voice”)
he needs to be named Consul. The
incensed plebeians accuse him of treason and want him either executed (by being
thrown from the Tarpeian Rock) or banished.
Being banished from the country whose wars he’d fought is a bitter
pill. He goes over to the other side, to
fight by the side of his arch enemy Tullus Aufidius, goes to war against Rome
and denies his friends and family. <o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="background-color: white;">The final act of
murder/execution was harrowing to see and highly effective, played center stage
as it was. And, not surprisingly, the
fool who ordered the death of Coriolanus regrets it and is heartbroken but it
is too late to mend. <o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span style="background-color: white;">Does any of this sound familiar?<o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span style="background-color: white;">I am not a purist in Shakespeare: I’m all for cutting, editing,
even moving scenes around if it clarifies and moves the story along. Shakespeare’s storytelling is strong enough
to withstand a great deal of messing about.
This streamlined script, though, seemed a tightly strung bow, aimed
predictably to show the power that can lie with two manipulative politicians directing
the uneducated masses as a weapon against an enemy, not necessarily of the
people, but of those two politicians.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span style="background-color: white;">I’ve seen the play before, and found it dreadfully appropriate
that I saw this production on election night. </span><span style="background-color: white; color: #37441c;"><o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<div class="MsoNormal" style="background: white;">
<i><span style="color: #7030a0; font-size: 9.0pt; mso-bidi-font-family: Arial; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman";">~ Molly Matera, signing off to re-read Jane Austen’s </span></i><span style="color: #7030a0; font-size: 9.0pt; mso-bidi-font-family: Arial; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman";">Sense & Sensibility<i>,
the novel, as opposed to the wonderful play version produced by Bedlam that I
swooned over last week.<o:p></o:p></i></span></div>
Mollyhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/12343358780878886726noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1162714840282890495.post-24547806161938081412016-11-09T22:10:00.002-05:002016-11-09T22:10:19.058-05:00Kings of War_Shakespeare in Dutch at the BAM Opera House<div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; margin-bottom: .0001pt; margin-bottom: 0in;">
<b><i><span style="font-size: 10.0pt;">Kings of War </span></i></b><span style="font-size: 10.0pt;">is my second Shakespearean mash-up by <b>Ivo van Hove</b> (who directed Toneelgroep
Amsterdam in performance of the adaptation by <b>Bart van den Eynde </b>and<b> Peter
van Kraaij</b>). The first (<b><i>Roman
Tragedies</i></b> in 2012: <a href="http://mollyismusing.blogspot.com/2012/11/friends-romans-dutch.html">http://mollyismusing.blogspot.com/2012/11/friends-romans-dutch.html</a>
) was longer, truer, better. This outing
is more particularly edited, not unsuitable for the U.S. election season. In this production, van Hove and his cohorts
for this translation by Rob Klinkenberg “adapted” Shakespeare’s <i>Henry V</i>, <i>Henry VI</i> Parts 1, 2 (not so much) and 3, and <i>Richard III</i> into one evening about kings and family feuds and wars
and just plain murder. Or was it?<o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span style="font-size: 10.0pt;">The first two hours and twenty minutes of
the evening were engaging, imaginative, clever, even funny. The main events (political) of Henry V (“H5”)
were covered, then on to Henry VI (“H6”) part 1, sliding over part 2, then
clarifying the raison d’</span><span style="font-size: 10.0pt; mso-bidi-font-family: Arial; mso-bidi-theme-font: minor-latin;">ê</span><span style="font-size: 10.0pt;">tre
for Richard III (“R3”) in part 3 of H6.
We fell from some highflying places to a very poor R3 for the second
half of the production, so bad I catnapped during the last 20 minutes or so and
didn’t miss a thing. What happened? Why were
van Hove, van den Eynde and van Kraaij able to, according to their own themes, comprehensibly
condense four plays into less than 2 ½ hours, and make a hash-up in under two
hours of the last one. <o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span style="font-size: 10.0pt;">For the first half, the
setting was modern, easy to rearrange, and augmented with continuous video and
supertitles showing us what was happening offstage. In Shakespeare, offstage
usually means violence, and sometimes it does in <i>Kings of War</i>. We’d watch backstage action on video until
those participants entered the playing area.
At one point, what we saw were lots of sheep. (They were not really backstage.) The music of the first half was brass (by
“Blindman”: Konstantin Koev, Charlotte van Passen, Daniel Quiles Cascant, and
Daniel Ruibal Ortigueira), very exciting and fitting, especially with the
inclusion of the marvelous contratenor <b>Steve
Dugardin</b>. <o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span style="font-size: 10.0pt;">Each king was
introduced on a red patterned carpet rolled onto the stage. We have already seen the procession, of
course, on the video. The new king,
Cardinals, right-hand men, queens, mothers and the like, all those people who
have or wish to have the power behind the throne, would walk in step behind him
(each him) as he walks to his coronation.
