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Public Theater , Shakespeare , Shakespeare In The Park , Theater , Entertainment News
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Inspiring Funny Hot Scary Outrageous Amazing Weird CrazyTheater: Shakespeare In The Park
"Ends Well" With "Measure"
ALL'S WELL THAT ENDS WELL **
MEASURE FOR MEASURE ***
SHAKESPEARE IN THE PARK
Shakespeare in the Park has experimented the last few
seasons with performing plays in repertory with the
same cast. It's proven a very strong success. With bothshows alternating you can catch two differentproductions in a week. With the same general cast, youhave the fun of seeing actor after actor tackle radicallydifferent roles or give a subtle spin to similar characters.The longer timespan may also have kept the biggestnames from committing which might also be a goodthing. Star-heavy casting sometimes tilts the shows
towards those names. This summer you genuinely have a sense of a company coming together to present
these shows. Here's hoping they continue with this approach. If the Public Theater is our de facto
national theater, then for a few weeks in the summer we get to see what it would be like to have an
ongoing theater company a la the RSC in London. Here's a video chat with some of the male castmembers.
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Both plays are romantic dramas, rather serious in their way but filled with entertainment. They work
wonderfully with the outdoor setting -- as darkness creeps in, the shows themselves get more and moreweighty. In general, they are both acted quite well. All's Well That Ends Well is rather poorly directed by
Daniel Sullivan, who enjoyed a great season on Broadway with The Merchant Of Venice and Good People.
The set is dominated by a large, imposing balcony running across the stage with staircases leading down.He makes almost nothing of it, turning this large structure into a major distraction. Both shows arerather slowly paced and keep the text basically intact, though All's Well is the one that feels more draggy.
It didn't help All's Well that I just saw an absolutely marvelous, definitive production at London's Globe
Theatre. It's considered a "problem" play because our heroine Helena (Annie Parisse) yearns for Bertram
(the talented Andre Holland) who is - how to put this? -- a jerk. The more we admire her, the more wewonder what she sees in him. The London production decided there was no problem and presentedBertram with his warts and all. Love isn't logical, after all. Plus, they emphasized his youthfulimpetuosity. He may behave like a cad from scene to scene, but at least we know he believes in his ownpassions -- however much they may be the opposite of what he swore to believe a minute ago -- down to
his core. Not so here, where Bertram is more typically calculating.
John Cullum and Tonya Pinkins are strong in their significant roles as the mother of Bertram and the
King Of France, especially when Cullum gets to drop the hammer on Bertram. It gets a little lively at theend, when all the couples are intertwined for good (whether they like it or not), but the show takes toolong to get there.
And look at Reg Rogers. He plays a cowardly friend of Bertram's called Parolles. Comic relief, Parolles
came to life in London as a real person, not just a fop to make sport of. That made his humor funnier andhis comeuppance more painful. Here, Rogers is just a fool. But in Measure for Measure , he plays Lucio
with more subtlety, getting more laughs and creating a genuine man in the process. it's typical of director
David Esbjornson's more thoughtful work in Measure .
The show begins with demons prowling the stage (our inner id or at least our fear of sexual desire made
manifest). They prompt the Duke (Lorenzo Pisoni) to high it out of town and put his confidant Angelo(Michael Hayden) in charge. The Duke wants to see how Angelo with perform and expects a man of suchsober character can clamp down on vice more convincingly. And how. Angelo outlaws all fornicationoutside of marriage, which soon means he must execute a fine young man Claudio (Holland again) whohas impregnated his fiance. Claudio begs his sister Isabella (Danai Gurira) to plead for mercy fromAngelo. To his shock, Angelo finds himself deeply, furiously desirous of Isabella and says he will spareher brother's life if she gives up her maidenhood to him. Oh the villainy! The show has a vague rock and
roll feel, with punkish, comically sexual costumes by Elizabeth Hope Clancy, a memorable music and
sound score by John Gromada (aided by Acme Sound Partners strong sound design) and even endingwith the Rolling Stones performing "Sympathy For The Devil" (a bit of a stretch, that one).
The exceptional Dakin Matthews does his usual yeoman's work in dual roles. Carson Elrod has fun
playing a male prostitute, Pompey, wandering through the crowd and teasing the audience during onescene, offering his services to a hulking executioner in another. David Manis -- just like Rogers -- createsa more believable dullard (and therefore a funnier role) in Measure than he did in All's Well.
