First, don't read this if you have any intention of seeing Young Frankstein or MacBeth on Broadway. I don't have the LJ savvy to hide my comments and the descriptions so there will be spoilers. Sorry.
Ok so I went down this weekend to NYC. It was a long-awaited birthday present from my mother and step-father. My trips were becoming annual (went four years running until 2006). I have seen 42nd Street, Assassins, Spamalot, ...Spelling Bee, and Barefoot... with many talented performers and lots of anecdotes. Most trips have been with some combination of my friends, most often with ![[info]](http://l-stat.livejournal.com/img/userinfo.gif) silverhill and wej12. This was my second trip with my mom though. Anyways, we drove down. Slow goes with me and Mom- although she did get a speeding ticket on the way home (yes, the lead foot is genetic). Everything was fine until the 7-8 blocks we had to drive from the Lincoln Tunnel to our hotel which this trip was the Crown Plaza on Broadway between 48th & 49th, nice accommodations- not worth the money. First, I forgot that the City actually blocks off streets post-shows to encourage traffic flow and protect pedestrians- my best guess. Do you know the actual reason, vtplayground or danceswithsteps? So we drove from 42nd street to 51st twice to get to the hotel valet parking. Also, Hell’s Kitchen has a flea market that apparently blocks access to the Lincoln Tunnel on Sundays so it was a roundabout journey…so next time if I drive, I’ll plan the arrival and departures better… Sidebar: We did stop by the Saint James for those on that adventurous stay- MUCH improvement since we were there. The lobby is almost complete, two nice sitting areas with computer-access for the swipe of a credit card and a television, beagley. Also, they’ve replaced the chain link gate at the bottom of the stairs with a nice double glass doors,vtplayground and danceswithsteps. The delis are still there and the rates for all are still very reasonable (although they had public access computers there beagley). The elevator that had questionable performance was officially labeled out-of-order though. Anyways, with the upgrades, I would stay there again sans the cot but with earplugs yoicksandaway and darthlara ;-) Went to Angus McIndoe’s but didn’t stay long enough to catch anyone of name post-shows. Mostly because we were too tired to stick around. We had originally bought tickets for Young Frankstein only- that was to be our show. Then as we meander around the City Saturday afternoon, we opted to get tickets to MacBeth. We didn’t make it to Sak’s but did stop off at Bodecelli- some really pretty shoes- I was well restrained and opted to not get any even though I could have had two pairs… just felt I could spend $325 better… I know everyone catch your breath- I said NO to shoes ;-) As to the shows… Absolutely LOVED Young Frankstein! The lighting effects and set were incredibly. The comedic timing of the cast was magnificient. The dancing was smart and sassy when necessary and delightfully simple vaudeville when appropriate. It was a treasure. Technically the show was superb- with only one obvious costume malfunction (I saw the prosthetic for the Eye-gor’s hump under his black cloak) and Meghan Mullally seemed a little cautious about the final wig. It was very much everything I expected from a Mel Brooks production. I could gush much more but because I was entertained I'd have to think about it more.
I did not, however, care for the opening of various food items throughout the opening number- they sold snack foods and bottle beverages as concessions. There were frequent foil-crinkling sounds and the hissing of carbonation from the drinks. Then, when we came back, the pretzel wrapper that I had found so distracting earlier was just laying on the floor in front of MY seat. My louder than whisper comment to my mom was- “hmmm… this isn’t a cheap movie theater with $8 dollar seats. I would this sort of facility would command a little more respect.” And this was a Saturday night performance. I can accept the casual dress because I think theater should be accessible to as many as possible but the blatant lack of respect for what is clearly a historic building just disappoints and grieves me. When I approached the House staff, one of the ushers told me that he felt it was because it was a conglomerate-owner theater versus a smaller private foundation. That the income from the concessions out-weighed the expenses to maintain the restored facilities. So, the ushers spend most of the time cleaning post-performances. Moving on… MacBeth… ahhh, I have a very different take than silverhill’s post. I love Shakespeare… I love the language, I love complexities of character and the human fallibility… I love the subtle dynamics and the simply obvious… I love how unpretentious, unassuming, and accessible his writing is. I agree with her- the cast built an incredible sense of urgency and immediacy. Unfortunately, what I found was that the breadth of the scene and character development ended there-not because of the script but because of the interpreation. This made the urgency hollow. The audience is waiting, holding its breath, anticipating what? For MacBeth! But, one of the purposes behind this scene is to establish MacBeth’s character as others see him. To set up him above reproach…and lay the foundation for the intense struggle that MacBeth feels at the contemplation of killing Duncan- he is loyal, valiant, and adored- conversely he adores his King…Duncan- THAT conflict is the motivation for his actions later and Lady MacBeth’s. The other is to establish the camaraderie of Duncan’s men- they are a united Scotland in a time of great strife until… MacBeth!
The setting was superb. The cold brick, sparse set pieces, and the rickety bay elevator were a great contemporary transition of castle- it very much related the same imagery and drew the same sensory effect. As to the gratuitous motives- it’s proven time and time again that Shakespeare is timeless- the comedies are easier to translate- changing the costumes and the sets is solely done for base entertainment value. The dramas are more complicated to translate, mostly because they are tied to historical figures and finding a connecting is, well, more complicated… I applaud this in this show. I, also, agree Patrick Stewart was superb, as were Kate Fleetwood (Lady MacBeth) and two actors portraying the MacDuffs (although I found the “pause” for MacDuff’s “feel it like a man” monologue a bit too pregnant). Unfortunately, I feel that the three or four weak performances in the Ensemble made their tasks as actors more difficult.
I found the change for the witches effective but I found the overall interpretation of them to be inconsistent. The intermittent use of echoes was distracting from their dialog and their characterizations. Additionally, the inconsistent movement- from awkward stiff to impish sprite like- undermined their haunting instigations. I found the “rap” pacing of the spell was out-of-place (something more haunting and gypsy-esque would have been more in-line with the setting). I hated the interpretation of the porter- the whole speech and peeing in the sink- THAT was gratuitous! Taking a simple character and creating unnecessary complexities, defeats the contrast that character was written to create- it may be great acting but it’s poor direction. Also, that song and dance to mask a set change was cheap. It was thinly related to the characters and the setting but ultimately just came off as a cover for a set-change. I was sorely disappointed. The lighting and most of the effects did their job. Save the two commented on previously, they added to the production, not distracting from the performances. The blood and gore were completely on mark. The staging and strobed effect during the killing of the MacDuffs was an incredible balance between the scripted violence and artistic violence and what would be acceptable without a rating system.
The one word, however, I would sum up this production with is not riveting silverhill chose but “pretentious.” I am able to analyze any show and breakdown what I enjoyed and what I didn’t. My mother, though, didn’t enjoy the production at all and for me that marks the show as unsuccessful. Shakespeare wrote for the broad masses not exclusively for educated or elite. For me, the mark of truly well-done Shakespeare is the ability of the company to convey the story and the characters without tripping on the language. That is audience understands what each character is saying or doing and why without necessarily comprehending the language- it is a tall task. However, that is the mark of great work; it’s the mark of work that is timeless- Shakespeare. Would I recommend the shows yes- Young Frankenstein to everyone; MacBeth to the theatrically aware/educated. I have since come to learn that the company that produced MacBeth tends to lean towards “high brow” productions… I guess I will have to think twice about what I see them do in the future. I’m sad that I missed the IM assemblage- yoicksandaway, the May Day bash- danceswithsteps, and all the Godspell mayhem. The weekend was absolutely worth it though. Ok enough monolguing back to work. |
grateful
contemplative
annoyed
disappointed
silly
tired
blah