It’s a nifty set up, making it perfectly clear whose reign it is, with
the King’s name flashed on the supertitle just to make sure we all knew what’s
what.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span style="font-size: 10.0pt;"><br /></span></div>
<table cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="float: left; text-align: center;"><tbody>
<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjb7u-NfNxUTUPfIv0reG-K1bNB8UPYzhHbd4cnYWRKWFhv5HyVIYOKufoka1QvukpfzVDIYkgT49L492iYUceTeVS1zif6cj3X7idfkfs4H0j8WQ2Q7LFLsj9bDvERWoqH6a8sPO-2w7bn/s1600/coronation+of+Henry+V.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" height="266" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjb7u-NfNxUTUPfIv0reG-K1bNB8UPYzhHbd4cnYWRKWFhv5HyVIYOKufoka1QvukpfzVDIYkgT49L492iYUceTeVS1zif6cj3X7idfkfs4H0j8WQ2Q7LFLsj9bDvERWoqH6a8sPO-2w7bn/s400/coronation+of+Henry+V.jpg" width="400" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">The Coronation of Henry V (Photo by <b style="font-size: 13.3333px; text-align: start;">Jan Versweyveld)</b></td></tr>
</tbody></table>
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<span style="font-size: 10.0pt;">Shakespeare generally
puts the real violence offstage, therefore it appeared on video (by Tal Yardin)
in this production. Some of it was
rather harrowing, and York’s examination of Uncle Gloucester’s offstage corpse
in H6 was ghastly and effective. Van
Hove and his colleagues seemed most interested in the political machinations of
the kings’ courts, courtiers, advisers, wives, so it was confusing but
delightful that he retained the wooing scene between King Henry and Katharina
toward the end of H5. <o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; margin-bottom: .0001pt; margin-bottom: 0in; tab-stops: 130.5pt;">
<span style="font-size: 10.0pt;">There were some
interesting and well-articulated performances in multiple roles by <o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoListParagraphCxSpFirst" style="line-height: normal; margin-bottom: .0001pt; margin-bottom: 0in; mso-add-space: auto; mso-list: l0 level1 lfo1; tab-stops: 22.5pt .5in 130.5pt; text-indent: -.25in;">
<!--[if !supportLists]--><span style="font-family: Symbol; font-size: 10.0pt; mso-bidi-font-family: Symbol; mso-fareast-font-family: Symbol;">·<span style="font-family: "Times New Roman"; font-size: 7pt; font-stretch: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; line-height: normal;">
</span></span><!--[endif]--><b><span style="font-size: 10.0pt;">Eelco Smits</span></b><span style="font-size: 10.0pt;">
as Grey in H5 and the king himself in Henry VI<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoListParagraphCxSpMiddle" style="line-height: normal; margin-bottom: .0001pt; margin-bottom: 0in; mso-add-space: auto; mso-list: l0 level1 lfo1; tab-stops: 22.5pt .5in 130.5pt; text-indent: -.25in;">
<!--[if !supportLists]--><span style="font-family: Symbol; font-size: 10.0pt; mso-bidi-font-family: Symbol; mso-fareast-font-family: Symbol;">·<span style="font-family: "Times New Roman"; font-size: 7pt; font-stretch: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; line-height: normal;">
</span></span><!--[endif]--><b><span style="font-size: 10.0pt;">Leon Voorberg</span></b><span style="font-size: 10.0pt;">
as Charles VI of France in H5, Warwick and later Stanley<o:p></o:p></span></div>
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</span></span><!--[endif]--><b><span style="font-size: 10.0pt;">Aus Greidanus Jr</span></b><span style="font-size: 10.0pt;">. as Gloucester, the regent for Henry VI, and later as Buckingham in R3,
doing nice creepy work in the latter<o:p></o:p></span></div>
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</span></span><!--[endif]--><b><span style="font-size: 10.0pt;">Bart Slegers </span></b><span style="font-size: 10.0pt;">as
the Chief of Staff in H5, York in H6 and later Edward IV (however briefly) in
R3<o:p></o:p></span></div>
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</span></span><!--[endif]--><b><span style="font-size: 10.0pt;">H</span></b><b><span style="font-size: 10.0pt; mso-bidi-font-family: Arial; mso-bidi-theme-font: minor-latin;">é</span></b><b><span style="font-size: 10.0pt;">l</span></b><b><span style="font-size: 10.0pt; mso-bidi-font-family: Arial; mso-bidi-theme-font: minor-latin;">è</span></b><b><span style="font-size: 10.0pt;">ne Devos</span></b><span style="font-size: 10.0pt;"> was adorable as Katharina in H5, with interesting
choices (hers, van Hove’s?) as Lady Anne in R3<o:p></o:p></span></div>
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</span></span><!--[endif]--><b><span style="font-size: 10.0pt;">Robert de Hoog</span></b><span style="font-size: 10.0pt;">
was excellent as a whiny Dauphin in H5, as the manipulative snake oil salesman Suffolk
in H6, and charmingly broken as Clarence in R3.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span style="font-size: 10.0pt;">But the best, the star
of the evening, was <b>Chris Nietvelt</b>. I’d seen her as Cleopatra (among others) in
the <i>Roman Tragedies</i>, and here she
played three roles: Montjoy, the French
courier in H5, then Leonora, foolish and self-destructive wife to Gloucester in
H6, and finally Elizabeth, wife then widow to Edward IV, mother to the two princes
murdered in the Tower and to young Elizabeth, wanted by Richard for his third
wife (lest you worry, eventually to marry Richmond, Henry VII). Ms. Nietvelt continues her fine characterizations
and truthful performances that I learned to expect from her the last time I sat
through many hours of Shakespeare in Dutch. <o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<table cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="float: left; text-align: center;"><tbody>
<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjfwBCzdqbzShNC8C7jB_AwJ9RcShyphenhyphenfWQxiNKxzNUBRKp4C_S4NaCnA9BPd9x98xvgFKX_TYdwa5h08Puc6sQP4pLWLI9luBajskGX99gOK0KRupPR8h0Ay1ToOu5XX1O3yrEI8IOZHqkTv/s1600/Henry+VI+and+Margareta.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjfwBCzdqbzShNC8C7jB_AwJ9RcShyphenhyphenfWQxiNKxzNUBRKp4C_S4NaCnA9BPd9x98xvgFKX_TYdwa5h08Puc6sQP4pLWLI9luBajskGX99gOK0KRupPR8h0Ay1ToOu5XX1O3yrEI8IOZHqkTv/s1600/Henry+VI+and+Margareta.jpg" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">King Henry VI and Queen Margareta</td></tr>
</tbody></table>
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<span style="font-size: 10.0pt;">There were some rather
dull performances in single roles: <b>Marieke Heebink</b> as the Duchess of York
in R3, when she was as shallow as her theatrical son: <b>Hans Kesting</b> as Richard III.
