#1
Posted: 5/7/13 at 10:59pm
I caught the new production of The Caucasian Chalk Circle at CSC tonight and I mostly didn't care for it. About halfway through the second act I was ready to give up on it, but the final sequence was surprisingly stirring and I was quite moved by Elizabeth A. Davis' performance.
I had only ever seen one other production of the play before; I make no claim to being an expert on Brechtian theater or translations of this play. W. H. Auden contributed poems to this version, which Duncan Sheik has set to music. Auden isn't listed with the other bios though, nor is there a note in the Playbill about the translation and what he contributed to it. Having become obsessed with February House earlier this year I would have rather seen a play about Auden adapting Brecht's play than watching the actual play this evening!
The cast was game, but perhaps it wasn't wise to see a show like this in early previous. It ran 2:40 and felt like it too. Davis was very good though, and I thought she really brought it home in the second act. The problem is you have to go on that long detour with the judge and right when you think you're going to get back to the story you find you've been U-Turned and you have to complete another case before continuing with Davis' plot.
After the first act I thought, "Why did Christopher Lloyd take this role? He's spoken all of two lines." And then I realized the first hour of the second would essentially be a monologue for him. He handled the bulk of the lines well and managed to get some laughs, but the story meanders so much that it was hard for me to stay focused.
It was nice to see Mary Testa again, but I wish she had been given a bigger song to sing. I don't dare suggest that they make the evening much longer, but couldn't Sheik have found some Auden poem to showcase her gifts?
CSC usually puts on consistently wonderful theater, so it's easier to be forgiving when they try for something a little outside the box that falls short (IMHO). Even a flawless production of this play would never be to my overwhelming liking. I look forward to seeing Davis in whatever she does next.
I had only ever seen one other production of the play before; I make no claim to being an expert on Brechtian theater or translations of this play. W. H. Auden contributed poems to this version, which Duncan Sheik has set to music. Auden isn't listed with the other bios though, nor is there a note in the Playbill about the translation and what he contributed to it. Having become obsessed with February House earlier this year I would have rather seen a play about Auden adapting Brecht's play than watching the actual play this evening!
The cast was game, but perhaps it wasn't wise to see a show like this in early previous. It ran 2:40 and felt like it too. Davis was very good though, and I thought she really brought it home in the second act. The problem is you have to go on that long detour with the judge and right when you think you're going to get back to the story you find you've been U-Turned and you have to complete another case before continuing with Davis' plot.
After the first act I thought, "Why did Christopher Lloyd take this role? He's spoken all of two lines." And then I realized the first hour of the second would essentially be a monologue for him. He handled the bulk of the lines well and managed to get some laughs, but the story meanders so much that it was hard for me to stay focused.
It was nice to see Mary Testa again, but I wish she had been given a bigger song to sing. I don't dare suggest that they make the evening much longer, but couldn't Sheik have found some Auden poem to showcase her gifts?
CSC usually puts on consistently wonderful theater, so it's easier to be forgiving when they try for something a little outside the box that falls short (IMHO). Even a flawless production of this play would never be to my overwhelming liking. I look forward to seeing Davis in whatever she does next.
Marie: Don't be in such a hurry about that pretty little chippy in Frisco.
Tony: Eh, she's a no chip!
