The Thespian's next review will be of Giselle. Count Albrecht is one of the least likeable leading men in the classical ballet repertoire. So, The Thespian got thinking, who are the top ten complete jerks in the classical ballet canon? The following list is completely biased and it was difficult to narrow it down to only ten. (Okay 10.5)
10. Franz in Copellia. Here is a happily engaged young man, who jilts his fiancee, Swanhilde for a mechanical doll. Yep, he's so stupid he can't tell that his infatuation isn't real. Being a comic ballet, Swanhilde disguises herself as the doll and teaches her love a lesson.
9. Fritz in The Nutcracker. The ultimate bratty little brother. During the Christmas Eve party he is always getting into trouble leading his cohorts in battles against the girls. He breaks his sister, Clara/Marie's Christmas present from her Godfather, Herr Drosselmeyer out of jealousy. Thankfully, said Godfather is usually portrayed as having magic powers and not only does he fix the doll, but it leads to the dream that he's Clara's dreamboat Prince in disguise.
8. Romeo in Romeo and Juliet. He's the same idiot from Shakespeare. Doesn't think before he acts and let's see how many people does he get killed? In the ballet it's four, Mercutio, Tybalt, Juliet and himself. (the ballet omits him killing Paris in the tomb scene most of the time).
7. James in La Sylphide. The Scottish lad falls in love with a Sylph on his wedding day. This leads to broken hearts and two deaths. Lesson here: never fall in love with a supernatural being, it always leads to tragedy.
6. Prince Siegfried in Swan Lake. So, he can't tell the difference between the woman he swore eternal love to the day before and her doppelganger. You'd think he would have gone up to her at the ball and said "Princess Odette, so nice of you to make it." Instead of, "well she's been introduced at the ball as Odile, but she looks so much like Odette it must be her." Never swear eternal love to anyone when death is on the line. Death usually wins.
5. Hilarion/Hans in Giselle. Pity poor Hilarion. Happy peasant boy in love with a happy peasant girl with a heart condition. Then the girl mets the mysterious new guy and jilts you. So, what do you do? You expose your rival as the playboy Count that he is and tell it to her in front of the whole village, knowing she has a heart condition. Of course, she's going to die. Then, you have to be in the wrong place at the wrong time when you decide to visit her grave in the middle of the night and you get danced to death by the Willis. Never go visiting a graveyard at night. Classic horror movie mistake.
4. Von Rothbart in Swan Lake. Evil magician has a thing for capturing young girls and turning them into swans. Then you set up that must declare eternal love thing to break your curse. This leads to a lot of death, including, in most versions, your own as when they thwart you by committing suicide it breaks the spell on the other girls and they gang up and kill you, because they are really pissed about spending their best years living a half life as swans. Why not raise chickens it's more profitable?
3. Count Albrecht in Giselle. Hey, you are engaged to the beautiful Princess Bathilda so what are you going to do now? Go sow your wild oats in a village by getting a peasant girl with a heart condition to fall head over heels in love with you. Oh, and did we mention that she has a heart condition? Naturally the whole court is going to go hunting in the neighborhood. Did you really think that was going to end well? You, I understand visiting Giselle's grave in the middle of the night. The villagers would have probably burned you at the stake in the daylight. But, do you deserve Giselle's help in dancing until dawn to save your life from the Willis? In a word, no.
2. Gamzatti in La Bayadere. Yep, my top two are women. Gamzatti is engaged to the warrior Solor who is having a bit on the side with the temple dancer, Nikiya. You are going to get the guy, why let your jealousy get in the way of your own triumph? How brilliant of you to plant a poisonous snake in a bouquet of flowers and kill your rival at your own engagement party. Yeah, he's really going to learn to love you know. No wonder in most versions of the ballet the whole temple comes crashing down on you and kills you and Solor both.
1. 5. Carabosse in The Sleeping Beauty. So, the Lord Chamberlain forgot to send you an invitation to the Princess' christening. Have you exactly made nice in the kingdom for the past several years? No? So don't get all huffy and curse the innocent baby to prick her finger on a spinning wheel and die. And hanging around the thorn covered castle for 100 years waiting to kill Prince Desire probably doesn't do you much good in keeping up your magic muscles. No wonder he kills you which is the fate you really deserve as opposed to in the original production where the Lilac Fairy redeems you and lets you rejoin the Fairy Kingdom.
1. Old Madge in La Sylphide. Why do you want a woodland Sylph to die? You really seem to exist to make everybody miserable. Let's see, you push James' fiancee to see he's pining for someone else and encourage her to marry his best friend. Then you get together with your coven and make a magic scarf that kills Sylphs and convince the heartsick James to use it to catch the Sylph. Sylph dies, James dies and you get to triumph at the end of the ballet. What's your motivation beyond "I'm evil incarnate?" You win the dubious honor of the number one jerk in classical ballet.
Thursday, February 10, 2011
Tuesday, February 8, 2011
South Pacific National Tour at the Kennedy Center
The following theatrical review is for an event which occurred in December 2010. The Thespian apologizes for the delay.
Rodgers and Hammerstein's Pulitzer Prize winning musical, South Pacific, returned to Broadway in its first official revival in 2008, winning 7 Tony awards including Best Musical Revival, Musical Director and Best Performance by an Actor in a Leading Role for Paolo Szot as Emile de Becque. It is wonderful that the Lincoln Center staging was preserved on film for the Great Performances series on PBS and was broadcast live just prior to the closing of the show and that most of the original cast was able to have their performances recorded for posterity (Glee's Matthew Morrison, who originated Lt. Cable was unable to return).
The wonderfully staged production by director Bartlett Sher is now on tour. If South Pacific comes near you, please go see it. As one of Rodgers and Hammerstein's best works this production has relevance in the 21st century for its frank discussion of prejudice and the reality of the necessary hastiness of wartime romance. Who would have thought that in 1949 a musical would dare to risk making the heroine unlikeable in her rejection of the man she loves because of his interracial relationship? And, that the leading man, a French refugee with a shady past, would be unrepentant of that relationship and his mixed race children? Or that it would so openly depict the not so pleasant reality of an island woman who while appearing to be the caricature comic relief is actually a single mother willing to essentially prostitute her teenage daughter in the hopes that said daughter can gain an American husband and thus a better life. The Thespian just described the essence of the relationships of the two romantic couples in South Pacific. It is the deep themes in the wartime islands on the edge of combat in World War II that make South Pacific such a compelling evening of theatre.
Mr. Sher stages South Pacific in ways that show what wartime life is like for the nurses, seabees, planters and natives on this small island. The seabees are both white and black, but in their production numbers the colors do not "mix" reflecting the fact that the armed forces were segregated. Segregation also exists between the nurses, who are officers, and the enlisted seabees, leading to the poignancy of the entrepreneurial Luther Billis and his unrequited crush on our heroine, Nellie Forbush. Then there is the hidden temptations of the island natives. Whilst the Navy personnel have encounters with the course Bloody Mary, who sells souvenir grass skirts and shrunken heads to make ends meet, the nearby island of Bali Hai is off limits to all, but officers on leave. Bali Hai, a metaphor for dreams and desire, is also the refuge for the planters wives and daughters and the younger native women, such as Bloody Mary's daughter, Liat, protecting them from undesirable encounters with the less lucrative enlisted men.
There is also a delight in recognizing that when the nurses and sailors perform it should be an unpolished amateur night with a lot of heart. The Thanksgiving Follies are not the Rockettes and they do not dance as if it is a professionally choreographed production, but rather like nurses and sailors who only rehearse in the fleeting moments between work shifts.
Enough metaphors, what's the actual production like? In a word, outstanding. South Pacific began the recent welcome trend of using the original orchestrations in revivals. On Broadway it was a 30 piece orchestra, on tour at the Kennedy Center it was 26. To begin with, simply close your eyes and absorb the wonderful, lush sounds of every instrument from violin to trombone to harp. And then prepare to have the actors match those sounds vocally. David Pittsinger, who appeared in the Lincoln Center production, is a marvelous opera singer who enchants the audience as much as he does Nellie Forbush. And his unrepentant embrace of Emile de Becque's colorful life and past makes for a compelling character. Carmen Cusack matches him vocally, although the evening The Thespian was in attendance it took her a song or two to warm up her voice. Ms. Cusack captures her enthusiasm, naivety, and impulsiveness. Nellie is a woman who agrees to marry a man after only dating him for two weeks and then is shocked when she realizes that in being so impulsive she really doesn't know the man she wants to marry. Ms Cusack also carries off the horror that Nellie feels when she meets Emile's children and can't get past the fact that their mother was "colored." Yet it is to the credit of the writers' and Ms. Cusack's performance her transformation to acceptance while facing the loss of Emile and seeing the loss of Lt. Cable and it's impact on the girl he loves that leads to an emotional happy ending for Nellie and Emile.