Also far from stellar and merely scary was <b>Janni Gosling</b> as Margareta, queen then widow of Henry VI, lover of
Suffolk, and theatrically Johnny-one-note from the moment we met her.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span style="font-size: 10.0pt;">While I’m naming
names, design and lighting by <b>Jan
Versweyveld</b>, music by<b> Eric Sleichim</b>
(yay first half, boo second half); costumes by <b>An D’Huys</b>.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span style="font-size: 10.0pt;">In the second half, the
set looked like the lobby of a middle class hotel. We saw that what had been
the musicians’ gallery in the first half was populated with a “disc jockey”
with no discs, just a machine to control the electronic sound, which produced irritating
noise. But then, most of the second half
was annoying. <o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span style="font-size: 10.0pt;">Hans Kesting enters as
Richard with a birthmark on his face and a limp. His clothes are ill-tailored so he seems to
be more physically inhibited than he is.
Richard was drawn to a full length mirror onstage, and kept returning to
it. Between that and the video filming
him looking at himself, I had double vision with nausea. Halfway through, to top it off, for no reason
at all, Richard takes off his clothes center stage to change into his not much
different costume for his coronation. It
took much longer than it deserved. There
could have been ten minutes cut off the playing time. Surely there were other places to edit as
well.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span style="font-size: 10.0pt;">From a firm start with
the Henry plays, the evening devolved to an uninspired R3. <i>Kings of War</i>, while shorter than the excellent <i>Roman Tragedies</i> that led us to this adventure, did not live up to
that 2012 production <o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEj8IZAIEQQC_A2AZjdyiecsxqyFq8VQpfFyrAY7-yBTpw5IWgTXo8qIieIGgOlKa7T4Og9aFd2bP6Q_dR90EiLnP6AARgSoa0FALm1RWV1tIfn-ZL-jLzagBzEFHxnIP0nJ55uKTEdCIpma/s1600/kings-of-war1.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="180" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEj8IZAIEQQC_A2AZjdyiecsxqyFq8VQpfFyrAY7-yBTpw5IWgTXo8qIieIGgOlKa7T4Og9aFd2bP6Q_dR90EiLnP6AARgSoa0FALm1RWV1tIfn-ZL-jLzagBzEFHxnIP0nJ55uKTEdCIpma/s320/kings-of-war1.jpg" width="320" /></a></div>
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<span style="font-size: 10.0pt;">This company uses the
same designers and videographers and some of the same actors. Interestingly, one of the flaws of this
modern styling and the microphones and the television and the video is the same
problem the <i>Roman Tragedies</i> had in
the same BAM Opera House back in 2012: that I often could not tell who on the
stage was speaking (particularly when two of the younger male actors looked
rather similar to one another). The
miking of actors must be compensated for in the staging so we don’t wonder who’s
speaking, what with all those sounds coming from the same place. I also noted that the first two plays of the <i>Roman Tragedies</i> (Coriolanus and Julius
Caesar) were well edited and “mashed” but that the last play, Antony &
Cleopatra, like the last play in <i>Kings of
War</i>, Richard III, lasted too long, as if the editors got tired and just
said, this will have to do. <o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span style="font-size: 10.0pt;">In any case, I’m glad I
experienced this production, flaws and all, and will give the next
Shakespearean mash-up from Toneelgroep Amsterdam a try.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<i><span style="font-size: 10.0pt;">~ Molly Matera, signing off to re-read Coriolanus to
figure out how much the Red Bull Theater production cut.<o:p></o:p></span></i></div>
Mollyhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/12343358780878886726noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1162714840282890495.post-20865481009503832872016-07-31T20:57:00.000-04:002016-07-31T20:57:26.735-04:00Pride and Petulance: A Lesser-Known Shakespeare Play on War and Women<div class="MsoNormal">
It was a perfect summer evening at the Delacorte Theatre in
Central Park. Hot but not stifling.
Clear, with enough of a breeze to keep most of the bugs at bay. And a brilliant production on the stage for
about three hours.<o:p></o:p></div>
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An infrequently produced play, <b><i>Troilus & Cressida</i></b> is
set in Troy (a.k.a. Phrygia) when the war between Troy and the Greeks, ostensibly
over Helen of Troy, has been going on for seven years. This seems to be symbolized by the debris
surrounding the set on its lower level, trash bags and plastic chairs
separating the audience from the stage.<o:p></o:p></div>
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Calchas, a minor Trojan priest, allegedly foresees the fall
of Troy and moves into the Greek invading camp.
His daughter Cressida he leaves to the care of his brother, Pandarus, remaining
in Troy. It seems the Trojans do not
hold Calchas’ daughter responsible for her father’s surely treasonous actions, and
Troy’s youngest prince, Troilus, falls for her.
