August Turns The Page On Color-Blind CastingOver the last two years, I've thrown virtually every superlative imaginable at
Tracy Letts' Tony Award and Pulitzer Prize-winning
August: Osage County. I love this show for its gritty "truth."
Come Tuesday, the composition of the Weston family will experience a dynamic change when one of the stage's most celebrated and accomplished contemporary actresses,
Phylicia Rashad, assumes the mantle of matriarch. When I first learned that Rashad would join the cast, I was positively intrigued. I had wistfully imagined whether she might be joined by
James Earl Jones, along with some of the stage's top African American actors, so they might do for
August what they had done for other classics like
Cat On A Hot Tin Roof.
However, in the latest attempt at color-blind casting, Rashad's Violet will just happen be mother to three white daughters. Will it matter?
Robert Brustein, founding director of the Yale and American Repertory Theaters,
assesses how he believes audiences will respond:
My guess, and it’s an educated guess, is that after 10 minutes you’ll forget what color anybody is.
The New York Times reporter Felicia R. Lee today
writes:
There were no changes in the script to reflect Ms. Rashad’s race.
Yet, interestingly enough, she adds:
And though she was picked foremost because of her talent, Mr. (Jeffrey) Richards said, she was also viewed as a Violet who could expand the play’s audience, especially of black theatergoers.
Is the production now trying to have it both ways?
One of the things I long have appreciated about live theatre has been its innovative casting irrespective of color, particularly when it makes sense or matters little to the central theme of the plot. In the realm of entertainment, live theatre can proudly stake a claim as the true leader in this area. As Rashad herself points out, she's being reteamed with
John Cullum for the second time as her stage husband; they appeared alongside one another in the superb 2007 production of
Shakespeare's
Cymbeline.
There's no question that entertainment can and should do a better job in casting to better mirror today's America. To that end, color-blind casting could easily be employed in more stage shows. Among Broadway's newest plays like
reasons to be pretty and
God Of Carnage, or in new musicals like
9 To 5, what difference would any of the primary character's skin color really make? The stories would still play the same without anyone even questioning the decision.
On the other hand, when race is truly central to the plot, it would be pure folly. Can you imagine any production for a show like
Raisin In The Sun or
Joe Turner's Come And Gone to substitute its principal characters with actors who aren't African American? It would be considered a contrived nuisance and rightly so.
My quandary about
August: Osage County is wondering how audiences will respond to this substantive change. It's not just because of the play's starkly realistic portrayal of a rural Oklahoma family. It's particularly because of Violet's own acid-tinged racist bile directed at her Native American caretaker Johnna. Violet's reflections on race pose an interesting challenge to Rashad and the rest of the
August ensemble. Is that insurmountable?
While the verdict on this choice remains to be seen, I'm still intrigued.
This is Steve On Broadway (SOB).
Labels: August Osage County, Broadway, Phylicia Rashad, Play, Replacements
Cat On A Hot Tin Roof (The SOB Review) - Broadhurst Theatre, New York, NY
*** (out of ****)OK, so the jazzy saxaphone motif is a bit forced.
Sure, the exact time setting is as clear as Mississippi mud due to
Ray Klausen's ambiguous set design.
Yes, the spotlight effect offered by
William H. Grant III on each flashback soliloquy is a tad annoying and unnecessary.
And it goes without saying that by making many of the play's sacrosanct lines ... well ...
funny,
Debbie Allen takes more liberties with
Tennessee Williams' talents than a Cape Cod houseboy ever could.
But the net effect of Allen's direction lends this latest Broadway life for Williams' irascible
Cat On A Hot Tin Roof with a certain revelatory sympathetic spin, providing each of its major players with more nuance and subtle shading than I ever thought possible. Say what you will about the certain aforementioned risks Allen has made in her direction, her overall gamble has largely paid off, particularly in drawing out fine to superb performances from her quartet of celebrated lead actors.