Pisoni is a very unmemorable Duke; it's almost a surprise at the end to realize this is his play. He deliversthe poetry and music of Shakespeare, rather than the meaning -- always a fatal mistake. He's not bad,just not nearly as good as his two main costars in Measure. Just as the actress Annie Parisse did
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And...marvelous work in All's Well as Helena, Measure is dominated by Isabella. It makes sense that a star
would be born out of doors and that surely seems true here for Danai Gurira. She shows a fierce
intelligence and commitment to her part that makes this show come alive whenever she is onstage.Gurira has been on Broadway in Joe Turner's Come and Gone, had a small role in TV's Treme and other
parts here and there but truly flowers here.
She is matched line for line by Michael Hayden as the corrupt Angelo. Their scenes together when they
spar for the life of Claudio and the soul of Isabella are electric and worth waiting online all day for. That's
why people return again and again to Shakespeare in the Park -- free theater, fine casts, a convivial
audience, sometimes great productions that become the talk of the season, and once in a while a chanceto see a new talent flourish.
The Theater Season 2011-2012 (on a four star scale)
All's Well That Ends Well/Shakespeare in the Park **
Broadway By The Year: 1997 ** 1/2 out of ****
Measure For Measure/Shakespeare in the Park ***
One Arm ***
Spiderman: Turn Off The Dark * 1/2
Unnatural Acts ***
Zarkana **
Thanks for reading. Michael Giltz is the cohost of Showbiz Sandbox, a weekly pop culture podcast that
reveals the industry take on entertainment news of the day and features top journalists and opinion
makers as guests. It's available for free on iTunes. Visit Michael Giltz at his website and his daily blog.
Download his podcast of celebrity interviews and his radio show, also called Popsurfing and also
available for free on iTunes. Link to him on Netflix and gain access to thousands of ratings and reviews.
Note : Michael Giltz was provided with free tickets to this show with the understanding that he would
be writing a review.
Follow Michael Giltz on Twitter: www.twitter.com/michaelgiltz
Buy a link here Sponsored Links
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FRONT PAGE POLITICS BUSINESS ENTERTAINMENT TECH MEDIA LIFE & STYLE CULTURE COMEDY HEALTHY LIVING WOMEN LOCAL MORE
Michael Giltz
Freelance writer
GET UPDATES FROM MICHAEL GILTZ
Read more
Public Theater , Shakespeare , Shakespeare In The Park , Theater , Entertainment News
3
8
1
0React
Inspiring Funny Hot Scary Outrageous Amazing Weird CrazyTheater: Shakespeare In The Park
"Ends Well" With "Measure"
ALL'S WELL THAT ENDS WELL **
MEASURE FOR MEASURE ***
SHAKESPEARE IN THE PARK
Shakespeare in the Park has experimented the last few
seasons with performing plays in repertory with the
same cast. It's proven a very strong success. With bothshows alternating you can catch two differentproductions in a week. With the same general cast, youhave the fun of seeing actor after actor tackle radicallydifferent roles or give a subtle spin to similar characters.The longer timespan may also have kept the biggestnames from committing which might also be a goodthing. Star-heavy casting sometimes tilts the shows
towards those names. This summer you genuinely have a sense of a company coming together to present
these shows. Here's hoping they continue with this approach. If the Public Theater is our de facto
national theater, then for a few weeks in the summer we get to see what it would be like to have an
ongoing theater company a la the RSC in London. Here's a video chat with some of the male castmembers.
FOLLOW USSeptember 15, 2011
Signs Your
Husband Is GayKirstie Alley Walks
NYFW
The Alexander
Wang PartyKnightley Gets
Dangerous
EDITION: U.S.
Like 43
Posted: 07/ 1/11 02:18 PM ET
SHARE THIS STORY
Submit this story
Get Entertainment Alerts
Sign UpPHOTO GALLERIES
CONNECT
FRONT PAGE POLITICS BUSINESS ENTERTAINMENT TECH MEDIA LIFE & STYLE CULTURE COMEDY HEALTHY LIVING WOMEN LOCAL MORE
Like 40KTelevision Mad Men Jersey Shore Scarlett Johansson BlackBerry 101 More Log in
Both plays are romantic dramas, rather serious in their way but filled with entertainment. They work
wonderfully with the outdoor setting -- as darkness creeps in, the shows themselves get more and moreweighty. In general, they are both acted quite well. All's Well That Ends Well is rather poorly directed by
Daniel Sullivan, who enjoyed a great season on Broadway with The Merchant Of Venice and Good People.
The set is dominated by a large, imposing balcony running across the stage with staircases leading down.He makes almost nothing of it, turning this large structure into a major distraction. Both shows arerather slowly paced and keep the text basically intact, though All's Well is the one that feels more draggy.
