Hamlet: 66 And CountingThere are precious few plays that have graced a Broadway stage as many times as
William Shakespeare's
Hamlet.
While it's not known precisely when Shakespeare wrote
Hamlet,
historians believe The Bard wrote this play circa 1601, and it's known that the work was mounted in New York City as early as the following century.
According to the
Internet Broadway Database (IBDB), my go-to source for all things Rialto-related, this tragedy has been previously presented in New York City at least 65 times. IBDB's earliest recorded performance took place back in November 1761 with
Lewis Hallam as the Danish prince. That
Hamlet was mounted at the
Chapel Street Theatre, which stood on the corner of what is now Beekman and Nassau Streets in lower Manhattan.
Most of the other recorded 65 revivals have been staged in Broadway theatres.
The last, performed at the
Belasco Theatre as recently as 1995, earned a Tony nomination for Best Revival. Its
Hamlet,
Ralph Fiennes, took home a Tony for Best Actor in a Play.
Other noteworthy Broadway
Hamlets through the years have included
Stephen Lang (
1992),
Sam Waterston (
1975-76), Tony-nominated
Richard Burton (
1964),
Raymond Massey (
1931),
Leslie Howard (
1936) and
John Gielgud (
1936-37). Many actors have portrayed
Hamlet on more than one occasion, including
Maurice Evans (
1938-39,
1939-40,
1945-46,
1946), the legendary
John Barrymore (
1922-23,
1923), and of course, the premier American actor of the 19th Century,
Edwin Booth (
1864-65,
1870 and
1891).
Hamlet has been so popular through the years, that there have been several instances when competing revivals were produced on Broadway at the same time, including the aforementioned ones with Howard and Gielgud, as well as
the 1931 Broadhurst Theatre revival with Massey competing directly with the
1931 Royale Theatre mounting produced by the
Chicago Civic Shakespeare Society.
Much more recently, two separate Main Stem productions narrowly missed being staged at the exact same time. The
1969 Lyceum Theatre revival with
Ellis Rabb as
Hamlet ended April 26, a mere five days before
the 1969 Lunt-Fontanne Theatre production starring
Nicol Williamson opened.
Now, for at least the 66th time,
Hamlet is being revived in Manhattan. Once again, Shakespeare's tragedy is being staged at the
Broadhurst Theatre, this time via the transfer of a highly acclaimed production from the formidible
Donmar Warehouse in London. Directed by the estimable
Michael Grandage, this revival stars
Jude Law as the eponymous prince who exacts revenge for his murdered father.
Personally, I've only seen
Hamlet performed once on stage, and tedium set in quite quickly. Same went for my experience in watching the Academy Award-winning
Best Picture of 1948, even with the late, great
Laurence Olivier as the prince. So while I am sincerely looking forward to seeing Grandage's interpretation of this work, I'll go in with just a little trepidation as I normally do
whenever I see Shakespeare.
Whether audiences share my apprehension remains to be seen. Or not to be seen.
This limited run of
Hamlet opens October 6 and is currently slated to close December 6.
This is Steve On Broadway (SOB).
Labels: Broadway, Edwin Booth, Hamlet, John Barrymore, Jude Law, Laurence Olivier, Maurice Evans, Michael Grandage, Play, Revival, Transfer, William Shakespeare
Off On A Tangent Via Lincoln's Bicenten-nialPerhaps, the United States President most closely associated with the arts may be
John F. Kennedy, after whom the District of Columbia's distinguished center for the performing arts is named (although some might argue it's
Ronald Reagan, by virtue of his years in entertainment prior to entering politics).
But the American President most closely associated with live theatre -- and quite unintentionally at that -- is unquestionably the man who met his death by virtue of attending a play called
Our American Cousin.
America's 16th President
Abraham Lincoln was born 200 years ago today in
Hodgenville, Kentucky. It was his fatal foray to Washington's
Ford's Theatre on April 14, 1865, in which the Great Emancipator -- the leader who had just vanquished the South in the Civil War -- was felled by the bullet of actor
John Wilkes Booth, who approached the President's box from behind.
