The highlights of my summer theatergoing this year were productions of two Shakespeare plays that are often considered among his lesser works. First, the Royal Shakespeare Company's New York residency at the Park Armory yielded a pitch-perfect production of "The Winter's Tale." The acting, direction and staging were everything that could be hoped for in a production of this play, which was especially rewarding after I viewed a messy and unfocused RSC "Romeo and Juliet" at the Armory. This "Winter's Tale" had me on the edge of my seat through much of the show, despite the fact that I have seen this play multiple times previously. That is the magic of a great theatrical production.
The other Shakespeare winner was the Public Theater's "All's Well That End Well" in Central Park. This is a difficult play to pull off today, given that many of the central characters are quite unlikeable. No matter, as director Daniel Sullivan knows his way around a difficult Shakespeare play, and he was fortunate to have a skilled cast, with a particularly winning performance by Andre Holland. Although the cast of RSC's "Winter's Tale" set a high mark for performances, the American cast of "All's Well" evidenced that Americans can be fair rivals for their UK acting counterparts when it comes to Shakespeare.
One of the biggest disappointments of the summer was the "Follies" revival now playing at the Marquis Theater after a stint at the Kennedy Center in DC. The cast is talented, but in most roles are miscast here, and the direction is awful. I have only seen one production of "Follies" that worked for me (at the small-scale East West Playhouse in Los Angeles), and it worked because it made me feel deep emotion for the characters on stage. That is hard to do with this show (one of Sondheim's weakest; perhaps someone can one day make big changes to this musical to make it work), and this production did not stir my emotions for one minute. The directoral style of the current production is presentational, and that just does not work for this show, at least not for me. I recommend that you skip this one; I wish I had.