Anderson Davis plays Lt. Joe Cable with the cockiness of the Marine flyboy. Yet, he is just a vulnerable young man who desperately needs the comfort and love of the island girl, Liat. Seeing him breakdown when he admits how much he needs respite from the war is heartbreaking. His rendition of the love song "Younger Than Springtime" is gorgeous, but it is the biting racial anthem, "You've Got To Be Carefully Taught"that fleshes the performance into to more than doomed second leading man.
Sumie Maeda is beautiful as Liat and will break your heart as hers is repeated broken during the story. Jodi Kimura as Bloody Mary navigates the contradictions of her character. She is at once, the comic relief for the seabees, playing the role of naive, brash saleswoman out for a quick buck. But at her heart she is a desperate mother wanting to better the life of her daughter. The decision to stage the controversial song, "Happy Talk", backstage at The Thanksgiving Follies is brilliant. It is a seduction to the malaria-stricken Lt. Cable, to get him to agree to marry Liat. Some recent productions have cut "Happy Talk", believing it to be a simplistic song demeaning to the island natives in its choppy English. But, here it works as a catalyst between the dream of living simply on Bali Hai and the cold reality that Lt. Cable is about to embark on a very dangerous mission, one that may end not only his dreams with Liat, but his own life.
TImothy Gulan is terrific as the always looking for an opportunity Luther Billis. John Bolger is commanding yet sympathetic as Capt. Brackett. The rest of the ensemble from child to adult is top notch. The set design by Michael Yeargan uses a raked stage to great effect. The beach scenes showing an actual plane and a crane for unloading from ships really shows what the circumstances for the Navy personnel must have been like. Lattice work helps create the hillside estate of Emile and the hidden treasures of Bali Hai. And a very helpful full scale map of the South Pacific islands for the intelligence scenes provides an visual insight into just what the U.S. Navy was facing in tracking the Japanese fleet in the decades before satellite technology.
South Pacific was performed at The Kennedy Center's Opera House from December 14, 2010 - January 16, 2011. It is currently on tour. For dates, performance venues and ticket information please visit www.southpacificontour.com.
Rodgers and Hammerstein's Pulitzer Prize winning musical, South Pacific, returned to Broadway in its first official revival in 2008, winning 7 Tony awards including Best Musical Revival, Musical Director and Best Performance by an Actor in a Leading Role for Paolo Szot as Emile de Becque. It is wonderful that the Lincoln Center staging was preserved on film for the Great Performances series on PBS and was broadcast live just prior to the closing of the show and that most of the original cast was able to have their performances recorded for posterity (Glee's Matthew Morrison, who originated Lt. Cable was unable to return).
The wonderfully staged production by director Bartlett Sher is now on tour. If South Pacific comes near you, please go see it. As one of Rodgers and Hammerstein's best works this production has relevance in the 21st century for its frank discussion of prejudice and the reality of the necessary hastiness of wartime romance. Who would have thought that in 1949 a musical would dare to risk making the heroine unlikeable in her rejection of the man she loves because of his interracial relationship? And, that the leading man, a French refugee with a shady past, would be unrepentant of that relationship and his mixed race children? Or that it would so openly depict the not so pleasant reality of an island woman who while appearing to be the caricature comic relief is actually a single mother willing to essentially prostitute her teenage daughter in the hopes that said daughter can gain an American husband and thus a better life. The Thespian just described the essence of the relationships of the two romantic couples in South Pacific. It is the deep themes in the wartime islands on the edge of combat in World War II that make South Pacific such a compelling evening of theatre.
Mr. Sher stages South Pacific in ways that show what wartime life is like for the nurses, seabees, planters and natives on this small island. The seabees are both white and black, but in their production numbers the colors do not "mix" reflecting the fact that the armed forces were segregated. Segregation also exists between the nurses, who are officers, and the enlisted seabees, leading to the poignancy of the entrepreneurial Luther Billis and his unrequited crush on our heroine, Nellie Forbush. Then there is the hidden temptations of the island natives. Whilst the Navy personnel have encounters with the course Bloody Mary, who sells souvenir grass skirts and shrunken heads to make ends meet, the nearby island of Bali Hai is off limits to all, but officers on leave. Bali Hai, a metaphor for dreams and desire, is also the refuge for the planters wives and daughters and the younger native women, such as Bloody Mary's daughter, Liat, protecting them from undesirable encounters with the less lucrative enlisted men.
There is also a delight in recognizing that when the nurses and sailors perform it should be an unpolished amateur night with a lot of heart. The Thanksgiving Follies are not the Rockettes and they do not dance as if it is a professionally choreographed production, but rather like nurses and sailors who only rehearse in the fleeting moments between work shifts.
Enough metaphors, what's the actual production like? In a word, outstanding. South Pacific began the recent welcome trend of using the original orchestrations in revivals. On Broadway it was a 30 piece orchestra, on tour at the Kennedy Center it was 26. To begin with, simply close your eyes and absorb the wonderful, lush sounds of every instrument from violin to trombone to harp. And then prepare to have the actors match those sounds vocally. David Pittsinger, who appeared in the Lincoln Center production, is a marvelous opera singer who enchants the audience as much as he does Nellie Forbush. And his unrepentant embrace of Emile de Becque's colorful life and past makes for a compelling character. Carmen Cusack matches him vocally, although the evening The Thespian was in attendance it took her a song or two to warm up her voice. Ms. Cusack captures her enthusiasm, naivety, and impulsiveness. Nellie is a woman who agrees to marry a man after only dating him for two weeks and then is shocked when she realizes that in being so impulsive she really doesn't know the man she wants to marry. Ms Cusack also carries off the horror that Nellie feels when she meets Emile's children and can't get past the fact that their mother was "colored." Yet it is to the credit of the writers' and Ms. Cusack's performance her transformation to acceptance while facing the loss of Emile and seeing the loss of Lt. Cable and it's impact on the girl he loves that leads to an emotional happy ending for Nellie and Emile.
Anderson Davis plays Lt. Joe Cable with the cockiness of the Marine flyboy. Yet, he is just a vulnerable young man who desperately needs the comfort and love of the island girl, Liat. Seeing him breakdown when he admits how much he needs respite from the war is heartbreaking. His rendition of the love song "Younger Than Springtime" is gorgeous, but it is the biting racial anthem, "You've Got To Be Carefully Taught"that fleshes the performance into to more than doomed second leading man.
Sumie Maeda is beautiful as Liat and will break your heart as hers is repeated broken during the story. Jodi Kimura as Bloody Mary navigates the contradictions of her character. She is at once, the comic relief for the seabees, playing the role of naive, brash saleswoman out for a quick buck. But at her heart she is a desperate mother wanting to better the life of her daughter. The decision to stage the controversial song, "Happy Talk", backstage at The Thanksgiving Follies is brilliant. It is a seduction to the malaria-stricken Lt. Cable, to get him to agree to marry Liat. Some recent productions have cut "Happy Talk", believing it to be a simplistic song demeaning to the island natives in its choppy English. But, here it works as a catalyst between the dream of living simply on Bali Hai and the cold reality that Lt. Cable is about to embark on a very dangerous mission, one that may end not only his dreams with Liat, but his own life.
TImothy Gulan is terrific as the always looking for an opportunity Luther Billis. John Bolger is commanding yet sympathetic as Capt. Brackett. The rest of the ensemble from child to adult is top notch. The set design by Michael Yeargan uses a raked stage to great effect. The beach scenes showing an actual plane and a crane for unloading from ships really shows what the circumstances for the Navy personnel must have been like. Lattice work helps create the hillside estate of Emile and the hidden treasures of Bali Hai. And a very helpful full scale map of the South Pacific islands for the intelligence scenes provides an visual insight into just what the U.S. Navy was facing in tracking the Japanese fleet in the decades before satellite technology.
South Pacific was performed at The Kennedy Center's Opera House from December 14, 2010 - January 16, 2011. It is currently on tour. For dates, performance venues and ticket information please visit www.southpacificontour.com.
Thursday, February 3, 2011
Let Me Down Easy at Arena Stage
Anna Devere Smith is a gifted performer. She has an uncanny ability to mold herself into the characters she presents in her investigative one-woman pieces. Ms. Smith has examined through hundreds of interviews contemporary American topics shaping many of her experiences into acclaimed theatrical events, such as On the Road: A Search for American Character, Twilight: Los Angeles and Fires in the Mirror.
