Word: berghofs
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...choosing the first show, the C.D.F. naturally wanted a festive work of acknowledged merit. It settled on Twelfth Night and engaged the imaginative Herbert Berghof as director. Berghof, in keeping with the festive occasion, decided to turn the play into a "music and dance extravaganza." He employed as much music as possible, composed or arranged in neo-Elizabethan style by Andre Singer. He interpreted Malvolio's phrase, "the fool's zanies," as "the Fool's zanies," and created two new characters--a singing zany and a dancing zany--to accompany Feste the Fool. He also did some textual pruning...
...elasticity in matters of faith and order. One paper, read by Professor Chrysostom Konstanti-nidis of Turkey's Halki Theological School, was based on the assumption that Eastern church traditions are closer to original Christianity than Western traditions. Yet few Protestants took offense. Said Lutheran Professor Hendrikus Berghof of The Netherlands: "Our Orthodox friends speak very frankly. They say, 'You are not the church, and we are the church,' and we applaud. We need a real conversation...
...Berghof's staging of the outdoor barbecue and drinking party participated in by Sir Toby Belch and his cronies is a brilliant elaboration. It is also leisurely: the carousers join in singing, one after another, a wonderful series of catches and glees--and not just snatches, but entire pieces. These, and the rest of the extensive musical score for the show, were composed in a sure-handed, neo-Elizabethan style by Andre Singer (his instrumentation is comprised of flute, trumpet, harp, and a sizable battery of percussion...
...Viola-Aguecheek duel is lengthy (there must be five minutes without a word), but hilarious all the way. And to inspirit the combatants, Berghof has his Dancing Zany beat a drum during the dueling--an historically authentic touch. There are many other instances of inspired staging. And at the end, instead of having everyone exit and leave Feste alone to sing the closing song, Berghof brings everybody on stage, even Malvolio, and has each principal sing a solo bit as in a massed opera buffa finale...
...Feste of Alvin Epstein is outstanding. But even his performance is overshadowed by those of the two sidekicks Berghof invented for him. The Dancing Zany in entrusted to Geoffrey Holder, a 28-year-old six-and-a-half-foot mine of talent: dancer, choreographer, singer, actor, painter, composer, writer, photographer, book illustrator, and folklorist. This show draws on only the first three of his many gifts. Dressed in a striking white costume with mismatched red and orange gloves and stockings, he does a thousand and one things with skill and vigor. The Singing Zany is played by Russell Oberlin...