The "romance” of the play is orchestrated by Cressida’s uncle
Pandarus. <o:p></o:p></div>
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<b>John Glover</b>, my
favorite Pandarus to date, opens the play as Prologue, and closes the tale of
lust, greed, and violence with sly wit.<o:p></o:p></div>
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<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjOwTtqzXaSV-3GZ-gkLEKZv_iCCUQBAYDaSvvhknxApqK0jnhxN5ukfidjr89IrJdKBoDNK-uVPDP38-co-NW9XZfx-9HsuARQl482E8rkmsLcSTwVN3g4jGUJ98-xGZYIuj7r7zyJQgNO/s1600/Troilus+Pandarus+Cressida.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" height="180" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjOwTtqzXaSV-3GZ-gkLEKZv_iCCUQBAYDaSvvhknxApqK0jnhxN5ukfidjr89IrJdKBoDNK-uVPDP38-co-NW9XZfx-9HsuARQl482E8rkmsLcSTwVN3g4jGUJ98-xGZYIuj7r7zyJQgNO/s320/Troilus+Pandarus+Cressida.jpg" width="320" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">Andrew Burnap as Troilus, John Glover as Pandarus, and Ismenia Mendes as Cressida. (Photo Credit Joan Marcus, NYT)</td></tr>
</tbody></table>
</o:p></div>
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The major players you’ll have heard of. Among the Greeks are </div>
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<ul>
<li>Agamemnon, the great general played with confident strength by <b>John Douglas Thompson</b></li>
<li>His brother Menelaus, cuckolded husband of Helen, an appropriately mealy-mouthed performance by <b>Forrest Malloy</b> (who also plays a creepy Calchas)</li>
<li>Nestor, the old soldier brought to grumpy life by <b>Edward James Hyland</b></li>
<li>Ulysses, the canny statesman-like soldier played as a shrewd and smarmy politician by <b>Corey Stoll</b></li>
<li>Achilles, famed as much for his pride and petulance as for his prowess on the battlefield, from which he has abstained for some time*, was unexpectedly and marvelously played by “understudy,” <b>KeiLyn Durrel Jones</b></li>
<li>Patroclus, Achilles’ special friend lounging around the Greek camp tents played like a juvenile delinquent by <b>Tom Pecinka</b></li>
<li>Ajax, an oddly scrawny and remarkably dumb soldier related to both the Greeks and the Trojans played with humor and heart by <b>Alex Breaux</b></li>
<li>Diomedes, a hardened middle management level soldier well played by <b>Zach Appelman</b></li>
</ul>
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<span style="font-size: xx-small;"><o:p> </o:p><i>*We learn later that
this is to honor his other love, Trojan princess Polyxena</i></span></div>
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In Troy, the setting of the story, are </div>
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<ul>
<li>The valiant Hector, an honorable man, eldest son and heir to King Priam, passionately played by <b>Bill Heck</b></li>
<li>Paris, the arrogant lout who stole away Menelaus’s wife Helen and whose libidinous impulses started this whole mess, was coldly played by <b>Maurice Jones</b></li>
<li>Aeneas, a leading citizen soldier was adroitly and cleverly played by <b>Sanjit De Silva</b></li>
<li>Troilus, youngest son of Priam — “He eats nothing but doves, love, and that breeds hot blood, and hot blood begets hot thoughts, and hot thoughts beget hot deeds, and hot deeds is love.” — is played in pubescent heat by <b>Andrew Burnap</b></li>
<li>As the vulnerable young woman of the piece, in love, yet wise beyond her years, <b>Ismenia Mendes</b> does finely detailed work bringing Cressida to life onstage.</li>
<li>Alexander, Cressida’s clever gossiping servant sets a light tone in the first act, competing with Pandarus for his mistress’ attention and favor. Well portrayed by <b>Nicholas Hoge</b></li>
<li>In Troy we also meet Hector’s wife Andromache, silent until she can bear it no longer, bravely played by <b>Tala Ashe</b></li>
<li>Hector and Troilus’ sister, the prophetess Cassandra to whom no one listens, strikingly played by <b>Nneka Okafor</b></li>
<li>And Helen. Not a typical Helen, this production gave us a fascinating portrayal of an unhappy woman who is guarded by armed men and supplied with wine. This unusual choice was well played by <b>Tala Ashe</b></li>
</ul>
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<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjI7pwxZbjN7rBQ25cwvxpGzlMA2a-s1fJu11f8d1vi5U8CPGjzFJEW34hq-YpBbogR2TuZDktd79XXflGtp3hWi_afl57qRCMgsUByVIheItdAPKnNCZK8Vsxvgmmz80AF1Vp0i4cWAaN4/s1600/achilles+etc.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" height="180" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjI7pwxZbjN7rBQ25cwvxpGzlMA2a-s1fJu11f8d1vi5U8CPGjzFJEW34hq-YpBbogR2TuZDktd79XXflGtp3hWi_afl57qRCMgsUByVIheItdAPKnNCZK8Vsxvgmmz80AF1Vp0i4cWAaN4/s320/achilles+etc.jpg" width="320" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">KeiLyn Durrel Jones in rehearsal, not as Achilles in this photo. Center is Corey Stoll rehearsing for Ulysses, and finally John Douglas Thompson as General Agamemnon. </td></tr>
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<b>Daniel Sullivan</b>’s
production for Shakespeare in the Park is the best I have ever seen of this
play. It’s generically modern with
soldiers in flak jackets, carrying guns as well as knives, the Trojans in black,
the Greeks in desert war camouflage.
Laptops are used by Pandarus and Cressida to watch the parade of Trojan
warriors returning to Ilion after a day of battle, as well as by the Greek
military. Ulysses’ long summation early
in the first half of the play is enhanced by an amusing slide show.</div>
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<o:p></o:p></div>
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<b>David Zinn</b>’s set easily
turns from Troy’s hedonistic blood-red walls with a look of watered silk to the
metallic gray Quonset hut walls of the Greek camp. A level above the main playing area is put to
excellent use by soldiers, the vile Thersites, this play’s unusual “clown” (nastily
played by <b>Max Casella</b>), a betrayed
and bereft Cressida, and also serves as a strategic lookout for Ulysses.<o:p></o:p></div>
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Ulysses is a particularly threatening character in this
production, a corporate/government type, his uniform a white shirt, a suit and
tie. He instigates, cajoles, instructs
the Greeks, sounding even tempered and sensible until his rage leaps out only
to be restrained once more. In the
second half this wily manipulator plays Troilus against himself while condemning
Cressida to the fate of all women in men’s wars, particularly those relegated
to “camp follower.” <o:p></o:p></div>
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<b>John Glover</b> is a
brilliant Pandarus, witty, lascivious, and romantic in his matchmaking of Troilus
and Cressida — unless it was purely a power play to set himself up for better
times to come. Troilus starts out sweet,
romantic, but turns into a weak fool, first by not stepping up or even speaking
out for his purported love Cressida while the Trojans and Greeks barter her
like a goat. By the end he turns against the woman he loves as she attempts to
stay alive and avoid gang rape after being tossed alone and friendless into the
Greek camp. These are enemies to the Trojan
state and likewise to her. Troilus’
character slides downhill from the moment he attains what he thinks is his
heart’s desire, the love of Cressida.<o:p></o:p></div>
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Lighting designed by <b>Robert
Wierzel</b> and sound design by <b>Mark
Menard</b> brought forth startling battle sounds of gunfire and explosions. Brightly lit Trojan lovers contrasted with
the gloomy grays of the Greek camp where Cressida is surrounded by soldiers
hovering to pounce if her protector deserts her.<o:p></o:p></div>
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The fight scenes, choreographed by co-fight directors <b>Michael Rossmy</b> and <b>Rick Sordelet,</b> were tight and frightening, and the dread death of
Hector, an act of cowardice and misplaced vengeance, was bloody and
heartbreaking.<o:p></o:p></div>
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Women are silenced and used, Andromache left alone,
Cassandra locked up, while Helen is imprisoned in Troy and Cressida is
imprisoned in the Greek camp. Very
powerful statements clearly defined in this production. As Thersites says, “War
and lechery confound all.” <o:p></o:p></div>
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Bravo Daniel Sullivan, bravo Public Theatre, bravo to a fine
cast and crew for this stellar production.