In her latest piece, Let Me Down Easy,she allegedly is examining the state of health care in America. I say allegedly for while the monologues she presents are for the most part very compelling individually, there appears to be a lack of focus to the evening as a whole. Is Ms. Smith examining the health care crisis as the program notes suggest? Not really. Let Me Down Easy appears to ramble from a discussion of terminal illness, to the acceptance of death, to the inequities in the treatment of ill patients based on whether or not they have the ability to pay. It is a journey that does not easily travel from point A to point B.
Chameleon-like, Ms. Smith morphs herself into her subjects with the addition of an article of clothing, a prop, the change in the way she holds her body, a dialect or inflection in her voice. Presenting the viewpoints of twenty individuals, she transfixes the audience over the slightly more than an hour and a half running time. On a simple set of a couch, coffee table, dining table set and vast mirrors unobtrusively designed by Riccardo Hernadez, Ms. Smith leaves mementoes of each person as she travels through the piece.
Individually most of the monologues are compelling. However, without a clear thematic focus it is difficult for the audience to see what goal the audience is supposed to leave the theatre thinking about the most. The subjects of the piece range from doctors to theologians to patients to celebrities. Many of the pieces are about the humanity of treating the seriously and, more often than not, terminally ill. "A Sheet Around My Daughter," describing the indignity suffered by a dialysis patient when her treatment leaks and the patient is sent home with blood on her clothes and in her hair is a devastating portrayal of insensitivity. "Heavy Sense of Resignation" about the indigent patients left unrescued for days in the aftermath of Hurricane Katrina whilst the richer patients in the private hospitals were evacuated shows the inequity suffered by the poor in this country. It is stories such as this that should drive the evening. Instead, they are interrupted by the unnecessary inclusion of most of the celebrities. The evening would be better without the contributions of Lance Armstrong, Eve Ensler, Lauren Hutton and Ann Richards. The only celebrity that seems to "fit" the evening is Joel Siegal shown during his dying moments in the compelling "3,000 Years of Being Kicked Around Europe."
Anna Devere Smith is worth seeing upon the stage for attempting to bring focus to health care, death and dying. However, Let Me Down Easy still needs tweaking. A decision on just what the evening is supposed to be about and focusing the monologues on that goal would take this worthy start into a startlingly compelling evening of theatre.
Second Stage Theatre's production of Let Me Down Easy will be performed in the Kreeger Theatre at Arena Stage through February 13, 2011. For tickets and other performance information please visit www.arenastage.org.
In her latest piece, Let Me Down Easy,she allegedly is examining the state of health care in America. I say allegedly for while the monologues she presents are for the most part very compelling individually, there appears to be a lack of focus to the evening as a whole. Is Ms. Smith examining the health care crisis as the program notes suggest? Not really. Let Me Down Easy appears to ramble from a discussion of terminal illness, to the acceptance of death, to the inequities in the treatment of ill patients based on whether or not they have the ability to pay. It is a journey that does not easily travel from point A to point B.
Chameleon-like, Ms. Smith morphs herself into her subjects with the addition of an article of clothing, a prop, the change in the way she holds her body, a dialect or inflection in her voice. Presenting the viewpoints of twenty individuals, she transfixes the audience over the slightly more than an hour and a half running time. On a simple set of a couch, coffee table, dining table set and vast mirrors unobtrusively designed by Riccardo Hernadez, Ms. Smith leaves mementoes of each person as she travels through the piece.
Individually most of the monologues are compelling. However, without a clear thematic focus it is difficult for the audience to see what goal the audience is supposed to leave the theatre thinking about the most. The subjects of the piece range from doctors to theologians to patients to celebrities. Many of the pieces are about the humanity of treating the seriously and, more often than not, terminally ill. "A Sheet Around My Daughter," describing the indignity suffered by a dialysis patient when her treatment leaks and the patient is sent home with blood on her clothes and in her hair is a devastating portrayal of insensitivity. "Heavy Sense of Resignation" about the indigent patients left unrescued for days in the aftermath of Hurricane Katrina whilst the richer patients in the private hospitals were evacuated shows the inequity suffered by the poor in this country. It is stories such as this that should drive the evening. Instead, they are interrupted by the unnecessary inclusion of most of the celebrities. The evening would be better without the contributions of Lance Armstrong, Eve Ensler, Lauren Hutton and Ann Richards. The only celebrity that seems to "fit" the evening is Joel Siegal shown during his dying moments in the compelling "3,000 Years of Being Kicked Around Europe."
Anna Devere Smith is worth seeing upon the stage for attempting to bring focus to health care, death and dying. However, Let Me Down Easy still needs tweaking. A decision on just what the evening is supposed to be about and focusing the monologues on that goal would take this worthy start into a startlingly compelling evening of theatre.
Second Stage Theatre's production of Let Me Down Easy will be performed in the Kreeger Theatre at Arena Stage through February 13, 2011. For tickets and other performance information please visit www.arenastage.org.
Tuesday, February 1, 2011
Andrew Lloyd Webber's Sunset Blvd. at Signature Theatre in Arlington, VA
Eric Schaeffer, the Artistic Director of Signature Theatre in Arlington, Virginia has been in the forefront of taking the giant spectacle musicals of the late 1970's through the 1990's and stripping them down to their basic dramatic potential using the larger of the two versatile spaces, the Max at the Signature Theatre complex. Previous seasons have seen productions of Sweeney Todd (although Mr. Schaeffer did a small Sweeney at the Gunston Center for the Arts years ago), Les Miserables and Showboat repurposed mostly to great success. Now he turns his sight on another show in which the elaborate set design in the original West End and Broadway productions was just as much a part of the show as the script, music and the actors.
Andrew Lloyd Webber's Sunset Blvd is based on the noir film of 1950. This tale of a cynical, washed up screenwriter and his deadly encounter with a delusional silent screen legend was a very powerful film starring William Holden, Erich von Stroheim and the amazing Gloria Swanson. It very famously opened with the corpse of the star of the film floating in a swimming pool, narrating the story from the grave. Challenges involved in staging Sunset Blvd., include car chases, a 1920's luxury automobile arriving at the gates of Paramount Studios and one of the most amazing stage effects The Thespian has ever witnessed on stage. In the original production, which The Thespian saw on the West End in 1994, Norma Desmond's elaborate house set rose up to permit a second scene, a rousing 1950's New Year's Eve party to be played simultaneously underneath it. During this sequence, the climatic moments of act one, the dialogue takes place at the New Year's Eve party, while Norma, under the watchful eyes of her manservant, Max, gets drunk, ascending and descending her famous staircase and finally attempting suicide. The Thespian's reaction to this spectacle was to desire to watch the show again, from a perch backstage to be able to watch the mechanics of this marvelous set. How on earth would Mr. Schaeffer stage these scenes in the boxy Max space? Very well indeed.
Sunset Blvd is the story of Joe Gillis, a Hollywood screenwriter who has been around the block long enough to have a small amount of success. However, he is experiencing a creative and financial stall. He can't sell his latest screenplay and he is deeply in debt. During a meeting at Paramount Pictures he meets Betty Schaefer, a young script reader with ambitions of her own. Miss Schaefer tells Joe exactly what's wrong with his script and offers to help him rewrite it. Before he can take her up on this he ends up having to leave the studio when two thugs arrive to repossess his car. A chase ensues, after a blown tire, Joe ends up stashing his car in the garage of an estate on Sunset Blvd. There he is bizarrely welcomed as if he was expected to arrive. It turns out that he is mistaken for an undertaker, by the servant Max and the mistress of the mansion, screen legend Norma Desmond. Joe becomes witness to the funeral of a beloved pet. When Norma discovers that Joe is a screenwriter she eagerly latches on to him to help her shape her own script, her hoped for comeback film, an adaptation of the biblical tale of Salome, with herself as the teenaged lead. Joe agrees lured by the prospect of money to pay his debts and the generosity of Miss Desmond who as the relationship develops heaps lavish gifts on Joe. It is a tale of moral corruption and enabling disillusionment that will lead to the tragedy shown in the opening moments of the musical.
While the score is not one of Lord Lloyd Webber's best, it has some very gorgeous thematic movements and songs. The best known pieces are Norma's opening number With One Look and the title tune. As with most of his later scores, there is an inordinate amount of repetition of musical themes. However, it does lessen over the course of the evening.
Overall, Mr. Schaffer's direction is outstanding. He manages to effectively stage the emotional beats of the four main characters. Daniel Conway's scenic design is quite clever and effective. We enter the theater to what appears to be a warehouse-like soundstage, yet as the evening progresses it transforms itself into Norma's elaborate mansion, complete with the famous staircase or the set of Cecil B. DeMille's latest extravaganza. Those difficult moments of staging are eased by the use of film projection. The only difficulty is the staging of the dual New Year's Eve scenes. They do take place simultaneously as they did in the original production. However, if you are seated house right, downstage left you will have difficulty seeing Norma and Max's scenes which are staged upstage and are blocked from view for those seats. Kathleen Geldard has created simply stunning costumes, particularly her designs for Norma. The fabric choices are brilliant and move with a depth of sumptuous luxury without overwhelming the actress they clothe. Jon Kalbfleisch has assembled a talented 20-piece orchestra that shows off the lushness of the score and inspires grand vocals from the cast.
