Word: loeb
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Dates: during 1970-1979
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...SOUNDED LIKE a great idea: combining two enormously popular works into one massive play, which would cover topics ranging from romance, inequality and greed, and would even stay funny while doing it. But as wonderfully acted and produced as the Loeb's version of Robert MacDonald's adaptation of The Barber of Seville and The Marriage of Figaro is, it lacks a certain something. Maybe the idea works for breath mints, but somehow putting two, two, two plays in one just doesn't quite make...
Before discussing the script, thought, it is only fair to give the Loeb players their due; and certainly, they deserve a rave. From Jon Goerner, who balances Figaro's cynical honesty with just the right degree of humor, to Linda Cameron, Figaro's master's love, to Jonathan Prince, the hilarious flunky who serves the highest bidder, the cast is one of the best assembled in some time at the Loeb. If at times we are given a few too many slapstick gags, these times are few. For the most part, the buffoonery is nicely balanced by a moment...
Similarly, the Loeb's crew has done a spectacular job with all the technical aspects of the production. From the opening moments, the play is a riot of color, with elaborate costumes, scenery and lighting giving the show a wonderfully festive air. Like the actors, the technical staff has done its best to keep Figaro from dragging. And its best is very, very good...
...explanation for human fickleness). But frequently, the buffoonery seems to go against the playwright's intent. In addition, the effort to maintain a certain amount of continuity between acts requires a rather confusing set of blood-ties between characters; at times it would be helpful if the Loeb provided a geneology of the sort that comes tucked inside long Russian novels...
...really, this is taking the whole thing a bit too seriously--something that contradicts the whole spirit of the Loeb's production, which plays every breath to the hilt--including the atrocious Spanish sprinkled through the dialogue. Figaro is clearly the best Loeb production of the spring, and it would be unfair to demand much more...