Chief among them is
James Earl Jones' surprisingly compassionate Big Daddy, whose love for son Brick (
Terrence Howard in an initially uneven, yet ultimately moving Broadway debut) should never, ever be in question. He may not appear until the Second Act, but once he does, Jones offers the type of booming, commanding presence that makes it difficult to look anywhere else.
However, you just can't help but do just that as
Phylicia Rashad turns Big Mama into a tour de force. Her Big Mama is so much more than the blubbering simpleton she's often made out to be. When Rashad sheds real tears, she conveys both a desperate and intelligent woman who's not only grieving her husband's cancer diagnosis, but also anxiously wishing she could get back into his heart after being shunted aside for so long.
Then there's the proverbial
Cat herself. The stunningly sensual
Anika Noni Rose astounds as she digs deeply into the furthest recesses of her heart and soul. Unlike
Ashley Judd's benign turn in the role in the
2003 revival, Rose makes her sex-deprived Maggie one you can't help but empathize with in her steely determination to preserve her marriage with Brick. She has us believing her attempts are based more on her love for him than the desire to maintain her life of luxury and privilege. In Maggie, Rose is in full bloom.
Not only does Allen's unusually humane
Cat On A Hot Tin Roof offer a moving night at the theatre, it's also highly entertaining.
This is Steve On Broadway (SOB).
Click here for tickets.Related Stories:Is The F-Word Really Family Friendly? (April 11, 2008)
Did Cat Get Critics' Tongues Wagging? (March 7, 2008)
Opening Night: Cat Begins Fifth Life On Broadway (March 6, 2008)
The Onion: Ask The Stage Directions To Tennessee Williams' Cat On A Hot Tin Roof (February 11, 2008)
Black Cat Has More Than One Life (April 11, 2008)
Labels: Anika Noni Rose, Broadway, Cat On A Hot Tin Roof, Critics' Capsule, Debbie Allen, James Earl Jones, Phylicia Rashad, Play, Revival, Terrence Howard, The SOB Review
Did Cat Get Critics' Tongues Wagging?Last evening, the fifth Broadway production ever for
Tennessee Williams'
Cat On A Hot Tin Roof opened at the
Broadhurst Theatre in a limited run under the direction of
Debbie Allen.
Allen is directing a cast that includes her sister
Phylicia Rashad along with
Terrence Howard,
Anika Noni Rose, and
James Earl Jones. The show has received mixed reviews with Allen taking the brunt of the criticism.
Proclaiming the show as "thrilling,"
Newsday 's
Linda Winer offers up what is perhaps the most favorable review: "Without the reverse casting, however, we would never have seen James Earl Jones as a shattering Big Daddy, tenderly holding and kissing the sensitive head of Terrence Howard, stunning as son Brick, in an attempt to transfer his own power into the beautiful young man's broken soul. Without daring to re-imagine Tennessee Williams' Mississippi plantation owners as nouveau-riche blacks in 1955, we would have been denied the sight of Phylicia Rashad squeezing her formidable self into a rare and heartbreaking interpretation of that silly dim bulb of a woman, Big Mama. And without the bold casting of the gifted, but hardly brand-name, Anika Noni Rose instead of the usual world-class sex bomb, we might still have never seen a Maggie who could say 'like a cat on a hot tin roof' a hundred different ways without sounding deranged.... How remarkable, then, that this cast finds such earthy conversational ease in the emotional humidity of Williams' Southern gothic milieu."
While lamenting that "it's too bad there's not a fully developed visual imagination at the creative helm to match the intuitive skills of its actors,"
David Rooney of
Variety nevertheless mostly purrs: "While Debbie Allen's inexperience as a director shows in pedestrian physical staging with a tendency toward heavy-handedness, she lucks out where it most matters -- with her powerhouse cast.... [T]he design choices of Allen's production fudge the period just enough to make anachronism a non-issue.... Casting an untried stage actor as Brick was a risk, but Terrence Howard delivers. It's an understated performance that taps all the quiet, sleepy-eyed charisma of his screen work while also accessing the lacerating wounds of a man forced to confront emotional questions he'd rather ignore.... With James Earl Jones giving magnificent life to the cruelty, the ribald earthiness and the unexpected tenderness of this blustery self-made man, the production achieves the rare distinction of an entirely credible and deeply felt father-son bond at its center."
