Word: role
(lookup in dictionary)
(lookup stats)
Dates: during 1970-1979
Sort By: most recent first
(reverse)
...Marx was pulled out of high school to replace his brother Gummo, who left the family vaudeville team before it moved to Hollywood. Cast as the straight man, Zeppo joined Chico (who died in 1961), Harpo (1964) and Groucho (1977) in five classic films, but he tired of his role and left the group after the release of Duck Soup in 1933. "He was a lousy actor," grouched Groucho, "and he got out as soon as he could." But Zeppo eventually became the richest of the brothers, working variously as a talent agent, an airplane parts manufacturer and a citrus...
...Harvard man, too."), they more often fall flat (Kinesias...Senator Edward Kinesias!). Dionysus delivers many of these awkward lines, which are difficult to digest, but not nearly so difficult as the leering way that he recounts the tale of his "love" for Aryadne. Dionysus's role has nothing to do with the body of the play, except that the production, already a mercifully short hour-and-a-half, would hardly merit an intermission were it any shorter...
...than Aristophanes intended. About the only female character who comes off well is Ward's Granny, who, with her growls and broomsticks, chases after the nerd. Since there is no such character in the original play, she is more free than most of the other characters to give her role an unconstrained interpretation. Her facial expressions are themselves almost worth the price of admission...
...play picks up a bit when the men come on stage. Two members of the chorus of old men, Pinocles (Alan Ruof) and Mastocles (Ray Bertolino), put some expression into their voices, but their parades around the stage seem foolish. Smith, as Kinesias, brings energy to his role, but too often he delivers his lines in singsong yells rather than with the distress of a man in dire need of sexual gratification...
Fanny's daughter Julie inherits her mantle in the play, and Katharine Kean in her role offers plentiful urbanity and ease on stage. Her dramatic posturing is less subtle than Wilber's, and more self-conscious, but she maintains the illusion of the unrivalled actress in her prime in all but the most taxing moments. In the grand renunciation scene, when she announces she will leave the stage--forever, of course--the poised aristocrat turns into a ranting hausfrau, flailing and directing her harangue at the audience. The dislocation is brief but unsettling...