My Thoughts on CYMBELINE, or, Why I Can't Wait for SOUTH PACIFIC

[Yankeefan007]

Posted: 11/17/07 at 8:52pm

An incredible 3 hour nap. One of the biggest Shakesperian bores I've ever had to sit through, in fact. CYMBELINE, at Lincoln Center Theater, is an incredibly bland staging, featuring a cast that had me thinking half-way through "gee, so-and-so could play...better."

Though, I will say this. It could have been one of two things...either the cast was great and it's the play that sucked, or vice versa. There's a reason why CYMBELINE is Shakespeare's least known play. To quote a friend of mine, "I guess all the good plays were already taken, so he needed to steal a bad one."

And this coming from a Shakespeare nut such as myself.

But I digress. Here is my interpretation of the story:
King Cymbeline (John Cullum, looking very funny sporting a dark black goatee) is married to the Evil Queen (Phylicia Rashad), who is evil for no reason that I understood. Their daughter, Imogen (Martha Plimpton) is married to Posthumus (Michael Cerveris), but, for some reason he's banished to Italy. There, he meets BeefCAKE Iachimo (Johnathan Cake), who he gets to sleep with Imogen, but doesn't and lies about it, making Posthumus jealous and sending him into a jealous rage. He orders his butler, Piasanio (John Pankow), to kill her in the woods. But she dresses as a guy, meets a bunch of people, Posthumus has a nightmare where Zeus comes down, and then it all ends happily.

Close?

I don't want to say that any cast member was miscast, but all of them just seemed to blend into a sea of mediocrity. Martha Plimpton was fine, but not giving a great performance like she did in Utopia. (One dream-cast I had during the show was for Lynn Collins to play that part). Michael Cerveris was forceful, as usual, but bland. (How about Liev?). Though I will say they worked very well together. Seeing the way they gazed into each others eyes during the final scene brought me back to the days of Harry Connick Jr and Kelli O'Hara.

John Cullum and Phylicia Rashad blended very well into the background. (Philip Bosco and, hell, anyone else.) John Pankow and Herb Foster were very good in their parts.

Johnathan Cake was fantastic, as was Adam Danheisser as Cloten. Award-worthy? I don't know.

Part of the big problem was that they didn't seem to be using microphones. Accents flew in and out, some cast members got tongue-tied, others just spoke so fast that I missed words.

Michael Yeargen's minimalist set design left a lot to be desired at the beginning, but the incredibly-staged dream sequence in the 2nd Act and the Act 1 finale more than made up for it. This is thanks in part to Brian MacDevitt's glorious lighting design which, along with Jess Goldstein's costumes, should be serious contenders come award season.

The usually reliable Mark Lamos let me down. The whole staging was a snore.

Oh, well. Can't wait 'til South Pacific.


Updated On: 11/17/07 at 08:52 PM

[myManCape]

Posted: 11/17/07 at 9:22pm

I noticed the amplification problem earlier this week in the Newhouse. Even in that tiny theatre during dialogue scenes it was very hard to hear. The singing you could hear but did not sound amplified. I mentioned it to an actor afterwards and he confirmed that they were wearing mics. Perhaps they are having volume problem. I don’t know just find it to be an interesting coincidence.

[frogs_fan85]

Posted: 11/17/07 at 9:42pm

I have to agree with you on the amplification. I was in the fifth row of the orchestra and whenever someone was turned away from me I could barely hear them. This was especially true during the first scene of the show with Phylicia Rashad. I couldn't tell if she was speaking or if she was just standing there silently, standing closely to the King.

[Yankeefan007]

Posted: 11/17/07 at 10:29pm

Yes, that's another thing to mention. Lamos has staged the show so it almost plays entirely to the center section. This is the first time I've noticed a production to utilize the space in that way. Kind of disconcerting having backs turned to me (in the 500s section) for the bulk of the afternoon.

[jaystarr]

Posted: 11/17/07 at 10:53pm

Yankee- Thanks for a great review! (as usual) It's good that I decided to pass on this one. I just got back from NYC too. I saw Spain at the Lucille Lortel Theater today. I will post mine on Monday. Well.. Lets get back on Cymbeline.. I am a bit suprised... with your review...the play looks good in paper, but certainly NOT onstage..huh?

Again .. Thank you for your review.. Once and for all - It shattered all my aspirations to see this play and YOU just saved me $36.00 for ticket / $30.00 bus fare and 8 hours of bus ride r/t ...all for an afternoon nap at the Vivian Beaumont....

