The Shakespeare Series: King Richard II

Richard II is my favorite of Shakespeare’s history plays. I’ll get in to why that is so in a later posting, but for now, I just want to point out that I might not be 100% objective about this one.

Amazon prime includes only one version of Richard II, and unfortunately, it is The Shakespeare Series: King Richard II directed by William Woodman for Bard Productions and The Shakespeare Video Society, the same outfit that brought us the dismal Romeo & Juliet directed by Larry Sullivan. At first, I thought this was going to be a reprise of that performance, as the boom microphone that improved so many of Juliet's scenes makes a brief appearance in Act I, scene 1 of Richard II.

Luckily, Woodman and stars David Birney (as Richard) and Paul Shenar (as Bolingbroke) managed to keep me entertained enough that if the boom appeared again, I didn't notice it. I love these two characters, and Birney and Shenar pulled them off beautifully. Richard is a vain, imperious, and ineffective king. Bolingbroke is laconic, calculating, and pragmatic. Richard is clearly unsuited to the responsibilities of power, and Bolingbroke is the perfect candidate to depose him.

As with all the Shakespeare Series productions I've seen, the production qualities are not the best. The actors - especially minor characters - could be better rehearsed. The costumes look like they were designed for stage, not the small screen. The sets are basic black spaces with steps and very little dressing, much like something you would see in a low-budget stage production. Some might find the video quality to be disappointing. It looks like Amazon copied this from a much-used VHS tape, and that may well be the case. If you watch it on your tablet or laptop, it's not too distracting, but the poor quality is obvious on our big-screen tv.

If you're of my generation you'll spend much of the film recognizing actors from Knight Rider, The Love Boat, and Spider-Man. 

I would watch this again (and nearly did before writing this!), and while it isn't the definitive Richard II, I would recommend it as worth watching. 

One More Romeo and Juliet

I was researching for my first Richard II post, and I stumbled upon this production of Romeo and Juliet produced by The Shakespeare Society and the Hunts Point Alliance for Children in the South Bronx. It's a kids production, so it's not perfect - it's not the Royal Shakespeare Company - but the kids attack it with an energy and enthusiasm that beats some of the professional productions I've seen.

Here are the links that will take you there:

http://vimeo.com/68824348

http://www.shakespearesociety.org/hunts-point.html

Shakespeare would probably have been unhappy about this, by the way. In his day there were children's theaters that were so popular they were seriously cutting in to his business - he makes a reference to it in Hamlet (which the Shakespeare Society and Hunts Point Alliance for Children plan to take on next year, according to the website). To Shakespeare, who was nothing if not a good businessman, they were a serious threat to his bottom line.

I found it to be a lot of fun to watch. The kids are great. Watch it, enjoy it, Click on their donate link.

Romeo and Juliet - Gnomeo and Juliet

This is my last Romeo and Juliet for this project, and it’s not really a Romeo and Juliet. Gnomeo and Juliet is clearly inspired by Romeo and Juliet, and takes many of its plot points from Shakespeare’s play, but it owes as much to Shakespeare as it does to landscape design and Elton John. 

Gnomeo and Juliet are garden gnomes in neighboring gardens. The homeowners’ gardening rivalry has carried over to the culture of their gnomes, who of course come to life when the homeowners are looking the other way. The gnomes’ mutual animosity is expressed in mischief, typically centered around drag racing souped-up self-propelled lawnmowers in  an alley between the yards. This occasionally leads to breakage, which is equivalent to death in the gnome world, although it is possible to be glued back together, which takes away some of the sting.

Gnomeo is voiced by James McAvoy, who is surprisingly unlikable through most of the movie. Shakespeare never went through great pains to make us like Romeo (to me he’s always seemed to be a cardboard cutout of a romantic hero), but Gnomeo, whether it’s the writing or the acting, is kind of a jerk. McAvoy is best known as Young Professor Xavier in X-Men: First Class. Action film star Jason Stratham provides the voice for Gnomeo’s drag racing rival Tybalt. It’s his usual one-note performance, but as a voice actor, he doesn’t need to punctuate his lines by kicking someone in the throat, so that takes away much of his skill-set. Emily Blunt does okay as Juliet. Since this doesn’t use Shakespeare’s lines, she doesn’t have nearly the challenge faced by Ann Hasson, Olivia Hussey, Rebecca Saire, and Claire Danes, so it’s not really fair to make a comparison.

It does not use Shakespeare’s language, although there are a few quotes sprinkled in here and there. It’s almost enough to make a Shakespeare fan happy. I can’t really count this as a Romeo and Juliet, though. It’s not in the same category as the Kemp-Welch, the Zefirelli, the Luhrmann, or the Rakoff. As an adaptation of the story, I enjoyed West Side Story more, and the ballet version less. It’s a cute and funny movie, but I’m going to rank Gnomeo and Juliet as my sixth favorite Romeo and Juliet.