Oh, and bravo to William Shakespeare once again.<o:p></o:p></div>
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<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhaPqZbA8Wfvya3YWmBoTvTPlaEn9WY3EKgiSZ6-BjGCvGDjCgqT0dITrvneoyhWAh5aZ35MD2ePzLUBhA0phA_0gBQBLyjF1eQ1IXT2fvHOYwYUhwUH2aUBilyMocnebSi63VnTTKRbZKR/s1600/patroclus+different+achilles+and+thersites.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" height="180" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhaPqZbA8Wfvya3YWmBoTvTPlaEn9WY3EKgiSZ6-BjGCvGDjCgqT0dITrvneoyhWAh5aZ35MD2ePzLUBhA0phA_0gBQBLyjF1eQ1IXT2fvHOYwYUhwUH2aUBilyMocnebSi63VnTTKRbZKR/s320/patroclus+different+achilles+and+thersites.jpg" width="320" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">Tom Pecinka as Patroclus, David Harbour as Achilles (whom I did not see), and Max Casella as Thersites. <br />(Photo Credit Joan Marcus)</td></tr>
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</o:p></div>
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<br />
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<i>~ Molly Matera signing
off to re-read the play. The opening of the play has been postponed due to an
accident that befell <b>David Harbour</b>,
scheduled to play Achilles. The night I
saw this play his understudy <b>KeiLyn
Durrel Jones</b> gave an excellent performance, so I hope he takes over the
role permanently. Go wait on line in
Central Park for this one, it’s worth it.
You can see a video excerpt of the production here: <a href="https://youtu.be/cKSI4GCHhuk">https://youtu.be/cKSI4GCHhuk</a><o:p></o:p></i></div>
Mollyhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/12343358780878886726noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1162714840282890495.post-53314347487654460522016-07-22T22:18:00.000-04:002016-07-22T22:18:12.316-04:00Hoping a Limited Run Reappears with Joe Morton as Dick Gregory<div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: 150%;">
Luckily for me, I caught <b>Joe Morton</b> in “<b><i>Turn Me Loose</i></b>” during its
last week at The Westside Theatre. “<b><i>Turn Me Loose</i></b>” is “a play about
comic genius Dick Gregory.” Based on how much I laughed for the 90-minute
duration, I’d call that an accurate description. Mind you, the play is as much about Dick
Gregory the civil rights activist as it is about comedy, so there was plenty to
ponder.<o:p></o:p></div>
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<div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: 150%;">
Joe Morton brought to vibrant and
seething life Dick Gregory, a controversial comic who rose to fame just before
and during the Civil Rights movement. The
audience was howling with laughter one moment, then particularly pensive as Mr.
Morton enacted a dialogue between Mr. Gregory and Medgar Evers in the months
prior to the latter's death. The
language, whether Mr. Morton was playing the young, the old, or middle-aged
Gregory, was funny, provocative, angry, smart, and passionate. <o:p></o:p></div>
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<o:p></o:p></div>
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<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjD9HTOYLo7kC-jdQinGO8iVZYunuWdj5HoKE6Nc9f_HnKRBW0nt7Cd1u033WtPtLEqnR1pm8ehqAZfCkiH_UfU9dKCWd4lNR_Sy_8mk8W0lNlAyx5QY6ZC6T0wfj35Op7uoOtC7DvjNV_H/s1600/Sara+Krulwich+NYT+Joe+Morton+as+Dick+Gregory.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" height="213" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjD9HTOYLo7kC-jdQinGO8iVZYunuWdj5HoKE6Nc9f_HnKRBW0nt7Cd1u033WtPtLEqnR1pm8ehqAZfCkiH_UfU9dKCWd4lNR_Sy_8mk8W0lNlAyx5QY6ZC6T0wfj35Op7uoOtC7DvjNV_H/s320/Sara+Krulwich+NYT+Joe+Morton+as+Dick+Gregory.jpg" width="320" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">Joe Morton as Dick Gregory. Photo Credit Sara Krulwich/NYT</td></tr>
</tbody></table>
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Playwright <b>Gretchen Law</b> encapsulated Gregory’s extraordinary contribution to
our nation’s conscience and comedy in a brief play (deftly performed on a
practical, single set designed by <b>Chris
Barreca</b> and lit by <b>Stephen
Strawbridge</b>) with just two actors:
Mr. Morton giving a bravura performance as Mr. Gregory, and <b>John</b> <b>Carlin</b> doing captivating and imaginative work as a 60s stand-up
comic, a heckler, a cabbie, and a radio interviewer, among others. <b>John
Gould Rubin</b> directs so that not a moment of raw, scathing wit is lost, nor
is a moment of warmth for the man himself. <o:p></o:p></div>
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<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgneFdG8tOx_hnaLiAGqUzAlqcMz4FlwxNxMYxo-2RlcKR9aHgikzujFqbe6tNwfTJ0XlzeTXd8PAfcIUY84onIuIrItRqC9vtiNaKVkymLqcnnxS4Iog55Afqt9g5sM22NaXR9ra6SJeqa/s1600/Resized-350-Joe-Morton-and-John-Carlin-Monique-Carboni.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" height="220" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgneFdG8tOx_hnaLiAGqUzAlqcMz4FlwxNxMYxo-2RlcKR9aHgikzujFqbe6tNwfTJ0XlzeTXd8PAfcIUY84onIuIrItRqC9vtiNaKVkymLqcnnxS4Iog55Afqt9g5sM22NaXR9ra6SJeqa/s320/Resized-350-Joe-Morton-and-John-Carlin-Monique-Carboni.jpg" width="320" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">Morton as Gregory opposite John Carlin as a Radio Interviewer. Photo credit Monique Carboni </td></tr>
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</o:p></div>
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Every scene was engaging and
thought provoking, every drop of sweat off Mr. Morton’s face endearing. <o:p></o:p></div>
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<br /></div>
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The Westside Theatre’s downstairs
performance space was an excellent venue for this penetrating production and I
hope the play returns here or to another incarnation in an equally intimate
space so those who missed this limited run might catch it next time around. <o:p></o:p></div>
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Not only a fine evening of theatre
at The Westside Theatre, but <b>Dick Cavett</b>
was sitting in the row ahead of me! Keep
an eye out for a return or revival of <b><i>Turn Me Loose</i></b>.<o:p></o:p></div>
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<br /></div>
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<span style="font-family: "Comic Sans MS";"><span style="color: blue; font-size: x-small;">~
Molly Matera, signing off to read a little not ancient enough history</span><o:p></o:p></span></div>
Mollyhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/12343358780878886726noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1162714840282890495.post-15174647039867532572016-07-01T22:23:00.000-04:002016-07-01T22:23:22.710-04:00Who is the Genius?<div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: 125%; margin-bottom: .0001pt; margin-bottom: 0in;">
<b><i>Genius</i></b> is the rather ambiguous title of a film about Maxwell
Perkins, who was the editor to the works of several American literary geniuses of the first
half of the 20<sup>th</sup> century.
