Word: venomous
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Dates: during 1970-1979
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...great creation in Pinafore, the character everyone remembers. But the pompous First Lord of the Admiralty, tailed by his drone horde of matronly relatives, fussily insisting that officers and crew "refrain from language strong," should be a solid character nonetheless. He's the vehicle for Gilbert's satiric venom, and he should be just respectable enough for us to enjoy laughing at him. Jonathan A. Prince turns Porter into a lovable old Codger, who you'd help across the street or stage if you could stop cracking up for a moment. So much for social satire. The sets by Cindy...
...apparatchiks realize that the deadly duo have switched roles: Eddie has taken on the Soviets, while Vasily is vacuuming the Washington spooks. Neither elite can predict how, when or against whom the hunted pair will deploy a lethal list of weapons that include camera-fired fléchettes, boomslang venom, plastique-packed tea bags, flame-throwing hair dryers, nerve gas and atomic tennis balls. Nor can they figure who or what is the ubiquitous Chalice, or whether the Mancneff partnership can hold up. As for the Irvholz team, its novel is clever, cynical and compelling...
Lady Macbeth sees that such thoughts will sap her husband's resolution. Maggie Smith is as cool as a cobra and just as wily in the role. She drips venom on his slumbering courage but only to rouse his unsleeping lust for power. It is a masterly performance of unswerving precision. Her sleepwalking scene is chillingly cataleptic. It is a performance that will be treasured by audiences long after the Festival is dismantled...
...phone conversations with his client. "I was stunned," he writes, "by this violation of law by the Attorney General in the course of trying to prove a violation by Igor . . . I had to curb my impulse to tell him just what I thought of his tactics and venom. But always in such moments, the lawyer's thoughts must be of his client. I would injure Igor if I 'broke' with Bobby. A lawyer can afford to be emotional on behalf of his client, but not to his injury." Eventually, Nizer's patience won the case...
...long pent-up sense of frustration and envy over Emma's ultimate professional success comes spilling out during the final showdown between the two long-time friends, which follows the company's special gala performance establishing Emilia as a full-fledged rising star in the company. The accumulated venom flies fast and free during this encounter of the caustic kind, building up to a classic display of feminine fisticuffs. The scene is handled perfectly by Ross, as the two friends suddenly dissolve into laughter when they mutually realize the absurd spectacle they are making of themselves. The crisp repartee...