Word: pompousness
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...directing Hamlet should not be said in a review of The Advocate. Certainly Hamlet requires a coherent theory of its director, and certainly Aaron has one, whatever its validity. But the rightness or wrongness of the argument in no way compensates for the fact that the tone is incredibly pompous (Aaron is good, but is he so good that he can afford to be pompous?) and that the prose often has a quality which could most adequately be described as best read before dinner. ("The 'soul' of the actor is the hardest thing to find.") Then, too, one wonders whether...
...epilogue, in fact, is the best part of the Tufts show. Written in macaronic Latin, it is the classic take-off on pompous academic ceremony and all its mumbo-jumbo. In it Argan himself passes an oral examination and becomes a doctor. The charlatanism of the whole proceeding is epitomized in the fact that, no matter what illness Argan is asked to prescribe for, his answer (in dog-Latin) is always, "Give an enema, let blood, then purge." The singing and dancing, and the comical masks and over-sized enemas contribute much to the total effect...
Prokofiev: Suite from The Love for Three Oranges (London Philharmonic Symphony Orchestra conducted by Artur Rodzinski; Westminster). A luscious performance of some of the late master's wittiest notes, including the pompous march (ironically made famous by its use as the theme for radio's FBI in Peace and War). One of Westminster's plush "Laboratory Series," it comes in a heavy-plastic zipper envelope and is premium-priced. The sound is very good indeed...
...only irregular daughter" of the late Mr. Dudgeon Sr., Patricia Goest is really appealing, and Wayne Maxwell is a fine half-wit brother of "the devil's disciple." There are also several British soldiers marching up and down in front of Darwin Reid Payne's clever set. Exhuding pompous noises, Harvey Widell makes them a fine sergeant. The play's best role, that of General Burgoyne, is given the night's most polished performance by Stanley Jay. Bored with the whole war, Burgoyne says some magnificent things. When Dudgeon asks near the end to be shot like a soldier...
...actually is, but not one of the grim crooks summons enough nerve to eliminate this liability in old lace. Unable to kill her, the frantic thieves fall out. Luckily a railroad bridge is handy; bodies are dumped into passing freight trains with delightful regularity to the solemn accompaniment of pompous funeral marches...