‘BERNHARDT/HAMLET’: Dylan Baker & Janet McTeer. Photo: Joan Marcus

BERNHARDT/HAMLET
Written by Theresa Rebeck
Directed by Moritz von Stuelpnagel
Through November 18, 2018
American Airlines Theatre
227 West 42nd Street
(212) 719-1300
www.RoundaboutTheatre.org

By David NouNou

Playwright Theresa Rebeck is one of the few modern-day female playwrights who has made a major impact on the American theatrical stage. She is prolific and has good ideas. As in her previous outings Dead Accounts, Seminar and Mauritius, she starts with a great premise but somehow the plays never flesh out to full fruition.

The ambitious Bernhardt/Hamlet is no exception. Ms. Rebeck has Sarah Bernhardt (Janet McTeer) taking on the role of Shakespeare’s Hamlet. The conflict here is that no female has ever dared play the part of the Great Dane. The public would just not stand for it and it could turn out to be her biggest debacle. After all, Sarah Bernhardt was the foremost actress of her day and one of the most eccentric divas as well. Her offstage antics were just as publicized as her roles of Medea and Cleopatra, as well as Shakespeare’s heroines: Cordelia, Desdemona and Ophelia as well as her renowned Camille.

Act I is saddled with long-winded passages from Hamlet. Ms. Bernhardt is having difficulty with all the poetry that is essential to Hamlet and decides to engage French playwright, Edmond Rostand (Jason Butler Harner), to revise Shakespeare and Hamlet and strip it of its poetry. This is where the humor is supposed to be. The plot is further mired with Bernhardt’s affair with the married Rostand. He forsakes his greatest masterpiece to do the revisions on Hamlet due to his love for Bernhardt.

The best scene in Act II comes when Madame Rostand (Ito Aghayere) forces her way in to see Bernhardt. Here, she presents Bernhardt with what will be Rostand’s greatest triumph Cyrano de Bergerac, but he has stopped working on it because of his love and trying to fulfill his obligation to Bernhardt. The scene then dissipates into scenes and passages from Cyrano and thus makes the evening interminable.

Kudos have to be given to the four supporting players that ground this show with their natural, low-keyed genuine performances; they are Matthew Saldivar (as Alphonse Mucha) who does all of Bernhardt’s divine posters but has problems drawing one for Hamlet, because he has never drawn men; just women at their glorified best. Next is Tony Carlin as the French critic Louis who has problems accepting a woman playing Hamlet. Equally wonderful is Nick Westrate as Maurice, Bernhardt’s steadfast son, who comes to knock some sense into her and her Hamlet folly. Last but not least is Ito Aghayere as Rostand’s wife, Rosamond; her quiet dignity brings reality to the forefront.

It is never easy for one actress to capture another actress’ essence, especially on the stage and certainly someone like Sarah Bernhardt of whom 2018 audiences know nothing except what we have read about her. It is Ms. McTeer’s impossible task to come up with a creditable interpretation of the fire that was Bernhardt. Instead, we have a petulant Sarah bossing people around to satisfy her whims and throwing giddy tantrums. She comes across more as the wonderful late British actress Kay Kendall and Vanessa Redgrave but lacking any nuances. It’s a full-throttle performance that, while enthusiastic, never varies much.

Alas, part of the problem is with Moritz von Stuelpnagel, a splendid director of the absurd. Remember his Hand to God and last year’s Present Laughter, both flawlessly directed? He has derailed the proceedings without imbuing any seamless shadings or editing. In this case, it is a free-for-all of the preposterous with no reining in of the rough edges that are way over-the-top for his leading lady and the plotline.

A high note of the evening is the set designs by Beowulf Borritt, a genius for any season.

Edited by Scott Harrah
Published September 28, 2018
Reviewed at September 27, 2018 press performance.

