About Last Night

In today’s Wall Street Journal drama column I review the Hudson Valley Shakespeare Festival’s new production of Twelfth Night. Here’s an excerpt.

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With two Broadway successes, “Hand to God” and “Present Laughter,” under his belt, Moritz von Stuelpnagel is now looking like the most talented director of stage comedy to come along since John Rando. So it’s happy news that he’s upped his personal ante by staging “Twelfth Night” for the Hudson Valley Shakespeare Festival. It is, after all, a big leap from Noël Coward to Shakespearean comedy, one that many similarly talented directors never attempt. Funny though “Twelfth Night” is, most of the laughs don’t come of their own accord: They need careful, knowing tending in order to explode on schedule. But Mr. von Stuelpnagel knows his comic stuff, and he’s given us a show that’s every bit as enjoyable as its predecessors.

Unlike most modern-day Shakespeare directors, Mr. von Stuelpnagel has chosen not to overlay his “Twelfth Night” with a high concept: It’s a colorfully stylized modern-dress staging, but otherwise the show keeps to the center of the theatrical road. The cast is mostly young, and the actors themselves perform Palmer Hefferan’s incidental music in a cheerfully rough-and-ready manner….

Hudson Valley always has fine clowns on tap, and Kurt Rhoads and Sean McNall, who play Toby Belch and Andrew Aguecheek, set the tone for the show, with the emphasis placed squarely on broad, bawdy comedy. (Without getting too graphic for the readers of a family paper, suffice it to say that Sir Toby appears to be suffering from a fairly severe case of prostate trouble.) Anyone seeking temporary surcease from the rigors of the present moment will find it in abundance here….

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Read the whole thing here.

The trailer for Twelfth Night:

The climactic scene from Seven Men From Now, directed by Budd Boetticher, written by Burt Kennedy, and starring Randolph Scott and Lee Marvin. The score is by Henry Vars:

(This is the latest in a series of arts-related videos that appear in this space each Monday, Wednesday, and Friday)

“The formula is a leading man who comes into a situation that is not his problem, can walk away from it at any time, and finally stays there and solves it. And usually mine was a lonely leading guy, who had lost a wife or something, which is always a good character. Not because you feel sorry for him, because he doesn’t feel sorry for himself. Usually tough guys who won’t tell up front what’s bothering them.”

Burt Kennedy, interviewed by Sean Axmaker (Parallax View, November 6, 2008, courtesy of Jaime Weinman)

Here’s my list of recommended Broadway, off-Broadway, and out-of-town shows, updated weekly. In all cases, I gave these shows favorable reviews (if sometimes qualifiedly so) in The Wall Street Journal when they opened. For more information, click on the title.

BROADWAY:
• Dear Evan Hansen (musical, PG-13, all shows sold out last week, reviewed here)
• Groundhog Day (musical, G/PG-13, reviewed here)
• Hamilton (musical, PG-13, Broadway transfer of off-Broadway production, all shows sold out last week, reviewed here)
• On Your Feet! (jukebox musical, G, closes August 20, reviewed here)

OFF BROADWAY:
• Hamlet (Shakespeare, PG-13, closes Sept. 3, reviewed here)

IN GARRISON, N.Y.:
• Pride and Prejudice (comedy, G, closes Sept. 4, reviewed here)

CLOSING NEXT WEEK IN GARRISON, N.Y.:
• The Book of Will (serious comedy, PG-13, closes July 28, reviewed here)

CLOSING NEXT WEEK OFF BROADWAY:
• The Traveling Lady (drama, PG-13, extended through July 30, reviewed here)

“ What makes it so plausible to assume that hypocrisy is the vice of vices is that integrity can indeed exist under the cover of all other vices except this one.”

Hannah Arendt, On Revolution

Hans Hotter sings Schubert’s “An die Musik” at a 1964 Tokyo recital:

(This is the latest in a series of arts-related videos that appear in this space each Monday, Wednesday, and Friday)

“You must be prepared on many occasions in life to please no-one at all—not even yourself.”

Henry James, The Portrait of a Lady (courtesy of Levi Stahl)

From 2007:

In America, only pretty young women become movie stars. Middle-aged male actors who are unattractive–or at least Bogart-ugly–can and do play romantic leads, but no actress who is much short of beautiful or much older than thirty has much chance of seeing her name above the title of a big-budget movie, save as part of a package deal. This harsh reality is, of course, a flagrant and fundamental contradiction of all that the members of the film industry hold most politically dear….

Read the whole thing here.

“The United States does not form part of Christendom in the traditional sense of the word. She is the child of late 18th Century ‘enlightenment’ and the liberalism of her founders has persisted through all the changes of her history and penetrated into every part of her life. Separation of church and state was an essential dogma. Government, whatever its form, was looked upon as the captain of a liner, whose concern is purely with navigation. He holds his command ultimately from the passengers. Under his immediate authority the public rooms of his ship are used for religious assemblies of all kinds, while in the bar anyone may quietly blaspheme.”

Evelyn Waugh, “The American Epoch in the Catholic Church” (Life, Sept. 19, 1949)

Lizabeth Scott sings “He Is a Man,” by Carroll Coates and Ronnie Selby, on The Big Record, originally telecast by CBS on April 23, 1958. This was Scott’s public singing debut:

(This is the latest in a series of arts-related videos that appear in this space each Monday, Wednesday, and Friday)