A Visit to the Shakespeare Theater

 

My wife and I have enjoyed our subscription to The Shakespeare Theater in Washington, for many years. We especially enjoyed it when there was more Shakespeare than there is now. Our first play there was a stellar performance of the Tempest, many years ago. It was more of a reperatory theater then; we enjoyed performances of regulars such as Floyd King, whose comedic performances were quite memorable, Andrew Long, etc. etc. We especially loved Wallace Atkins performance as Ariel. There are many other great performances that come to mind, too many to mention.

The pandemic intervened, just before we were to attend a performance of Timon of Athens. Not the greatest play, but one touted to provide its audience with a memorable evening.

We live in Baltimore, and enjoy taking day trips to Washington via Amtrak.

October fourth’s performance was the first one we attended since I came down with Parkinson’s Disease; I had some trepidation, but everything went smoothly, Slowly but surely is how this Shuffleupagus negotiated the pavement.

We enjoyed  the performance very much, albeit with some reservations. Our main problem was the voice of the understudy, Isabella Bria Lopez, who played the most important role in the musical, that of Evita. A Broadway star of the past, whom I remember well, Ethel Merman, was known as the woman with a trumpet in her throat, due to her loud singing voice. This could apply to Ms Lopez as well, except that in her case the trumpet was not of stellar quality. I could well picture her singing an ad for used cars on TV—she was no Dinah Shor, for those of you who remember that voice of the past. The other character/singers did much better.

The choreography was good; the dancers were spectacular. The staging was, at best, adequate.

I have always been haunted by the “Don’t Cry for Me, Argentina” balcony scene. It is hauntingly beautiful; nothing else in the score comes close. When the violins began that iconic scene, it was as if we entered a different world. Although I cannot boast of having a very good ear, I have been playing on the piano that enchanting rhumba ever since.

I am not quite sure what to make of the rest of the play. Che, admirably sung and acted by Omar Lopez-Cepero, was brought in presumably to help bust the myth of Evita. He advises her, for instance, to ‘stop this pantomime' toward the end of the musical. Thus, quite unlike the mythic Venus who rises from painted waves in the Uffizi Gallery, Eva, more like a frightened child named Norma Jeane Mortenson, who later was renamed Marilyn Monroe, rising from dirty  orphanage bathwater. It is difficult to be moved by the death of someone so flawed. Certainly in a musical,  realism should not be the most important factor. Evita obviously had charm; I don’t think this was emphasized enough. Who exactly was the woman who filled the gown? That was, at least as I see it, the theme of the production we saw:

A musical, however, must be more myth than reportage.

Despite these criticisms, we had a very good time.

After the performance, as was our wont to do for years, we ate at our favorite Chinese restaurant in China Town. I remember eating there after a STC performance in 2020, just as the pandemic became dominant. We were the only ones in the restaurant. We felt self-conscious as one who didn't get a joke everyone else understood. And the joke was on us, all of us. Business has yet to completely recover, said our waitress in broken English.

Things change; at least I have. Still we enjoyed quite a memorable day!