Deeming this
Cat "well-worth seeing,"
New York Post's
Clive Barnes offers a three-star review: "Director Debbie Allen and her producers have assembled a stellar cast, notably James Earl Jones as the cancer-wracked patriarch, Big Daddy, in a portrayal of bluster and subtlety that will surely leave a permanent mark on a role he both inhabits and embodies. And Jones is simply the first among an exceptional cast.... Rose's sexy yet poignant Maggie beautifully delineates love and desire against a pragmatic awareness of poverty.... Howard's low-key, high-tension Brick, waiting for the click of drunkenness to get him through another day of denial, and Rashad's broken yet defiant Big Mama -- her face a barometer of a family's pain -- fuse into one picture."
Declaring this a "flabby revival" that's "too often it’s without focus,"
Ben Brantley of
The New York Times demurs: "The irresistible part of the equation is embodied most persuasively by Anika Noni Rose as that determined Southern seductress Maggie the Cat.... As it turns out, Ms. Rose more than holds her own. She pretty much runs the show whenever she’s onstage, and when she’s not, the show misses her management. Mr. Howard and Mr. Jones have moments that suggest what they might have made (and possibly still could make) of their roles. And Ms. Rashad presents a creditable, if arguably misconceived, Big Mama.... Ms. Rashad...seems to grow in supportive strength and mother-knows-best wisdom. The production acquires a haze of sentimentality that makes it soft when it should be sharp."
Weighing in on "Ms. Allen's fascinating-despite-itself revival,"
Eric Grode of
The New York Sun takes note of the mendacity of the play's supposed color-blind casting: "With a production as lopsided and often wrongheaded as this, one has time to notice this sort of thing.... Mr. Howard, whose restless intelligence has enlivened even Hollywood piffle like "
August Rush," overthinks a role that requires as much body as soul. His intensely internalized Brick barely has bones anymore, let alone the muscles on top of them. And so Ms. Allen overcompensates by having Ms. Rose curl herself around their four-poster bed like a stripper's pole.... This cheapening of Maggie is hardly Ms. Allen's only or most egregious error. She has a particularly tough time weaving in the offstage dialogue that frequently interrupts the central drama, and she routinely bungles the arrival of these characters when they do finally appear."
Concluding that this "hit and miss" production "mostly just simmers,"
JoeDziemianowicz of New York's
Daily News mostly pans, with one notable exception: "[T]he one true thing that's fully alive in the uneven Broadway revival of the Tennessee Williams classic is the always dynamic James Earl Jones, who gives such a thundering and throbbing performance as dying Big Daddy that you feel it in your bones.... If only more of this
Cat" had so much bite. You first get the sense that director Debbie Allen's production isn't one for the ages when you lay eyes on the stage of the Broadhurst: The set has the neutered charm of a hotel suite. Allen does the production no favors by having a sax man blow a bluesy tune before each act (an idea better suited to a different Williams play), or by fiddling with the lights during key monologues. The young stars have their ups and downs."
Whatever they have to say about this
Cat On A Hot Tin Roof, it certainly
sounds intriguing, even with the worst of the criticisms. The show had already extended (although Terrence Howard won't be with the production from April 15 to May 4 when
Boris Kodjoe will perform the role of Brick). I'll be taking in a performance a little later this month and will let you know what I think in an upcoming SOB Review.
This is Steve On Broadway (SOB).
Click here for tickets.Related Stories:Opening Night: Cat Begins Fifth Life On Broadway (March 6, 2008)
The Onion: Ask The Stage Directions To Tennessee Williams' Cat On A Hot Tin Roof (February 11, 2008)
Black Cat Has More Than One Life (April 11, 2008)
Labels: Anika Noni Rose, Broadway, Cat On A Hot Tin Roof, Critics' Capsule, Debbie Allen, James Earl Jones, Phylicia Rashad, Play, Revival, Terrence Howard
Opening Night: Cat Begins Fifth Life On BroadwayThis evening, the fourth Broadway revival of
Tennessee Williams' classic
Cat On A Hot Tin Roof opens at the
Broadhurst Theatre. The original, Tony-nominated
1955 production earned the Pulitzer Prize for Drama.