Susan Derry is a spunky Betty Schaefer. As the least fleshed out of the four main characters, she manages to create a complete personality in her scenes and rises dramatically when her character is confronted with the horror of the double life of the man she has allowed herself to fall in love with.
Ed Dixon is a powerful presence as Max Von Mayerling, faithful to a fault in protecting his Madame. He sings a emotional The Greatest Star of All captivating the audience with his love of Norma.
Unfortunately D.B. Bonds appears miscast as Joe Gillis. During most of the performance he seems passive, just a handsome leading man instead of the weary man Hollywood has kicked around who is willing to exploit Norma's dependence on him for his own personal gain. Only during two scenes the biting title tune and the confrontational What's Going On Joe does he rise to the emotional occasion and show flashes of who Joe Gillis should be.
Yet, do not let that weak link stop you from seeing one of the brilliant performances on the DC area stages this early 2011. That would be the amazing Florence Lacey. Ms. Lacey's Norma is commanding, manipulative, vulnerable and delusional all sometimes in the same scene. Norma has been played by many of the stage's great musical actresses and Ms. Lacey has earned a place amongst them. The moment she enters the stage, heartbreakingly grieving her beloved pet then turning on her star quality to command the stage in her bravura With One Look, Ms. Lacey captures the essence of Norma Desmond's power to seduce her audiences. To put it like Max, she becomes The Greatest One of All.
Andrew Lloyd Webber's Sunset Blvd. will be performed in The Max at Signature Theatre in Arlington Virginia through February 13, 2011. For tickets and additional performance information please visit www.signature-theatre.org.
Andrew Lloyd Webber's Sunset Blvd is based on the noir film of 1950. This tale of a cynical, washed up screenwriter and his deadly encounter with a delusional silent screen legend was a very powerful film starring William Holden, Erich von Stroheim and the amazing Gloria Swanson. It very famously opened with the corpse of the star of the film floating in a swimming pool, narrating the story from the grave. Challenges involved in staging Sunset Blvd., include car chases, a 1920's luxury automobile arriving at the gates of Paramount Studios and one of the most amazing stage effects The Thespian has ever witnessed on stage. In the original production, which The Thespian saw on the West End in 1994, Norma Desmond's elaborate house set rose up to permit a second scene, a rousing 1950's New Year's Eve party to be played simultaneously underneath it. During this sequence, the climatic moments of act one, the dialogue takes place at the New Year's Eve party, while Norma, under the watchful eyes of her manservant, Max, gets drunk, ascending and descending her famous staircase and finally attempting suicide. The Thespian's reaction to this spectacle was to desire to watch the show again, from a perch backstage to be able to watch the mechanics of this marvelous set. How on earth would Mr. Schaeffer stage these scenes in the boxy Max space? Very well indeed.
Sunset Blvd is the story of Joe Gillis, a Hollywood screenwriter who has been around the block long enough to have a small amount of success. However, he is experiencing a creative and financial stall. He can't sell his latest screenplay and he is deeply in debt. During a meeting at Paramount Pictures he meets Betty Schaefer, a young script reader with ambitions of her own. Miss Schaefer tells Joe exactly what's wrong with his script and offers to help him rewrite it. Before he can take her up on this he ends up having to leave the studio when two thugs arrive to repossess his car. A chase ensues, after a blown tire, Joe ends up stashing his car in the garage of an estate on Sunset Blvd. There he is bizarrely welcomed as if he was expected to arrive. It turns out that he is mistaken for an undertaker, by the servant Max and the mistress of the mansion, screen legend Norma Desmond. Joe becomes witness to the funeral of a beloved pet. When Norma discovers that Joe is a screenwriter she eagerly latches on to him to help her shape her own script, her hoped for comeback film, an adaptation of the biblical tale of Salome, with herself as the teenaged lead. Joe agrees lured by the prospect of money to pay his debts and the generosity of Miss Desmond who as the relationship develops heaps lavish gifts on Joe. It is a tale of moral corruption and enabling disillusionment that will lead to the tragedy shown in the opening moments of the musical.
While the score is not one of Lord Lloyd Webber's best, it has some very gorgeous thematic movements and songs. The best known pieces are Norma's opening number With One Look and the title tune. As with most of his later scores, there is an inordinate amount of repetition of musical themes. However, it does lessen over the course of the evening.
Overall, Mr. Schaffer's direction is outstanding. He manages to effectively stage the emotional beats of the four main characters. Daniel Conway's scenic design is quite clever and effective. We enter the theater to what appears to be a warehouse-like soundstage, yet as the evening progresses it transforms itself into Norma's elaborate mansion, complete with the famous staircase or the set of Cecil B. DeMille's latest extravaganza. Those difficult moments of staging are eased by the use of film projection. The only difficulty is the staging of the dual New Year's Eve scenes. They do take place simultaneously as they did in the original production. However, if you are seated house right, downstage left you will have difficulty seeing Norma and Max's scenes which are staged upstage and are blocked from view for those seats. Kathleen Geldard has created simply stunning costumes, particularly her designs for Norma. The fabric choices are brilliant and move with a depth of sumptuous luxury without overwhelming the actress they clothe. Jon Kalbfleisch has assembled a talented 20-piece orchestra that shows off the lushness of the score and inspires grand vocals from the cast.
Susan Derry is a spunky Betty Schaefer. As the least fleshed out of the four main characters, she manages to create a complete personality in her scenes and rises dramatically when her character is confronted with the horror of the double life of the man she has allowed herself to fall in love with.
Ed Dixon is a powerful presence as Max Von Mayerling, faithful to a fault in protecting his Madame. He sings a emotional The Greatest Star of All captivating the audience with his love of Norma.
Unfortunately D.B. Bonds appears miscast as Joe Gillis. During most of the performance he seems passive, just a handsome leading man instead of the weary man Hollywood has kicked around who is willing to exploit Norma's dependence on him for his own personal gain. Only during two scenes the biting title tune and the confrontational What's Going On Joe does he rise to the emotional occasion and show flashes of who Joe Gillis should be.
Yet, do not let that weak link stop you from seeing one of the brilliant performances on the DC area stages this early 2011. That would be the amazing Florence Lacey. Ms. Lacey's Norma is commanding, manipulative, vulnerable and delusional all sometimes in the same scene. Norma has been played by many of the stage's great musical actresses and Ms. Lacey has earned a place amongst them. The moment she enters the stage, heartbreakingly grieving her beloved pet then turning on her star quality to command the stage in her bravura With One Look, Ms. Lacey captures the essence of Norma Desmond's power to seduce her audiences. To put it like Max, she becomes The Greatest One of All.
Andrew Lloyd Webber's Sunset Blvd. will be performed in The Max at Signature Theatre in Arlington Virginia through February 13, 2011. For tickets and additional performance information please visit www.signature-theatre.org.
Thursday, January 27, 2011
American Ballet Theatre at The Kennedy Center
The Thespian looks forward to the annual visit of American Ballet Theatre to the Kennedy Center each season. When the The Thespian first traveled to Washington, DC with the Girl Scouts she experienced her first professional ballet in the balcony of the Opera House watching Martine van Hamel dance Raymonda. So, it was with delight that The Thespian looked forward to seeing both the mixed repertory program and the company premiere of Artist in Residence Alexei Ratmansky's The Bright Stream.
The mixed repertory program that opened the week's performances was chosen to honor former first lady, Jacqueline Kennedy Onassis, a patron of the performing arts during her time in the White House and for many years following. All of the pieces chosen were said to be among her favorites. The evening began with George Balanchine's Theme and Variations set to Tchaikovsky's Tema con Variazioni from his Suite No. 3 for Orchestra. This is one of Balanchine's tutus and tiaras dazzlers and the company did not disappoint. Gillian Murphy was scheduled to dance the lead ballerina role and was unable to do so due to injury. Soloist Yuriko Kajiya ably took her place. While there were visible nerves in her dancing in the very beginning of the piece, she quickly settled down and delivered a gorgeous performance, ably partnered by David Hallberg. Antony Tudor's Jardin aux Lilas (the Lilac Garden) showcased the dramatic abilities of Julie Kent. Ms. Kent danced the role of Caroline, a bride-to-be attending a farewell party with her arranged and much older fiancee, Roman Zhurbin. She longs for a last embrace from her lover, danced by Thomas Forster. Into the mix is the other woman, billed as an episode in his past, the former mistress of the fiancee danced alluringly by Kristi Boone. This is a short ballet of longing, filled with brief encounters and interrupted tete-a-tete's, ending on a moment of pathos as Caroline and her fiancee leave as scheduled. While the lighting for the dance was particularly dark it added to the sense of intimacy and furtive, forbidden meetings. This is a ballet that calls for strong acting abilities and led by Ms. Kent everyone was of the highest caliber.
