Word: rex
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...first let me state my prejudices. As I sank into my chair at the start of the brilliant Yeats translation of Rex, I wanted to close my eyes, undisturbed for once by theatrical gimmicks, and savor the beauty of Yeats' work--to admire the careful logic of his temperate speeches in prose, only to be transported by the dazzling beauty of the choral speeches in verse. At first the characters permitted me to relax in my reveries by their well-studied, careful excellence of voice. Mark Bramhall, Harvard's leading man of the stage and by rights cast as Oedipus...
...same cast and made the expectable substitution of John Lithgow for Bramhall as Oedipus the old man. In its own way, the performance of Colonus in the Fitzgerald translation was much better, but it was also much less satisfying. Colonus is a much more complicated tragedy than the earlier Rex, and the character of the aged, sightless, beaten man makes almost impossible demands on the actor...
...rest of the cast again did justice to the script, although I once more wanted more speaking and less action. The red lights of the climax in Rex were replaced by the shattering booms of Zeus' thunder; even Laura Esterman as Ismene, with emotion shivering in every syllable, was drowned out by the noise. Friedman as Creon again, Richard Backus as Theseus, and David Blocker, who replaced a less talented Lorenzo Weisman of Rex as the leader of the Colonus chorus, supplied that immeasurably graceful skill of speech which brought me back from the visual, just as I had wanted...
...FAIR LADY. The movie version of the Lerner-Loewe musical remains indestructible showmanship, with Audrey Hepburn as the grimy flower peddler brought to full bloom by Professor Rex Harrison...
Peterpat. In primordial days, man went forth from his cave to vie with Tyrannosaurus rex. Nowadays, he leaves his office cubicle to do battle with Tyrannosaurus regina-his wife. That is the sempiternal issue with which Enid Rudd has made her playwriting debut in this wry, observant, warm and almost steadily amusing comedy...