I'm not the smartest guy in the world, but I'm not an idiot. Neither are the three friends I attended with. Heck, I even have a degree in English. However, the trip to see King Lear at Center Stage ended in disappointment. We left at intermission today. At least 50 percent of the play sailed right over our collective heads. I just couldn't follow the damn thing. I got the three daughters thing, but then there seemed to be a separate storyline that I couldn't follow at all. Then the two stories intermingled and I was completely lost. Admittedly, I was tired, but, also, I just don't think Shakespeare is that accessible to the common folk. Like me. Intermission came, mercifully, and we all left.
A good reminder that I need to read the damn Shakespeare play before I go see it performed. If it were any number of plays I had read before, I think I would have been fine. I would have loved to have seen Romeo and Juliet, which I haven't seen since I started teaching it. Macbeth would have been awesome. But King Lear was a complete bust.
That's two disappointing Center Stage productions in a row. This one was probably more my fault than theirs, but the last one (the silly Voysey Inheritance, also about old British people) from the previous season was also a flop in my eyes. Here's hoping that the next production rises to the level Permanent Collection or Elmira's Kitchen, two of the most powerful theater experiences I've ever had.
I'm going to be spending a weekend in NYC at the end of the month, and am deciding what show I want to see while I'm there. Erin and I will be china-bussing it up there and staying with our college friend who lives a few blocks from Broadway. This is the time when all my readers with connections with the NYC theater scene give me advice about what I should go see. Or send me free tickets or something. I've never seen a Broadway musical, and really want to see a famous one, like Rent, Wicked, or The Lion King, for my first one. However, I'd have to go alone. I also sort of want to see Hairspray. Not that I need to see a musical. I "only" saw a play last time - August Wilson's Gem of the Ocean - and was very happy with that, so maybe I'll do that again. I will probably go to the half off place and see what I can get. Last time I was there, I just missed getting a Rent ticket for $50 there, but had to run across the street to the ATM, and when I returned, it was gone.
We'll see.
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11 comments:
King Lear is one of my favorite plays! I'm disappointed you didn't enjoy it, but can agree you probably should have read it first.
I would summarize it for you but in many ways it's more complicated than Hamlet. I would suggest watching the TNT movie "King of Texas", an EXCELLENT adaptation of King Lear starring Patrick Stewart. But only after you read the play, of course. :)
I have to agree with eglantine. King Lear is my favorite of all Shakespeare plays. It has so many layers of relationships. The second story mirrors the story of King Lear and his daughters.
Rent is by far the best show EVER. I've seen it four times, and it never loses its pull on the audience.
I saw Hairspray last year and I thought it was wonderful. And I've never, ever liked musicals. Being from Baltimore in the crowd of New Yorkers makes it extra-special, too.
Rent was my first broadway musical and I liked it a lot which kind of surprised me considering it's all about homos and AIDS and all kinds of liberal hooey. You'd love it. I almost even bought the soundtrack from it. Almost.
I saw Lion King when it was here in Baltimore at the Hippodrome and I would see that again on Broadway in a minute.
So in my expert opinion you can't go wrong with either of those choices.
I love King Lear too. It's my favorite Shakespeare as well. I don't think Shakespeare is necessarily difficult, after all, my alma mater is currently doing a version of Taming of the Shrew set in the 1980's, bad pop music galore. I'm sorry you didn't connect with this version. Also, Jane Smiley's 1000 Acres is a brilliant novel that retells the story of King Lear as well. Not so sure about the movie.
I can't think of any stellar musicals out there right now, but if you've never seen Rent that's worth taking in. You might also want to consider an opera. Literary types tend to love opera. :)
I've been to NYC a couple times but have not gone to a show there. Shame on me. I did see "Ain't Misbehavin'" years ago at the Morris A. Mechanic Theatre starring the late Nell Carter. I remember she fell during a dance number and it made the news that night.
Hey Epiph....I haven't read your post yet, but I wanted to tell you that I met that new principal of yours. He's hot.
I'm upset that you've never mentioned this. Women need to know these things. Don't let me find out that you've been leaving other important facts out of your posts!
i saw the production, too, having read and studied the play in college--shakespeare's tough to produce and watch because the language is so dense with poetry and is unfamiliar to our ears besides. we were studying it in our law and literature course alongside Smiley's "A Thousand Acres" which has been called a feminist revision of Lear--we actually had the dramaturg come to our class and talk with us--he had to cut over an hour of lines out and it was still three hours long!--i too felt like the emotional effect was dissipated by the actors just trying to get all the lines in--
the key to shakespeare is the language. You have to be comfortable with the language, (really comfortable) in order to follow the play.
As a theatre person, it makes me physically ill to hear people say they're going to read the play before they go see it (A play is not a Grisham novel, it is not meant to be read). But in this case I'll make the exception. Read King Lear and go see it again. It's one of best, most perfect plays ever written.
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