It is summer, which means Shakespeare in the Park is in full swing. I love Shakespeare in the Park. This year they're doing it in Repertory for the first time in nearly forty years. It's an interesting idea. The two shows of the season are The Merchant of Venice and The Winter's Tale. This morning (Saturday morning, by now I guess it's yesterday morning), I woke up at 4:00am and was in line for tickets to The Merchant of Venice by 4:45am. I was about number 91 in line. Nic joined me. Every day they hand out tickets at 1:00pm, so we had a little more than eight hours to wait. We know how to prepare ourselves at this point, though; we had a blanket, chairs, playing cards, food, books, iPods...the time flew by. Sitting/lying in Central Park on a beautiful day is heavenly. We even had a spot in the shade. I could have stayed there all day.
(arrow = my spot)Notes on the show:
1. Al Pacino is incredibly small.
I'm sorry, I know I should say more about Al Pacino. I enjoyed his Shylock. I thought his delivery was natural and well-paced; he handled the language very well and also physicalized the role skillfully. I'm so glad I got to see him perform Shakespeare.
2. I love Hamish Linklater and Lily Rabe. Hamish Linklater is a Shakespeare in the Park veteran, and I thought he stole the show last summer in Twelfth Night (he was absolutely hilarious). I liked him in The Merchant of Venice, and he got the most laughs of the night (even though there weren't many). He also handled the dramatic moments well.
Lily Rabe (playing Portia) shares the final bow with Al Pacino, and that must be thrilling for someone so young. She more than holds her own in this show. I've seen her onstage before and I'm impressed with her range.
3. I like Jesse L. Martin and Jesse Tyler Ferguson. They're both Broadway vets who have forayed into TV (Jesse L. Martin was on Law & Order for nine years and Jesse Tyler Ferguson is on Modern Family), so I was glad to see them back onstage. I wish Mr. Ferguson had a meatier role, though. I'd like to see him in The Winter's Tale now, just to see what he gets to do in that show. He seemed like a bit of a weak link here, but I've seen him give amazing stage performances before (in A Midsummer Night's Dream and The 25th Annual Putnam County Spelling Bee).
4. The actors are great actors. There are some serious acting veterans up on that stage, as well as some talented youngsters. My main issues are with the play, though (and I'm sorry, I know my main criticism of a Shakespeare production shouldn't be about the play, but that's just how it is). First of all, it's considered a comedy, but I assume that's only because no one dies at the end so it can't be classified as a tragedy. It's quite dark and depressing. Of course there's not a problem with that, but I happen to prefer Shakespeare's comedies (A Midsummer Night's Dream and Twelfth Night are my favorite plays of his). One main problem is that I don't think the director quite knew how to handle this play. The antisemitism issue is of course complicated, and Mr. Sullivan doesn't take a firm enough stance on it. That means the actors don't know how to handle it (and sometimes make decisions that don't mesh with each other's); the production is lacking a strong unified vision. I did enjoy the set very much, though; it's very well done. I don't know, I'm interested to see the reviews for this once it officially opens. I'm still wrapping my head around it. Maybe I'll be able to think more clearly tomorrow; right now I've been up for more than 20 hours and I can't think clearly. It was a wonderful day and night in the park, though. I loved Twelfth Night and A Midsummer Night's Dream (the past two years) so much that it's hard for anything else to live up to those.
ETA: Okay, so Brantley at the NYTimes loved it. I dunno, I still feel like Mr. Linklater thought he was in a comedy and Mr. Pacino thought he was in a tragedy. But maybe that works??
No comments:
Post a Comment