| re: “Hamlet” on PBS tonight. | |
| Last Edit: Someday 03:25 pm EDT 05/10/24 | |
| Posted by: Someday 03:23 pm EDT 05/10/24 | |
| In reply to: re: “Hamlet” on PBS tonight. - student_rush 10:54 am EDT 05/10/24 | |
|
|
|
| Those were indeed great days. I have some shout-outs and thoughts to add. In 2007, Michael Christofer gave one of the most electric supporting performances I’ve ever seen as Capulet. His speeches railing against his own daughter were shocking. With barely contained, white-hot fury, he recalibrated the stakes of the whole production in maybe 45 seconds. In the same production, the late Christopher Evan Welch offered a magnificently disturbed and lovable Mercutio. Oscar Isaac charmed as a dreamy-minded but active Romeo. And Lauren Ambrose’s Juliet projected a magnetism and intellect so powerful they actually leant a justification to the play’s stunning spiral of violence. The next year, Ambrose outdid herself. Her Ophelia was one for the ages – a haunted but luminous soul on a harrowing journey from devotion, through trepidation, confusion, despair, and on toward devastation. That Hamlet received mixed reviews, though better ones than the recent production. Maybe it wasn’t perfect, but I found Michael Stuhlbarg to be spectacular – playful, dangerous, accessible, enigmatic, and just flat-out fascinating. And Sam Waterston gently humanized Polonius. A Hamlet production could do a lot worse than offering a moving Polonius, a heartbreaking Ophelia, and a spellbinding prince. It has been a while since the park shows moved and excited me like those did. I vote for bringing back directors Grief and Eustis. And definitely Ambrose. How about Ambrose as Isabella in Measure for Measure – with Stuhlbarg and Raul Esparza as Angelo and the Duke (maybe alternating?) Or, to go outside the box, Audra could make a great Duke. And maybe it’s impossible, but I’d crawl over hot coals to see Michael Christofer’s Lear. |
|
| reply | |
|
|
|
| Previous: | re: “Hamlet” on PBS tonight. - 37Rubydog 07:20 pm EDT 05/10/24 |
| Next: | re: “Hamlet” on PBS tonight. - writerkev 03:53 pm EDT 05/10/24 |
| Thread: |
|
Time to render: 0.012948 seconds.