It didn't help All's Well that I just saw an absolutely marvelous, definitive production at London's Globe
Theatre. It's considered a "problem" play because our heroine Helena (Annie Parisse) yearns for Bertram
(the talented Andre Holland) who is - how to put this? -- a jerk. The more we admire her, the more wewonder what she sees in him. The London production decided there was no problem and presentedBertram with his warts and all. Love isn't logical, after all. Plus, they emphasized his youthfulimpetuosity. He may behave like a cad from scene to scene, but at least we know he believes in his ownpassions -- however much they may be the opposite of what he swore to believe a minute ago -- down to
his core. Not so here, where Bertram is more typically calculating.
John Cullum and Tonya Pinkins are strong in their significant roles as the mother of Bertram and the
King Of France, especially when Cullum gets to drop the hammer on Bertram. It gets a little lively at theend, when all the couples are intertwined for good (whether they like it or not), but the show takes toolong to get there.
And look at Reg Rogers. He plays a cowardly friend of Bertram's called Parolles. Comic relief, Parolles
came to life in London as a real person, not just a fop to make sport of. That made his humor funnier andhis comeuppance more painful. Here, Rogers is just a fool. But in Measure for Measure , he plays Lucio
with more subtlety, getting more laughs and creating a genuine man in the process. it's typical of director
David Esbjornson's more thoughtful work in Measure .
The show begins with demons prowling the stage (our inner id or at least our fear of sexual desire made
manifest). They prompt the Duke (Lorenzo Pisoni) to high it out of town and put his confidant Angelo(Michael Hayden) in charge. The Duke wants to see how Angelo with perform and expects a man of suchsober character can clamp down on vice more convincingly. And how. Angelo outlaws all fornicationoutside of marriage, which soon means he must execute a fine young man Claudio (Holland again) whohas impregnated his fiance. Claudio begs his sister Isabella (Danai Gurira) to plead for mercy fromAngelo. To his shock, Angelo finds himself deeply, furiously desirous of Isabella and says he will spareher brother's life if she gives up her maidenhood to him. Oh the villainy! The show has a vague rock and
roll feel, with punkish, comically sexual costumes by Elizabeth Hope Clancy, a memorable music and
sound score by John Gromada (aided by Acme Sound Partners strong sound design) and even endingwith the Rolling Stones performing "Sympathy For The Devil" (a bit of a stretch, that one).
The exceptional Dakin Matthews does his usual yeoman's work in dual roles. Carson Elrod has fun
playing a male prostitute, Pompey, wandering through the crowd and teasing the audience during onescene, offering his services to a hulking executioner in another. David Manis -- just like Rogers -- createsa more believable dullard (and therefore a funnier role) in Measure than he did in All's Well.
Pisoni is a very unmemorable Duke; it's almost a surprise at the end to realize this is his play. He deliversthe poetry and music of Shakespeare, rather than the meaning -- always a fatal mistake. He's not bad,just not nearly as good as his two main costars in Measure. Just as the actress Annie Parisse did
MOST POPULAR ON HUFFPOST 1 of 2
'Web Cam 101 For Seniors'
Turns Oregon Oldsters Into
YouTube Celebrities
Scarlett Johansson Nude
Photos Prompt Investigation
SHOCK VIDEO: Debate
Audience Says Uninsured
Patient Should Be Left To Die
Celestrellas: Angola named
Miss Universe 2011 - show
recap (PHOTOS & VIDEOS)
AOL TV: Jon Cryer, Ashton
Kutcher & Angus T. Jones
Talk 'Two and a Half Men'
Season 9 (VIDEO)
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Headed for Divorce
Mark Blankenship True Blood
Sucker Punch: Season 4, Ep.
12
Engadget: Windows 8 for
tablets hands-on preview
(video)
AOL Jobs: Spelling Errors
Send Red Flags To Employers
DON'T MISS HUFFPOST BLOGGERS 1 of 5
Kumi Naidoo
Don’t Make a Wave: Greenpeace at
40
Candy Spelling
iPads and Social Media in the
Classroom?
Like 117K
Like 94
Like 64K
Like 2K
Like 453
Like 2K
Like 111
Like 3K
Like 1K
Missoni For Target
Merchandise FloodseBay
Scarlett Johansson
Contacts FBI AboutHacked Nude Images
Scarlett Johansson
Anna Faris Talks
Women Actresses,
Co-Stars And...
Madonna, In
Toronto, Denies
Telling Volunteers
Not...
Michelle Williams'
Marilyn Monroe
Transformation For
'My...
