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A CurtainUp Review
The Notebooks of Leonardo da Vinci
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Love is the child of knowledge. .... And if there is no love, what then?---Leonardo da Vinci |
The Cast (Photo: Joan Marcus)
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Unquestionably, anyone's short list of the greatest minds in the history of human existence would include Leonardo da Vinci. Not only did this quintessential Renaissance Man possess unparalleled intellect, he of course also was (and remains) one of the most prized of all painters.
Less well known, perhaps, is the extent to which da Vinci applied his heightened genius as a scientist (as an observer and analyst of the phenomenon surrounding him) to his art, or the degree to which he was a thinker of enormous depth. Thus, his enormous achievements were accompanied by a keen appreciation for their limitations. Art may imitate life, science may seek to explain it, but the smallest life was more precious than the sum of man's accomplishments. Similarly, the essence of the human soul eluded the painter and the scientist as well.
The extent of Leonardo's thoughts is not fully known to us. He was not a compulsive note-taker, except during a relative brief period toward the end of the Fifteenth Century. Five thousand pages of his notebooks (some little more than diaries, others just doodles) are extant, but being possessed of a mind bursting with new ideas, he was not one to expend effort sorting his work into nice neat packages.
Roughly a decade ago, Mary Zimmerman adapted excerpts from the da Vinci notebooks into a stage presentation. It is revived now at Second Stage, on the heels of Zimmerman's wildly successful Metamorphoses (our review linked below), which began its New York life at Second Stage before transferring to Broadway.
Like Metamorphoses, Zimmerman's The Notebooks of Leonardo da Vinci is nothing if not visually stunning. And it is chockablock with details from which one can glean a fair sense of Leonardo. In the end, however, it is more a reflection of the man's scattershot musings than a fully revelatory portrait. One of da Vinci's great failures (depicted memorably onstage) was his inability to replicate the flight of a bird. Yet from his experiments on the subject come some of his most beautiful artistic renderings. One might say the same of Ms. Zimmerman's effort here: it is lovely to look at, though it never soars.
An octet of fine actors, each of whom portrays Leonardo at various points in the show while at other times acting out (in greater or lesser specificity) the text being recited, bombard us with performances that include mime, gymnastics, dance and singing, among other disciplines. Taken individually, they acquit themselves well in Zimmerman's various excerpts, but as a whole they are not as compelling as one might hope. Perhaps the problem is in the text, or maybe it is the lack of focus generated by shifting the central character from actor to actor. In the end, this is Zimmerman's baby, and they shouldn't be faulted for their complicity in its shortcomings.
Scott Bradley has designed a set that overflows with surprises. Its walls are covered in wooden filing cabinet drawers which open to reveal a myriad of props, set pieces and other goodies. One turns out to be a revolving door, another folds down into a staircase; still others pull far out into the stage as a pond, a field of tall dried grass and a multi-layered depiction of the earth's geology. The walls are connected by parallel bars which become a tool in trapeze acts that are a part of this three-ringed circus. It's impressive, but (as with the abundant font of stage spectacles in which Zimmerman has her cast engage) leaves us feeling we are watching inventive staging and production elements rather than being engaged by them.
Ultimately, in spite of its creativity, Notebooks seems more like a variety show than a coherent theater piece. The soul of theater is storytelling but, like Leonardo, even Ms. Zimmerman's genius can't capture it.
LINK
Mary Zimmerman's Metamorphoses
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The Notebooks of Leonardo da Vinci Adapted and Directed by Mary Zimmerman with Anjali Bhimani, Lizzy Cooper Davis, Christopher Donahue, Kyle Hall, Doug Hara, Louise Lamson, Mariann Mayberry and Paul Oakley Stovall Set Design: Scott Bradley Costume Design: Mara Blumenfeld, based on the original designs of Allison Reeds Lighting Design: TJ Gerckens Sound Design: Michael Bodeen Original Music: Miriam Strum and Michael Bodeen Running time: 1 hour, 25 minutes with no intermission Second Stage Theatre, 307 West 43rd Street (@ 8th Av.) Telephone: (212) 246-4422 TUES @7, WED - SAT @8, WED. SAT @2, SUN @3; $55 (students $20) Opening June 29, 2003, closing August 3, 2003 Reviewed by Les Gutman based on 6/28/03 performance |
Mendes at the Donmar
Our Review
At This Theater
Leonard Maltin's 2003 Movie and Video Guide
Ridiculous!The Theatrical Life & Times of Charles Ludlam
Somewhere For Me, a Biography of Richard Rodgers
The New York Times Book of Broadway: On the Aisle for the Unforgettable Plays of the Last Century
6, 500 Comparative Phrases including 800 Shakespearean Metaphors by CurtainUp's editor.
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