It’s based on the ambiguously titled biography of Perkins written by <b>A. Scott Berg,</b> “Maxwell Perkins: Editor of Genius.” Who is the genius Berg is talking about — this
particular editor, or the authors whose work he nurtured to publication, novels
by F. Scott Fitzgerald, Ernest Hemingway, and Thomas Wolfe, to name the three
authors that appear in the film. Who is
the genius of the film’s title? The
writer Thomas Wolfe, or, as F. Scott Fitzgerald calls Max Perkins, the genius
at friendship. <o:p></o:p></div>
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<b><i>Genius</i></b> is a sweet little character study of a movie, visually convincing,
gentle, welcoming the audience into its beautifully produced world (with the barest acknowledgment of the Depression). <b>Michael
Grandage</b> directed the script by <b>John
Logan</b> based on Berg’s biography of the editor to Fitzgerald, Hemingway, Wolfe,
and Marjorie Kinnan Rawlings, to name a few.
<o:p></o:p></div>
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<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiN13MIXNWnAOjtdbtI-4C-3luskKBsv2rEcIQpOZLTWclDG47EfkGv4b8Bs3G3TaFKb95FzcIucqIVNU_lm3BwUWvDLlvtNKhXjbYgsJ4M6KP4chGXPV5ZwewdoXhOT9Y-thkEkpR7b4iz/s1600/Genius+poster.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiN13MIXNWnAOjtdbtI-4C-3luskKBsv2rEcIQpOZLTWclDG47EfkGv4b8Bs3G3TaFKb95FzcIucqIVNU_lm3BwUWvDLlvtNKhXjbYgsJ4M6KP4chGXPV5ZwewdoXhOT9Y-thkEkpR7b4iz/s1600/Genius+poster.jpg" /></a></div>
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While<b><i> Genius</i></b> purports to be based on the biography, it’s only a
taste, a dram, an excerpt covering the years between when young Thomas Wolfe
walked into Maxwell Perkins’ office at Charles Scribner’s Sons Publishers and Booksellers
on Fifth Avenue with an overlong manuscript that would eventually be whittled
down to become the very long novel, “Look Homeward, Angel.” The younger man’s death in 1938, just over a
decade after he walked into Perkins’ office, ends the story of the film. Not even a third, in fact, of Perkins’ 37-year
career as an editor of some of the most remarkable American authors of the
first half of the 20<sup>th</sup> century.
But the period it covers provides a beautiful stage for <b>Colin Firth</b> as Perkins and <b>Jude Law</b> as Wolfe to play together and
become men of another time. <o:p></o:p></div>
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<b>Colin Firth</b> is astute, smart,
and heartfelt casting for Maxwell Perkins.
Repressed yet passionate, loving and compassionate but oh so quiet that
his gentle smile is always a delightful surprise.
