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The Cocoanuts and The Tempest at OSF

Posted by: BillEadie 10:43 pm EDT 08/29/14

Am on a five-plays-in-three-days trip. The first two we saw happened to be the two that began running at the beginning of the season (February) and will run through to the end (November).

The Cocoanuts is an adaptation of a George S. Kauffman play that the Marx Brothers turned into a movie. It plays the characters as the Marx Brothers would have performed them. The aim of the production was clearly for inspired lunacy, and for many in the audience I'm sure the cast achieved its goal. I found a lot of the scripted ad libs to be tiresome, and the couple of place where the cast actually seemed to be ad libbing were funny but went on way too long.

The house was full, however, and the audience seemed to be having a great time. I think this performance showed what can happen when a cast gets well into a long run, particularly with farce.

The Tempest has not been one of my favorites (it is, however, a fav of the friend I'm traveling with). Nevertheless, I admired the nice directoral touches, a Prospero who seemed in charge of everything throughout the play, and a device of using four bare-chested "spirit" dancers as a means of providing the magic. This cast was fresh and entirely in touch with what they were doing, but the theatre was only three-quarters full.

Go figure.

Still to come: A Wrinkle in Time, The Great Society, and Two Gentlemen of Verona.

The house staff is very strict, the performances begin on the dot, and tha audiences respond accordingly.

Bill, away from San Diego for now


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re: The Cocoanuts and The Tempest at OSF

Posted by: Ordoc 10:59 pm EDT 08/30/14
In reply to: The Cocoanuts and The Tempest at OSF - BillEadie 10:43 pm EDT 08/29/14

You appear to be confusing George S with another family from Pittsburgh with the same last name. George always spelled his last name with only one "f."

George and Irving Berlin wrote this musical for the Marx Brothers. There is a movie version of The Cocoanuts with the Marx Brothers. The boys hated the movie. It's not a good one.

The OSF production was adapted by Mark Bedard who plays Groucho. He used the script for the stage version and the movie script.

I saw the show in March and then 2 weeks ago. I loved the first time and thought it was in good shape the second time. The actors did not look bored to me. They all love doing the show. In the tradition of the Marx Brothers, every performance is a bit different. A friend is in the show and said doing the show is like a party.

The major problem with The Tempest is Denis Arndt (Prospero). He underplays everything and when I walked out of the theatre, I had no idea how he felt about anything. The rest of the production is very good.


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re: The Cocoanuts and The Tempest at OSF

Posted by: BillEadie 04:08 am EDT 08/31/14
In reply to: re: The Cocoanuts and The Tempest at OSF - Ordoc 10:59 pm EDT 08/30/14

Thanks for the spelling correction. I was writing impressions quickly and without using the program.

You do assume that I thought the cast of The Cocoanuts looked tired and that I thought they hated doing the show. Not at all. The cast was energized, and the audience loves them, as I stated. What I thought was stale was the scripted routines. They probably had zing earlier in the run, but in the performance I saw they'd settled into performing with precision. I admired the precision of performing I've seen here in several shows over the past couple of days, but in The Cocoanuts mere precision isn't enough.

We can agree to disagree about Mr. Arndt's performance. He did underplay, but, I thought, always with authority. I liked his approach very much.

Will report on the other plays tomorrow.

Bill, heading back south tomorrow afternoon


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re: The Cocoanuts and The Tempest at OSF

Posted by: Richard Connema 03:16 am EDT 08/30/14
In reply to: The Cocoanuts and The Tempest at OSF - BillEadie 10:43 pm EDT 08/29/14

Glad you liked "Coconuts" We saw it last April. I thought "The Tempest" was interesting but not my favorite play up there. Did not see "The Great Society" nor "Gentlemen of Verona" since they were not playing in April. I will be interested in seeing what you thought of the two.


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