This was followed by another Balanchine ballet, Duo Concertant. This is a "practice clothes" ballet in which two dancers listen and observe a duet between a pianist, David LaMarche, and a violinist, Ronald Oakland, and then periodically join in and dance to some of the movements. The two dancers were Paloma Herrera and recently promoted to principal, Cory Stearns. Paloma danced beautifully, but seemed a tad uneasy in the listening sections. Cory made an impressive DC debut as a lead dancer and The Thespian looks forward to seeing more of him in the future.
The last ballet of the evening was Jerome Robbins' Fancy Free. This is the sailors on leave ballet that later inspired the Broadway musical On the Town. There was another injury substitution, this time for Ethan Stiefel and his role was danced by Sascha Radetsky. All three of the men, Mr. Radetsky, Herman Cornejo and Jose Manuel Carreno were athletic and dynamic. Each of the sailors has a distinct personality and it is reflected in their dancing. As the objects of their desire, Maria Riccetto, Isabella Boylston and Leeann Underwood were equally delightful. It is a fun way to end an evening.
Upon Saturday evening, The Thespian returned to view The Bright Stream. The Thespian is indebted to The Washington Post's dance critic, Sarah Kaufman, for her background on the history of this Soviet era ballet. Please visit:
http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2011/01/23/AR2011012303863.html
to read Ms. Kaufman's review and the devastating story of the creators of the original ballet and how they suffered under the Stalinist regime.
When you entered the Opera House you were greeted with a display above the curtain a very 30's era painting featuring stylized agricultural symbols and very prominently the hammer and sickle emblem of communism. The ballet was originally created in 1935 by Fyodor Lopukhov at the Maly Theater in Leningrad (now St. Petersburg) with music by Shostakovich. Mr. Ratmansky created a new version in 2003 for the Bolshoi Ballet and the current production debuted at the Latvian National Ballet in Riga, Latvia in 2004. These performances at the Kennedy Center were the company's debut of this production.
It is a tale set during a harvest celebration on a collective farm. There are flirtations, disguises and broad humor. Everyone ends up happy at the end. It is a comedic ballet set among the common folk. If one were uncomfortable with the communist setting it could easily be re-set among any rural community.
The basic story is thus: Zina, the local amusements organizer, danced by Paloma Herrera, awaits the arrival of famous artists who have come to take part in the harvest celebration. She is distracted by her husband, Marcelo Gomes, and several other members of the community. The artists arrive and it is clear that the ballerina, danced by the happily healed Gillian Murphy, is an old friend of Zina's from ballet school. Zina's husband is smitten by the ballerina as is the old Dacha dweller, danced by Associate Artistic Director Victor Barbee. Meanwhile the Dacha dweller's wife, who tries to act younger than she is, danced by Martine van Hamel, is smitten with the male ballet dancer, David Hallberg.
Zina is heartbroken by what she believes is the betrayal of her husband and friend. The ballerina assures her she is not interested in betraying her and sets up a plan. Zina will dress in the ballerina's costume and a mask and meet her husband. The ballerina will wear the male ballet dancer's suit and meet the Dacha dweller's wife. And the ballet dancer will dress as a Sylphide and meet the dacha dweller. There is madcap mayhem including a duel, bicycle riding and a tractor driver disguised as a dog before everyone is unmasked, the husband begs Zina's forgiveness and everyone dances to the glory of the harvest.
As Zina, Paloma Herrera is poignant and dances beautifully. As her husband, Marcello Gomes, who is one of the most expressive male dancers has terrific acting ability, and yet, has moments in which his strong athletic ballet talent is permitted to shine. Mr. Barbee and Ms. van Hamel are wonderful character performers providing much humor over the course of the evening. Gillian Murphy is delightful as the ballerina and rises to a particular choreographic challenge. During act one, the male ballet dancer dances a typical bravura solo with many leaps and turns. During act two, in disguise Ms. Murphy must dance the same solo with the exact same steps. She doesn't get the height on the leaps, but she matches the steps perfectly. And then there is our disguised Sylphide. The evening is worth the price of admission to see one of the best male dancers in North America en pointe partnered by Victor Barbee. Seriously, this a ballet that requires the male lead to dance in toe shoes.
American Ballet Theatre performed at The Kennedy Center from January 18-23, 2011. For information on upcoming performances please visit ww.abt.org.
The mixed repertory program that opened the week's performances was chosen to honor former first lady, Jacqueline Kennedy Onassis, a patron of the performing arts during her time in the White House and for many years following. All of the pieces chosen were said to be among her favorites. The evening began with George Balanchine's Theme and Variations set to Tchaikovsky's Tema con Variazioni from his Suite No. 3 for Orchestra. This is one of Balanchine's tutus and tiaras dazzlers and the company did not disappoint. Gillian Murphy was scheduled to dance the lead ballerina role and was unable to do so due to injury. Soloist Yuriko Kajiya ably took her place. While there were visible nerves in her dancing in the very beginning of the piece, she quickly settled down and delivered a gorgeous performance, ably partnered by David Hallberg. Antony Tudor's Jardin aux Lilas (the Lilac Garden) showcased the dramatic abilities of Julie Kent. Ms. Kent danced the role of Caroline, a bride-to-be attending a farewell party with her arranged and much older fiancee, Roman Zhurbin. She longs for a last embrace from her lover, danced by Thomas Forster. Into the mix is the other woman, billed as an episode in his past, the former mistress of the fiancee danced alluringly by Kristi Boone. This is a short ballet of longing, filled with brief encounters and interrupted tete-a-tete's, ending on a moment of pathos as Caroline and her fiancee leave as scheduled. While the lighting for the dance was particularly dark it added to the sense of intimacy and furtive, forbidden meetings. This is a ballet that calls for strong acting abilities and led by Ms. Kent everyone was of the highest caliber.
This was followed by another Balanchine ballet, Duo Concertant. This is a "practice clothes" ballet in which two dancers listen and observe a duet between a pianist, David LaMarche, and a violinist, Ronald Oakland, and then periodically join in and dance to some of the movements. The two dancers were Paloma Herrera and recently promoted to principal, Cory Stearns. Paloma danced beautifully, but seemed a tad uneasy in the listening sections. Cory made an impressive DC debut as a lead dancer and The Thespian looks forward to seeing more of him in the future.
The last ballet of the evening was Jerome Robbins' Fancy Free. This is the sailors on leave ballet that later inspired the Broadway musical On the Town. There was another injury substitution, this time for Ethan Stiefel and his role was danced by Sascha Radetsky. All three of the men, Mr. Radetsky, Herman Cornejo and Jose Manuel Carreno were athletic and dynamic. Each of the sailors has a distinct personality and it is reflected in their dancing. As the objects of their desire, Maria Riccetto, Isabella Boylston and Leeann Underwood were equally delightful. It is a fun way to end an evening.
Upon Saturday evening, The Thespian returned to view The Bright Stream. The Thespian is indebted to The Washington Post's dance critic, Sarah Kaufman, for her background on the history of this Soviet era ballet. Please visit:
http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2011/01/23/AR2011012303863.html
to read Ms. Kaufman's review and the devastating story of the creators of the original ballet and how they suffered under the Stalinist regime.
When you entered the Opera House you were greeted with a display above the curtain a very 30's era painting featuring stylized agricultural symbols and very prominently the hammer and sickle emblem of communism. The ballet was originally created in 1935 by Fyodor Lopukhov at the Maly Theater in Leningrad (now St. Petersburg) with music by Shostakovich. Mr. Ratmansky created a new version in 2003 for the Bolshoi Ballet and the current production debuted at the Latvian National Ballet in Riga, Latvia in 2004. These performances at the Kennedy Center were the company's debut of this production.
It is a tale set during a harvest celebration on a collective farm. There are flirtations, disguises and broad humor. Everyone ends up happy at the end. It is a comedic ballet set among the common folk. If one were uncomfortable with the communist setting it could easily be re-set among any rural community.
