Well, one of my favorites up until the end.
This production was really very good. Petruchio was kinda sexy*, in a Jeremy Pivenish sort of way, but 20% less arrogant douche baggish. And Kate was all red hair, long legs and a tiny waist. She was like comic book super heroine. Which is perfect, as you watch her giving the men in her life flaming hell for trying to boss her. She's a tough cookie. Which is why I've always found the end so sad. It's like watching Superman brought down by kryptonite. She's all fuss and fight until Petruchio busts open a can of crazy ass combined with smooching on her. Child doesn't know which end is up. By the end, she's got a nasty case of Stockholm syndrome and is talking a whole load of crap about jumping any time your man says "froggy". . . oooo, just steams me even thinking about it.
But up until then, the production was very physical, very sexy. Nice. And setting it in the wild west was a nice touch. Sometimes transposing Shakespeare to another time and place is more trouble than it's worth, but here it came off without a hitch. They played spaghetti western music every time Petruchio made an entrance. And Kate's costumes leaned heavily on corsets with riding pants. Very young Barbara Stanwyck.
Between Merry Wives of Windsor and Taming of the Shrew, I'd have to say that I'm pretty sold on Shakespeare Dallas. Not sure if I'm sold enough to do their production of Julius Caesar in the fall, but zzzzzzzzzzzzzzzz. Wha? Huh? Oh, sorry. Fell asleep just thinking about it. But I'll definitely be looking forward to next summer.
* Please note, when costuming your leading man as a character that should be at least fairly guapo, you can't just look at him from the front. If you're going to put him in tight black jeans, make sure that he has the touchey to pull them off. Otherwise, you've got a blocking nightmare on you hands trying to keep him facing the audience all night. And really, there's no shame in getting him a little help. Two words: shape and wear. There are all sorts of foundation garments that can give a man a little assistance. It's not just a codpiece that can be stuffed.
2 comments:
Exactly live theater needs to be seen from ALL sides - pad those rumps if you need to - nothing is sadder than a flat ass -- maybe skinny frog calves, but you just throw those nice, cuffed leather boots over those.
My word verification for this post?
"anticads" wha????
Anticads? Whoa. Weird.
Petruchio's rearview was really deflating. He was in black Levi's. When they work, they work like old black magic. When they don't? Tsk, tsk, tsk. Shame.
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