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Sep. 5th, 2014 11:49 pm![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png){kind=small}
skygiantsTonight I dragged nextian with me to see The Winter's Tale: A MUSICAL starring A SIGNIFICANT PERCENTAGE OF NEW YORK, because a.) last year's Tempest Starring A Significant Percentage Of New York WAS AMAZING and b.) tonight is actually my last night for at least a while as a resident of the city, which is really weird, and going to go see the city celebrate itself seemed like an appropriate thing to do.
Anyway, Winter's Tale was not quite as good as last year's Tempest, which was just, like, mind-bogglingly wonderful, but it was still pretty delightful! The ballerinas had significantly less swagger, but on the other hand, a swing band on stilts. Also, still on the other hand, SESAME STREET.
A Winter's Tale is a really weird play, because the first half is a serious Othello-esque tragedy with jealousy and then the second half is full-blown pastoral comedy filled with dancing and wacky disguises, and I was really very curious as to how they were planning to handle this.
The answer: have the show narrated, posthumously, by Antigonus -- aka Mr. Paulina, aka Mr. Exi Pursued By A Bear -- to explain repeatedly that life is short and you should enjoy it while you can. Because at any minute, you might get eaten by a bear.
Antigonus is also backed up by a gospel choir and frequently accompanied by a swarm of snowflake ballerinas who twirl hilariously and incongruously around the very serious tragic action, representing WINTER.
The entire first section of the story is played pretty straight, cutting out significant parts of the dialogue but frequently pausing for a sad ballad from Leontes or Hermione. Leontes, Hermione, and Antigonus are the only professionals onstage (for the first act -- the second act adds Autolycus and Perdita's shepherd brother), so they have to be given time to belt, I guess. And Leontes and Hermione are very good at belting, I'm not complaining! Paulina is not a professional, and is AWESOME, but sadly many of my favorite bits of her dialogue is cut to make room for more sad ballads that are really committed to really obvious rhymes. (On the other hand I did really appreciate Antigonus' brief sad monologue about how much he loves Paulina and thinks she's wonderful and wishes he could be with her instead of having been eaten by a bear.) Everyone is dressed in EXTREMELY GOTHIC BLACK, except the gospel choir and the ballerinas, who are dressed entirely in SYMBOLIC WINTER WHITE.
Then you get to the end of the tragic bit, and Antigonus brings Hermione's baby onto a storm-tossed ocean which is symbolically represented by a REALLY AWESOME capoeira group, and the Ghost of Hermione confusingly appears? Confusingly, because as per the play's plot she's not actually dead ...??
Anyway, she sings a song about how if Antigonus just believes in her and keeps her daughter safe then he will survive the storm and everything will be OK, which is extra hilarious when you bear in mind that literally as soon as he arrives safely after the storm he does get eaten by a bear.
AND THE BEAR IS GREAT. The bear is so good! Ten points to the bear performer, who does this slow ursine lunge across the stage and received a standing ovation.
CUT TO: adorable seven-year-old Time, who marches out with her clock and declares Shakespearean poetry with astounding aplomb and commitment that puts all the other performers to shame.
...anyway, now that we've timeskipped, it's obviously time for a COLORFUL HOEDOWN, as two hundred New Yorkers in floaty neon pink and yellow pour onstage and begin rocking out.
(EMMA: ...so these are obviously Bohemians.)
The next half hour is pretty much a nonstop party. Autolycus turns up and sashays around charmingly picking audience pockets, and Perdita, who I just looked up and who is ACTUALLY SIXTEEN, oh my god, BABY, gets to sing her own cute coming-of-age 'I want' song, but everyone is mostly just waiting for HOEDOWN: PART 2, which features:
- a couple of really great lion dancers
- rocking out to "Sing, Sing, Sing"
- as played by a BAND OF SWING MUSICIAN/DANCERS ON STILTS, which is a thing that I did not know New York City had, and which is a thing that clearly every city should have, ever
So now we are all clapping along and extremely ready to have a good time (as are the two hundred Bohemians onstage), which makes it an excellent time for someone to run onstage and announce that there are some "men with hair" outside who would like to come in and perform!
WELCOME, SESAME STREET. The fifty kids in the audience who have no idea why the king was so mad during the first thirty minutes of the show are like "HECK YEAH, COOKIE MONSTER, HERE FOR THIS!" and, let's be honest, the rest of the two thousand people in the audience are also doing exactly the same thing.
But eventually -- tragically! -- Sesame Street has to stop doing Shakespeare riffs so the actual Shakespeare play can continue. The hoedown is interrupted by an angry king, but it's OK because Perdita and Florizel are escorted off to Sicily by a group of enthusiastic Bhangra dancers and Autolycus gets to charm the scenery some more. We get to see some of Paulina's eternally wonderful constant shaming of Leontes, but NOT NEARLY ENOUGH. NEVER ENOUGH.