‘BERNHARDT/HAMLET’: Jason Butler Harner & Janet McTeer. Photo: Joan Marcus

‘BERNHARDT/HAMLET’: (left to right) Dylan Baker, Jason Butler Harner, Janet McTeer & Matthew Saldivar. Photo: Joan Marcus

‘BERNHARDT/HAMLET’: (left to right) Dylan Baker, Janet McTeer & Jason Butler Harner. Photo: Joan Marcus

‘BERNHARDT/HAMLET’: Janet McTeer. Photo: Joan Marcus

‘BERNHARDT/HAMLET’: Janet McTeer & Brittany Bradford. Photo: Joan Marcus

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FIRST LOOK AT ‘BERNHARDT/HAMLET’: Tony & Olivier winner Janet McTeer plays legendary actress Sarah Bernhardt in ‘Bernhardt/Hamlet’ at the American Airlines. Previews begin August 31, 2018. Photo: Jake Chessum

ROUNDABOUT THEATRE COMPANY
Announces casting for Bernhardt/Hamlet on Broadway

Oscar Nominee and Golden Globe, Tony & Olivier Award Winner
JANET McTEER

DYLAN BAKER, JASON BUTLER HARNER

To Star In The World Premiere Of
BERNHARDT/HAMLET
By Pulitzer Prize finalist THERESA REBECK
Directed by Tony nominee MORITZ VON STUELPNAGEL

With
MATTHEW SALDIVA, NICK WESTRAT, PAXTON WHITEHEAD, ITO AGHAYERE BRITTANY BRADFORD, AARON COSTA GANIS, TRINEY SANDOVAL

On Broadway
A Roundabout Theatre Company commission

Previews begin Friday, August 31, 2018
Official opening Tuesday, September 25, 2018
Limited engagement through November 11, 2018 on Broadway at the American Airlines Theatre

Roundabout Theatre Company (Todd Haimes, Artistic Director/CEO) is thrilled to announce casting for the world premiere of the Roundabout-commissioned play Bernhardt/Hamlet by Pulitzer finalist Theresa Rebeck, directed by Tony nominee Moritz von Stuelpnagel, and starring Academy Award nominee and Golden Globe, Tony & Olivier Award winner Janet McTeer as “Sarah Bernhardt.”

Joining the previously announced McTeer in Bernhardt/Hamlet are Dylan Baker as “Constant Coquelin,” and Jason Butler Harner as “Edmond Rostand,” with Matthew Saldivar as “Alphonse Mucha,” Nick Westrate as “Maurice,” Paxton Whitehead as “Louis,” Ito Aghayere as “Rosamond,” Brittany Bradford as “Lysette,” Aaron Costa Ganis as “Raoul,” and Triney Sandoval as “Francois.”

Bernhardt/Hamlet will begin preview performances on August 31, 2018 and opens officially on Tuesday, September 25, 2018. This is a limited engagement through November 11, 2018 at the American Airlines Theatre on Broadway (227 West 42nd Street).

Playwright Theresa Rebeck returns to Roundabout, where she is an Associate Artist, following her hit production of The Understudy (2009) at the Laura Pels Theatre. Jason Butler Harner was last seen at Roundabout in The Paris Letter (2005); Paxton Whitehead returns following The Importance of Being Earnest; and Triney Sandoval returns following Marvin’s Room in 2017.

Mark Twain wrote: “There are five kinds of actresses: bad actresses, fair actresses, good actresses, great actresses. And then there is Sarah Bernhardt.” In 1899, the international stage celebrity set out to tackle her most ambitious role yet: Hamlet. Theresa Rebeck’s new play rollicks with high comedy and human drama, set against the lavish Shakespearean production that could make or break Bernhardt’s career. Janet McTeer, “one of the finest classical actresses of her generation” (The Telegraph), brings the legendary leading lady to life.

The creative team includes Beowulf Boritt (Set Design), Toni-Leslie James (Costume Design), Bradley King (Lighting Design) and Fitz Patton (Original Music and Sound Design).

