Word: missing
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Dates: during 1950-1959
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Tammy Grimes was a perfect Maria. Skedaddling about with devastating infectiousness, Miss Grimes made it clear that Maria's wits were as sharp as her own nose and chin. The other two superlative performances were the Dancing Zany of Geoffrey Holder, who designed the choreography and also sang; and the light-footed Singing Zany of Russell Oberlin, the world's finest countertenor. In other major roles, Fritz Weaver's Malvolio, Zachary Scott's Orsino, and George Mathews' Sir Toby were disappointing...
Retaining Miss McKenna as a star, the C.D.F. next offered Macbeth. For the title role, it played a long shot by engaging Jason Robards, Jr. and lost. Although Robards' performances in 20th-century American works have been unbeatable, he proved himself as yet vocally unequipped to cope with the demands of Shakespearean language. He conveyed much through his face and eyes; and his delivery of some short, forceful phrases was admirable. But the longer speeches tripped him up; he could not convey the sense, the rhythm, and the grandeur. He breathed improperly, so that he often had to pause...
...Miss McKenna's Lady Macbeth was a remarkable and consistent performance. She made it clear that she did not covet the crown just for her own sake but wanted her husband to be king at any cost because she was so much in love with him. Her tricky deportment at the banquet and her exit therefrom were wonderfully handled...
...traversal of the sleepwalking scene proved to be highly controversial. Miss McKenna injected a lot of agitation into it and pitched it high--an approach that drew the fire of some of the critics in the daily press. These evidently conceive of somnambulism as always graceful, and of somniloquy as exclusively a lyrical, if not whispered nocturne. This is, to be sure, the customary way of doing the scene; but Miss McKenna's way was valid and convincing, too. Her critics should have remembered that one can do violent things in one's sleep; and that Lady Macbeth's mind...
...company then offered, under Basil Langton's direction, a 55th anniversary production of Sir James Barrie's classic fable for both children and adults, Peter Pan. As Peter, who has from Maude Adams to the present always been played for some reason by a woman, Miss Harris was captivatingly pixyish. Eric Portman might have brought more bravado to the traditional double role of the Father and Captain Hook. Ellis Rabb provided an unbeatably riotous Smee, an elaboration of the Starveling he did in Midsummer Night's Dream at Stratford a year ago. The production employed the original music of John...