Proving there is more than one
ducking way to skin Williams'
rutting Cat, director
Debbie Allen is infusing this production with some of the playwright's
intended language. But the bigger news perhaps is that
this particular incarnation of the show made it here at all, given all the lives it has had, giving it a backstory worthy of the drama itself.
Even though
Cat On A Hot Tin Roof was
last produced on the Great White Way a scant four years ago, this all African-American cast is about as stellar as can be. As Brick, acclaimed film actor
Terrence Howard is treading Broadway's boards for the very first time, alongside three Tony Award-winning actors:
Anika Noni Rose (
Caroline, Or Change) as Maggie,
Phylicia Rashad (
A Raisin in the Sun) as Big Mama and the voice of
CNN and
Darth Vader himself
James Earl Jones (
Fences).
When
Cat On A Hot Tin Roof first debuted in 1955 under the direction of
Elia Kazan, the production caused a sensation in its depiction of a Southern family's attempt to cope with one spouse's latent homosexuality. All in all, the production would play 694 performances and score four Tony nominations. The cast included
Ben Gazzara as Brick,
Barbara Bel Geddes as Maggie,
Mildred Dunnock as Big Mama and
Burl Ives as Big Daddy.
It took nearly twenty years before the
first Broadway revival was staged, but in 1974,
Michael Kahn directed
Keir Dullea as Brick,
Elizabeth Ashley as Maggie,
Kate Reid as Big Mama and
Fred Gwynne (television's Herman Munster) as Big Daddy. This
Cat lived 160 performances and earned Ashley a Tony nomination.
The third Broadway production of
Cat came in 1990 with the 149 performance run directed by
Howard Davies. It would also be the only one to win a Tony -- for
Charles Durning's celebrated turn as Big Daddy, alongside
Daniel Hugh Kelly's Brick,
Kathleen Turner's Maggie and
Polly Holliday's Big Mama. All totaled, the production earned three Tony nominations.
My first kick at the
Cat was through the 2003 revival when I caught the final preview. In the scene where Big Daddy (
Ned Beatty) is receiving his gift and asks "What's this?" A giddy voice came from somewhere near the front of the audience screaming enthusiastically, "Kitties!"
I kid you not! Fortunately for the audience, Beatty and the rest of the cast -- including
Jason Patric (Brick),
Ashley Judd (Maggie) and the breathtaking
Margo Martindale -- maintained their composure and didn't skip a beat. Yet it only earned one Tony nomination, running for 145 performances.
So will critics think that this all-star
Cat has a life? Find out tomorrow as I share my critics' capsule (I'll be seeing the show myself a little later this month).
This is Steve On Broadway (SOB).
Click here for tickets.Related Stories:The Onion: Ask The Stage Directions To Tennessee Williams' Cat On A Hot Tin Roof (February 11, 2008)
Black Cat Has More Than One Life (April 11, 2008)
Labels: Anika Noni Rose, Broadway, Cat On A Hot Tin Roof, James Earl Jones, Phylicia Rashad, Play, Revival, Tennessee Williams, Terrence Howard
Raisin Made For Nearly Perfect Television TreatFor all homebound theatrelovers, the past week was the second in a row to offer an outstanding opportunity to kick back and relax in their favorite chairs while watching performances that generated excitement on Broadway over the last several years.
While
I've already written about PBS' "
Great Performances"' presentation of
Company -- which I had the pleasure of seeing live on stage last year -- I regret never having had the chance to see the Tony Award-winning revival of
Lorraine Hansberry's
A Raisin In The Sun, particularly after seeing the bravura performances on the
small screen version of the play earlier this week by
Phylicia Rashad,
Audra McDonald and
Sanaa Lathan.