TICKET INFORMATION:
Tickets for Bernhardt/Hamlet are available by calling 212.719.1300, online at roundabouttheatre.org, in person at any Roundabout box office: American Airlines Theatre Box office (227 West 42nd Street); The Harold and Miriam Steinberg Center for Theatre (111 W 46th Street) and Studio 54 (254 West 54th Street); or by visiting StubHub, The Premier Secondary Ticketing Partner of Roundabout. Ticket prices range from $49-$139. For groups of 10 or more please call 212-719-9393 x 365 or email groupsales@roundabouttheatre.org

PERFORMANCE SCHEDULE:
Bernhardt/Hamlet will play Tuesday through Saturday evening at 8:00PM with Wednesday and Saturday matinees at 2:00PM, and Sunday matinees at 3:00PM.

The post Janet McTeer in ‘Bernhardt/Hamlet’ on Broadway this fall appeared first on StageZine.

‘LES LIAISONS DANGEREUSES’: Janet McTeer & Liev Schreiber. Photo: Joan Marcus

LES LIAISONS DANGEREUSES
Written by Christopher Hampton
Directed by Josie Rourke
Through January 22, 2017
Booth Theatre
222 West 45th Street
(212-239-6200), www.LiaisonsBroadway.com

By David NouNou

Seeing Les Liaisons Dangereuses for the third time, I marveled at how well written and crafted a play it is. Granted, productions can vary, casts can give different interpretations, and weak directors misguide the show but this play about love, passion, deceit, seduction, deception, lust and much more, all set in Paris and the countryside in the 1780s, is a marvel to behold.

The enjoyment of the play is how the two main characters manipulate themselves, each other and the people that cross their paths. Needless to say the victims are virtually all annihilated. Le Vicomte de Valmont (Liev Schreiber) and La Marquise de Merteuil (Janet McTeer) are the two principles who joust and parry in this lethal game of love and conquest with other people’s lives. They were once lovers; now they are friends who constantly challenge each other on whom are they going to conquer next and to what degree is that person going to suffer.

The three lives that are going to be affected include Madame de Tourvel (Birgitte Hjort Sorensen), a married, virtuous woman who is staying with Valmont’s aunt, Madame de Rosemonde (Mary Beth Peil). Valmont truly loves Madame de Tourvel but will ultimately seduce and destroy her. Cecile Volanges (Elena Kampouris) is a girl of 15 out of the convent, and daughter of the Marquise’s cousin, whom she forces Valmont to seduce. The third being Le Chevalier Danceny (Raffi Barsoumian), who is in love with Cecile, but the Marquise decides to dally with him to thwart off and renege on her promise to Valmont.

Liev Schreiber and Janet McTeer are both very good but they don’t strike the right chord together. They lack the sting the two need that causes all this devastation around them and that comes from faulty direction. The reason for this disconnect between the two, although Mr. Schreiber makes a good Valmont, is he is too good looking for any woman to resist in the 1780s or 2016. He wouldn’t have to try very hard to seduce any woman; she wouldn’t be able to resist him. He lacks the smarminess and lechery that his predecessors had. Ms. McTeer lacks the villainess the character desperately needs.

This all comes under the heading of faulty direction by Josie Rourke. A stronger director could have corrected these minor infractions and made it into a much stronger production. In the supporting roles, Mary Beth Peil and Birgitte Hjort Sorensen are the standouts.

Despite the minor flaws I mentioned, I strongly recommend Les Liaisons Dangereuses if you are in the mood for an evening of seduction and deception. Who wouldn’t want to see Liev Schreiber and Janet McTeer live on stage?

Edited by Scott Harrah
Published November 4, 2016
Reviewed at press performance on November 3, 2016

‘LES LIAISONS DANGEREUSES’: Janet McTeer. Photo: Joan Marcus

‘LES LIAISONS DANGEREUSES’: Liev Schreiber. Photo: Joan Marcus

‘LES LIAISONS DANGEREUSES’: Birgitte Hjort Sorensen & Liev Schreiber. Photo: Joan Marcus

‘LES LIAISONS DANGEREUSES’: Liev Schreiber & Elena Kampouris. Photo: Joan Marcus

‘LES LIAISONS DANGEREUSES’: Liev Schreiber & Janet McTeer. Photo: Joan Marcus

‘LES LIAISON DANGEREUSES’: Mary Beth Peil & Birgitte Hjort Sorensen. Photo: Joan Marcus

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