|
'A festival of language'
By JOHN FLEMING
© St. Petersburg Times, published April 5, 2001
 |
Syncopated Shakespeare
A screwball romantic comedy remains just that, no matter the century. That's the theory behind Love's Labour's Lost, 1930s-style. And music -- well, it has always been the food of love.
Rosaline: Love's Labour's Lost
Rosaline will be played by a performer who made her Broadway debut in a legendary flop that became a musical cult classic. |
Love's Labour's Lost, probably written around 1595, is not one of Shakespeare's towering masterpieces, but critic Harold Bloom thinks the Bard "may have enjoyed a particular and unique zest in composing it. Love's Labour's Lost is a festival of language, an exuberant fireworks display in which Shakespeare seems to seek the limits of his verbal resources, and discovers that there are none."
The play opens with the King of Navarre's wish to win fame with his three lords by spending three years dedicated to learning -- without the distraction of women. That plan is quickly undermined by the arrival of the Princess of France and her three ladies in waiting. The romantic romp is on.
Wit and wordplay don't necessarily integrate well with music. As a result, Love's Labour's Lost has not been musicalized often, though Stravinsky wanted to base an opera on the play (he never did). Last year, Kenneth Branagh's attempt to turn it into a 1930s movie musical was savaged by critics. Still, with Alicia Silverstone as the Princess, the movie has some kicky numbers to music of Cole Porter and other Broadway standards.
Back to Weekend
© 2006 • All Rights Reserved • Tampa Bay Times
490 First Avenue South • St. Petersburg, FL 33701 • 727-893-8111
|
