Word: lear
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Dates: during 1970-1979
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...have made him a character on the Princeton University campus; during lectures, he suddenly breaks into near perfect imitations of Peter Lorre or John Gielgud or a Jewish mother. He can also transform his Shakespeare and modern drama classes into vibrant theater, effortlessly slipping into the role of King Lear, perhaps, or Uncle Vanya. But to the dismay of Seltzer's students, their professor is saving his best dramatic efforts these days for enthusiastic audiences on Broadway...
...damned glad to be Norman Lear," says Norman Lear. "I'm having a helluva good time being me." But which Norman Lear? The creator of Archie Bunker, superbigot? The real-life Udall liberal? Lear the TV assembly-line vulgarian? Or Lear the audacious idea man who zaps taboos all the way to the top of the ratings...
...brewery workers on Happy Days, and suggested The Bionic Woman spinoff. Silverman's impact on ABC itself is obvious. Already the network exudes a No. 1 brand of confidence. Now the hot $m_ |f-entertainers want to be at ABC. More than 50 projects, including a new Norman Lear sitcom starring Nancy Walker and an evening soap by Agnes Nixon (All My Children), are being considered by Silverman in a familiar CBS pattern -no commitments, just a lot of promising developments...
...contrast, a gag which works far better involves King Lear's obsession with popcorn. A supposedly dignified, elderly figure running around shouting "Pop, pop, Jiffy Pop," is ridiculous enough to be funny, and the Act II opener, "The Popcorn Ballet," which features men with silken flame neckties trying to pop female characters dressed as resistant kernels of corn, is one of the most excitingly choreographed and outrageous numbers in the show...
...proficiency of the cast is unexceptional, so is most of LaZebnik's score. LaZebnik is a better lyricist than composer, but even some of his lyrics--like the blackly humorous "Happy When" a nostalgic ode to murderous wives--are not particularly inspired. Among the show's best numbers are Lear's quizzical lament, "Where is Cordelia?" expertly delivered by Stephen Morris, and the finale, "So What If Hope is Gone," which suggests a way of coping with unhappy endings...