Word: sirs
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Dates: during 1980-1989
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With his lively autobiography, Benvenuto Cellini (1500-1571) ensured his lasting fame. Yet that book has convinced many that the Renaissance man was more inspired as a boaster and self-promoter than as an artist. In Cellini (Abbeville; 324 pages; $85), Sir John Pope-Hennessy corrects this impression. Although much of Cellini's early work in precious metals vanished, enough sculpture survives (and is photographed here in careful detail) to convince anyone of its creator's genius. From the exquisite gold and enamel of The Saltcellar of Francis I to the muscular bronze of Perseus, the impression grows: Cellini...
Eric Oleson plays the three parts of Thomas Mowbray, Earl of Salisbury and Sir Pierce of Exton but is best when he is the irate red-faced Mowbray defending himself from murder accusation in Act I. Nicholas 'Davis also plays three roles but succeeds most at Sir John Bushy, a flaky favorite of Richard who flits about with a brightly colored silk scarf. Kristin Gasser is superb as the forlorn and lonely Queen to Richard who suffers from "nameless woe." Gasser is particularly effective in her final departure scenes with Richard. Jennifer Burton, Diane Paulus and Caroline Bicks occasionally succumb...
...cast pared-down from 28 to just eight, one pianist instead of an orchestra, and less than extravagant costumes. These measures give focus to Camelot's story, nicely highlighting its comic verve and the lusty love triangle between King Arthur, his Queen, Guinevere (usually referred to as Jenny) and Sir Lancelot. The cast conveys such high spirits and passions that their performances overcome any bothersome sense of the play's datedness...
...strongest and must amusing numbers is "C'est Moi," the entrance tune of Sir Lancelot (Andrew Gardner), a self-proclaimed "French Prometheus unbound." Gardner deftly embodies a ridiculous paragon of self-confidence and self-righteousness. He has a handsome easy manner and he uses his mobile (and bushy) eyebrows to great comic effect. From France, Lancelot has travelled to join Arthur's new order, the Knights of the Round Table, a chilvalrous fraternity dedicated to Arthur's new Machiavellian philosophy that might should be the weapon of right. Arthur welcomes him readily while the rest of the court initially...
...latest youthful leading man, the pint-sized Sherlock Holmes, is so precocious as to be almost wholly unchildlike. Columbus says he scoured Sir Arthur Conan Doyle's books for hints at the genesis of the "cold, emotionless bachelor" that Holmes was to become. At one point, Columbus reports, one of young Holmes' instructors tells the youngster never to "let your emotions distract...