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A fresh take on Twelfth Night
Sep. 20th, 2013 04:15 pmBy now I hope that everyone local on my f-list knows that Twelfth Night is now open and running this weekend and next. If not, details are behind the cut.
What you don't know--unless you were at opening night last night--is that this is a really great production of one of Shakespeare's very best plays. I have seen many versions of this show and never seen a "downstairs" team (Maria, Sir Toby, Sir Andrew, Fabian) to equal this one. I usually sit with teeth gritted through those parts, waiting to get back to the "upstairs" scenes, but in this case they were spectactular--creative, inventive, and hysterically funny. Mike Glicksman's Feste was also amazing--he composed all the music and plays it on the accordion to great comic effect, making particularly the "drunken revels" scene completely new for me. And Malvolio--this is a completely different take on the character than you have ever seen, I promise you. Brad Smith is brilliant in the role and without undermining the self-important, annoying aspects of it, manages to make Malvolio human and sympathetic. For the first time I understood why he's usually played more vilely--the conclusion of his plotline makes it hard to hold onto the funny--but T@F doesn't shy away from the complexities of the moment and finds a way to walk the line, respecting the truth of his moment without letting it derail the happy ending.
I could say good things about every member of the cast, although the other characters are played more traditionally, but seriously--if you like this show, you want to see this version. If you've never liked this show, this is the time to try it again. And if you love this show, you're in luck!
( Twelfth Night Details )
What you don't know--unless you were at opening night last night--is that this is a really great production of one of Shakespeare's very best plays. I have seen many versions of this show and never seen a "downstairs" team (Maria, Sir Toby, Sir Andrew, Fabian) to equal this one. I usually sit with teeth gritted through those parts, waiting to get back to the "upstairs" scenes, but in this case they were spectactular--creative, inventive, and hysterically funny. Mike Glicksman's Feste was also amazing--he composed all the music and plays it on the accordion to great comic effect, making particularly the "drunken revels" scene completely new for me. And Malvolio--this is a completely different take on the character than you have ever seen, I promise you. Brad Smith is brilliant in the role and without undermining the self-important, annoying aspects of it, manages to make Malvolio human and sympathetic. For the first time I understood why he's usually played more vilely--the conclusion of his plotline makes it hard to hold onto the funny--but T@F doesn't shy away from the complexities of the moment and finds a way to walk the line, respecting the truth of his moment without letting it derail the happy ending.
I could say good things about every member of the cast, although the other characters are played more traditionally, but seriously--if you like this show, you want to see this version. If you've never liked this show, this is the time to try it again. And if you love this show, you're in luck!
( Twelfth Night Details )
