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| Kathleen Widdoes, Sam Waterston. |
MUCH ADO ABOUT NOTHING [Dramatic Revival] A: William
Shakespeare; D: A.J. Antoon; S Ming Cho Lee; C: Theoni V. Aldredge; L: Martin
Aronstein; M: Peter Link; P: New York Shakespeare Festival; T: Delacorte
Theater (OB); 8/16/72-9/3/72 (20); Winter Garden Theatre; 11/11/72-2/11/73
(136)
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| Mark Hammer, April Shawhan, Bette Heinritze, Kathleen Widdoes, Glenn Walken, Sam Waterston. |
Clearly one
of the most popular Shakespearean revivals of the period, A.J. Antoon’s staging
of Much Ado about Nothing was moved
to Broadway over a year after its Central Park premiere and might have run
indefinitely had not the sale of tickets declined following a nationally
televised broadcast of the show. The story is told in detail in Kenneth Turan
and Joseph Papp’s Free for All, a
must read about Joe Papp’s legacy at the Public, which offers other fascinating
sidelights on the show as well.
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| Kathleen Widdoes, April Shawhan, Tom McDermott, Sam Waterston, Glenn Walken. |
This was
Shakespeare gussied up and revivified through the oft-used, infrequently
successful, method of transposing the action to a later historical period more
familiar to a modern audience than whatever the playwright provided. Instead of
16th-century Messina, Italy, Antoon chose a turn-of-the-20th-century
Southwestern American background. The sets and costumes, directorial devices,
and music were, for the most part, ingeniously integrated into an unusually
effective romantic comedy that most critics adored.
A gaily
bedecked oompah-pah brass band greeted the entering audience and, throughout
the show, provided a considerable number of selections devised by Peter Link to
suggest pre-World War I American music. Scott Joplin ragtime tunes were
conspicuous as well. Dance numbers, including a cakewalk set to Shakespeare’s “Sigh
no more, ladies,” were staged by Donald Saddler. There were straw boaters
aplenty, men in celluloid collars, striped blazers, and spats. A noisy Stanley
Steamer made an appearance, women secretly stole puffs from cigarettes, Barnard
Hughes’s hilarious Dogberry led a bunch of Keystone-cop constabularies,
phonographs with huge horns spouted music, draft beer foamed, gazebos captured
the period look, and so on.
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| Barnard Hughes, Will Mackenzie. |
Ming Cho Lee’s
white set, described by Clive Barnes as “a lovely wooden construction of
complex terraces, platforms, catwalks, and alcoves” backed by “huge, pop-art
panels emblazoned with pictures of” contemporary figures and newspaper
clippings, was an eye-filler, as were Theoni V. Aldredge’s “sparkling yet
unexaggerated costumes,” as John Simon noted.
Much Ado was directed with such “verve and
extravagance,” said Brendan Gill, with actors who were so able to make their
words comprehensible and totally believable within the context, that Barnes
believed he would remember this production “with affection” as long as he
lived. Representative of the critical response was Edwin Wilson’s remark: “The
mood of the period seems to fit that of the play exceptionally well: the
far-away perspective of the nineties allows us to view the troubles of the
young lovers with just the right mixture of detachment, nostalgia and
affection.”
There were
very few dissident voices, among them the usual maverick, John Simon, for whom
Antoon’s interpretation missed entirely the substance of the play’s meanings.
He felt the apple pie locale was wrong, for in this “indolent, Never-Never-Land
. . . intrigue has no teeth at all,” and the characters seem to be unsuited to
the language of their roles. Simon also was far less happy with the casting
than most of his compeers.
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| Sam Waterston, Douglass Watson. |
Sam Waterston
received kudos for his Benedick, a soldier just returned from the
Spanish American War, as did Kathleen Widdoes as Beatrice. “Both performers
underplay their roles,” wrote Henry Hewes, “and give us a charming shyness and
a capacity to be fooled that are all the greater because these two have been
letting their heads too much rule their hearts.” The Don Pedro of Douglass
Watson was exceptional, “sensitive, strong and wonderful,” insisted Martin
Gottfried. Others in the company included April Shawhan as Hero and Glenn
Walken as Claudio.
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| Company of Much Ado about Nothing. |
The revival
reaped much attention from the award givers. Tony nominations went to Barnard
Hughes, Best Supporting Actor, Play; Kathleen Widdoes, Best Actress, Play; A.J.
Antoon, Best Director, Play; Martin Aronstein, Best Lighting Designer; and
Peter Link, Best Score. Drama Desk Awards were given to Sam Waterston, Douglass
Watson, and Theoni V. Aldredge (shared with her work on Hamlet). Waterston also landed an OBIE for Distinguished
Performance.