Pig Iron’s Twelfth Night
Posted: February 14, 2014 Filed under: Comedy, Play, Shakespeare | Tags: abronsartcenter, markrylance, pigiron, review, shakespeare, twelfthnight 2 Comments
Yes! I have gone to see yet another production of Twelfth Night. And each one is more inventive than the last. It’s such a pleasure to still be continuously surprised by a piece I know so well and that another version can still be filled with new jokes, new deliveries, and new character interpretations. This was the first time I got to see a show by Philadelphia-based Pig Iron Theatre Company, and if you’re able to get downtown to the Abrons Art Center before it closes on February 23rd, I do recommend it for a jolly good time.
It’s super inventive, the actors are charming, and it is particularly fun to see it done in such a non-traditional way after viewing the Broadway production a few months ago. One of the highlights is definitely the set which is a character in itself. A half of a half-pipe (a quarter-pipe?) dominates stage right (of which the actors take full comic advantage) with a balcony above and a cellar beneath where the band hangs out drinking with Sir Toby Belch and Andrew Aguecheek. The Balkan brass band, by the way, is great, and they are well integrated into the story, not just hiding in the cellar but often becoming the focus of the action, bringing their own brand of humor to further enhance scenes.
It was a joy to see new interpretations of well-loved characters. From the opening moments, the deliciously melodramatic and lovesick Duke Orisno (Dito van Reigersberg) had me rolling with laughter. The same goes for the lanky Sir Toby (James Sugg) whose physical comedy knows no bounds, and it’s so much fun to watch Olivia (Birgit Huppuch) lose control as she quickly falls head over heels for Cesario, who is actually Viola disguised as a man (Kristen Sieh). Something that really struck me was Viola’s reaction to seeing Olivia for the first time once her veil is lifted. It shed new light on that moment and that scene for me, this idea of Viola seeing her competition for the Duke’s love for the first time and having to listen to Olivia shun him over and over. This was played out much more emotionally than I’ve ever seen it portrayed, and I appreciated the depth found in the scene.
Now I’ll be honest, the show didn’t completely blow my mind across the board. Several parts are slow, and the ending didn’t thrill me. It lacked the weight I think is needed for the end of Twelfth Night. I feel like the audience missed the tragedy of Malvolio’s story. He continued to be made a mockery through his final moments. And there is a heaviness that lies in the last scene with the abrupt ending to Toby and Andrew’s friendship that I felt was missing. I also prefer productions that push the subtext a little more of the Duke being drawn to Cesario over the course of the play. This was something I particularly loved about Mark Rylance’s production. But true, it is up to director interpretation how to best handle the sudden shift the Duke has when he proposes to Viola in the end. I personally prefer hints throughout in order to build to that ridiculous moment.
But all that aside, if you want to see an incredibly creative, fun production of this Shakespeare romp (and can’t afford Broadway), definitely get down to Grand Street for a grand ol’ time.
Twelfth Night, Or What You Will
Written by William Shakespeare, Directed by Dan Rothenberg
Abrons Arts Center through February 23rd
Photo Credit: Josh Koenig
Pictured: James Sugg and members of the Balkan brass band
No Man’s Land
Posted: January 15, 2014 Filed under: Broadway, Comedy, Drama, Play, Revival | Tags: beckett, captainpicard, cort, engaged, godot, haroldpinter, ianmckellen, nomansland, patrickstewart, pinter, pinteresque, rep, review, samuelbeckett, waitingforgodot, youshallnotpass Leave a comment
I try so hard with Harold Pinter. I loved studying him in school. I even wrote a “Pinteresque” one-act with my friend Sandy entitled The Bells for a class during senior year of high school (for a brief excerpt, see the end of this review). Pinter’s writing can be so funny and thought-provoking, but when I see productions, I don’t end up being as riveted as I had hoped. I understand his significance and place in theatre history, but the plays simply don’t do anything for my soul. I want to stress that this is not to say No Man’s Land is not a good production; it’s just not my taste. So please don’t let this review stop you from going to see it. The show has received rave reviews and rightly so. I think I’m just realizing that while I may appreciate Pinter, I don’t necessarily enjoy his plays.
No Man’s Land might be the one to see though, especially when you’ve got A-list actors like Ian McKellen and Sir Patrick Stewart sharing the stage. It’s pretty grand being in the same room with both of them. Their presence alone is effective. They can hold a room with no words at all, and the cast is nicely rounded out by the younger fellows, Billy Crudup and Shuler Hensley. But don’t expect to go, sit back, and let them do all the work – Pinter expects you to pay attention. There is so much subtext and double-meaning and subtlety to sift through in his language it can take up to 15 seconds to catch on to the fact that a joke was just made.
