Twelfth Night - Shakespear In The Park- Page 5

[legallysam]

Posted: 6/12/09 at 9:34am

The Donmar West End production just used the songs that were in the script already and added melody to them and i'm also pretty sure there were various bits of underscoring throughout. Feste also came on 5minutes before Act 2 eating an orange and then proceeded to do a 5minute african drumming solo :) but no new songs were added etc. so i think like others have said it varies from production to production.

[wonkit]

Posted: 6/12/09 at 9:46am

Feste has four songs, and Orsino is constantly calling for music, so I can't imagine a production that doesn't require some music to be written. Ben Kingsley in the film version did a splendid job of making Feste's singing poignant, especially the final song. Request for a spoiler: at what point do Raul and Anne sing?

[BroadwayAbridged]

Posted: 6/12/09 at 10:53am

Request for a spoiler: at what point do Raul and Anne sing?

ANSWER FOR SPOILER: It's the scene halfway in-ish, where Raul asks the fool to sing, if there were two of them then it was the second one (I'm too lazy to go read back through the text right now). It was a moment that I sat there thinking, "god, I really wish Raul would join in David Pittu for a real musical moment right now" and lo and behold, one verse later that happened exactly, with Anne singing as well.

I really liked the music in this production. I don't know if it was the music itself or if it was the direction of how it integrated. Usually I find it painful to watch music added to Shakespeare in the Park productions, particularly when the music is to be sung by the fool because it seems to be a time-waster. In this production, the musical bits were definite highlights. Having a mini orchestra on the side of the stage at almost all times helped a bit.

[cubanpab]

Posted: 6/12/09 at 12:29pm

<>

couldn't agree more! :)

[BroadwayGirl107]

Posted: 6/12/09 at 12:43pm

Save the first moment we see Viola sing...I'm not sure they really added much music. Pretty much all of those songs are already written in, they just addded the choice to have some characters sing along...which was a little strange at times. The underscoring of every important dramatic moment was a little silly as well.

But generally, the actual songs themselves sound pretty nice.

[obsessedjb]

Posted: 6/12/09 at 1:10pm

I got tickets for the show tonight via the virtual line! First time I've ever tried too!! Anyone want to join me? My sister can't make it..just PM me if you're interested

[frogs_fan85]

Posted: 6/12/09 at 1:16pm

0/3

I guess it's ok, I did already have tickets to something else tonight, but I would have exchanged them.

[JenNYferTheatrical]

Posted: 6/12/09 at 3:10pm

The sun is finally out this afternoon... I think its time to hit up the Shakespeare in the Park ticket line!

[Cape Twirl of Doom]

Posted: 6/12/09 at 3:39pm

What time would be best to get there for the stand by line? Do they normally have tickets left to give out at that time?

[wonkit]

Posted: 6/12/09 at 4:48pm

Thanks, BroadwayAbridged. So it is "Come away, come away, death." That makes sense since both Orsino and Viola are "pining" at this point.

[BroadwayAbridged]

Posted: 6/12/09 at 4:57pm

Yep, that's the one.

[RippedMan]

Posted: 6/12/09 at 5:01pm

What's the design like? Minimal or what?

[BroadwayAbridged]

Posted: 6/12/09 at 5:15pm

Pretty basic. Grass, with a little hill or two. I was actually disappointed with the set... not that it's bad, but because I really enjoyed the set back in `03's Twelfth Night, with the giant wooden "wave", so this set seemed a little plainer to me.

[RippedMan]

Posted: 6/12/09 at 5:20pm

Oh, yeah after seeing HAIR, I was hoping for more of a set for this show, but maybe the other one will be more technical?

[taylorPHENOMENON2]

Posted: 6/12/09 at 6:19pm

Saw the show last night!!! I'd say it was about 3/4 full.

We wetre going to get there early, but arrived at 12:45 and got tickets and there was a HUGE stack left.

Then, me and 3 other people I was with won the virtual line thing! So we had about 8 extra tickets total.

[Cape Twirl of Doom]

Posted: 6/13/09 at 12:49am

Saw the show tonight (I got to the standby line at 6pm, there were maybe 50 people in front of me, we all got tickets.) It turned out to be a beautiful night. Maybe the rain in the morning meant there weren't as many people in the early line.

I thought it was wonderful! This was the first time I've seen a professional production of Shakespeare and I really enjoyed it! Hearing the lines and seeing how the actors move and stress certain parts really makes the words come alive. I loved all the music, in fact I found myself wishing that the songs were actually available on CD.

