Hello everyone. Had a very nice time and saw some very good theatre.
Brecht's THE LIFE OF GALILEO at the National with the extraordinary Simon Russell Beale was the highlight of the trip and probably one of the best productions I've ever seen. Such a brilliant piece of writing (playwright David Hare did a great job with the adaptation) dealing with questions of faith vs. reason, God vs. scientific fact and man's place in the universe if there is no higher power. The play concerns Galileo's many struggles and trevails with the religious authority of the time (the early 17th century) which brands him as a heretic for his discoveries in astronomy. "If the earth revolves around the sun, rather than the other way around, then where is heaven?" they ask. Galileo has no answer -- he only knows the truth, a truth they don't want him to speak and they use their formidable power to censor him and threaten his life, livelihood and work. How he deals with this over a 30 year period and the moral implications it raises -- does he stand up for the truth and suffer the consequences which may include death or does he conform to their wishes and betray his work and his responsibilities to science and his fellow man? -- are the subject of this powerful and thought-provoking epic play.
The cast, direction and design were all flawless. Beale, especially, was a marvel. This is a mammoth role (he's on stage for much of the 3 hour, 15 minute running time) and it places daunting demands on the actor which Beale managed superbly. It was amazing to watch him go from the wily devilish figure who ravenously relished tearing into the searing intellectual/religious debates in the play's first half to the resigned, chastened, bitter tragic blind old man he eventually became at play's end. Truly a performance and a play for the ages.
The revival of SUNDAY IN THE PARK WITH GEORGE was beautifully rendered -- intimate and textured and emotional. It topped the OBC in many ways -- Daniel Evans's George was heartfelt and conflicted without any of Patinkin's mannerisms or distractions; Jenna Russell captured Dot's purity and vulnerability superbly. The use of digital animated projections for the dogs, second soldier, the chromolume scene and for the Georges in "Putting It Together" was very clever, witty and inventive. Happily, the reduced orchestrations sounded surprisingly full and rich. And the audience response was effusive even for a closing night performance -- 6 curtain calls. I'd love it if somehow Evans and Russell could come over for the proposed Broadway production -- each was superb, though obviously they have no name recognition on this side of the Atlantic. With or without them, though, I look forward to seeing this production again.
SEE HOW THEY RUN -- a revival of a classic British farce from the 40s -- was hilarious and directed with the precision of a Swiss watch. I admired the timing and level of detail in the direction and the performances (it struck me that the Brits simply do farce better than we do, in the main). The plot is too convoluted to try to relate here, but basically it deals with the endless confusions which arise involving a country vicar and his wife, an old friend of hers who's stationed at a local army base who borrows one of the vicar's outfits so he can take the wife into town for an evening out, the wife's father who's the bishop of the parish, a travelling vicar who's come to stay at the vicar's house for the evening and an escaped German soldier who's on the lam and also borrows one of the the vicar's outfits as a disguise. Terribly silly, yes, but absolutely hilarious.
I really enjoyed BILLY ELLIOT which was seemlessly staged by Stephen Daldry and featured beautiful, at times poetic and always energetic choreography from Peter Darling. Elton John's score (with book and lyrics by the original screenwriter Lee Hall) is easily the best he's written for the theatre with several standout numbers. Hall's book manages to not only capture the sweet and very human story of a young working class boy (played at the performance I saw by the gifted Leon Cooke) who wants to dance, but all of the pressures that a mining strike puts on his family and the entire community around him. The choreography employs everything from ballet to tap to jazz and is thrilling to witness. Not sure why some people think Americans would have difficulty grasping the subject matter. While there's the odd colloquialism here and there, it's a simple, universal story, really, and it should resonate as much with audiences here as it does in the UK. This should be a major hit when it gets here next year.
I also saw a very solid production of TITUS ANDRONICUS at Shakespeare's Globe Theatre. The staging was fairly traditional and the acting was quite good all around, notably from Douglas Hodge who took on the title role.
It was quite a fun trip and I'd love to get back again sometime soon.
"What a story........ everything but the bloodhounds snappin' at her rear end." -- Birdie
[http://margochanning.broadwayworld.com/]
"The Devil Be Hittin' Me" -- Whitney
Updated On: 9/5/06 at 04:32 PM