This production is currently playing at the Cort Theatre in rep with Samuel Beckett’s Waiting for Godot. The similarities between the plays are clear: there is a sense of isolation for these characters and feeling trapped in both pieces. And the audience must work hard to understand the given circumstances. In No Man’s Land, we wonder what these men’s relationships are. Where are we? Why are we here? What should we take away from this experience? Whatever you do, don’t expect clear answers. You might finish Act One with an idea about who these folks are and their relationship to each other, but then Act Two turns any semblance of an idea you once had on its head. All of a sudden you have to adapt to entirely new information. And then, for me anyway, the “plot” basically falls off any kind of trackable course. You can try your best to make it make sense, searching for linear storylines and/or relationships, but I think you’ll just end up more confused. As director Sean Mathias explains, “Pinter isn’t saying what he necessarily means or meaning what you might like to believe. Like Godot, No Man’s Land is a game of memory, of time elapsed and elapsing; dealing with things abstracted, ideas and not realities.”
If you’re interested in seeing iconic actors and an iconic playwright then definitely check it out, or if you’d prefer, you can wait for Godot with me. Personally, I am more excited for Beckett’s classic, although my younger self would never have believed that statement, given that the first time I saw the play I was so angry with how much time I’d wasted waiting for this jack-ass Godot. But – that was before I studied the play with the brilliant Dr. Coppa at Muhlenberg College. You know, perhaps that’s what I need to fully understand and enjoy Pinter’s work, too. I just need to go back to class.
Update 4/26/16: This production is transferring to London this summer. You can find more information here.
No Man’s Land
Written by Harold Pinter, Directed by Sean Mathias
Cort Theatre through March 30th
Photo Credit: Joan Marcus
Pictured: Ian McKellen and Patrick Stewart
And now, what you’ve all been waiting for…an (incredibly brief) excerpt from The Bells:
Cecil: Did you change your hair?
Raine: What?
Cecil: Your hair- is it different?
Raine: No.
Cecil: You seem different. Are you sure?
Raine: Yes…I did…nothing to my hair.
Pause.
Richard III
Posted: January 10, 2014 Filed under: Broadway, Comedy, Drama, Revival, Shakespeare | Tags: allmale, belasco, markrylance, mykingdomforahorse, rep, review, richardiii, samuelbarnett, shakespeare, twelfthnight Leave a comment
Have I mentioned Mark Rylance is amazing?
On January 2nd during snowstorm Hercules, I sat in the Belasco Theatre once more to see Twelfth Night‘s counterpart, Richard III – the other all-male Shakespeare production playing in rep until February 16th. For my Twelfth Night review and more details of Mark Rylance’s brilliance, click here.
What’s fantastic about Rylance’s Richard III is the way he draws in the audience, the way he shares his secrets with us. He confides in us from the opening moments, and we therefore root for him. We cheer him on throughout his bloody tirades, and we laugh with him as he manipulates everyone around him. We feel smarter and superior alongside him because we are “in the know.” We root for him until he no longer roots for himself. As Richard loses his swagger and falls into a kind of guilty despair (or insanity), we are left wondering what happened to the man who once strutted across the stage with such confidence and vigor. The other noticeable trait of this Richard is his sincerity with his fellow characters. In this brief New York Magazine interview, Rylance talks about not playing the obvious evil or falsehood that is largely associated with Richard but rather being as genuine as possible when in the company of others. Why make the other characters fools? Instead they can fully trust this man right up until he betrays them. What it comes down to is that you should go see anything Mark Rylance does. Anything.
That said, I will say that this production didn’t strike me the way Twelfth Night did. I found myself conscious of the staging/blocking in a way that never even crossed my mind during the ever-flowing Twelfth. And Richard may be five minutes shorter, but it felt longer. It drags more than I’d like, and I was so angry with myself for being bored. Note: this mostly happened whenever Rylance left the stage.
I also wanted much more from Lady Anne (the actor doubles as Sebastian). He felt very one-note to me, particular during his big scene with Richard. Now, this is an epically hard scene, and anyone who has ever played the role, whether in acting class or a full production, knows the challenges it brings. Anne is grieving at her father-in-law’s funeral when she is approached by Richard who killed both her father-in-law and her husband. Over the course of a five-minute scene, Dick convinces her to marry him (!). It’s insane to play. She has to journey through so many emotions to get to this point: hatred, disgust, betrayal, desperation, surrender, love, [insert additional acting choice here]. But this Anne yelled for most of the scene, and I was quite disappointed.