Each of these three outstanding actresses reprised their Tony nominated stage roles. In the case of Rashad and McDonald, they actually won Tonys. If the heartwrenchingly real acting I witnessed in the televised version is any indication, those awards were certainly well-deserved. In fact, I'd be downright angry if each did not receive an Emmy nomination.
Never before had I seen the play, nor had I ever seen either of the two previous film incarnations. Those included the
1961 silver screen film that included a trio of young up and coming stars reprising their roles from the
1959 Tony-nominated play:
Sidney Poitier as Walter, the man with a plan,
Ruby Dee as his long-suffering wife Ruth and
Louis Gossett, Jr. as George. The other was the
1989 Emmy-nominated televised film starring
Danny Glover as Walter.
So tuning into
ABC last Monday evening, I really had no idea what to expect other than the premise that Walter schemes to use the life insurance money left to his mother upon his father's death. What a surprise to discover that the richly layered plot valiantly deals with topics that surely had to have been largely taboo topics for the late fifties, including overt white racism and abortion. It also delves into the black Americans' search for identity, at once both in assimilating into a then majority white society and in seeking a deeper appreciation of one's African roots.
Aside from the sometimes shaky camera work that made me a little sick to my stomach, the otherwise fine direction by
Kenny Leon -- who's most often associated with
August Wilson, arguably the greatest African American playwright ever -- expertly draws out the powerful, poignant performances of his mostly stellar cast.
While I wish I could say I was moved by executive producer
Sean Combs' rather one-note portrayal of Walter, I applaud him for being so courageous in his vision of bringing the superb, moving play to a larger audience of tens of millions via television. I'll most certainly look forward to purchasing the
DVD when it becomes available in May.
This is Steve On Broadway (SOB).
Labels: A Raisin In The Sun, Audra McDonald, Broadway, Company, Film, Kenny Leon, Phylicia Rashad, Ruby Dee, Sanaa Lathan, Sean Combs, Sidney Poitier, Televsion
Did Cymbeline Receive Posthumus Critical Acclaim?Yesterday, the first
William Shakespeare play to receive a Broadway revival in two years opened at Lincoln Center Theater at the
Vivian Beaumont. The
Mark Lamos-helmed
Cymbeline includes quite the starry cast:
Jonathan Cake,
Michael Cerveris,
John Cullum,
John Pankow,
Martha Plimpton and
Phylicia Rashad, among others.
Critics were all across the board on this one.
Rejoicing is
John Simon of Bloomberg, who raves: "Lincoln Center Theatre gives
Cymbeline,' an imperfect play, a production as perfect as humanly possible. Impeccable direction, stylish acting, and enough lavish spectacle to carry the eye and ear past any demurral of the finickiest brain....All honor to Martha Plimpton for mastering the difficult role of Imogen....This Imogen transcends symbolic young womanhood into flesh-and-blood embraceableness....Most amazing, perhaps, is the Cymbeline of John Cullum, whose advanced age nowise impedes his commanding presence, youthful sprightliness and syllable-perfect diction relatively uncommon among non-British actors."
Calling the play both "emotionally charged" and "entrancing,"
New York Post's
Clive Barnes celebrates with a three-and-a-half star review: "
Cymbeline has traditionally had a reputation ranging from bad to difficult. It's not. It's a fairy tale for adults who have suffered enough to believe in fairies and heavenly providence. Perhaps the prime virtues of Lamos' elegant, eloquent staging (and the man is among the finest Shakespearean directors in the world) are its grace, speed and total intelligibility. More than any of the many productions of
Cymbeline I've seen, it has an immediacy that grips, grasps and tenaciously holds."
Proclaiming this work as "ever accessible,"
Joe Dziemianowicz of New York's
Daily News is similarly positive: "Director Mark Lamos' command at balancing light, dark and magical elements makes the chockablock tale cohesive....For
Cymbeline to resonate, it helps to care about Imogen. Plimpton, who has fully shed her gawky "Goonies" tomboy past, makes a likable and plucky heroine who reeks intelligence, even when she's disguised as a man wearing a hat that looks like a small ottoman. Cerveris brings the right mix of heartbreak and rage, while beefy Cake layers on the villainy and sexiness."
