A little learning every day

Hey,

So last night I learned that the song is called "Jet Airliner" by the Steve Miller Band and the the line from the chorus is "Oh, oh big ol' jet airliner" rather than "Oh oh we goin' down Carolina", which I knew was probably wrong, but couldn't for the life of me make out what it really was.

To be fair "jet airliner" is not really a descriptor in common parlance.

later
Tom

Tempestuous Reviews

Hey,

So this weekend I also read through The Tempest by William “The Bard” Shakespeare. I did this because on Wednesday I saw the ART production of The Tempest and I wanted to brush up. Honestly, I’ve read enough Shakespeare that I can usually follow the gist of everything that’s said, but I do like to take a more leisurely stroll through the work with a handy gloss on the opposite page to bring out the details. Also, it’s always interesting to see what gets cut from Shakespeare’s five acts to fit a two-hour time slot.

I was particularly interested in this production because the music was by Tom Waits and one of the co-producers was Teller, one half of magician duo Penn and Teller, and in a play like The Tempest having a professional stage magician on hand to develop you special effects can only lead to good things.

So let’s talk about the play on the page and then the play on the stage.

I realize that comedies aren’t Shakespeare’s strongest suit, but reading through the full play I was surprised at how...weak the plot was. Prospero, former Duke of Milan and current wizard ruler of a desolate island in the Mediterranean summons up a storm to shipwreck his enemies on his island. He introduces the King’s son to his daughter so they’ll fall in love and then torments everyone else for awhile until Ariel, his main spirit helper, is moved to some pity for them and then he decides to forgive one and all. Prince and daughter get a married and everyone is happy the end. It’s that turn that just breaks the whole thing down. Just a dozen lines and his thirst for vengeance is gone. I dunno, whacky shifts in personality/goals is a thing that happens in Shakespeare, but still...the whole thing feels flat

The ART production? Delightful. It was my first time in the Loeb Drama Theater, and the space is excellent with nice seats and good sightlines from pretty much every seat. The cast was uniformly quite good. I through their choices for Prospero and Antonio were excellent and their Caliban pretty much stole the show. I was a little underwhelmed by Ferdinand, the Prince but he was portrayed as a bit of a naive waif...a Bertie Wooster type and I had a slightly more level-headed guy in mind.

But you’ll want to know about the magic. I was expecting a bit more actually, but everything they did was quite good. Prospero’s conjuring of the storm was an especially nice bit of work and they had a number of quick changes which came together well. Ariel did a lot of work with cards. I’m sure when the actor was told that Teller would be teaching him card magic for the role he was over the moon.

Looking back, I’m wondering if The Tempest was really meant to be more of a “tech demo”. It’s a proper play, of course, but there’s a ton of special effects and seems like it’s something you’d write to show off the technical sophistication of your theatre -- a flashy spectacle rather than a plot to be followed closely.

Anyway, my armchair scholarship aside, I’m really glad I went to see this production and I hope I get to see some future productions at ART (speaking of which, I really should go see The Donkey Show sometime soon).

later
Tom