The basic story is thus: Zina, the local amusements organizer, danced by Paloma Herrera, awaits the arrival of famous artists who have come to take part in the harvest celebration. She is distracted by her husband, Marcelo Gomes, and several other members of the community. The artists arrive and it is clear that the ballerina, danced by the happily healed Gillian Murphy, is an old friend of Zina's from ballet school. Zina's husband is smitten by the ballerina as is the old Dacha dweller, danced by Associate Artistic Director Victor Barbee. Meanwhile the Dacha dweller's wife, who tries to act younger than she is, danced by Martine van Hamel, is smitten with the male ballet dancer, David Hallberg.
Zina is heartbroken by what she believes is the betrayal of her husband and friend. The ballerina assures her she is not interested in betraying her and sets up a plan. Zina will dress in the ballerina's costume and a mask and meet her husband. The ballerina will wear the male ballet dancer's suit and meet the Dacha dweller's wife. And the ballet dancer will dress as a Sylphide and meet the dacha dweller. There is madcap mayhem including a duel, bicycle riding and a tractor driver disguised as a dog before everyone is unmasked, the husband begs Zina's forgiveness and everyone dances to the glory of the harvest.
As Zina, Paloma Herrera is poignant and dances beautifully. As her husband, Marcello Gomes, who is one of the most expressive male dancers has terrific acting ability, and yet, has moments in which his strong athletic ballet talent is permitted to shine. Mr. Barbee and Ms. van Hamel are wonderful character performers providing much humor over the course of the evening. Gillian Murphy is delightful as the ballerina and rises to a particular choreographic challenge. During act one, the male ballet dancer dances a typical bravura solo with many leaps and turns. During act two, in disguise Ms. Murphy must dance the same solo with the exact same steps. She doesn't get the height on the leaps, but she matches the steps perfectly. And then there is our disguised Sylphide. The evening is worth the price of admission to see one of the best male dancers in North America en pointe partnered by Victor Barbee. Seriously, this a ballet that requires the male lead to dance in toe shoes.
American Ballet Theatre performed at The Kennedy Center from January 18-23, 2011. For information on upcoming performances please visit ww.abt.org.
Tuesday, January 25, 2011
The Arabian Nights written and directed by Mary Zimmerman at Arena Stage
The Stories of Scheherezade are passingly well-known to most persons who have studied literature. Who doesn't know Aladdin and the Wonderful Lamp thanks to the Disney film? Or who hasn't heard of Ali Baba and the 40 Thieves or the Seven Voyages of Sinbad? Guess what? None of those tales are part of the earliest known manuscripts of the Thousand and One Nights. According to the very helpful and thorough dramaturg notes that Arena Stage thoughtfully provides (especially to those with a smartphone), you will learn that none of the most famous stories appear any earlier than Antoine Galland's French translation in the 18th century.
Prepare for a dazzling evening of wonder as you discover several of the tales spun by Scheherezade along side that of her damaged and cruel husband, King Shahryar. If you could join the talented cast upon the Fichandler Stage you could pull up a comfy pillow and stretch out on a rich carpet and enjoy the adaptation of these marvelous stories created by the very imaginative Mary Zimmerman, first for Lookingglass Theatre Company in Chicago in 1992, revived for Berkeley Repertory Theater and now ensconced in the Fichandler Theater at Arena Stage.
Mary Zimmerman is one of the most creative writer/director's working in theater today. The Thespian has had the priviledge of viewing her produtions of Argonautika, based on Jason and the Argonauts, and Shakespeare's Pericles at The Shakespeare Theater at the Harmon Center for the Performing Arts in Washington DC. Ms. Zimmerman also recently directed a well-received version of the musical Candide also at The Shakespeare Theater. With The Arabian Nights she returns to a work she originally created in 1992 inspired by "a military official boasting that we would bomb Iraq 'back to the Stone Age.'" There is very little overtly political about this interpretation of the stories. It is simply wonderful that Zimmerman was inspired to adapt the vast canon of between 200 and 300 stories that are extant in a very pleasant few hours upon the stage. For this adaptation she chose to use the 1923 translation by Powys Mathers as it was more poetic, lyrical and erotic.
The framing tale of Scheherezade is a story of redemption and forgiveness. King Shahryar (David DeSantos) discovers his queen has been unfaithful and he murders her and her lover in their bed. Shahryar becomes so convinced that all women are deceitful and unfaithful that he vows to marry a virgin each night and kill her the next morning. His vizier, Scheherezade's father (Allen Gilmore), is given the unhappy task of procuring the King's endless stream of victim brides. After three years, no one remains in the kingdom who is eligible to be sacrificed to the King's anger. Shahryar notices that his faithful servant has two daughters and demands the elder as his bride that very night and the younger girl the next night. Scheherezade (Stacey Yen) agrees and brings her sister to the palace with a plan to try and save her life, her sister's life and the lives of any other unlucky girls who might follow. Scheherezade's father is instructed to return to the palace the following morning carrying his daughter's burial shroud.
The marriage takes place, Shahryar attempts to kill Scheherezade and her sister, Dunyazade (Maureen Sebastian) cries that she cannot sleep unless she hears one of her Scheherezade's wonderful stories. And thus it begins, as one tale leads to a tale with in a tale always ending at a cliffhanger and Scheherezade points out that it is dawn and her father awaits with her shroud. Her life is spared for one more night as the King wishes to hear how the story will end, but the King forbids her to comfort her father. The cycle begins that will end a thousand and one nights later.
Obviously not all of the stories can be adapted into one evening of theater. Zimmerman judiciously has chosen tales that Scheherezade can use to instruct Shahryar in the ways of justice, error and forgiveness. Okay, she also tells the world's greatest fart joke. And, did you hear the one about the three nuns who go to heaven?
The talented ensemble all have moments in which they take the prominent part. All are well cast and help provide a spellbinding evening. Stacey Yen is a beautiful and sensual Scheherezade and is marvelously expressive in her voice and body as she weaves herself in and out of her tales. David DeSantos is passionate and menacing as the vengeful King Shahryar. Most of the tales chosen for adaptation take place in the caliphate of Harun al-Rashid and as the bewildered at times ruler, Barzin Akhavan is both regal, exasperated and intrigued as the stories revolve around his court. The Thespian especially appreciated the performance of Susaan Jamshidi, who while prominently featured in the know-it-all story Sympathy the Learned, captivated The Thespian's attention during a swirl of multiple stories being told at the same time, playing a tortoise who becomes a princess.
This is the first production of the play to be performed in an arena setting and the director/writer and her actors have adapted well to the challenges. The Thespian highly recommends this production for the opportunity to see a truly unique evening of theater.
The Arabian Nights written and directed by Mary Zimmerman will be performed in the Fichandler Theater at Arena Stage's Mead Center for the Performing Arts through February 20, 2011. For tickets and performance information please visit www.arenastage.org.
Note: In the program you can access detailed dramaturg notes by using your smartphone and the scanlife app.
Prepare for a dazzling evening of wonder as you discover several of the tales spun by Scheherezade along side that of her damaged and cruel husband, King Shahryar. If you could join the talented cast upon the Fichandler Stage you could pull up a comfy pillow and stretch out on a rich carpet and enjoy the adaptation of these marvelous stories created by the very imaginative Mary Zimmerman, first for Lookingglass Theatre Company in Chicago in 1992, revived for Berkeley Repertory Theater and now ensconced in the Fichandler Theater at Arena Stage.
Mary Zimmerman is one of the most creative writer/director's working in theater today. The Thespian has had the priviledge of viewing her produtions of Argonautika, based on Jason and the Argonauts, and Shakespeare's Pericles at The Shakespeare Theater at the Harmon Center for the Performing Arts in Washington DC. Ms. Zimmerman also recently directed a well-received version of the musical Candide also at The Shakespeare Theater. With The Arabian Nights she returns to a work she originally created in 1992 inspired by "a military official boasting that we would bomb Iraq 'back to the Stone Age.'" There is very little overtly political about this interpretation of the stories. It is simply wonderful that Zimmerman was inspired to adapt the vast canon of between 200 and 300 stories that are extant in a very pleasant few hours upon the stage. For this adaptation she chose to use the 1923 translation by Powys Mathers as it was more poetic, lyrical and erotic.
The framing tale of Scheherezade is a story of redemption and forgiveness. King Shahryar (David DeSantos) discovers his queen has been unfaithful and he murders her and her lover in their bed. Shahryar becomes so convinced that all women are deceitful and unfaithful that he vows to marry a virgin each night and kill her the next morning. His vizier, Scheherezade's father (Allen Gilmore), is given the unhappy task of procuring the King's endless stream of victim brides. After three years, no one remains in the kingdom who is eligible to be sacrificed to the King's anger. Shahryar notices that his faithful servant has two daughters and demands the elder as his bride that very night and the younger girl the next night. Scheherezade (Stacey Yen) agrees and brings her sister to the palace with a plan to try and save her life, her sister's life and the lives of any other unlucky girls who might follow. Scheherezade's father is instructed to return to the palace the following morning carrying his daughter's burial shroud.