Maxwell Perkins was a nurturer, and Firth embraces us all.<o:p></o:p></div>
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<b>Jude Law </b>did deep and detailed
character work in bringing the volatile Thomas Wolfe to life, apparently barely
recognizable to some members of the audience when I saw the film, with his dark
curly hair and southern accent contributing to his bold portrayal of the
volatile young writer from Asheville.<o:p></o:p></div>
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<o:p> <table align="center" cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto; text-align: center;"><tbody>
<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEinYYfxmjSk6_hMrsnfRW5Xw-kCDD4tCbhHRIfsOVjO1OFEUynuvlip39SYP9yy51O1DFSzoBcoqzLjlpdYqEBzIUFYevB3Syz8ujuDzs8kDg-OtrY4rtPDPXf4xg8TLWqTlz8h9TsM7rxB/s1600/genius-berlin-film-festival.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" height="180" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEinYYfxmjSk6_hMrsnfRW5Xw-kCDD4tCbhHRIfsOVjO1OFEUynuvlip39SYP9yy51O1DFSzoBcoqzLjlpdYqEBzIUFYevB3Syz8ujuDzs8kDg-OtrY4rtPDPXf4xg8TLWqTlz8h9TsM7rxB/s320/genius-berlin-film-festival.jpg" width="320" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">Colin Firth as Maxwell Perkins and Jude Law as Thomas Wolfe.<br />Photo Credit: <span style="background-color: white; color: #999999; font-family: nyt-cheltenham-sh, georgia, "times new roman", times, serif; font-size: 11px; line-height: 16px; text-align: start;">Marc Brenner/Roadside Attractions</span></td></tr>
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</o:p></div>
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How much like Thomas Wolfe was fellow southerner F. Scott Fitzgerald in
his youth and health. Here we see Fitzgerald
as a middle-aged man weighed down by responsibility and reality. Ernest Hemingway seems a mature sportsman,
subdued yet warm and friendly, and prescient of young Wolfe’s eventual betrayal
of his father figure Perkins.<o:p></o:p></div>
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Each famous writer is nicely played as a human being, not a famous author
whose books we all read in high school. <b>Dominic West</b> excels in his brief
appearance as Ernest Hemingway. <b>Guy Pearce</b> is a heartbreaking F. Scott
Fitzgerald whose glory days are past, and whose wild and vivacious wife Zelda
has sunken into mental illness. In his exquisite
sadness, it occurred to me Fitzgerald might have been glad the television
series <i>Endeavour</i> did an adaptation of
“The Great Gatsby” in a recent episode.<o:p></o:p></div>
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<table cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="float: left; text-align: left;"><tbody>
<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhqIncS-8Rb_oUQuke8M_C5iz-Ru1_cNAE11fJqGC2ClDn0RPdlnrXHbm55CP1PYzdOS_tyrHyuA3RY4FVxiL8A4fp6uJvqjZccdfPMzQPh-PMAseO92LM9i9xM6q1U9HY7P2y0SJmKYXgf/s1600/Scribner+Building.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" height="320" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhqIncS-8Rb_oUQuke8M_C5iz-Ru1_cNAE11fJqGC2ClDn0RPdlnrXHbm55CP1PYzdOS_tyrHyuA3RY4FVxiL8A4fp6uJvqjZccdfPMzQPh-PMAseO92LM9i9xM6q1U9HY7P2y0SJmKYXgf/s320/Scribner+Building.jpg" width="240" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">This shot appears several times in the film with the more modern buildings edited out!</td></tr>
</tbody></table>
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<b>Nicole Kidman</b> did fine work as
Wolfe’s paramour and sponsor, Mrs. Bernstein. She looked the part of the “older
woman,” without vanity, which contributed to her believability. Some of the
audience didn’t recognize her, either, until they saw her name in the
credits, always a compliment to an actor.<o:p></o:p></div>
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<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: 125%; margin-bottom: .0001pt; margin-bottom: 0in;">
<b>Laura Linney</b> was superb as
Perkins’ wife Louise, aghast and downtrodden when Wolfe denigrated playwriting,
her passion. She was not merely
someone’s wife or mother, she is a fully developed character, loving to her
husband and children, angry when he chooses his work over a family vacation,
rather judgmental of the married Mrs. Bernstein while still sympathetic. Ms. Linney has grown into a remarkably
sensitive actor whose every feeling is subtly offered to us. <o:p></o:p></div>
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There are many pieces creating the whole of a film, and each element of <i>Genius</i> was of its time, the late 1920s through
1930s in New York City. Music by <i>Adam
Cork</i> was emotive without intruding, at one with fine cinematography by <i>Ben
Davis</i> of a timely production design by <i>Mark Digby</i>. In my mind’s eye the film is almost in black
and white, although I know that it wasn’t.
Art direction by <i>Alex Baily, Gareth Cousins, </i>and <i>Patrick Rolfe</i> was
complemented by costume design by <i>Jane Petrie</i>.<o:p></o:p></div>
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<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEj6sWvET_GsnfJlQal27OiJYQ4hCzJ9oOHUNOgNm8ETH2abwqwN8spBjPDVvVlallA2lhebiLzllA4EMYJBm8iUJx7xgTR1wsJ5OmOJRU4vQyI7UDi3C8dzpx4yJs-7IktxBAmwrzQ8Wogv/s1600/Firth+and+Law.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" height="166" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEj6sWvET_GsnfJlQal27OiJYQ4hCzJ9oOHUNOgNm8ETH2abwqwN8spBjPDVvVlallA2lhebiLzllA4EMYJBm8iUJx7xgTR1wsJ5OmOJRU4vQyI7UDi3C8dzpx4yJs-7IktxBAmwrzQ8Wogv/s400/Firth+and+Law.jpg" width="400" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">Firth as Perkins and Law as Wolfe commuting to Connecticut<br /><span style="font-size: 12.8px;">Photo Credit: </span><span style="background-color: white; color: #999999; font-family: nyt-cheltenham-sh, georgia, "times new roman", times, serif; font-size: 11px; line-height: 16px; text-align: start;">Marc Brenner/Roadside Attractions</span></td></tr>
</tbody></table>
</o:p></div>
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John Logan, on the advice of biographer Berg, sensibly put the oft-read book
aside to write the movie. I read an
article by a fellow who had read the excellent book and was very upset with all
that was left out. The biography of Max
Perkins was about his life and his 37-year career. Such things are difficult to cover in their
entirety in a theatrical film. Logan
chose an dramatic segment with a volatile writer, and did a good job of it. <o:p></o:p></div>
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Much as I was captivated by the film, when I walked away from the theatre
I felt something missing, only realizing what I missed as I wrote this. I missed that whole story, which can only be
apprehended by reading A. Scott Berg’s biography of Perkins and the works of
Perkins’ authors. If you want more, read
the books. If you want to stop in for a
visit to 1930’s New York City and the fascinating people who lived and worked
there, see the film, <b><i>Genius</i></b>.<o:p></o:p></div>
