* * * * *
Final Dress - a Running Commentary
7:14 – it’s nice to be back in a theatre, after all the everyday-life drama of the last two weeks. Romeo and the students seem happy to see me, and if the director isn’t effusive, well, she’s opening a show that she’d like another day to rehearse…
7:25 – Once we got started, it was a pretty explosive beginning… nice. Everyone really seems to understand what they’re saying, which makes it a LOT easier for the audience to follow.
7:26 – I wish Benvolio were a little bigger, sillier – it needs a little comic lift. He’s a good actor, though young – he’ll do well. Romeo really is a marvelous actor.
7:39 – Mercutio is a HOTTIE. By the end of the show I might figure out if he can act.
7:43 – Inadvertent joke: Mercutio speaks of something being “thin of substance as the air” while waving his hand over Romeo’s thinning scalp. Oops.
8:12 – GREAT scene with Romeo and Friar Laurence! I’m still not sold on the romance, but the character stuff is fascinating! That’s not to say that the production isn’t selling the romance (as it were)… these are excellent actors, and I really can see how this headlong tumbling into love/infactuation is exciting and fun – I just don’t feel it applying in any way to me.
8:22 – Juliet bugs me. She’s young, and a twit.
8:25 – OK, she’s cute. (I credit the actress, not the character.)
8:38 – Good fight scene… Oh. I had no idea that Shakespeare was the originator of the “Previously, on…” bit of narration, though. Always makes me think of Buffy the Vampire Slayer. Hmmm… Nicholas Brendan as Benvolio, Anthony Stewart Head as Prince Escalus, Sarah Michelle Gellar as Juliet, and that leaves David Boreanaz as Romeo… (Angel’s certainly broody enough to play the part…) I guess that means Allyson Hannigan is left for Friar Laurence – I like it! Right, back to the play.
8:41 – Intermission. ( [SPOILER] Even dead, Mercutio’s still a hottie. Rowr.)
8:59 – Blah, blah, blah… drama drama drama. Dead, banished, WHATEVER.
9:02 – The scenes with Romeo and the Friar are the best. I’ve never liked Friar Laurence, but I’m finally starting to see how Shakespeare wrote the two characters to balance each other, and where the Friar’s motivation comes from… Also, it makes me happy that FL and the Nurse are both treating him like the whining little baby that he is. Heh.
9:19 – Hey, Lord Capulet! It’s like I told the BHS students – anger doesn’t get you anything. And in Shakespeare, it just makes you hard to understand!
9:23 – I do like Paris. This is an extraordinarily sympathetic actor. Oh, wow, and the author gave him some good lines… I never noticed before. I’m feeling a little swoony.
9:38 – It really sucks to be Lady Capulet.
9:43 – Shakespeare is just MEAN. That tonal shift from [SPOILER!] Juliet’s death scene to Romeo in Mantua is irony whacking the audience over the head with a jackhammer. Rude.
9:47 – Ooh, dead Juliet and dead Tybalt walked into the “vault” and laid down on their biers at the same time. Cool.
10:00 – Dang, another “Previously”, and at the very end of the play! Come on, FL, we KNOW what happened! We just watched it! I suppose that IS a good teaching technique: “Tell ‘em what you’re going to tell ‘em; tell ‘em; tell ‘em what you told ‘em.” Are we supposed to cry all over again?
10:06 – Really, this is a very good show. I’m terribly impressed. Everyone has obviously worked very hard, and I’d recommend it to anyone who likes Shakespeare or would like to become better acquainted with the Bard! (Opens Thursday, and runs this and next weekend!)
Final Dress - a Running Commentary
7:14 – it’s nice to be back in a theatre, after all the everyday-life drama of the last two weeks. Romeo and the students seem happy to see me, and if the director isn’t effusive, well, she’s opening a show that she’d like another day to rehearse…
7:25 – Once we got started, it was a pretty explosive beginning… nice. Everyone really seems to understand what they’re saying, which makes it a LOT easier for the audience to follow.
7:26 – I wish Benvolio were a little bigger, sillier – it needs a little comic lift. He’s a good actor, though young – he’ll do well. Romeo really is a marvelous actor.
7:39 – Mercutio is a HOTTIE. By the end of the show I might figure out if he can act.
7:43 – Inadvertent joke: Mercutio speaks of something being “thin of substance as the air” while waving his hand over Romeo’s thinning scalp. Oops.
8:12 – GREAT scene with Romeo and Friar Laurence! I’m still not sold on the romance, but the character stuff is fascinating! That’s not to say that the production isn’t selling the romance (as it were)… these are excellent actors, and I really can see how this headlong tumbling into love/infactuation is exciting and fun – I just don’t feel it applying in any way to me.
8:22 – Juliet bugs me. She’s young, and a twit.
8:25 – OK, she’s cute. (I credit the actress, not the character.)
8:38 – Good fight scene… Oh. I had no idea that Shakespeare was the originator of the “Previously, on…” bit of narration, though. Always makes me think of Buffy the Vampire Slayer. Hmmm… Nicholas Brendan as Benvolio, Anthony Stewart Head as Prince Escalus, Sarah Michelle Gellar as Juliet, and that leaves David Boreanaz as Romeo… (Angel’s certainly broody enough to play the part…) I guess that means Allyson Hannigan is left for Friar Laurence – I like it! Right, back to the play.8:41 – Intermission. ( [SPOILER] Even dead, Mercutio’s still a hottie. Rowr.)
8:59 – Blah, blah, blah… drama drama drama. Dead, banished, WHATEVER.
9:02 – The scenes with Romeo and the Friar are the best. I’ve never liked Friar Laurence, but I’m finally starting to see how Shakespeare wrote the two characters to balance each other, and where the Friar’s motivation comes from… Also, it makes me happy that FL and the Nurse are both treating him like the whining little baby that he is. Heh.
9:19 – Hey, Lord Capulet! It’s like I told the BHS students – anger doesn’t get you anything. And in Shakespeare, it just makes you hard to understand!
9:23 – I do like Paris. This is an extraordinarily sympathetic actor. Oh, wow, and the author gave him some good lines… I never noticed before. I’m feeling a little swoony.
9:38 – It really sucks to be Lady Capulet.
9:43 – Shakespeare is just MEAN. That tonal shift from [SPOILER!] Juliet’s death scene to Romeo in Mantua is irony whacking the audience over the head with a jackhammer. Rude.
9:47 – Ooh, dead Juliet and dead Tybalt walked into the “vault” and laid down on their biers at the same time. Cool.
10:00 – Dang, another “Previously”, and at the very end of the play! Come on, FL, we KNOW what happened! We just watched it! I suppose that IS a good teaching technique: “Tell ‘em what you’re going to tell ‘em; tell ‘em; tell ‘em what you told ‘em.” Are we supposed to cry all over again?
10:06 – Really, this is a very good show. I’m terribly impressed. Everyone has obviously worked very hard, and I’d recommend it to anyone who likes Shakespeare or would like to become better acquainted with the Bard! (Opens Thursday, and runs this and next weekend!)
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