J*
Updated On: 11/17/07 at 10:53 PM

[Yankeefan007]

Posted: 11/17/07 at 10:59pm

I can't say it looked good on paper, since, well, I've never found reading Shakespeare to be an easy feat. Seeing it performed, or performing it, is much easier than actually reading it. Especially for the first time. I hadn't been familiar with Cymbeline (besides the famous "Fear No More" speech) prior to seeing it, so that could have been part of the problem.

If you're referring to "well, with the cast, design team, and director, it looked good on paper" than yes, I agree with you. It looked very good on paper, but just didn't do it for me.

In the end, if you're a Shakespeare fan, it couldn't hurt to go see it. It's not one of his oft-performed plays (probably because it isn't a very strong script), and I give Lincoln Center credit for putting it on (especially since Shakespeare is moer in the domain of the Public Theater...they actually did it in Central Park a number of years ago, but that's neither here nor there).
Updated On: 11/17/07 at 10:59 PM

[EmilyRohm]

Posted: 11/18/07 at 2:19am

Oh sad... I am still looking forward to seeing it. I adore Michael Cerveris. I just found out I get to attend the official premiere since my sister is on the wig crew for the show and she invited me. At least the cast party should be interesting!

[Yankeefan007]

Posted: 11/18/07 at 7:58am

Have fun.

[Ed_Mottershead]

Posted: 11/18/07 at 9:01am

I'd say that Timon of Athens is less well-known than Cymbeline. The first two parts of Henry VI aren't real crowd-pleasers either.

[Borstalboy]

Posted: 11/30/07 at 9:44am

Saw it last night and had a pretty good time.

I think the lion's share of the success of the production should be credited to Mark Lamos. CYMBELINE is a supassingly odd, lopsided play that has had many directors foaming at the mouth to get conceptual with it. A couple of years ago Bartlett Sher did an amazing production that incorporated medieval Japan with Old West cowboys, Mark Rylance did it at BAM with a cast of eight (!!). Lamos has decided to do CYMBELINE the hard way: straightforwardly...and although this lack of gimmickry makes for a bit of a draggy second act, it's amazing it works at all.

Martha Plimpton (one of my favorite actresses) plays the lead and she is still an odd fit for a Shakespearean ingenue. Plimpton excels at playing no-nonsense gals and perhaps isn't enough of a romantic figure to play these lovestruck ladies like Imogen and Helena. It's far from a shameful performance, but its starchy around the edges and a little one-note.

Jonathan Cake walks away with the show as Iachimo. Iachimo is a sort of Iago-very-lite and is often played as a cunning Machiavell, but Cake here is more of a braggy adolescent jock with a big mouth. He milks good laughs from the part and finds great variety in the one moment of CYMBELINE that measures up to the greatness of Shakespeare's other plays, Iachimo's monologue as he notes Imogen's chamber, steals her bracelet, and drools over the mole on her breast. Unfortunately, Iachimo disappears for much of the second half...he's definitely missed. I didn't much like Cake in MEDEA a couple of years ago, but here he comes off as a bona fide star. He's the only actor in the cast who brings a palpable sense of spontenaety and danger to the stage...you really don't know what he's going to do next. Oh and did I mention that he's a complete hunk that makes any Hollywood heartthrob of the moment look like a bag lady? Mee-yow!

Michael Cerveris is sadly too old for the role of the impressionable Posthumous. Plimpton and Cake probably are, too, but Cerveris' age is much more distracting. Why would a man this clearly mature fall for Iachimo's cunning?

John Cullum and Phylicia Rashad do fine work as the king and queen. The actor who played Cloten (forgive me, I can't remember his name) is downright excellent. John Pankow as Pisanio...not so much. But the great thing about the ensemble is how uniform they all are. Too often in Shakespeare productions I have seen, the cast all seem to be approaching their roles from different angles, and the result can often look like a group of actors who appear to be acting in different productions. The cast of CYMBELINE are all on the same page with the same approach and this smoothes over ALOT of the awkwardness in individual performances. Once again, I think Lamos deserves the credit for this. The supporting players are solid from top to bottom.

Hearing problems? I was in the loge and I didn't notice any problems. Either they fixed microphone issues or Lamos tossed out some "I can't hear you people" moments at notes time.

Overall, I had a grand ol' time with CYMBELINE, but I highly recommend you familiarize yourself with the text before you go. It ain't SOUTH PACIFIC...its a bumpy but rewarding ride.

