SITE GUIDE
SEARCH
REVIEWS
REVIEW ARCHIVES
ADVERTISING AT CURTAINUP
FEATURES
NEWS
Etcetera and
Short Term Listings
LISTINGS
Broadway
Off-Broadway
NYC Restaurants
BOOKS and CDs
OTHER PLACES
Berkshires
London
California
New Jersey
DC
Philadelphia
Elsewhere
QUOTES
TKTS
PLAYWRIGHTS' ALBUMS
LETTERS TO EDITOR
FILM
LINKS
MISCELLANEOUS
Free Updates
Masthead
A CurtainUp Review
All's Well That Ends Well
By Les Gutman
|
No legacy is so rich as honesty. —Act III, scene 5 |
A. Parisse, John Cullum, A. Holland and R. Rogers
(Photo: Joan Marcus) |
In some summers, the advertising for Shakespeare in the Park pushes a theme connecting the plays being offered. A few years ago, as an example, the pairing of Romeo and Juliet with A Midsummer Night's Dream was announced by pink posters for "Free Love in Central Park". This summer, the most obvious connection between All's Well and Measure for Measure, with which it is being performed in repertory (and which will be reviewed during the week following this review), is that both plays have been denominated as among Shakespeare's "problem plays". Free problems in Central Park doesn't offer quite the same enticement.
The truth is, All's Well is not just a problem play (the term really only means that it can't easily be classified as a comedy or any other standard form), but also a difficult play, and a troubling play, and a frustrating play. For me, there is a very particular stumbling block, and it centers on one question: What is it about Bertram (André Holland) that drives Helena (Annie Parisse) to take extraordinary -- indeed shocking -- steps to have him as hers. Without a satisfying answer, the play is just a series of increasingly implausible occurrences punctuated by a very high proportion of disparate comic interludes.
Daniel Sullivan, who directs the play with great clarity, offers little insight. We are left with my nagging question, and must thus decide if what else there is, is sufficiently entertaining to justify spending a lovely evening in the park. (The answer to that question is almost always "yes".)
There are performances here to savor, though none are really knock-outs. At first blush, I thought Annie Parisse had been miscast as Helena, but as the show proceeded, I very much changed my mind, finding her combination of dogged if inexplicable perseverance and wistfulness oddly compelling, even if not wholly illuminating. As her quest, André Holland is less compelling, and like much of the cast, more than adequate, but not by much. Happily, his character has not been overly "characterized" and he is not played with the sort of "attitude" that easily could be heavily layered onto him. Moreover, aside from a singular gesture in the opening moment of the play -- Sullivan begins and ends the play with dancing, there is no real sense of a class-based dismissal of Helena that seems to be intended by the language.
John Cullum gives a very fine turn as the King of France, while the other musical theater notable in the cast, Tonya Pinkins as the Countess, is disappointing: a wasted opportunity. Perhaps the biggest surprise on the plus side is Caitlin O'Connell's Widow as well as Kristen Connolly as her daughter Diana (that's the one Bertram's after in Florence); their scene together is one of the most enjoyable of the evening. Less successful are the comedians. Both Reg Rogers as Parolles and David Manis as Lavatch seem to have landed on one note and avoided venturing away from it. In the former case, it's a particular shame, because both the actor and the role can be better. In the latter case, I'm afraid anyine playing the part is at a disadvantage in my book: it just seems like so much surplusage.
Scott Pask's set follows a fairly familiar pattern for the Delacorte: upstage scaffording (this time decked out in ironwork of the fin de siècle variety, in keeping with the overall theme) affording some nice two-tiered moments and a bit of privacy beneath. (I think, though, that we could've done without all the chairs he had onstage, which the servants spend an inordinate amount of time moving around and fussing with.) Jane Greenwood's costumes are lovely and perfect as they usually are and Peter Kaczorowski manages to create some very effective moods with his lighting. The usual sound designers in the park provided good effects and Tom Kitt's music, including ample underscoring, which both sounded good and fit well.
I may never be satisfied by this play, but if I am to be it will probably require the sort of radical rethinking that's unlikely to come at Daniel Sullivan's hands. In the end, I think the character I like the most here is Diana, and that quote of hers above sums things up nicely for me. Yes there are many plays of Shakespeare that have lots of dishonesty, but none seems so rooted in it as this one. And so that, I suppose, is its legacy to me.
|
All's Well That Ends Well by William Shakespeare Directed by Daniel Sullivan Cast: Kristen Connolly (Diana), John Cullum (King of France), Carson Elrod (Interpreter), Joe Forbrich (Duke of Florence), Michael Hayden (Second Brother Dumaine), Andre Holland (Bertram), Jordan Lund (Rinaldo), David Manis (Lavatch), Zoey Martinson (Mariana), Dakin Matthews (Lafew), Katie Meister (Third Daughter), Caitlin O’Connell (Isbel/a Widow), Annie Parisse (Helena), Tonya Pinkins (Countess of Rousillon), Lorenzo Pisoni (First Brother Dumaine), Aleque Reid (Maudlin), Reg Rogers (Parolles), Lucas Caleb Rooney (French Gentleman) and Katie Wieland (Fourth Daughter). Costume Design: Jane Greenwood Lighting Design: Peter Kaczorowski Sound Design: Acme Sound Partners Original Music: Tom Kitt Fight Director: Thomas Schall Choreographer: Mimi Lieber Running Time: 2 hours, 45 minutes with 1 intermission Delacorte Theater, Central Park (enter park at 81st St/CPW or 79th St/5th Av) Public Theater website: www.publictheater.org Opening June 25, 2011, closing July 27, 2011 Performed in repertory with Measure for Measure--see website for performance schedule; FREE Reviewed by Les Gutman based on 6/21/11 performance |
|
REVIEW FEEDBACK Highlight one of the responses below and click "copy" or"CTRL+C"
Paste the highlighted text into the subject line (CTRL+ V): Feel free to add detailed comments in the body of the email. . .also the names and emails of any friends to whom you'd like us to forward a copy of this review. Visit Curtainup's Blog Annex For a feed to reviews and features as they are posted add http://curtainupnewlinks.blogspot.com to your reader Curtainup at Facebook . . . Curtainup at Twitter Subscribe to our FREE email updates: E-mail: esommer@curtainup.comesommer@curtainup.com put SUBSCRIBE CURTAINUP EMAIL UPDATE in the subject line and your full name and email address in the body of the message. If you can spare a minute, tell us how you came to CurtainUp and from what part of the country. |
Slings & Arrows-the complete set
You don't have to be a Shakespeare aficionado to love all 21 episodes of this hilarious and moving Canadian TV series about a fictional Shakespeare Company
width="100" border=0>
South Pacific
In the Heights
