likethebeer

My friend, Terry T, on the recording of that play, and an inclusion of 5 minutes of the Broadway cast recording:
http://www.artsjournal.com/aboutlastnight/2014/03/printing_the_legend.html

I'm tagging this under "Movies" but of course it's not that. I suppose I could put a tag for "entertainment". Then I suppose I should go through all the "movies" and re-tag them. Ah well. Later: Done.

It was its closing night at our local outdoor repertory theater.

I thought it was going to be really heavy. It was actually funny at points - well, duh, Wikipedia tells me it's a comedy. That's not the impression I've ever gotten. I've always gotten the impression - from popular representations - that it was about an over-protective father, who has gotten v. angry when people are shipwrecked on his island, and he has this creature named Caliban, who is kind of disgusting and almost threatening.

Huh.

Anyway, Prospero uses magic to bring a ship to the island, and three groups who disembark are kept away from each other: two drunkards; the son of the man who helped to push Prospero out of Milan; and the men who commanded the ship, two of whom worked to kick Prospero out of Milan.

Prospero also uses "airy spirit", Ariel (and Ariel's sprites). Ariel's on there a lot, but again, with common culture, I've heard much more about Prospero's daughter, Miranda, than I've heard about Ariel.

Anyway, the actors who played Ariel & Prospero were awesome. Ariel was played by a woman who's been in the company for a long time - Deborah Staples (she's also played Roxane in "Cyrano" and "Beatrice" in "Much Ado" - big time roles, obviously). I didn't even recognize her until the intermission when I looked up who was playing what character.

Prospero, who was played by Kenneth Albers (a man who's also a director) had a ringing voice and the ability to carry emotion across an audience of 900. There's a point where he started crying, and I got teary eyed, too. He was large and imposing, but also vulnerable; and, at points, just a father watching his daughter fall for the first man she has ever seen (Ferdinand).

I was disappointed by Miranda. Not super disappointed, but the woman who played her is tiny, and I think this really has an effect on her resonance, which has to play to an outdoor theater. Her voice comes off as kind of thready, and when she has lines that are supposed to reach "the back of the house" it often sounds like she's just screaming. She just doesn't have as much of a presence as the woman who played Ariel. Fortunately, the most that I had to put up with her was in the v. beginning, and that was while I was being bowled over by Prospero.

The Tempest, since the main character is using sprites and spirits, goes toward the surreal. They had these spirits that would do things and wander around, not seen by anyone. They're fucking with people as you would expect (saying things that sound like an insults, say), but also moving things around and causing things to happen or change.

I'm so glad I went. Terry Teachout reminded me that it was closing in his blog.