While Lincoln never saw Booth that fateful evening, just a year and a half earlier, the President had, in fact, seen Booth perform in a play from the very same box at Ford's Theatre. Booth was appearing in
The Marble Heart on the night of November 9, 1863. According to Katherine Helm's book "Mary, Wife of Lincoln":
When the Lincolns saw John Wilkes Booth in The Marble Heart at Ford's Theatre on November 9, 1863, they were accompanied by several people. Among these people was Mary B. Clay, a daughter of Cassius Clay, U.S. minister to Russia. Mary Clay reminisced about the evening as follows:
"In the theater President and Mrs. Lincoln, Miss Sallie Clay and I, Mr. Nicolay and Mr. Hay, occupied the same box which the year after saw Mr. Lincoln slain by Booth. I do not recall the play, but Wilkes Booth played the part of villain.
"The box was right on the stage, with a railing around it. Mr. Lincoln sat next to the rail, I next to Mrs. Lincoln, Miss Sallie Clay and the other gentlemen farther around.
"Twice Booth in uttering disagreeable threats in the play came very near and put his finger close to Mr. Lincoln's face; when he came a third time I was impressed by it, and said, 'Mr. Lincoln, he looks as if he meant that for you.' 'Well,' he said, 'he does look pretty sharp at me, doesn't he?' At the same theater, the next April, Wilkes Booth shot our dear President. Mr. Lincoln looked to me the personification of honesty, and when animated was much better looking than his pictures represent him."
Mary Clay, in her reminiscence, was off by a year when she said the president was shot "the next April."
Lincoln's assassin -- who has forever been immortalized himself thanks to
Stephen Sondheim and
John Weidman's
Assassins, as well as in five other Broadway shows -- was actually one of three well-known acting brothers that also included
Edwin Booth, for whom Broadway's
Booth Theatre is named, and
Junius Booth. John Wilkes Booth's actions clearly took its toll on his brothers' careers, even if for a short time only, according to
Britannica:
The splendour of this period in (Edwin Booth's) career was dashed for many months when in 1865 his brother, John Wilkes Booth, assassinated President Lincoln. The
three Booth brothers, Junius Brutus (1821-1883), Edwin and John Wilkes 1839-1865), had played together in Julius Caesar in the autumn of the previous year--the performance being memorable both for its own excellence, and for the tragic situation into which two of the principal performers were subsequently hurled by the crime of the third. Edwin Booth did not reappear on the stage until the 3rd of January 1866, when he played Hamlet at the Winter Garden theatre, the audience showing by unstinted applause their conviction that the glory of the one brother would never be imperilled by the infamy of the other.
Not to be confused with the current home to
Mamma Mia!, the
Winter Garden Theatre listed above was the second incarnation of a theatre that had originally been destroyed by fire in 1854 before being rebuilt. It was the same venue where the three Booth brothers had shared the stage for
Julius Caeser. For Lincoln history buffs, the story comes full circle because the Winter Garden was leased briefly in 1854 to
Laura Keene, the very star of the play
Our American Cousin the President went to see the night he was assassinated.
And in another twist, the last time Broadway audiences saw a performance of
Our American Cousin -- which forever will be synonymous with Abraham Lincoln and Ford's Theatre -- was during
its 1915-16 run at of all places, the Booth Theatre.
Back in DC, after a lengthy renovation and just in time for today's Bicentennial, Ford's Theatre is finally open once again to the public. I for one am greatly looking forward to returning to this historic shrine to both Abraham Lincoln and live theatre.
This is Steve On Broadway (SOB).
Labels: Abraham Lincoln, Bicentennial, Broadway, Edwin Booth, Ford's Theatre, John Wilkes Booth, Laura Keene, Our American Cousin, Washington DC
