The Comedy of Errors - Shakespeare in the Park- Page 2

[Jockamo2]

Posted: 5/30/13 at 5:32pm

Saw it yesterday and thought it was incredible. The two leads really pulled off an amazing feat. I wholly recommend it. I waited for about 3 hrs in the standby line, well worth it, especially if you have stuff to memorize.

An especially amazing moment was with Hamish Linklater at the end when everyone's on stage. He is asked about a wad of money that he was given earlier in the show. At this moment, he says, "YOU MEAN THE $500 DOLLARS YOU GAVE ME THAT I LEFT OFF STAGE? YES! OF COURSE I HAVE IT!" Then he proceeds to improv as he makes his way off stage right to find the prop that he had apparently forgot. The audience was howling with laughter, then he realizes he left it off stage left and he crosses in the entire stage to get it. It was an amazingly great moment that even the other actors found hilarious as they all broke character. If it was staged, it was really convincing. If it wasn't, then I'm very fortunate to see that slight mistake played up in the aesthetic of comedy.

Updated On: 5/30/13 at 05:32 PM

[broadwaydevil]

Posted: 5/31/13 at 1:10am

I saw it this evening and thought that it was a wonderful production overall. Setting The Comedy of Errors in Upstate New York isn't incredibly inventive or revolutionary but it seems to work well enough, though no one seems to be sure what sort of New York accent to act with and how much it should be emphasized. The gun toting mobster aura of the mob works well enough with the script and is done largely successfully. Having each twin be played by the same actor is also somewhat common in productions I've seen recently but it usually fails miserably as one of the conceits of The Comedy of Errors is that the audience actually does know what's going on and can distinguish which twin is which and suspends their disbelief that the characters can't. Having the same actor play the twins has killed this and left the play muddled and hard to difficult in a community theater production I saw a few years back. Here, the characterizations are such that I was never truly confused as to which twin was which and the actors pull off the fast changing and constant exiting and entering with tremendous success. It also demands and elicits some very innovative and humorous staging by Daniel Sullivan.

Jesse Tyler Ferguson and Hamish Linklater are both phenomenal. Ferguson is lovable, funny, and seems like the ideal fit to play Dromio. Linklater took a bit longer to get used to as he played the role a bit more subtly and reserved than I was expecting but ultimately he was incredibly funny and his last monologue at the end was one of the highlights of the production. It's quite evident Ferguson and Linklater have worked together numerous times as they have incredible chemistry.

Emily Bergl is funny and well-cast as Adriana and Robert Creighton stands out of the supporting cast for his role as Angelo.

Perhaps what's most striking though about this production is how well it worked overall and how good Shakespeare in the Park proves to be year in and year out at making the works hold up and appear as new (even if this year's particular concept wasn't as unique as past Delacorte shows have been.) The Comedy of Errors is one of Shakespeare's funniest plays for modern audiences and this cast certainly delivers in that department.

My only minor gripes were that the lighting and set design weren't quite as beautiful as I've come to expect in the past at the Delacorte. The set is relatively simple and pretty enough but it never used the elements and the natural surroundings and scenery in ways that As You Like It did masterfully. Part of the beauty of being in Central Park is the way the shows often are integrated with the nature around them and here that was missing. Also, the lighting was relatively simple and there were no moments that I was completely in awe of the beauty of wonderful theatrical lighting like Natasha Katz managed successfully last year (the image of the deep blue lights bathing the fire in the forest is still in my head.)

Almost forgot to mention, the music and choreography is lovely and only adds to and never detracts from the show. It gives it a certain liveliness and was very well executed.

The show is in tremendous shape for a third preview performance and I hope to return back to this production. It's classic Shakespeare in the Park done well: a wonderful cast, a beautiful theater on a warm summer night, and the timeless words of the Bard.