Paul Rudd In
Playboy: Self-
Loathing, Nudity
And...marvelous work in All's Well as Helena, Measure is dominated by Isabella. It makes sense that a star
would be born out of doors and that surely seems true here for Danai Gurira. She shows a fierce
intelligence and commitment to her part that makes this show come alive whenever she is onstage.Gurira has been on Broadway in Joe Turner's Come and Gone, had a small role in TV's Treme and other
parts here and there but truly flowers here.
She is matched line for line by Michael Hayden as the corrupt Angelo. Their scenes together when they
spar for the life of Claudio and the soul of Isabella are electric and worth waiting online all day for. That's
why people return again and again to Shakespeare in the Park -- free theater, fine casts, a convivial
audience, sometimes great productions that become the talk of the season, and once in a while a chanceto see a new talent flourish.
The Theater Season 2011-2012 (on a four star scale)
All's Well That Ends Well/Shakespeare in the Park **
Broadway By The Year: 1997 ** 1/2 out of ****
Measure For Measure/Shakespeare in the Park ***
One Arm ***
Spiderman: Turn Off The Dark * 1/2
Unnatural Acts ***
Zarkana **
Thanks for reading. Michael Giltz is the cohost of Showbiz Sandbox, a weekly pop culture podcast that
reveals the industry take on entertainment news of the day and features top journalists and opinion
makers as guests. It's available for free on iTunes. Visit Michael Giltz at his website and his daily blog.
Download his podcast of celebrity interviews and his radio show, also called Popsurfing and also
available for free on iTunes. Link to him on Netflix and gain access to thousands of ratings and reviews.
Note : Michael Giltz was provided with free tickets to this show with the understanding that he would
be writing a review.
Follow Michael Giltz on Twitter: www.twitter.com/michaelgiltz
Buy a link here Sponsored Links
What is Scientology
Think For Yourself and Find Out for Yourself.
Scientology.org
#1 Snoring Solution
New solution that allows medical insurance to pay for remedy.
www.WhyYouNeedtoKnow.com
College - 100% Online
Be more employable! Earn a certificate up to a doctoral degree at Baker Online®.
www.bakercollegeonline.com
eBay® - Official Site
Visit eBay for great deals on a huge selection of items. Shop eBay!
www.ebay.com
More in Entertainment...
TOP VIDEO PICKS 1 of 12
Halle Berry's Flawless
Bikini Bod
Olsen Sister Flashes HerBra
Scarlett's naked pics, TylerPerry is highest paid
MOST DISCUSSED RIGHT NOW 1 of 2
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HOT ON TWITTER 1 of 2
More Entertainment News at THR.com
More Celebrity News at People.comBecomes A TwitterTrending Topic
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America's Got Talent Picksa Winner
READ MORE
Michaele Salahi Was NotKidnapped as Husband
Claimed
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'Terrified' Chaz Bono
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Madonna Denied Dissing
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Gets Creepy
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Baby Bump Of The Year!
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HUFFPOST'S BIG NEWS PAGES
Video
Weird Animals
Astronomy
Food
Fashion
Scott Brown
Kanye West
Barack Obama
Maria Shriver Buy a link here Sponsored Links
What is Scientology
Think For Yourself and Find Out for Yourself.
Scientology.org
#1 Snoring Solution
New solution that allows medical insurance to pay for
remedy.
www.WhyYouNeedtoKnow.com
College - 100% Online
Be more employable! Earn a certificate up to a doctoral
degree at Baker Online®.
www.bakercollegeonline.com
MORE BIG NEWS PAGES »
ENTERTAINMENT CELEBRITY MEDIA COMEDY MUSIC TV CELEBRITY KIDS MOVIEFONE
Advertise | Log In | Make HuffPost your Home Page | RSS | Careers | FAQ
User Agreement | Privacy | Comment Policy | About Us | Contact Us
Copyright © 2011 TheHuffingtonPost.com, Inc. | "The Huffington Post" is a registered trademark of TheHuffingtonPost.com, Inc. All rights reserved.
Part of HuffPost News
sarah_ross
RetweetDear Twitter Friends pls check this
out: Have We Overlooked the Most
Effective Way to Prevent Terrorism
& War? http://t.co/YyoQ1EIR
soundcloud
Retweet'Listening for the Sounds ofinnovation.", a great guest post by
our own @Bougie over on
@HuffPostTech http://t.co/aIT65Ox
FRONT PAGE POLITICS BUSINESS ENTERTAINMENT TECH MEDIA LIFE & STYLE CULTURE COMEDY HEALTHY LIVING WOMEN LOCAL MORE