Then we get the famous scene where Shakespeare has some random extras narrate all the awesome things that happened for the happy ending that he was too lazy to actually write out, here delivered by a group of NYC locals identified in the program as "Bohemian Patrick, Bohemian Donald, Bohemian John, Bohemian Paul, and Bohemian Ambrosia." Why they are Bohemian when this whole scene takes place in Sicily, I don't know, but I don't care because I'm too busy being distracted by the return of the gospel choir and the ballerinas and the fact that Hermione, as everyone knows, TOTALLY ISN'T DEAD so why did we get her ghost earlier anyway?
Then the ghost of Antigonus leads everyone in a final rousing song about how you should be happy because life is short and you could get eaten by a bear. Enter: the bear. Enter also: NYC's local park rangers, HERE TO SAVE US FROM THE BEAR, and really enjoying their thirty seconds of fame, although not as much as the Taxi Driver's Union enjoyed their thirty seconds of fame last year. No one loves their thirty seconds of fame as much as the Taxi Driver's Union loved their thirty seconds of fame.
And we end with everyone dancing! Which is as it should be. :D
I got like three hours of sleep last night so I'm going to go fall over now, but I'm really, really glad this is how I decided to spend my last night in New York. Tomorrow I move to Boston? TOMORROW I MOVE TO BOSTON. File under: things that I still haven't fully internalized yet.
nextian with me to see The Winter's Tale: A MUSICAL starring A SIGNIFICANT PERCENTAGE OF NEW YORK, because a.) last year's Tempest Starring A Significant Percentage Of New York WAS AMAZING and b.) tonight is actually my last night for at least a while as a resident of the city, which is really weird, and going to go see the city celebrate itself seemed like an appropriate thing to do. Anyway, Winter's Tale was not quite as good as last year's Tempest, which was just, like, mind-bogglingly wonderful, but it was still pretty delightful! The ballerinas had significantly less swagger, but on the other hand, a swing band on stilts. Also, still on the other hand, SESAME STREET.
A Winter's Tale is a really weird play, because the first half is a serious Othello-esque tragedy with jealousy and then the second half is full-blown pastoral comedy filled with dancing and wacky disguises, and I was really very curious as to how they were planning to handle this.
The answer: have the show narrated, posthumously, by Antigonus -- aka Mr. Paulina, aka Mr. Exi Pursued By A Bear -- to explain repeatedly that life is short and you should enjoy it while you can. Because at any minute, you might get eaten by a bear.
Antigonus is also backed up by a gospel choir and frequently accompanied by a swarm of snowflake ballerinas who twirl hilariously and incongruously around the very serious tragic action, representing WINTER.
The entire first section of the story is played pretty straight, cutting out significant parts of the dialogue but frequently pausing for a sad ballad from Leontes or Hermione. Leontes, Hermione, and Antigonus are the only professionals onstage (for the first act -- the second act adds Autolycus and Perdita's shepherd brother), so they have to be given time to belt, I guess. And Leontes and Hermione are very good at belting, I'm not complaining! Paulina is not a professional, and is AWESOME, but sadly many of my favorite bits of her dialogue is cut to make room for more sad ballads that are really committed to really obvious rhymes. (On the other hand I did really appreciate Antigonus' brief sad monologue about how much he loves Paulina and thinks she's wonderful and wishes he could be with her instead of having been eaten by a bear.) Everyone is dressed in EXTREMELY GOTHIC BLACK, except the gospel choir and the ballerinas, who are dressed entirely in SYMBOLIC WINTER WHITE.
Then you get to the end of the tragic bit, and Antigonus brings Hermione's baby onto a storm-tossed ocean which is symbolically represented by a REALLY AWESOME capoeira group, and the Ghost of Hermione confusingly appears? Confusingly, because as per the play's plot she's not actually dead ...??
Anyway, she sings a song about how if Antigonus just believes in her and keeps her daughter safe then he will survive the storm and everything will be OK, which is extra hilarious when you bear in mind that literally as soon as he arrives safely after the storm he does get eaten by a bear.
AND THE BEAR IS GREAT. The bear is so good! Ten points to the bear performer, who does this slow ursine lunge across the stage and received a standing ovation.
CUT TO: adorable seven-year-old Time, who marches out with her clock and declares Shakespearean poetry with astounding aplomb and commitment that puts all the other performers to shame.
...anyway, now that we've timeskipped, it's obviously time for a COLORFUL HOEDOWN, as two hundred New Yorkers in floaty neon pink and yellow pour onstage and begin rocking out.
(EMMA: ...so these are obviously Bohemians.)
