| re: Another Show Most People Like, But I Didn't: Desperate Measures | |
| Last Edit: lordofspeech 06:21 pm EDT 06/24/18 | |
| Posted by: lordofspeech 06:17 pm EDT 06/24/18 | |
| In reply to: Another Show Most People Like, But I Didn't: Desperate Measures - stan 12:59 pm EDT 06/24/18 | |
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| SPOILERS IN RESPONSE: If you like or appreciate “Measure for Measure,” I think “Desperate Measures” will be worthwhile. But, I concur that there were opportunities missed. The most delicious element for me is that the play’s text is all (nearly all?) in iambic pentameter, or seems to be, and RHYMING COUPLETS!!!! Quite a feat, and, as anyone familiar with those rhyming Moliere translations-into-English, SO MUCH FUN to listen to. There are problems. Neither the director nor the actress was able to really figure out the Isabella figure (though the girl has an icily expert soprano). Is she a cold-fish-automaton-comic figure? That seems to be where they left her. Although she’s admittedly a difficult character; there’s not much here. She is beautiful and sings beautifully. The Angelo figure is cast considerably older than Isabella and is written as a hyper-farcical German facist in the western town. Though the actor is beyond adept, excellent in fact, at the schticks required, this whole idea undermines the danger/sexuality/grit of the storyline. So, though we recognize the signals of the shtick, there’re no real stakes and no real funny. The Claudio is very well-trained, a good singer, and athletic (and, like Isabella, physically attractive). But he’s played hyper-dumb. Again, a layer of shtick that springs from nowhere and illuminates nothing. In fact, it undermines the central crisis of the play and the sweet song he has about how valuable life is. The Duke figure plays it all straight and therefore is the most fun and the most charming. Sings good. Looks good. And playing the situation for real gives us real comedy. The priest-figure is written as all shtick. The other woman’s role, the bawd, may be interesting, but this actress pushes so hard to comment on her character and beg for laughs that it’s hard to watch. She has the most golden-age-fun song, a kind of « anything you can do » duet with Claudio. Although the whole thing is directed to seem focussed and professional, it doesn’t serve the text or the storyline to camp and shtick it up. It may pass for a comedy about sexual repression, but it’s neither sexy nor funny. I hadn’t meant to say bad things. I’m glad I went. I learned some things about what might be important for making « Measure for Measure » work. |
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| Previous: | re: Another Show Most People Like, But I Didn't: Desperate Measures - BroadwayNate 10:57 am EDT 06/26/18 |
| Next: | re: Another Show Most People Like, But I Didn't: Desperate Measures - AlanScott 06:57 pm EDT 06/24/18 |
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