Samuel Barnett as Queen Elizabeth, on the other hand, once again impressed me. I very much enjoyed his Viola in Twelfth, and I loved seeing him play a statuesque queen this time around. There is an extremely challenging scene in Act II between Elizabeth and Richard, and it was so fantastic. The verbal swordplay and push and pull between these two actors was simply enticing. Elizabeth is an excellent match for Richard, perhaps the only real match to his wit, and Richard knows it. In their final exchange, Elizabeth stole the power back, and upon her exit, the audience cheered for her. And ohhh man, the look we got from Richard was unreal. He stared out at us with eyes of daggers, and it was clear we were no longer his friends. In fact, we may be next on his list.
Richard III
Written by William Shakespeare, Directed by Tim Carroll
Belasco Theatre through February 16th
Photo Credit: Joan Marcus
Pictured: Mark Rylance
A Christmas Story
Posted: December 24, 2013 Filed under: Comedy, Musical, Off-Broadway | Tags: achristmasstory, bbgun, danlauria, leglamp, madisonsquaregarden, pasekandpaul, ralphie, review, tour, youllshootyoureyeout Leave a comment
Part of me feels like I should watch A Christmas Story the movie before reviewing A Christmas Story: The Musical. Yup, it’s true – I have never seen this iconic Christmas film. And not because I’m Jewish I might add; we used to watch It’s a Wonderful Life every Christmas (we’ve since moved on to Love Actually). And even though A Christmas Story was always on TV, I never wanted to start in the middle. So now I have finally seen it – set to song and dance!
For those of you that don’t know, A Christmas Story came to Broadway last season, nabbed a few Tony nominations (Best Musical, Book, and Score), and has been touring around the country. It is now in the middle of a sit-down (a longer tour stop) at the Madison Square Garden theatre. And let me digress for a second here: Madison Square Garden is inSANE. I had never been inside (well, except maybe once as a kid), but it was like an amusement park. Our bags were checked, our persons frisked, we went up escalators galore, and encountered the enormous box office where they asked if I was picking up tickets for the musical or the Rangers game. The theatre itself has something like 5,000 seats! To top it off, they were selling cotton candy, crackerjacks, and popcorn as if we were at a baseball game. This place is quite the attraction.
But anyway, back on topic, Becca. On the whole, A Christmas Story is a jolly evening at the theatre. While not a perfect show, it’s definitely solid – directed by John Rando (Tony winner for Urinetown), with smart musical numbers, a talented cast, and a cutesy book. The kids in the audience were having a blast, and you can hear everyone enjoying lines or scenes before they even happen because they already know the story. Matt and I, however, were in the minority. We didn’t know what was in The Old Man’s special delivery crate marked Fragile or whether Ralphie would get the BB-gun for Christmas, so it was fun to see a new story.
The strongest part of the show is the score. As I mentioned in my Dogfight post last week, Pasek and Paul are where it’s at. These guys know how to write. Some highlights include: the opening, “It All Comes Down to Christmas”; The Old Man’s big song and dance number, “A Major Award,” featuring none other than a leg lamp kick line; and “You’ll Shoot Your Eye Out,” the big speakeasy tap number in Act II, which was featured on the Tony Awards last summer. And starring in that number as Miss Shields is Caroline O’Connor, all you Moulin Rouge fans out there! Not to mention the ridiculously talented tapping child, Luke Spring.
While the book is endearing, the musical is maybe 15 minutes too long, and there were a few things that let me down. I wanted Mother (Erin Dilly) to get an opportunity to let loose. The writers very much embrace the times here (the 1940s), and her two songs are the beautiful ballads about being a mother. But The Old Man (John Bolton) gets to go nuts with his award song. Also, Matt and I couldn’t figure out his character. One moment he seems pretty dumb, the next he’s cussing up a storm (albeit it’s fake cursing; is it like that in the movie?), then he’s got this mean streak that scares the kids. Nonetheless, it was a very funny performance by Bolton.
Mainly, what didn’t work for me was the narration led by Dan Lauria. This convention slowed things down. I’ve been told there is also a narrator figure in the film. Is it a voiceover? Perhaps it works better, but here he wanders around the stage like Ralphie’s odd shadow, interrupting the action to tell us things we already know. The role doesn’t particularly add to the material until the very end when he is able to articulate something young Ralphie cannot.
I do wish I could have seen this when it was on Broadway in a more intimate house. Never thought I would call Broadway intimate, but man, the theatre is so large I felt miles away from the performers. But I would venture to say that if you’re a fan of the film, you’ll be a fan of the musical. If anything, you can always count on the handful of heartwarming moments that bring a tear to the eye. And ain’t that what Christmas musicals are for?
A Christmas Story: The Musical
Written by Benj Pasek, Justin Paul, and Joseph Robinette, Directed by John Rando
Madison Square Garden the Theater through December 29th
Photo Credit: Carol Rosegg
Pictured: Noah Baird, Erin Dilly, John Bolton and Jake Lucas
Becca on Broadway 