Noting that "this is a work not easily tamed,"
David Rooney of
Variety recommends the play by lavishing praise on Martha Plimpton: "Her Imogen in Lincoln Center's sumptuous
Cymbeline is more complex and more complete -- the intensity of her love and pain, her exaltation and sorrow anchored by a clear-eyed intelligence that makes her nobody's fool. If not everything in Mark Lamos' production quite matches the exquisite depth and scope of Plimpton's characterization, the fault lies more in this late problem play than in the work of the director or his generally accomplished cast. Unswerving in her fidelity, Imogen may be Shakespeare's most mature heroine, but she's been given an unsteady showcase."
Offering a so-so review is
Charles Isherwood of
The New York Times: "Lincoln Center Theater’s stately production of
Cymbeline, Shakespeare’s late romance, or tragicomedy, or whatnot, is remarkable for its lucidity. In imposing a formal elegance on one of Shakespeare’s most wayward plays, the director, Mark Lamos, keeps confusion firmly at bay, smoothing its kinked story line into a well-drilled parade of avowals and betrayals, plots and counterplots, deaths and resurrections. The clarity and restrained opulence of the production are more satisfying, unfortunately, than the caliber of the performances, which tend toward blandness or overstatement. The singular exception is an outstanding turn from Michael Cerveris, who provides the play with a wrenching emotional center as a husband who believes himself to be grossly betrayed, and who betrays his own nobler self in seeking to avenge this wrong."
Lamenting this as "a work that is endearingly broken,"
Eric Grode of
The New York Sun is largely negative: "Mark Lamos gets through
Cymbeline without painting himself into any corners. If only he had. Instead, with the help of a top-notch design team and a somewhat baffled cast, the dependably picturesque director has planted himself in the middle of the room, far from the weird angles and vertiginous gaps that make
Cymbeline such an odd and potentially spellbinding play....Establishing a throughline that can prop up these wildly discordant threads is the challenge, one Mr. Lamos only halfheartedly addresses. Perhaps this stems from his recent efforts directing opera, with its implicit strata of recitatives that exist largely to prop up the arias. Or perhaps the relative unfamiliarity of the play's soliloquies, particularly those for the beguiling Imogen, resulted in a disproportionate amount of rehearsal devoted to these set pieces."
Despite calling the production "handsome,"
Newsday's
Linda Winer offers the one flat-out pan: "What we don't know is why the ambitious Lincoln Center Theater chose to run this one by us again. Perhaps director Mark Lamos believes he found a key into mature profundities in this very silly play. One of the four late romances, which peak in the fantastical wisdom of
The Tempest,
Cymbeline remains a mishmash of incompatible styles and improbable plot lines. The language is not especially beautiful or witty. And despite modern scholarly protestations, the final message of reconciliation does not merely tie up the laughable number of loose ends. It wraps them in nonsensical ribbons and finishes them off with plenty of bows."
Regardless of the reviews (including my own enthusiastic
SOB Review), this incarnation of
Cymbeline is, alas, to be very short-lived with a run only scheduled through January 6.
This is Steve On Broadway (SOB).
Click here for tickets.Related Stories:Cymbeline (The SOB Review) (December 3, 2007)
Cymbeline Opens Tonight (December 2, 2007)
I've Got A Secret (August 15, 2007)
Labels: Broadway, Critics' Capsule, Cymbeline, John Cullum, Lincoln Center, Mark Lamos, Martha Plimpton, Phylicia Rashad, Play, Revival, William Shakespeare
Cymbeline (The SOB Review) - Lincoln Center Theater at the Vivian Beaumont, New York, NY**** (out of ****)A funny thing happened on my way
from the forum known as
Lincoln Center. I left with a complete sense of wonder and downright amazement that I had finally -- and so thoroughly -- enjoyed a production of a
William Shakespeare play.