(Boo to the people with the baby behind me though. Kept crying all throughout the first act until they left before intermission. Adorable kid when they were waiting on the line, but come on, who takes a 3 month old to the theatre?)

[BroadwayBaby21]

Posted: 6/13/09 at 1:03am

I saw it tonight as well. My roommate won the virtual line, so we both went.
It was my first time seeing Twelfth Night live (I've read it many times though), and I thought it was great.
Hamish Linklater was so funny. Loved him!
And I really felt the songs added so much to it. Not to mention hearing Anne, Audra, and Raul sing together was amazing. :)

[BroadwayChica]

Posted: 6/13/09 at 1:34am

I guess I'll be the Debbie Downer and say that I was thoroughly unimpressed. Granted, I'm a huge snob when it comes to Shakespeare, and have seen 3 productions of Twelfth Night alone. But I just found this to be so bland, and safe, and conventional. Yes, the music and its integration is great, but a lot has to do with the play itself - music is a huge component to the play, and every production I've seen has a live band playing throughout, and seamless transitions into the song.

There was just nothing really exciting or different about this production. The performances were solid, but by the book, and it was overall underwhelming.

And I'll second the comments about the set. Not just boring, but somewhat ugly, to boot. Overall meh.

[scott68]

Posted: 6/13/09 at 1:43am

I was there tonight and really, really enjoyed it. I mean, I might be biased, because Twelfth Night has always been one of my favorite of Shakespeare's plays, but that also means I'm more likely to get angry if they screw something up. Overall, the production was very good. It dragged a bit in parts, especially in the third act, but I think that's a fault of the play as much as the production.

Audra was phenomenal. I don't think I've ever seen her be really funny before, but she definitely gets the biggest laughs in the play. Although Hamish Linklater as Andrew Aguecheek wasn't far behind. I'd never imagined the character played that way, but he really nailed the physicality of it. Actually, a lot of what I liked about the show was the physicality, the vast majority of which wasn't stage-direction-based.

Anne Hathaway certainly wasn't bad, and Viola is kind of a flat role, but she didn't exactly exude star quality. Actually, she was good, but with a cast full of so many standouts, she tended to get a little lost in the mix. Lovely voice, though.

The real star of the production is the music, and (accordingly) David Pittu as Feste the fool. The music is contemporary, but fits seamlessly into the play, and Pittu KILLS every song he has. I've been humming the closing number for hours, and I suspect it'll be stuck in my head for weeks.

I saw it with my aunt, and as we were leaving we agreed that we had to find another time to go soon, because once the reviews come out, we suspect that it'll be a very hot ticket.

[BroadwayGirl107]

Posted: 6/13/09 at 9:18am

I wasn't thrilled by it either, BroadwayChica, and quite disappointed by Michael Cumpsty, Raúl Esparza, and Julie White--alll of whom I think are extraordinary actors and have a much greater potential in these roles than they are getting at at the moment.

I think Audra McDonald and Hamish Linklater were great though.

[wonkit]

Posted: 6/13/09 at 10:14am

Woah - I've never heard the role of Viola characterized as "flat" before! She's been shipwrecked, lost her brother (she thinks), changed her sexual identity and fallen in love. There has to be something there - If you can get your hands on the recently released DVDs of PLAYING SHAKESPEARE, watch the first episode on disc 4, and see what Judi Dench as Viola can do with one word!

[EugLoven]

Posted: 6/13/09 at 1:08pm

DAMMIT! I won 2 tickets via virtual-line for tonights show (6/13) but its almost guaranteed to thunder-storm. Gonna have to let them go and hope I re-win on a sunny day.

[bwayfan3]

Posted: 6/13/09 at 3:05pm

Do they post on the website if the show is cancelled?
Updated On: 6/13/09 at 03:05 PM

[Jazzysuite82]

Posted: 6/13/09 at 4:26pm

It is supposed to thunderstorm. It looks like a 60% chance though. It's supposed to be raining right now but seems fine. Maybe it'll come much later and they won't cancel. We'll see. I feel like it rains much more often during Shakespeare in the Park than any other time in the city. At least it seems that way.

[Mrfreeze]

Posted: 6/13/09 at 4:54pm

I really hope it will go on! My friend won tickets for tonight. Keep praying to the rain Gods! :)