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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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Thread:	re: The Cocoanuts and The Tempest at OSF - Ordoc 10:59 pm EDT 08/30/14 (1) re: The Cocoanuts and The Tempest at OSF - BillEadie 04:08 am EDT 08/31/14 re: The Cocoanuts and The Tempest at OSF - Richard Connema 03:16 am EDT 08/30/14

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