Macbeth Confusion

[DMC_Patinkin]

Posted: 5/7/13 at 10:48pm

Am I the only one who is both confused and a little pissed off that Macbeth with Alan Cumming was not even nominated for a tony?!?

What the What?

[jnb9872]

Posted: 5/7/13 at 10:55pm

No.

[ClydeBarrow]

Posted: 5/7/13 at 11:55pm

broadway guy, is that you?

[LuminousBeing]

Posted: 5/8/13 at 2:23am

Definitely perplexed, upset, and disappointed. Cumming's performance was bravura and beautiful.

[dramamama611]

Posted: 5/8/13 at 6:06am

I'm guessing the nominators agreed with the reviewers -- it was more about Cumming than it was about the story, and they didn't like it.

[Ed_Mottershead]

Posted: 5/8/13 at 3:24pm

There's no questioning that Cumming is performing a tour de force, but I'm of the same mind as Samuel Johnson (I think) when he stated that the wonder of a dog walking on its hind legs is not that he is doing it gracefully, but that he is doing it at all.

[Brian07663NJ]

Posted: 5/8/13 at 3:26pm

My cousin loves Macbeth and he loves Alan Cumming...after 45 minutes he had enough...got up and walked out.

I mentioned to him that I heard Alan speaks in a Scottish accent.

He said - yeah so much so that even though I know the play it is difficult to even understand him!

[Phyllis Rogers Stone]

Posted: 5/8/13 at 3:34pm

I love awards season so much. It never ceases to amaze me that so many people don't realize that ultimately all nominations/awards are subjective.

[Kad]

Posted: 5/8/13 at 3:36pm

How do you think I feel? Betrayed, bewildered... wrong response?

[jnb9872]

Posted: 5/8/13 at 4:03pm

^^ for the win.

[LimelightMike]

Posted: 5/8/13 at 9:32pm

Truth?

I went ... To see the play.

Alan Cumming's performance was extra incentive.

My evening, last Friday, was breathtaking, THOROUGHLY enjoyed.

I'm really upset that the show was overlooked.

Beautifully executed.

[goldenboy]

Posted: 5/8/13 at 11:35pm

yea we need more one man Shakespeare Shows on Broadway,
Can't wait for Harvey Fierstein to play Othello
on a southern plantation next season..
It's great when as Othello he strangles himself as Desdemona. Hope he'll be nominated.

by the way.. nobody is more upset over this omission than
Producer KLen Davenport and Alan Cumming himself but that's show biz.

[HeyMrMusic]

Posted: 5/9/13 at 1:22am

The sound design was snubbed.

I thought it was an incredible production all around. And I understood Alan Cumming with his Scottish accent. It's The Scottish Play, so why not?

[LuminousBeing]

Posted: 5/9/13 at 1:46am

HeyMrMusic - Agreed re: the sound design! I was sitting in the back row of the orchestra and could hear every word and effect perfectly, and the sizzle/crackle of the television screens/white noise was harrowing in just the right way for the tone of the piece.

I personally didn't get the "ego trip" vibe from Cumming during this show. Actually, I felt that the play felt "at home" in this setting. *Macbeth* is arguably the Shakespeare play most centered around madness as a means, not just an end--and (if memory serves me) it's the only play in which a doctor attempts to treat it. The "Can'st thou not minister to a mind diseased . . ." question and the doctor's pointed response chilled and inspired me when I first read it meany years ago, and I've never experienced a more affecting delivery than in Cumming's performance.

**Full Disclosure** I was an English major with a concentration in Shakespeare, and I've had much experience working with people struggling with mental illness in a number of settings, so perhaps what I brought to the show primed me more than most to process and enjoy it as Cumming and Davenport intended. There's a LOT more I'd love to say about the play and this production of it in particular, but this post is long enough. :)

[HeyMrMusic]

Posted: 5/9/13 at 1:57am

LuminousBeing, it's obvious we saw the same production. I agree on all points!