Munk's JULIUS CAESAR review

I now completely believe in fate. I was on my way to get tickets to STEEL MAGNOLIAS last night, but instead I decided to go over to CAESAR. And as I said off-topic, Clive Owen was sitting behind me. It was fate. I thought I had died and gone to heaven, and now we're planning our wedding.

Anyway, on to my review:

With someone as incredibly famous as Denzel Washington leading the cast (of a Shakespeare production, no less) there is bound to be tons of speculations and cries of stunt casting. Going into the show, I will admit that I was very cynical going in because of the things I heard about the show. However, I left the show applauding Washington's efforts and his casting was justified, atleast in my mind.

The strength of this production lies not in the performers, but in the direction and in the way this particular prouduction is presented. With a stronger cast (Washington excluded,) this proudction would be nothing short of breathtaking.

With the exception of Denzel Washington, Colm Feore, Jessica Hecht, and Jack Willis, most of the supporting cast is disposable and exemplifies mediocrity. As Calpurnia, wife of William Sadler's Caesar, Tamara Tunie is pitiful. She overacts and under-acts at the same exact time. She is absolutely terrible. She's fine when she's just standing there...but in the scene where she tells Caesar about her dream, she is embarrassingly bad. Lucky for the audience, that's her only real scene. William Sadler's Julius Caesar lacks the illusion of power and authority. He never once provides the audience with anything that would lead them to believe he is the Emperor of Rome. He comes off as a pushover, weak, and just pathetically puny. His acting isn't by any means terrible, but in a production like this, he neeeds to command the stage. Eamonn Walker's Marc Antony isn't bad - just not great. He comes off as if he's just trying too hard. If he just relaxed and let the language speak for itself, he would be fine, but he over-does everything and it becomes irritating, especially in his overlong, tiresom speech at Caesar's funeral. As Lucius, Maurice Jones is a fine physical actor, particularly in the second act when he "kills" Brutus and is confronted by the enemy. His facial expression and physicality is heartbreaking and brilliant - but as soon as he opens his mouth, the entire illusion is killed. His acting really is just terrible, and it's no surprise that the only listed credits in his bio are productions at Rutgers University. He's still young - he has time - but he needs some acting lessons.

And finally, Denzel. I was pleasantly, pleasantly surprised by him. You've got to give any film actor credit when they decide to take on Shakespeare in a live producion, but Denzel succeeds in ways that I thought he wouldn't. I've never been taken by his film work, but his work in Ceasar has absolutely made me a fan. His only problem is that he speaks too fast, and half of what he says in his beginning scenes is lost. Not like half of the audience really cares, they paid $101.25 to gawk at him, but it definitely detracted from his performance. He gets stronger as the play progresses, and is particularly striking in the war scenes in the second act. I'm not saying Denzel is award worthy or amazing - he's not - but he deserves some credit. He appears absolutely comfortable on stage, and his casting in this show is justified - atleast in my mind.

Overall, this production is a bit abundant - but it's striking and stunning. Ralph Funicello's set design is haunting, creepy, and glorious. It's just amazing in every sense of the word. I've never been frightened of a set before - his work really is stunning here, particularly in the battle scenes where rocks come tumbling from above and crash down on stage. Being so close up, I felt as if I was in the middle of a war, and it was incredibly unnerving, yet somehow satisfying. Mimi Jordan Sherin's lighting is also incredible - really very stunning and brilliant, again, particularly during the battle scenes in act two. The sound design by Dan Moses Schreier is probably the best on Broadway right now. I can't even describe to you how perfect it is - you must see (and hear) it for yourself.

Daniel Sullivan's direction, in my opinion, is stunning here. The only thing that detracts from his direction is some weak performances, but I am convinced that this is a fantastic, fully-realized modern day look at Shakespeare's classic. Obviously, I am in no position to review Shakespeare, but I am quite certain here that his direction of this piece is nothing less than stunning.

In fact, the entire production is stunning. Again, despite some weak performances, the show holds its own as it progresses. Act One is just incredibly dark and mysterious, and Caesar's death scene is quite disturbing and frightening. Act Two pretty much takes place entirely on the battleground, and I think it hit a little too close to home with some people, considering America's current involvement with Iraq. The battle scenes are disturbing, frightening, and incredibly graphic. There is a beheadding scene where the men beheadding the other man have those knit-face masks on - the exact ones we see all too often on the news. It's very disturbing, so I caution you. I'm not saying it's bad - it's effective, but still very disturbing and often just flat out scary.

So with those few disclaimers about how disturbing this production is, it is absolutely worth your attention. I know there are those that are opposed to classic works re-set in modern times, and I'm hardly skilled enough in Shakespeare to know for sure if it has succeeded here, but with my amateur opinion, it absolutely has succeeded and the production is nothign short of stunning.

I know most of this board has absolutely no interest in this piece, but I encourage you to consider it. Seeing Shakespeare, especially a professional production, is always an honor as an audience member and I encourage you all to take advantage of this. I am not sorry that I went. It takes a pretty impressive and stunning production to make me forget that Clive Owen is sitting behind me....so with that, I hope that at least some of you will decide to see this - it closes June 12, so hurry up!

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