Word: ariels
(lookup in dictionary)
(lookup stats)
Dates: all
Sort By: most recent first
(reverse)
...Tempest--in 1960 and 1971. The version that Edward Payson Call directed in 1971 was largely a failure, but William Ball had managed in 1960 to turn out the finest Tempest I have ever seen, thanks to a strong cast headed by Morris Carnovsky's Prospero, Clayton Corzatte's Ariel, and Earle Hyman's Caliban. And this despite the ill-advised total omission of the opening storm scene...
True to the real Bermuda, Ming Cho Lee has designed a coral setting. There is a large entrance to Prospero's den, which can be closed off in several ways, and steps leading to an upper level from which Prospero and Ariel can look down upon the happenings they control...
...often claimed that Prospero is omnipotent, but he is not. He can do certain things when he wears his magician's robe, but other things depend on the willingness of his superhuman servant Ariel, who hopes to store up enough brownie points to earn freedom from his master. The very name Ariel suggests the "airy spirit" Shakespeare described him to be, though the name is actually a Hebrew one found in the Old Testament, one of whose meanings apparently was 'hearth...
Whatever the etymology, Ariel is an androgynous creature, and over the years the part has been played by boys and girls, men and women. Among the female Ariels one might cite Kitty Clive in the 18th century, Maria Foote, Priscilla Horton and Kate Terry in the 19th, and Fania Marinoff, Agnes Carter, Rachel Kempson, Elsa Lanchester and Margaret Leighton in our own. For the most famous American production of The Tempest (in which only Arnold Moss' Prospero attained distinction, but which still ran a hundred performances on Broadway in 1945), director Margaret Webster engaged as Ariel the ballerina Vera Zorina...
...moves with admirable lightness, assisted by John Morris' delicate flutes, harp and chimes. His speech, however, is erratic; and his discourse (in a harpy's disguise) to the villainous nobles is an almost total loss. In "Come unto these yellow sands," "Full fathom five," and "Where the bee sucks" Ariel has three of Shakespeare's loveliest lyrics; but Morris' supporting vocalists cannot hide the fact that Dooley is simply no singer. The yardstick for the role remains Clayton Corzatte--who moved, spoke and sang to perfection...