[jewishboy]

Posted: 11/30/07 at 1:13pm

Who's gonna play Cable?!?!

Sorry for interrupting.

[Vespertine1228]

Posted: 11/30/07 at 1:23pm

I've heard nothing but bad things about Cymbeline. That being said, I already bought my student ticket way in advance, so it's too late now! I'm seeing a Wednesday matinee though, so maybe I'll fall asleep alongside the senior citizens rather than being the only one still awake at 5 PM.

I bought my ticket to South Pacific yesterday. I couldn't be more excited, although it took a while to find good seats.

[MargoChanning]

Posted: 11/30/07 at 1:32pm

I'm with Borstalboy -- I also had a very good time with CYMBELINE and didn't find it boring for a moment. As a play, its a fascinatingly disjointed blend of comedy and romance with tragic undertones, complete with a grand reconciliation scene at the end plus a wildly fanciful deus ex machina scene that I found thoroughly entertaining. Lamos and his cast handle the extreme shifts in tone in the text admirably and the ensemble boasts several quite admirable performances. All in all, I enjoyed myself immensely and am very glad I saw it.

[Borstalboy]

Posted: 11/30/07 at 1:35pm

I loved that Lamos didn't back off the second act dream sequence...it's as random and as bizarre as it is in the play.

Oh, and the spectacular lighting design is Tony-bait.

Updated On: 11/30/07 at 01:35 PM

[Chloe]

Posted: 11/30/07 at 3:23pm

I've read Cymbaline, but never seen it. What's always stuck in my head, probably because I read it long before the play itself, is this song:

Fear no more the heat of the sun,
Nor the furious winter's rages;
Thou thy worldly task hast done,
Home art gone, and ta'en thy wages:
Golden lads and girls all must,
As chimney-sweepers, come to dust.

Fear no more the frown o' the great;
Thou art past the tyrant's stroke;
Care no more to clothe and eat;
To thee the reed is as the oak;
The scepter, learning, physic, must
All follow this and come to dust.

Fear no more the lightning flash,
Nor the all-dreaded thunder stone;
Fear not slander, censure rash;
Thou hast finished joy and moan;
All lovers young, all lovers must
Consign to thee, and come to dust.

No exorciser harm thee!
Nor no witchcraft charm thee!
No ghost unlaid forbear thee!
Nothing ill come near thee!
Quiet consummation have;
And renowned by thy grave!

[wickedrentq]

Posted: 11/30/07 at 3:45pm

I saw it this past Wednesday night, and I too very much enjoyed it. I actually saw the performance at BAM last year for school, so that had me familiar with the play. I might be in the minority of those who really like it -- better than some of Shakespeare's "better" plays like Hamlet or Romeo and Juliet...blah. I love the hysteria that comes about in the end, and there are very funny moments, and Imogen is clearly one of Shakespeare's most intelligent and headstrong (but good) female characters.

That said, I did have some problems hearing in the loge. I moved down in intermission and then I heard fine, but yeah, since I had trouble hearing, I'm glad I was familiar with the play. The one I heard least was Phylicia Rashad, which is interesting, because the one I heard the least at BAM was the one playing the queen -- maybe there's something unhearable about her part?

At certain parts, they had wonderful effects, and I agree, it'll definitely be a contender for lighting design at the Tonys.

I'm very glad Lincoln Center chose to do one of the less well-known and apparently less well-liked plays of Shakespeare, even though I like it more than most.

[Chrysanthemum62001]

Posted: 12/20/07 at 10:41am

Oh man...I saw this play last night and just...disliked the entire production. It had it moments, but for the most part I found it to be a dud. I was very dissapointed with much of the acting, and I thought Martha Plimpton was lousy.

I forgot to mention... At the end of the play, everyone is standing around and I SWEAR, Michael Cerveris looks like a hobbit because his feet are so dirty.

Updated On: 12/20/07 at 10:41 AM

[wickedrentq]

Posted: 12/20/07 at 10:11pm

Hahaha, that's really funny, Chrys. Michael's shortness doesn't help the matter.

[Roscoe]

Posted: 12/21/07 at 6:15am

I saw this production on Wednesday night, and was occasionally taken with it. Bartlett Sher's production about six years ago did a much better job navigating the play's problems. Sher managed to make CYMBELINE into a really thrilling theatrical experience, often hilariously funny and even more often deeply moving.