Word: silent
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Dates: during 1990-1999
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...These silent scenes are aided by another risky innovation, the use of a blues band (made up of Jeremy Greene, Olgun Guvench, Andy Cowan, and Rabih Shansiry) to provide a continuous accompaniment to the play. The music, composed by Greene, is vital to the modulation of emotion in these scenes, from anxiety to mystery to fury. Amazingly, even in the small space, the band never becomes intrusive and never competes with the actors for attention, a feat rarely achieved even in student productions of musicals and operas...
...starkness of the emotions in these silent scenes, however, is a definite contrast with the generally weak characterizations. Zappia makes Flee as awful as she is intended to be; unfortunately, this robs her of the gravity needed to pull off her more serious lines. What should be the play's biggest emotional shock, Flee's discovery of the photographs, is marred by the seeming banality of her anger...
Perhaps the only person who would be uncowed by the challenge of following Kane is the indomitable Norma Desmond. Nothing can beat the sheer eerieness (and glorious camp appeal) of fading silent screen diva Gloria Swanson "playing" fading silent screen diva Norma Desmond on film...
...deeply noir. In smart, cynical snarls, William Holden tears off the language of a hungry young writer who can't hold tight enough to his dreams. Joe Gillis' luck seems to be on the upswing when fate sends him straight into the "white elephant" palace of an aging silent film star. "You used to be big," he tells her, dimly remembering the name. "I am big," she replies, "It's the pictures that got small...
...edges of the screen to focus on Norma. Swanson's performance is something beyond acting; her Norma lives every moment on two planes, in the mundane world and on celluloid. She has a habit of pausing almost unnoticeably as she speaks, giving the effect of a flickering silent film, posing briefly for the camera, then continuing...