King Lear Reviews

Talkin Broadway is Mixed-to-Negative:

"Have the holidays come again already? Not quite, but you can be forgiven for thinking so. A trip to The Public Theater is all you’ll need to convince you that Santa Claus has come back to town. For not only will you find a bright, blinking toy of a delivery has been made there, you’ll also find a jolly old man with a big white beard whose fondest goal seems to be to deliver buckets of buoyant cheer, even when he could rightfully be sobbing his eyes out.

Were it December rather than March, and were the play an adaptation of Miracle on 34th Street rather than King Lear, there might be less cause for concern. But as directed by James Lapine and starring Kevin Kline as the King Who Can’t Stop Giving, all that’s missing from this magically misguided mounting of William Shakespeare’s most piercingly human tragedy are visions of sugar plums dancing in your head. Chances are, though, that Lapine would have rejected those as being as old-fashioned as other traditional concepts he’s excised from this Lear: size, occasion, and emotion.
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This is one King Lear that never lags, never drags, and never droops. Unfortunately, it also never digs much deeper than the guns-and-gals flicks Lapine seems intent on emulating. From Heidi Ettinger’s abattoir war room set and the contemporary regal and renegade costumes of Jess Goldstein to the wildly uncentered performances, this is a production geared for maximum visceral impact and minimal invasiveness. When you have an Edmund who’s apparently been cast more for his matinee-idol looks than for any psychological insights he’ll unlock, and Edgar who vanishes into the sand covering the stage, or a Fool (Philip Goodwin) more about echoing Harpo Marx than reflecting Lear’s own inherent absurdities, depth is not a goal easily achieved.
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Kline’s performance is heavily external: His posture changes from upright and strong, the measure of a monarch ready to pass on the crown, to so weak he can barely crawl, let alone sit up. But aside from that and Kline’s outfit and ever-expanding white shock of hair, which eventually leave him looking like a cross between Kris Kringle and Lauren Bacall’s Medea, there are few discernible differences between the opening’s hopeful king and the finale’s broken peasant prisoner. To the very end, both Lear and Kline look and especially sound like they’re putting on a wrist-rapping morality play for a world adrift in recklessness.



http://www.talkinbroadway.com/ob/03_07_07.html

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Variety is Mixed:

"Any director worth his salt who tackles "King Lear" will attempt to redefine the center in Shakespeare's mightiest tragedy: mythical, cosmic chaos or earthbound human suffering; railing madness or afflicted lucidity; historical decadence and nullified political power or the destruction of a tormented soul. So given that James Lapine's stage work has often been distinguished by its sensitivity, compassion and even gentleness, it's perhaps not unexpected that his uneven "King Lear" for the Public emphasizes not so much the treachery of this supremely cruel drama as its grief and despair -- an approach reflected in Kevin Kline's take on the title role.

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Kline is the key accomplice in that operation. Though one of America's most accomplished Shakespearean actors, he is in many ways an odd fit for Lear despite his easeful grasp of the language. His natural persona tends more toward good-humored intelligence and quiet fortitude than the brooding melancholy, blustery rage and enfeebled physical gravitas so often unleashed in this role. And while the actor turns 60 this year, he's far from an old man.

His way into the character is less as a broken monarch than a flawed but loving father. Being a king seems almost to get in the way of that purpose. Lear's vanity, his silly need for validation even at the expense of honesty, is, of course, the first step in his undoing. But his own folly seems less crippling in Kline's surprisingly contained performance than the debilitating weight of power and the poisonous lust for it that drives his usurpers. He's an ordinary man burdened by extraordinary demands.

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In addition to Kline, the most stirring work comes from Larry Bryggman as the deceived, soulful Gloucester and Brian Avers as his wronged son Edgar, growing from bookish nerd to crazed, feral outcast to noble survivor. With his sonorous baritone, Michael Cerveris brings profundity to banished Kent's allegiance. And Michael Rudko's Duke of Albany conveys the pained conflict of a man surrounded by wickedness but compelled to do good.
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Lapine's production underwhelms as often as it engrosses, its relatively circumscribed scope sometimes playing against expectations for such a broad-canvas power piece. But like Kline's all-too-human Lear, its virtues are more memorable than its weaknesses. "


http://www.variety.com/review/VE1117933013.html?categoryid=33&cs=1

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Newsday is Positive:

"But here he is, at 59, back at the Public Theater, where producer Joseph Papp raised him, after impresario John Houseman trained him, looking like Zeus gone mad in a soulful, courageous, heart-shredding portrayal of deluded patriarchy. In a leonine white beard and white hair, Kline convinces us, only 24 years after "The Big Chill," that he indeed could be the aged father of three grown daughters.