The marriage takes place, Shahryar attempts to kill Scheherezade and her sister, Dunyazade (Maureen Sebastian) cries that she cannot sleep unless she hears one of her Scheherezade's wonderful stories. And thus it begins, as one tale leads to a tale with in a tale always ending at a cliffhanger and Scheherezade points out that it is dawn and her father awaits with her shroud. Her life is spared for one more night as the King wishes to hear how the story will end, but the King forbids her to comfort her father. The cycle begins that will end a thousand and one nights later.
Obviously not all of the stories can be adapted into one evening of theater. Zimmerman judiciously has chosen tales that Scheherezade can use to instruct Shahryar in the ways of justice, error and forgiveness. Okay, she also tells the world's greatest fart joke. And, did you hear the one about the three nuns who go to heaven?
The talented ensemble all have moments in which they take the prominent part. All are well cast and help provide a spellbinding evening. Stacey Yen is a beautiful and sensual Scheherezade and is marvelously expressive in her voice and body as she weaves herself in and out of her tales. David DeSantos is passionate and menacing as the vengeful King Shahryar. Most of the tales chosen for adaptation take place in the caliphate of Harun al-Rashid and as the bewildered at times ruler, Barzin Akhavan is both regal, exasperated and intrigued as the stories revolve around his court. The Thespian especially appreciated the performance of Susaan Jamshidi, who while prominently featured in the know-it-all story Sympathy the Learned, captivated The Thespian's attention during a swirl of multiple stories being told at the same time, playing a tortoise who becomes a princess.
This is the first production of the play to be performed in an arena setting and the director/writer and her actors have adapted well to the challenges. The Thespian highly recommends this production for the opportunity to see a truly unique evening of theater.
The Arabian Nights written and directed by Mary Zimmerman will be performed in the Fichandler Theater at Arena Stage's Mead Center for the Performing Arts through February 20, 2011. For tickets and performance information please visit www.arenastage.org.
Note: In the program you can access detailed dramaturg notes by using your smartphone and the scanlife app.
Monday, January 10, 2011
Book Review: Catherine of Aragon: Henry's Spanish Queen by Giles Tremlett
It all comes down to sex. Whether or not Katherine of Aragon and Arthur, Prince of Wales consummated their marriage has provided academic and dramatic speculation for 500 years. In English biographies of the Tudor dynasty the "bring me a cup of ale for I have been this night in the midst of Spain" bragging reported at the famous Great Matter Trial in Blackfrier's in 1529 has been coupled with Queen Katherine's insistence that she came to her second marriage a true maid and that Henry VIII knew it. One of the marvelous revelations in Giles Tremlett's new biography of Katherine is that there was another trial in Spain at the Cathedral town of Zaragoza in June 1531. The Spanish transcripts from this trial tell a different story of that wedding night. They tell of Katherine's Spanish servants being shocked that Arthur was thin and frail and that he left the wedding bed before morning and that Katherine complained that he would never be able to consummate the wedding.
This is just one episode that is relevatory in Gile's Tremlett's well-researched book. Mr. Tremlett is not an historian. A graduate of Oxford, he is the Guardian's Madrid correspondent. Astoundingly his is the first stand-alone biography of Henry VIII's first queen since Garrett Mattingly in the 1940's. Katherine's story has, of course, been reviewed since, but usually as part of a joint biography of Henry's six wives. It is long past due for Katherine to take the center stage. And Mr. Tremlett provides an easy to read biography that benefits from access to the Spanish National Archives.
He is not the first writer to use the Archives, they have been available for quite a long time. However, it is only recently that the entirety of the Archives has been available to historians and biographers. Dr. David Starkey used them in his Six Wives book earlier this decade and he uncovered some interesting material about Katherine's first pregnancy during which, following her miscarriage of a daughter in January 1510, doctors convinced her that she was still pregnant with a twin and that she even went through the taking her chamber ritual for this phantom pregnancy giving an eerie foreshadowing of the humiliation suffered by her daughter, Queen Mary I, decades later.
Mr. Tremlett's book is important to anyone interested in Tudor history as with the inclusion of previously unused material from the Spanish archives this biography gives more insight into the life of Henry VIII's first queen. Not only does the material provide a wonderfully fleshed out account of Katherine's childhood as the youngest daughter of the Catholic Kings, Ferdinand and Isabel, it provides insight into Katherine's education, the example she had of a strong Queen Regnant in her mother which explains a lot about why she fervantly fought for her daughter's rights as heir to the English throne. And, Katherine also witnessed an example of a marriage in which one party was the sibling of the deceased spouse in the Portuguese marriages of her eldest sister, Isabel, who married first Afonso of Portugal then Manuel and then when Isabel died her sister, Maria married Manuel. It was a more complicated arrangement than Katherine herself would face when her first husband, Arthur died.
Where Mr. Tremlett's research is strongest for the student of Tudor history is where he finds material, usually in the Spanish archives, that gives a new take on well-worn events. Such it is with the marital trial held in Spain, at Zaragoza in June 1531. It is in this material that we find a markedly different take on the marriage of Arthur and Katherine. Was he the robust lad boasting of sexual conquest or the weak, frail teenage boy related in the Zaragoza transcripts? We can never know for certain, but it is wonderful to have this material brought forth by Mr. Tremlett so that we can add to the discussion of this, the most famous annulment in history.
Mr. Tremlett also provides great insight into Katherine's life as a young widow. Remember that the only language that she and Arthur could communicate in was Latin. So, imagine being a girl of 16 in a country in which only the few servants that remain with you speak Spanish and trying to maintain dignity while fighting for your dower rights. It apparently took Katherine several years to become fluent in English and she spent a lot of time under the influence of several different people from her duena, Dona Elvira, who was trying to undermine Ferdinand of Aragon's rule once Isabel of Castile died, to her confessor, Fray Diego Fernandez who probably convinced her to start defying Henry VII's authority in 1507.
Most persons familiar with Katherine's story know that she came to England in 1501 to marry Prince Arthur who died in 1502. Katherine was proposed as a bride for the future Henry VIII, but there were many obstacles including the famous dispensation required for her to marry her husband's brother. Then she lost the protection of her mother-in-law, Queen Elizabeth when she died as result of childbirth in 1503. Katherine's own mother, Isabel died in 1504 making Katherine no longer the daughter of the joint rulers of Aragon and Castile, and thereby a lesser commodity on the marriage market. Yet, after eight years of widowhood, the new King promptly marries her, shares his coronation with her and they embark on a few years of happiness.
Tremlett finds evidence that Katherine suffered from an eating disorder, there are primary sources that refer to her obsession with fasting and to episodes of vomiting. Later in life she would adopt wearing a hair shirt under her courtly clothing. He posits that this may have led to Katherine's childbearing problems. The pregnancies that are documented included the stillbirth of 1510, during which a swelling probably caused by infection led to pseudopregnancy symptoms. The birth of Prince Henry in 1511 who lived for seven weeks. A pregnancy in that ending in late 1513 after the French war and the victory of Flodden which Katherine was actively traveling to assist with material support and may have caused the child to be stillborn or only survive a few short days. Another stillbirth or shortlived child in 1514, Princess Mary in 1516 and a last sad pregnancy in 1518. Katherine had frequent pregnancies over nine years.
Tremlett also provides some interesting material surrounding the timing of the annulment attempt by Henry VIII. He finds evidence that Henry was seeking a possible annulment as early as 1524/1525. He cites that the timing of this was due to Henry's frustrations in the political arena with the Holy Roman Emperor, Charles V, Katherine nephew. Henry had many disappointments in his foreign entanglements, first from his father -in-law, Ferdinand making peace with Louis XII following Henry's victories in 1513, then by Charles breaking plans for a joint invasion of France in the mid-1520's. Tremlett argues that this is what turned Henry to first consider annulling his marriage, to Katherine, which puts the usual romantic view that it only happened after he met and fell in love with Anne Boleyn into a different light. For if you accept Tremlett's view, the elevation of Henry VIII"s bastard son to the peerage in 1525 comes as much more dishonorable to Katherine.
The Great Matter has been a subject in many, many books. Tremlett gives a good background to the various arguments for and against the annulment. One of the events he points out is that Henry VIII gave Katherine of Aragon permission to appeal her case to Rome. That is correct. During the famous opening of the Blackfrier's trial, it is well known that Katherine delivered a famous speech imploring her case on her knees in front of Henry's throne. (see Shakespeare, see most television versions of the scene) However, at the end of the speech she asked Henry for permission to write directly to the Pope to defend her honor and conscience. And Henry gave her that permission. Tremlett then goes on to discuss at length the foreign examinations of the annulment proposals, from seeking the opinions of the universities to the trial at Zaragoza, apparently not the only foreign trial of the Great Matter.