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<i><span style="color: #0070c0; font-family: "Comic Sans MS";"><span style="font-size: x-small;">~ Molly Matera, signing off to read….so many choices….</span><o:p></o:p></span></i></div>
Mollyhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/12343358780878886726noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1162714840282890495.post-45860536258857629172016-06-05T20:19:00.001-04:002016-06-05T20:19:24.332-04:00Austen’s Story of Lady Susan Translated by Whit Stillman into Film<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: .0001pt; margin-bottom: 0in;">
<b><i><span style="font-size: 10.0pt; line-height: 107%;">Love & Friendship</span></i></b><span style="font-size: 10.0pt; line-height: 107%;"> is a pretty bit of film. Generally, it is the British — with a few
notable exceptions — who make fabulous renderings of Jane Austen novels as
feature films and television miniseries, and we know that the great lady’s
stories and characters are as much at home in the 20<sup>th</sup> and 21<sup>st</sup>
centuries as they were in the 18<sup>th</sup> and 19<sup>th </sup>centuries.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span style="font-size: 10.0pt; line-height: 107%;">The thing is, I’ve never been a big
fan of <b>Kate Beckinsale</b> or <b>Chlo</b></span><b><span style="font-size: 10.0pt; line-height: 107%; mso-bidi-font-family: Arial; mso-bidi-theme-font: minor-latin;">ë</span></b><b><span style="font-size: 10.0pt; line-height: 107%;"> Sevigny</span></b><span style="font-size: 10.0pt; line-height: 107%;"> and the film <i>Love & Friendship</i> did nothing to dispel my indifference to them
as “actors.” In the scenes in which they
appeared, I wavered between boredom and annoyance. They were not amusing.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span style="font-size: 10.0pt; line-height: 107%;">When, however, they were either minimal
accessories to a scene or entirely absent, those scenes were far more enjoyable
and witty.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<b><span style="font-size: 10.0pt; line-height: 107%;">Xavier Samuel</span></b><span style="font-size: 10.0pt; line-height: 107%;">
was quite at home in Jane Austen’s England as Reginald DeCourcy, son and heir to Sir of the same name, and brother to the wife of Lady Susan's brother-in-law. Reginald is a gentleman with a stick up you
know where — until he falls in love with the right young woman, that is, the sweet
and soulful <b>Morfydd Clark</b> as Frederica
Vernon. Which I suspect is not a
spoiler.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span style="font-size: 10.0pt; line-height: 107%;"> <table align="center" cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto; text-align: center;"><tbody>
<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgVZszPFuaKRTSUF_0wurV6AO7algQ-cobe54a7k-GUB3nfy0f5ALrFGKK98cHTrUf5fQW2KEltjOsjCQ-vbE8VG9YzdE9vyAtAVJyCOq0jDxBjB73LQJMCqae9zWyO0L1Ltvn_qOzV6rp9/s1600/Kate+Beckinsale+as+Lady+Susan+andavier+Samuel+as+Reginald+DeCourcy+in+Love+and+Friendship.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" height="192" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgVZszPFuaKRTSUF_0wurV6AO7algQ-cobe54a7k-GUB3nfy0f5ALrFGKK98cHTrUf5fQW2KEltjOsjCQ-vbE8VG9YzdE9vyAtAVJyCOq0jDxBjB73LQJMCqae9zWyO0L1Ltvn_qOzV6rp9/s320/Kate+Beckinsale+as+Lady+Susan+andavier+Samuel+as+Reginald+DeCourcy+in+Love+and+Friendship.jpg" width="320" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">Kate Beckinsale as Lady Susan, Xavier Samuel as Reginald DeCourcy.</td></tr>
</tbody></table>
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<b><span style="font-size: 10.0pt; line-height: 107%;">Emma Greenwell</span></b><span style="font-size: 10.0pt; line-height: 107%;"> embodies the sweet character with sense and sensitivity, a totally Jane Austen heroine,
Catherine DeCourcy Vernon. Her husband
Charles Vernon is that favorite of Jane Austen characters, a stodgy, not
terribly bright, but loving and kindly husband, who was simply and beautifully
played by <b>Justin Edward</b>. <o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<b><span style="font-size: 10.0pt; line-height: 107%;">Jemma Redgrave </span></b><span style="font-size: 10.0pt; line-height: 107%;">and<b> James Fleet</b> were flawless as Lady and
Sir Reginald DeCourcy.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<b><span style="font-size: 10pt; line-height: 14.2667px;">Jenn Murray</span></b><span style="font-size: 10pt; line-height: 14.2667px;"> was delightfully horrid in a marvelous Jane Austen concoction, Lady Lucy Manwaring.</span></div>
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<b><span style="font-size: 10.0pt; line-height: 107%;">Tom Ben</span></b><b><span style="font-size: 10.0pt; line-height: 107%;">nett</span></b><span style="font-size: 10pt; line-height: 107%;"> was
naturally and appropriately silly as Sir James Martin.</span></div>
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<span style="font-size: 10.0pt; line-height: 107%;">Ireland substituted marvelously for
Kent and Surrey, just gorgeous.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<b><span style="font-size: 10.0pt; line-height: 107%;">Benjamin Esdraffo</span></b><span style="font-size: 10.0pt; line-height: 107%;">’s music was just right, as was <b>Eimer
Ni Mhaoldomhnaigh’s</b> costume design.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span style="font-size: 10pt; line-height: 107%;">All in all, the film </span><b style="font-size: 10pt; line-height: 107%;"><i>Love &
Friendship</i></b><span style="font-size: 10pt; line-height: 107%;"> was fun, but not special. Or perhaps just not as special as I had hoped
it would be. Making a film of an
epistolary novel is quite a challenge, so the screenwriter /director </span><b style="font-size: 10pt; line-height: 107%;">Whit Stillman</b><span style="font-size: 10pt; line-height: 107%;"> gets points for his taste
and for even trying. However, it does
not quite work, not just because of the dull leads in Ms. Beckinsale and Ms.
Sevigny (although it might have been an entirely other film with actors better
suited to the roles of Lady Susan and Mrs. Johnson, respectively), but because...well, perhaps it was just those two miscast actors. Or it may
just be that letters to script work better on stage than on film… perhaps the reading of the letters with scenes described being played </span><span style="font-size: 10pt; line-height: 107%;">behind the letter-reader until they take over the scene might work nicely onstage.... Good Jane Austen characters will not be kept down.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span style="font-size: 10.0pt; line-height: 107%;">What this film did best was inspire
me to re-read the great Jane Austen’s little-known novella, <b><i>Lady
Susan</i></b>. In fact, why not the entire canon….<o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<i><span style="font-size: 10.0pt; line-height: 107%;"><span style="color: #cc0000; font-family: Helvetica Neue, Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">~ Molly Matera, signing off to read books…on paper and in hardcover….</span><o:p></o:p></span></i></div>
Mollyhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/12343358780878886726noreply@blogger.com0