As
I've previously admitted in this space, the word-for-word retellings of the esteemed playwright's works tend to leave me decidedly cold. Yet the only shiver I felt upon leaving
Cymbeline was the definable chill of delight shooting down my spine. I found myself utterly thrilled.
While
Cymbeline became one of the Bard's
most popular plays during the 18th and 19th Centuries -- the first known known production of
Cymbeline occurred sometime between 1609 and 1611 -- somehow this enchanting blend of tragedy, comedy and romance managed to lose its luster at the onset of the 20th Century. In fact, the play had so fallen out of favor that director
Mark Lamos' exquisite production is the first Broadway revival since the brief 1923 revival that consisted of a mere 15 performances.
Critics of
Cymbeline may complain that the story is predictable, or worse, that it borrows too heavily on themes developed in Shakespeare's other earlier and more celebrated works. To be sure, there's a hint of
Romeo And Juliet here and a taste
King Lear there, but I beg to differ with anyone who claims that this is a predictable story. It's anything but. After all, if that were the case -- particularly if you pause to consider all of the Bard's greatest tragedies -- wouldn't the climax yield a far different conclusion in spite of the carnage and death?
It's to Lamos credit that the luster is back with a vengeance in this brilliant, sparkling revival. He empowers his cast not only to maneuver through the Byzantine layers of plot unscathed, but also to navigate through the cadences of Shakespeare's often difficult language with such natural precision, grace and gusto, that they never feel unnatural or forced. Thanks to Lamos and his cast, Shakespeare sounds unusually crisp, never mind how verbose it sometimes can be.
Chief among his players are the extraordinary stellar performances by
Martha Plimpton as Princess Imogen,
John Cullum as her father King Cymbeline and
Paul O'Brien as the exiled lord Belarius.
The luminous Plimpton skillfully moves from dazzled lover of Posthumus (
Michael Cerveris, whose performance among anyone in this cast flirts dangerously close to overreaching) to forlorn royalty in hiding with impeccable ease. Cullum aptly commands the stage as the King who's undermined by his deceitful Queen (deliciously played by
Phylicia Rashad). And then there's O'Brien whose heartfelt, heroic performance as the man who unwittingly takes in each of the king's three children is both touching and exhilarating.
Other standouts in this large cast include
Jonathan Cake as the ruggedly handsome Iachimo, a charming rapscallion who wagers with Posthumus that he can deflower Imogen;
John Pankow as Pisanio, Posthumus' loyal servant -- it takes a strong actor to deliver such a humble performance; and
Adam Dannheisser as the Queen's son Lord Cloten, who singlehandedly offers the play's best comic relief, while making the often wooden Shakespearean dialect sound vibrant.
Michael Yeargan and
Jess Goldstein, respectively, offer alternately sumptuous and spare scenic and costume designs that vividly evoke the proceedings' regal grandeur, as well as the Roman baths and the harsh battle scenes, the latter of which are accentuated by the haunting lighting design offered by
Brian MacDevitt.
If you are like me and have been holding out for the right time to see Shakespeare on Broadway, this is the production to see. It's one of those rare treats that I'd even consider going back to enjoy a second time. But you'd better hurry -- the limited run revival will close on January 6, 2008.
This is Steve On Broadway (SOB).
Click here for tickets.Related Stories:Cymbeline Opens Tonight (December 2, 2007)
I've Got A Secret (August 15, 2007)
Labels: Broadway, Cymbeline, John Cullum, Lincoln Center, Mark Lamos, Martha Plimpton, Phylicia Rashad, Play, Revival, The SOB Review, William Shakespeare
Cymbeline Opens TonightThis evening marks the first of many Broadway openings during a very crowded week, thanks to all the reshuffling done to accommodate shows shuttered during the recent stagehands strike.
But the show opening tonight is one of a small handful that thankfully was open for business throughout due to its being staged at the not-for-profit
Lincoln Center. And the opening
did not need to be rescheduled.