[broadwaydevil]

Posted: 5/31/13 at 1:19am

Line status update:

I won the lottery (woohoo) but I do know the show sold out from the line and tickets were unavailable after initial distribution ended. I believe everyone from standby ended up getting in (the woman in front of me said she got on line for standby at 8 and got a ticket so I'm assuming just about everyone got in.)

[Movidude742]

Posted: 5/31/13 at 7:12am

If anyone has trouble following which twin is which, watch the hats. For example one Dromio has a red band around his hat, and the other does not.

Antipholus's hats are more subtle

[ClydeBarrow]

Posted: 5/31/13 at 9:35am

Do we know yet how they are enforcing the 2 performances per person rule this year? It seems like it would take awhile to get everyone's info. And is the same thing done in the standby line?

[broadwaydevil]

Posted: 5/31/13 at 9:43am

Clyde - I asked at the box office and they sort of just laughed and said they aren't enforcing it.

[ClydeBarrow]

Posted: 5/31/13 at 10:50am

Thanks, broadwaydevil. I guess they were just hoping to scare off all the homeless people that get all their info from the website.

[WiCkEDrOcKS]

Posted: 5/31/13 at 9:07pm

I'm here now. Show has been stopped for about ten minutes because of technical problems. Got a ticket at 735ish. More later.

[WiCkEDrOcKS]

Posted: 5/31/13 at 10:45pm

Besides the sound issues and problems with the set for the first half hour, this production is such a joy. It does take about twenty minutes to take off, but when it does, it'll slap the biggest grin on your face. Joyous and breezily exhuberant, with a great cast and zippy direction. I got on line for a standby ticket at about 7:35 and got in. Can't beat that! I had a great time!

[macnyc]

Posted: 6/1/13 at 10:45am

I can't wait to see this! I'll keep trying the lottery.

[Play Esq.]

Posted: 6/1/13 at 11:19am

Line Update: I just walked toward the rear of the line, and it still looked like everyone in line would get tickets (as of 10:50 am). I got here at 7 and am near the front.

Posted: 6/1/13 at 11:22am

What a wonderful production. Truly fun and full of heart.
Love the dancing.

[jnb9872]

Posted: 6/1/13 at 1:57pm

I was there last night as well and I hope my slightly muted response to it was a result of the technical difficulties... The center tower of the three rotating towers that make up the set was compromised about 20 minutes in and had to stay put for the rest of the show. I'd love to go back and see it again without that hitch, to see if there's any madcap staging that had to be scuttled due to the lack of cooperation from the center tower.

That said, boy are the cast game and having fun. They are so winning in everything they put over, all the silly gags and pratfalls and groaning wit... It's very broad, very clownish, and infectiously fun. Hamish and Jesse are wonderful; I was never in doubt which brothers were on stage at any point, kind of miraculous given how confusing doubling the twins can be in less capable hands.

Updated On: 6/1/13 at 01:57 PM

[AntV]

Posted: 6/1/13 at 5:12pm

What would be the chances of getting a standby ticket at around 8:00 tonight? I heard there's been empty seats the past few days. Or cause it's a Saturday all the tickets will be gone before then?

[TotallyEffed]

Posted: 6/3/13 at 9:00pm

I am planning on seeing the show tomorrow. Can anyone recommend what time I should get in line?

[Play Esq.]

Posted: 6/3/13 at 9:07pm

Not to sound like a prick, but try not to be incredibly lazy and read the thread you just posted upon.

[ClydeBarrow]

Posted: 6/4/13 at 1:05am

To be fair Play Esq, no one has really talked about the line in the morning. Most people have referenced time for the standby. I was going to ask the same question as TotallyEffed. Was planning to get there about 9am and was wondering if that was good.

[hubee]

Posted: 6/4/13 at 1:37am

Got to lineup at 9:30am on Fri morning and was around the bridge. I roughly counted I was about 115th in line. The final line was probably only double in length. Not sure but I'm going to assume everyone got tickets. And everyone in standby line got tix we noticed and they still had more (at least about 15 min before the show).

