On Friday night I went to see the current Broadway revival of William Shakespeare's Julius Caesar at the Belasco Theatre on West 44th Street.
Nobody seems to like this production much and it earned not a single Tony nomination last week, not even for Oscar-laden movie star Denzel Washington, who is appearing on the Broadway stage for the first time since 1988, in the role of Brutus.
This isn't my favorite play in the Shakespearean canon, but it's a mostly solid production. Washington handles the language superbly, as do the more regular theatre actors that surround him on the stage.
The play is set in some sort of modern Rome, while also taking place amongst what could be ancient ruins. The characters wear sleek business suits in the earlier acts, while adopting fatigues and combat boots when the events of the play plunge Rome into chaos and civil war.
Director is Daniel Sullivan, one of the town's busier directors. I normally very much like his work, but I was torn here. I appreciated his ideas at first, but, as the play moved toward its conclusion, he seemed to be equating one side of the battle with encroaching fascism, which doesn't seem to be supported in the text. There's lots of pseudo-Nazi imagery going on here and I just didn't quite get it.
As you must know by now, the plot centers on what happens when Julius Caesar, the most popular general in Rome is talked up to become Emperor, a move which would, in effect, nullify the fragile Roman republic. Caesar declines the honour at every opportunity, but those closest to him see him weakening in the face of absolute power and, in order to preserve the republic, conspire to assassinate their friend/compatriot. What the conspirators don't quite expect is that their actions plunge a previously (mostly)peaceful Rome into chaos and anarchy. Oops. If I had a nickel for every time THAT happened...
Anyway...other than Washington, standouts included Colm Feore as lead conspirator Cassius, Tamara Tunie as a particularly glamourous Calpurnia (this play seriously short changes actresses), and William Sadler as the doomed Caesar. Sadler even gets a brief full-frontal nude scene that seemed to shock the audience in the way that nudity often does with Americans; one would think that citizens of the U.S. had never seen a naked body of either sex and are completely unfamiliar with basic human anatomy. This happens often in the theatre, even when the nudity is brief and/or extremely well publicized. Ask anyone who has seen a production of The Graduate or Take Me Out.
But I digress...
What to say about Julius Caesar? Okay, if you like this sort of thing, go. If you're a Denzel fan, and, judging by the box office of this production, there are many, go. If you're up for an evening of light entertainment and self-referential comedy, I can give you a list of musicals at which you'll have a much better time.
Posted by Jere at May 16, 2005 01:12 AM | TrackBack