James Lapine's uneven but thoughtful modern production allows Lear to carry glints of a loving core on his primal journey from monstrous cruelty and dementia to the agony of self-discovery too late. As critic Kenneth Tynan observed, "To feel the cold of the heath, we must first feel the warmth of the hearth."
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Kline has always struck me as a great character actor trapped in a leading man's body. In sober romantic roles, he tends to be a bit restrained, as if handsomeness were more of a costume than something he assumed with the entitled perks of natural vanity.

Put him in a disguise, however, and the truth comes out
http://www.newsday.com/entertainment/stage/ny-etledew5120725mar08,0,6407781.story?coll=ny-theater-headlines

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Theatremania is Mixed:

"Perhaps it's Kevin Kline's well-groomed snowy beard that initially gives The Public Theater's current production of King Lear, directed by James Lapine, the air of a Shavian play. Or maybe it's the Jess Goldstein outfit that looks as if it came from a haberdasher on London's fancy Jermyn Street. Probably, it's the two in tandem. But since George Bernard Shaw thought highly of both William Shakespeare and himself, he likely would have approved of an interpretation that conjures Captain Shotover and Heartbreak House in its earlier stretches rather than the foolish, intractable monarch the Bard introduces.
This isn't necessarily a bad thing, because Kline's authoritative take on Lear contrasts with the portrait of bombastic advancing age he rendered two seasons back as Falstaff in Lincoln Center's Henry IV. Kline is compellingly business-like to start, and he is never less than conscientious as Lear. Yet, while delivering some of the Bard's poetic arias passionately, he isn't presenting a completely cohesive characterization.

Still, Kline is the most pressing reason to see this production, which eventually feels as flat as the plain across which the blind Gloucester (Larry Bryggman) is led by his estranged son Edgar (Brian Avers).
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Yet, something in Lapine's production keeps failing to catch fire, and it doesn't take long to figure out what the problem is. This Lear is as well spoken as can be hoped for at the Public -- where often enthusiasm outstrips accomplishment -- but the understanding and articulation this ensemble brings isn't nearly enough to raise the level of performance above that of standard dysfunctional-family drama."


http://www.theatermania.com/content/news.cfm/story/10238

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Brantley is pretty negative.
http://www.nytimes.com/2007/03/08/theater/reviews/08lear.html?_r=1&oref=slogin

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I saw the show a few weeks ago, and although I wish I could make a case against the negative reviews, I really can't. I do, however, disagree with some of the comments regarding Logan Marshall-Green. I found him quite charming, seductive and dynamic.

And I am incredibly thrilled that Michael Cerveris is getting mostly positive reviews as Kent. Brantley was incredibly flattering in his review -- seems he has a little soft spot for Cerveris?! I'll admit I'm a very biased fan, but Cerveris gives an incredibly moving performance, and his speaking voice is just to die for! It was quite a thrill to enjoy him as an actor without the assistance/encumberance of music.

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Updated On: 3/8/07 at 09:56 AM

I did my graduate work on Shakespeare and have seen numerous productions of this play, so you'd think I would have problems with it like others have mentioned but I don't. I did not have a problem with Klein's age or his interpretation of the role, and I did not think anyone was miscast.

My only problem was my seat: I was in the first row and on reflection that was too close. I felt like I was sitting in the sand with them, and I am not used to that much light being on me. I know no one was distracted by me... obviously better things to see. I just went away wishing that I was a bit more removed from it, perhaps sitting 3-4 rows back. Maybe I would have had a more objective look at it but for now, I thought it was worth seeing.

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Updated On: 3/8/07 at 12:12 PM

Brantley was mean, just plain mean. Ok so some of his points are well made, but to say that the actor playing Edgar is from the Rick Moranis school of acting is horrible. Also-Brantley is way off base on Logan Marshall Green. Compelling, cynical, rough, and the most interesting performance in the play, this actor should not be treated so disrespectfully.

Lear "lite" perhaps, but nonetheless fascinating to watch.

Brantley's got a little girl crush on our Michael. So cute.

I do like Mr. Cerveris as well, but I must admit that as soon as he started speaking in LEAR last night I thought, "oh it's Mr. Todd, no wait, it's Tommy!"

His voice is so unique that the spirits of his past roles are easily conjured.

Through 3/25.

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Good luck getting a ticket.

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Has anyone tried rush on a weeknight?