They also said they would be enforcing the 2 times per show rule (tho I still don't know how they're realistically going to enforce that but I guess if they notice you on your 5th time, they now have a rule that can stop you from going. We did notice far less scalpers in line this year compared to normal).

[AntV]

Posted: 6/16/13 at 2:48am

Did the standby line tonight (Saturday). Got there at 6:30 and me and my friend got single tickets at 8:25 with only about 5-10 tickets remaining. The show was very enjoyable, Linklater and Ferguson were fantastic. Go see it!

[NewYorkTheater]

Posted: 6/19/13 at 8:41am

Is it an error to move “The Comedy of Errors” from Ancient Greece, where Shakespeare placed this early play of his, to upstate New York in the 1940’s? ,,,,Director Daniel Sullivan, who previously plunked his “The Merchant of Venice” in Edwardian England, seems to base his new move on nothing more than a weak pun. Syracuse is the name of one of two Greek city-states having a trade war in Shakespeare’s play; Syracuse is also the name of the fifth largest city in New York State. Even “The Boys of Syracuse,” the Rodgers and Hart musical based on “The Comedy of Errors,” still took place in Ancient Greece.
The Comedy of Errors Review: Shakespeare In The Park Goes Guys and Dolls

[ChairinMain]

Posted: 6/19/13 at 2:07pm

So I guess I'm asking for a Spoiler here, but because Live on the West coast and have ZERO chance of seeing this production unless it transfers (which is unlikely)...How do they deal with the big reveal at the end of the play when all four characters are onstage at the same time?

[ClydeBarrow]

Posted: 6/19/13 at 2:09pm

They have two stand-ins that have their backs to the crowd the whole time.

[aaronb]

Posted: 6/19/13 at 6:43pm

"It is a forgivable mistake to read The Comedy of Errors as an unadulterated comedy, even though it opens with the threat of execution: if Egeon (Jonathan Hadary), a merchant from Syracuse, cannot raise his ransom by five o’clock, he will be killed in accordance with the law of Ephesus, which does not allow her Syracusean neighbors within her city. In 1938, underlining the dread of this first scene, Theodore Komisarjevsky staged a production in Stratford-upon-Avon in which a giant clock constantly reminded the audience of the potential tragedy. But readers and viewers of The Comedy of Errors can hardly be faulted for ignoring this dread; what follows is (apart from some parallel investigations into the relationship between master and slave and husband and wife) a parade of silliness: two sets of twins, mistaken identities, phenomenal verbal juggling, and an ending that leaves nearly all involved content.

Which is why Daniel Sullivan’s revival at the Delacorte Theater is so thoroughly baffling. The Comedy of Errors is already Shakespeare’s broadest comedy, and yet the director, as if he has no faith in the text, inserts a series of easy gags that cheapen the work and form the husk of this production: spaghetti is plopped on heads, water is thrown in faces, asses are slapped, and pratfalls are taken; there are even nuns with guns—this isn’t Shakespeare, it’s the Keystone Cops."
My review of THE COMEDY OF ERRORS

[ChairinMain]

Posted: 6/20/13 at 4:42am

AaronB - Good review, though I think I disagree with you about the concept of "too much slapstick" in CoE. I think that just because the play opens with Egeon's threatened execution doesn't mean that we should think about the dark side of the play. There's very little dark side. Remember that Shakespeare does not mention Egeon for over two hours. He's there to deliver exposition at the start, and then be rescued at the end. We don't REALLY have to care about him.

Your biggest objection, the interpolation of Nell as a man in drag, is, I gotta say, inaccurate. Nell appears in scene 3.1 (albiet from "within" which possibly means from behind a door, but could have meant in view of the audience.) In any case, Shakespeare's Audience WOULD have seen a fat man in drag in the role.

[Kad]

Posted: 6/20/13 at 9:26am

If you don't play Comedy of Errors as an unadulterated comedy, you have a boring production of Comedy of Errors.