Thursday, August 10, 2006
To Twelfth Night at Shakespeare in the Park last night. Grant Golden, WBFO's weekend theater critic slammed this production, and singled out Paul Todaro's Malvolio, calling him mis-cast. I don't know that I ever heard Golden so hard on a play, actually, and I am going on record now to say that he was way off base. Twelfth Night is tough to screw up, and this production is actually pretty good-- certainly worth seeing, and absolutely a fine summer evening on the lawn. Todaro, far from wrong for the part, is actually really good in exactly this sort of role, and did well by each of Malvolio's big bits. Malvolio takes some range, I think-- he's really the linchpin of the play, since it is misplaced social aspirations that demonstrate how out of balance the world of the play has become. Even so, he's a likeable character, and although Sir Andrew and Sir Toby's practical joke is the big comic set piece of the show, it wouldn't work if we thought Malvolio was a complete jerk. As full of himself as he is, he is also loyal, and obedient, and even given to an occasional flash of insight. His inflated ego is a flaw, but it is a comic flaw, not a tragic one. Todaro managed to get all of this, and deserves credit for doing so. I also liked Lona Geiser's Viola-- it's important to make Viola sweet, and Geiser plays her sweetly. I'd put her performance, and Leah Russo's Moth, from last month's Love's Labour's Lost, as my top two Shakespeare in the Park performances this season.
// posted by Bill @ 9:26 AM 
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