A revival of
William Shakespeare's
Cymbeline, which was
last produced on the Great White Way more than 84 years ago, formally opens this evening with a star-studded cast including
Jonathan Cake,
Michael Cerveris,
John Cullum,
Martha Plimpton and
Phylicia Rashad. Helmed by
Mark Lamos, the limited run revival only performs through January 6 at the
Vivian Beaumont.
I took in a performance during the final week of the strike and will provide my SOB Review tomorrow along with my regular critics' capsule. We'll see how much I agreed with the critics on this rarely mounted play.
This is Steve On Broadway (SOB).
Click here for tickets.Related Stories:I've Got A Secret (August 15, 2007)
Labels: Broadway, Cymbeline, John Collum, Lincoln Center, Martha Plimpton, Michael Cerveris, Opening Night, Phylicia Rashad, Revival, William Shakespeare
I've Got A SecretYou're about to learn one of my deepest, darkest secrets. I've never shared it in this space before because I know what I'm about to say is considered heresy by most of my peers who enjoy theatre. But here goes...
I dread seeing most productions of
William Shakespeare's plays. They invariably put me to sleep.
I realize that this admission is probably not one I should make lightly (and I don't), and I may actually live to regret ever admitting it quite so boldly.
However, as artful and daring as The Bard was in creating virtually every story line ever imaginable in 16th and 17th Century England, the fact of the matter is that my ears rarely adjust to the tedious nature of the time's spoken word (many of which were created by Shakespeare himself). It becomes torture.
Yes, Shakespeare's themes may be universal, but no one speaks that way anymore, and if delivered poorly, as is too often the case, it's too much of a slog for me. So much so that the only show I've ever walked out of was a production of
Antony And Cleopatra. (Boring!)
OK, so I know this is sacrilege to most theatre lovers, but it's my truth.
It is against this startling admission that I learned
Lincoln Center would be mounting a revival of Shakespeare's
Cymbeline, which was
last seen on Broadway nearly 84 years ago...for 15 performances.
If there's any reason for me to be somewhat hopeful, it's because of the casting that includes
Jonathan Cake,
Michael Cerveris,
John Cullum,
Martha Plimpton and
Phylicia Rashad. It certainly doesn't hurt that
Mark Lamos will be directing.
Performances at the
Vivian Beaumont begin on November 1 with opening night slated for December 2. Maybe, just maybe, I'll find myself riveted. But I'm not counting on it.
This is Steve On Broadway (SOB).
Click here for ticket information.Labels: Broadway, Cymbeline, First Word On New Show, John Collum, Lincoln Center, Martha Plimpton, Michael Cerveris, Phylicia Rashad, Revival, William Shakespeare
Black Cat Has More Than One Life
After Riedel's column appeared this morning -- all but saying it was over due to "'inexperienced, inept and insane' producing" that resulted in planned star
Forest Whitaker and director
Kenny Leon withdrawing from the project --
The Playgoer argued forcefully that any attempt at such a production "seems like a classic case of something
August Wilson once decried as fake black theatre."
Later this afternoon, producer Stephen Byrd's pronouncement appeared on Playbill.com indicating that the show must -- and will -- go on. While Leon is out,
Debbie Allen (pictured) is
in at the helm, while her sister
Phylicia Rashad will portray Big Mamma. In lieu of Whitaker, Byrd is hoping to lure
Danny Glover to play Big Daddy; screen star
Thandie Newton would take on Maggie. According to Byrd,
Blair Underwood and
LL Cool J are being discussed for the pivotal role of Brick. Certainly an all-star cast, but not necessarily one chock full of stage veterans (save for Rashad and Glover).
While critics were quick to remind us of the scant seven years that have passed since the last
A Moon For The Misbegotten revival, I can only imagine how catty they might become over a new
Cat On A Hot Tin Roof incarnation, coming a mere
three years after the
last "all-star" revival hit the Great White Way.
One does wonder what Messrs. Wilson and Williams would have thought.
This is Steve On Broadway (SOB).
Labels: August Wilson, Broadway, Cat On A Hot Tin Roof, First Word On New Show, Phylicia Rashad, Play, Revival, Tennessee Williams
