Word: stagings
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Dates: during 1970-1979
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Under Brustein's preliminary plan, the Harvard-Radcliffe Dramatic Club (HRDC) would have access to the main stage of the Loeb for thirteen weeks, six in the beginning of the fall and seven at the start of spring, a reduction in the club's traditional...
...Stoppard loves playing around with dramatic from: the characters in his plays see themselves as figuratively or literally on a stage. Fassbinder displays a similar interest in form, and a feeling for intricate vision detail to match Stoppard's verbal relish. Match this pair with Nabokov, with his witty, self-conscious prose and playful pokes at literary form and point-of-view, and you have a threesome so finely tuned that they practically exclude the rest of us. Add Dirk Bogarde, one of Britain's most mannered, fastidious actors, and it's no surprise Despair is impenetrable...
...other three are perfectly adequate or better. Crystal Terry, as Adelaide, the faithful and dumb eternal fiancee, provides the best musical performance I have seen at Harvard. Terry boasts a marvelous voice and uncannily sharp timing--and can dance, too. All these talents, combined with her formidable stage presence, make for a great job here; we can only hope for more soon...
Cornelia Ravenal plays the other lead--missionary Sarah Brown--with a style the usually works but occasionaly grates. Her dialogue is fine, but her singing becomes marred by a series of repeated gestures and tricks that would probably go over on a big stage--say, the Loeb--but look strange on the puny Leverett platform. Ravenal's voice, a pretty, clear soprano, becomes obscured now and then by some Eydie-Gorme-esque whispers, ostensibly for emphasis, and a tendency to park and remain planted in one spot for the duration of a song, much like a 50-mm. cannon. Still...
...only major problem with this Guys and Dolls stems from the extreme physical limitations of Leverett's Old Library. This is quite definitely a big-stage musical, and the overly cozy location really hurts. Given those limitations, and some unforseen technical problems, the crew did the best it could. Often their best left a great deal to be desired. The set seems comically tacky at times, particularly in the big sewer scene in Act Two, when three gamblers have to carry flats in with them from the wings, while somehow negotiating the three "Death Ramps" that provide access...