Tremlett ends with reviewing the years that Katherine spent in exile from 1531 to her death in 1536. He discusses the precautions taken against poison which became a real threat when an attempt was made using poison on John Fisher's life. He discusses the ways that Katherine's friends, such as Eustace Chapuys, appointed Imperial Ambassador to England in 1529, Margaret Pole, Countess of Salisbury and Gertrude Courtenay, Marchioness of Exeter tried to aid the exiled queen. He also mentions how, Katherine's nephew, while willing to use his aunt's situation for political advantage was never serious about waging war on Henry. Not only did Katherine forbid it, Charles had his own issues on the continent that did not lead to Charles wishing to provide a martial intervention.
Overall, Mr. Tremlett has provided a much needed updated biography of this remarkable woman. He provides chapter notes online for anyone who wishes to review his sources. He has a good writing style, although he does begin each chapter with one or two paragraphs which are "dramatic" in nature he does not stick to that style but provides a clear and concise analysis of primary source material.
As a note: The Thespian is used to writing Katherine of Aragon's name with a K as that is how Katherine was spelt in England in the 16th century. Mr. Tremlett uses a C which follows the Spanish version of her name, Catalina. The Thespian does not want this to lead to any confusion.
The book was published in the United Kingdom in 2010 by Faber and Faber Limited.
This is just one episode that is relevatory in Gile's Tremlett's well-researched book. Mr. Tremlett is not an historian. A graduate of Oxford, he is the Guardian's Madrid correspondent. Astoundingly his is the first stand-alone biography of Henry VIII's first queen since Garrett Mattingly in the 1940's. Katherine's story has, of course, been reviewed since, but usually as part of a joint biography of Henry's six wives. It is long past due for Katherine to take the center stage. And Mr. Tremlett provides an easy to read biography that benefits from access to the Spanish National Archives.
He is not the first writer to use the Archives, they have been available for quite a long time. However, it is only recently that the entirety of the Archives has been available to historians and biographers. Dr. David Starkey used them in his Six Wives book earlier this decade and he uncovered some interesting material about Katherine's first pregnancy during which, following her miscarriage of a daughter in January 1510, doctors convinced her that she was still pregnant with a twin and that she even went through the taking her chamber ritual for this phantom pregnancy giving an eerie foreshadowing of the humiliation suffered by her daughter, Queen Mary I, decades later.
Mr. Tremlett's book is important to anyone interested in Tudor history as with the inclusion of previously unused material from the Spanish archives this biography gives more insight into the life of Henry VIII's first queen. Not only does the material provide a wonderfully fleshed out account of Katherine's childhood as the youngest daughter of the Catholic Kings, Ferdinand and Isabel, it provides insight into Katherine's education, the example she had of a strong Queen Regnant in her mother which explains a lot about why she fervantly fought for her daughter's rights as heir to the English throne. And, Katherine also witnessed an example of a marriage in which one party was the sibling of the deceased spouse in the Portuguese marriages of her eldest sister, Isabel, who married first Afonso of Portugal then Manuel and then when Isabel died her sister, Maria married Manuel. It was a more complicated arrangement than Katherine herself would face when her first husband, Arthur died.
Where Mr. Tremlett's research is strongest for the student of Tudor history is where he finds material, usually in the Spanish archives, that gives a new take on well-worn events. Such it is with the marital trial held in Spain, at Zaragoza in June 1531. It is in this material that we find a markedly different take on the marriage of Arthur and Katherine. Was he the robust lad boasting of sexual conquest or the weak, frail teenage boy related in the Zaragoza transcripts? We can never know for certain, but it is wonderful to have this material brought forth by Mr. Tremlett so that we can add to the discussion of this, the most famous annulment in history.
Mr. Tremlett also provides great insight into Katherine's life as a young widow. Remember that the only language that she and Arthur could communicate in was Latin. So, imagine being a girl of 16 in a country in which only the few servants that remain with you speak Spanish and trying to maintain dignity while fighting for your dower rights. It apparently took Katherine several years to become fluent in English and she spent a lot of time under the influence of several different people from her duena, Dona Elvira, who was trying to undermine Ferdinand of Aragon's rule once Isabel of Castile died, to her confessor, Fray Diego Fernandez who probably convinced her to start defying Henry VII's authority in 1507.
Most persons familiar with Katherine's story know that she came to England in 1501 to marry Prince Arthur who died in 1502. Katherine was proposed as a bride for the future Henry VIII, but there were many obstacles including the famous dispensation required for her to marry her husband's brother. Then she lost the protection of her mother-in-law, Queen Elizabeth when she died as result of childbirth in 1503. Katherine's own mother, Isabel died in 1504 making Katherine no longer the daughter of the joint rulers of Aragon and Castile, and thereby a lesser commodity on the marriage market. Yet, after eight years of widowhood, the new King promptly marries her, shares his coronation with her and they embark on a few years of happiness.
Tremlett finds evidence that Katherine suffered from an eating disorder, there are primary sources that refer to her obsession with fasting and to episodes of vomiting. Later in life she would adopt wearing a hair shirt under her courtly clothing. He posits that this may have led to Katherine's childbearing problems. The pregnancies that are documented included the stillbirth of 1510, during which a swelling probably caused by infection led to pseudopregnancy symptoms. The birth of Prince Henry in 1511 who lived for seven weeks. A pregnancy in that ending in late 1513 after the French war and the victory of Flodden which Katherine was actively traveling to assist with material support and may have caused the child to be stillborn or only survive a few short days. Another stillbirth or shortlived child in 1514, Princess Mary in 1516 and a last sad pregnancy in 1518. Katherine had frequent pregnancies over nine years.
Tremlett also provides some interesting material surrounding the timing of the annulment attempt by Henry VIII. He finds evidence that Henry was seeking a possible annulment as early as 1524/1525. He cites that the timing of this was due to Henry's frustrations in the political arena with the Holy Roman Emperor, Charles V, Katherine nephew. Henry had many disappointments in his foreign entanglements, first from his father -in-law, Ferdinand making peace with Louis XII following Henry's victories in 1513, then by Charles breaking plans for a joint invasion of France in the mid-1520's. Tremlett argues that this is what turned Henry to first consider annulling his marriage, to Katherine, which puts the usual romantic view that it only happened after he met and fell in love with Anne Boleyn into a different light. For if you accept Tremlett's view, the elevation of Henry VIII"s bastard son to the peerage in 1525 comes as much more dishonorable to Katherine.
The Great Matter has been a subject in many, many books. Tremlett gives a good background to the various arguments for and against the annulment. One of the events he points out is that Henry VIII gave Katherine of Aragon permission to appeal her case to Rome. That is correct. During the famous opening of the Blackfrier's trial, it is well known that Katherine delivered a famous speech imploring her case on her knees in front of Henry's throne. (see Shakespeare, see most television versions of the scene) However, at the end of the speech she asked Henry for permission to write directly to the Pope to defend her honor and conscience. And Henry gave her that permission. Tremlett then goes on to discuss at length the foreign examinations of the annulment proposals, from seeking the opinions of the universities to the trial at Zaragoza, apparently not the only foreign trial of the Great Matter.
Tremlett ends with reviewing the years that Katherine spent in exile from 1531 to her death in 1536. He discusses the precautions taken against poison which became a real threat when an attempt was made using poison on John Fisher's life. He discusses the ways that Katherine's friends, such as Eustace Chapuys, appointed Imperial Ambassador to England in 1529, Margaret Pole, Countess of Salisbury and Gertrude Courtenay, Marchioness of Exeter tried to aid the exiled queen. He also mentions how, Katherine's nephew, while willing to use his aunt's situation for political advantage was never serious about waging war on Henry. Not only did Katherine forbid it, Charles had his own issues on the continent that did not lead to Charles wishing to provide a martial intervention.
Overall, Mr. Tremlett has provided a much needed updated biography of this remarkable woman. He provides chapter notes online for anyone who wishes to review his sources. He has a good writing style, although he does begin each chapter with one or two paragraphs which are "dramatic" in nature he does not stick to that style but provides a clear and concise analysis of primary source material.
As a note: The Thespian is used to writing Katherine of Aragon's name with a K as that is how Katherine was spelt in England in the 16th century. Mr. Tremlett uses a C which follows the Spanish version of her name, Catalina. The Thespian does not want this to lead to any confusion.
The book was published in the United Kingdom in 2010 by Faber and Faber Limited.
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