The next half hour is pretty much a nonstop party. Autolycus turns up and sashays around charmingly picking audience pockets, and Perdita, who I just looked up and who is ACTUALLY SIXTEEN, oh my god, BABY, gets to sing her own cute coming-of-age 'I want' song, but everyone is mostly just waiting for HOEDOWN: PART 2, which features:
- a couple of really great lion dancers
- rocking out to "Sing, Sing, Sing"
- as played by a BAND OF SWING MUSICIAN/DANCERS ON STILTS, which is a thing that I did not know New York City had, and which is a thing that clearly every city should have, ever
So now we are all clapping along and extremely ready to have a good time (as are the two hundred Bohemians onstage), which makes it an excellent time for someone to run onstage and announce that there are some "men with hair" outside who would like to come in and perform!
WELCOME, SESAME STREET. The fifty kids in the audience who have no idea why the king was so mad during the first thirty minutes of the show are like "HECK YEAH, COOKIE MONSTER, HERE FOR THIS!" and, let's be honest, the rest of the two thousand people in the audience are also doing exactly the same thing.
But eventually -- tragically! -- Sesame Street has to stop doing Shakespeare riffs so the actual Shakespeare play can continue. The hoedown is interrupted by an angry king, but it's OK because Perdita and Florizel are escorted off to Sicily by a group of enthusiastic Bhangra dancers and Autolycus gets to charm the scenery some more. We get to see some of Paulina's eternally wonderful constant shaming of Leontes, but NOT NEARLY ENOUGH. NEVER ENOUGH.
Then we get the famous scene where Shakespeare has some random extras narrate all the awesome things that happened for the happy ending that he was too lazy to actually write out, here delivered by a group of NYC locals identified in the program as "Bohemian Patrick, Bohemian Donald, Bohemian John, Bohemian Paul, and Bohemian Ambrosia." Why they are Bohemian when this whole scene takes place in Sicily, I don't know, but I don't care because I'm too busy being distracted by the return of the gospel choir and the ballerinas and the fact that Hermione, as everyone knows, TOTALLY ISN'T DEAD so why did we get her ghost earlier anyway?
Then the ghost of Antigonus leads everyone in a final rousing song about how you should be happy because life is short and you could get eaten by a bear. Enter: the bear. Enter also: NYC's local park rangers, HERE TO SAVE US FROM THE BEAR, and really enjoying their thirty seconds of fame, although not as much as the Taxi Driver's Union enjoyed their thirty seconds of fame last year. No one loves their thirty seconds of fame as much as the Taxi Driver's Union loved their thirty seconds of fame.
And we end with everyone dancing! Which is as it should be. :D
I got like three hours of sleep last night so I'm going to go fall over now, but I'm really, really glad this is how I decided to spend my last night in New York. Tomorrow I move to Boston? TOMORROW I MOVE TO BOSTON. File under: things that I still haven't fully internalized yet.
no subject
Date: 2014-09-06 04:58 am (UTC)I would pay money to see this. BUT given the plot, would country music not be more applicable? (Hermione! Don't take your love to town!)
and the Ghost of Hermione confusingly appears? Confusingly, because as per the play's plot she's not actually dead ...??
Well iirc, in the original text he has a dream about Hermione which helps convince him to not leave baby Perdita out to die. Shame she couldn't have given him a heads-up about the bear.
MORE WINTER'S TALE PRODUCTIONS NEED TO INCORPORATE SUCH BOHEMIANS. The production I saw had them in actual traditional Bohemian clothing, but I would have preferred the paisley.
(I studied this play in class and came to the conclusion that it's kind of terrible, but: Hermione/Paulina. So I spent the rest of the discussion periods loudly proclaiming "BUT HERMIONE/PAULINA THO." I have no regrets.)
no subject
Date: 2014-09-06 12:25 pm (UTC)...but if I remember right the song starts with "I am the ghost of Hermione." NO, YOU'RE NOT!
EVERY WINTER'S TALE PRODUCTION SHOULD HAVE SUCH BOHEMIANS. I'm hoping this celebration of multicolored amazingness is just a constant part of the Public Works aesthetic; last year's Tempest had two hundred neon island sprites in bowler hats.
(I never used to like it much, and goodness knows it has some major ... structural flaws ... but as much as I really enjoyed this production I kept finding myself thinking "I miss this scene!" or "but they cut that joke, why!" and came to the somewhat startling conclusion that I've somehow become really fond of it. So many opportunities for giant false moustaches!)
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Date: 2014-09-10 01:33 am (UTC)ALSO BOSTON KEEPS COLLECTING MORE AND MORE AWESOME PEOPLE GOSH
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Date: 2014-09-12 12:13 pm (UTC)BOSTON IS A BLACK HOLE. I fought getting sucked into it as long as I could! But in the end, it was futile.