Shakespeare in the Park
Dec. 8th, 2009 03:30 pm![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png){kind=small}
sdelmonteI don't think that the Public Theater has ever announced its plays for Shakespeare in the Park this early. But they have. And it's not the usual.
For one thing, the same company will be performing two plays in repertory instead of two different casts. They will go straight through from June 9 to August 1.
What's more, they have announced the cast. Not big names, for the most part, but ones we've seen before on Broadway (and TV) like Jesse Tyler Ferguson, Jesse L. Martin, Lily Rabe, Ruben Santiago-Hudson, and Max Wright.
Oh, and some guy named Pacino.
He'll only be in one play, though. He'll skip "The Winter's Tale" (which they did in the park about seven years ago, with Keith David). But he'll be in the other play.
"The Merchant of Venice."
As Shylock.
I suggest that if you want your free tickets to see Al Pacino as Shylock, you might want to start camping in the park now.
I've studied Merchant of Venice but never seen it. I'm not sure I really want to. I tend to come down on the side of those who see it as anti-Semitic despite the "Hath Not a Jew" speech. But I seem to recall that Pacino's performance as Shylock in the movies was well-received. And I have never seen him live. So color me very interested.
For one thing, the same company will be performing two plays in repertory instead of two different casts. They will go straight through from June 9 to August 1.
What's more, they have announced the cast. Not big names, for the most part, but ones we've seen before on Broadway (and TV) like Jesse Tyler Ferguson, Jesse L. Martin, Lily Rabe, Ruben Santiago-Hudson, and Max Wright.
Oh, and some guy named Pacino.
He'll only be in one play, though. He'll skip "The Winter's Tale" (which they did in the park about seven years ago, with Keith David). But he'll be in the other play.
"The Merchant of Venice."
As Shylock.
I suggest that if you want your free tickets to see Al Pacino as Shylock, you might want to start camping in the park now.
I've studied Merchant of Venice but never seen it. I'm not sure I really want to. I tend to come down on the side of those who see it as anti-Semitic despite the "Hath Not a Jew" speech. But I seem to recall that Pacino's performance as Shylock in the movies was well-received. And I have never seen him live. So color me very interested.
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Date: Dec. 8th, 2009 08:46 pm (UTC)(no subject)
Date: Dec. 9th, 2009 01:43 am (UTC)I suggest that if you want your free tickets to see Al Pacino as Shylock, you might want to start camping in the park now.
Like when the Public Theater did The Seagull. That was freaking ridiculous.
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Date: Dec. 10th, 2009 05:54 am (UTC)I don't love Merchant. It's not that good a play. I saw it with Dustin Hoffman in the title role. The bad: It dragged. The good: Never while Hoffman was on stage, though.
The actress from that performance who played Portia thought that it was a play about anti-Semites, not an anti-Semitic play, and that Portia was horrified at what Antonio and Bassiano did, as she expected them to show mercy.
Now, I have absolutely no problem with that interpretation. But, I do not believe that is what Shakespeare intended. He was anti-Semitic, which is something I've long since come to terms with. Forcing Shylock to become Christian would have been seen as a Good Thing, not just for society, but also for Shylock.
I think Shylock was generally played as more of a clown than a complex figure up until Henry Irving reinterpreted the role in the 19th century, but I'm not sure my memory is correct.
Okay, stopping now, lest I dredge out all my half remembered thoughts about and references to the play.
But Winter's Tale totally rocks.