Here’s my ranking of Romeo and Juliets that I’ve seen. #1 is the one I’d take to a desert island. With a DVD player. And a generator. I’d like to say that I never want to seen #8 again, but to be honest, I’d probably watch all of them again if I had the time. Even bad Shakespeare is still Shakespeare. If I ever watch more, I’ll add them. If your favorite isn’t listed, let me know, but for now I’m going to move on to my favorite of the history plays - Richard II!:

Romeo and Juliet. Dir. Joan Kemp-Welch. Perf. Christopher Neame, Ann Hasson, and Robin Nedwell. Thames Television, 1976. DVD, A&E Television Networks, 2005.

Romeo and Juliet. Dir. Franco Zeffirelli. Perf. Leonard Whiting, Olivia Hussey, and John McEnery. 1968. netflix.com, 19 SEP 2013.

Romeo and Juliet. Dir. Baz Luhrmann. Perf. Leonardo DiCaprio, Claire Danes, and Harold Perrineau. 1996. DVD, Twentieth Century Fox, 2007.

Romeo and Juliet. Dir. Alvin Rakoff. Perf. Patrick Ryecart, Rebecca Saire, and Anthony Andrews. 1978. DVD, Ambrose, 2000.

West Side Story. Dir. Robert Wise and Jerome Robbins. Perf. Richard Beymer, Natalie Wood, and George Chakiris. 1961. DVD, MGM Home Entertainment, 2003.

Gnomeo and Juliet. Dir. Kelly Asbury. Perf. James McAvoy, Emily Blunt, and Jason Stratham. 2011. DVD, Buena Vista, 2011.

Romeo and Juliet. Chor. Kenneth MacMillan. Perf. Angel Corella, Alessandra Ferri, and Michele Villanova. Teatro Alla Scala, Milan, JAN 2000. DVD, Euroarts, 2002.

Shakespeare Series: Romeo and Juliet. Dir. Larry Sullivan. Perf. Alex Hyde-White, Blanche Baker, and Dan Hamilton. Shakespeare Video Society, 1982. Amazon.com, 15 AUG 2013.

Romeo and Juliet Part 7: West Side Story

There isn’t much I can say about West Side Story that hasn’t already been said, so I’m going to keep this short.

West Side Story is billed as a musical retelling of Romeo and Juliet set in the 1950’s New York City. The Montagues and Capulets are replaced by two street gangs, the Jets and the Sharks. The Jets appear to be of many ethnicities, but the Sharks are all Puerto Rican. 

The story is told through song and dance. The ethnic rivalries seem unmotivated, and the “gang” dialogue sounds like it was written by people who’ve never met gang members, and is spoken by actors who have never heard gang members speak. I just can’t believe that street gangs would have referred to each other as “buddy-boy” and “daddy-o.” It always sounds fake. They sound most authentic in the “Officer Krupke” number, where they explain how the criminal justice and social services systems have completely failed to address their problems.

You can definitely see Romeo and Juliet  in this film, but for me, it’s different enough that I think it’s actually a different work. Still, I enjoyed it a bit more than the ballet version. I understand Broadway musicals better than ballet. Your experience might be different. 

This production currently ranks as my fifth favorite Romeo and Juliet.

Here’s the overall ranking so far:

Romeo and Juliet. Dir. Joan Kemp-Welch. Perf. Christopher Neame, Ann Hasson, and Robin Nedwell. Thames Television, 1976. DVD, A&E Television Networks, 2005.

Romeo and Juliet. Dir. Franco Zeffirelli. Perf. Leonard Whiting, Olivia Hussey, and John McEnery. 1968. netflix.com, 19 SEP 2013.

Romeo and Juliet. Dir. Baz Luhrmann. Perf. Leonardo DiCaprio, Claire Danes, and Harold Perrineau. 1996. DVD, Twentieth Century Fox, 2007.

Romeo and Juliet. Dir. Alvin Rakoff. Perf. Patrick Ryecart, Rebecca Saire, and Anthony Andrews. 1978. DVD, Ambrose, 2000.

West Side Story. Dir. Robert Wise and Jerome Robbins. Perf. Richard Beymer, Natalie Wood, and George Chakiris. 1961. DVD, MGM Home Entertainment, 2003.

Romeo and Juliet. Chor. Kenneth MacMillan. Perf. Angel Corella, Alessandra Ferri, and Michele Villanova. Teatro Alla Scala, Milan, JAN 2000. DVD, Euroarts, 2002.

Shakespeare Series: Romeo and Juliet. Dir. Larry Sullivan. Perf. Alex Hyde-White, Blanche Baker, and Dan Hamilton. Shakespeare Video Society, 1982. Amazon.com, 15 AUG 2013.