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A CurtainUp Review
How to Build a Better Tulip By Brad Bradley
One could have hoped… with a source like a classic novel by Alexandre Dumas (The Black Tulip). And one again could have hoped… with the remarkably talented (and still comely) Lois Nettleton as the lead player. In fact, the entire cast appears to have talent, but their possibilities are not in the least well used. Line after line of intended comedy fell dead on an attentive but stony silent audience, who, as it turned out, were more polite than the material deserved. To give full disclosure, a significant number had the wisdom to leave at intermission. If you want to know what this mess is about, I think it concerns rival horticulturists who must deal with annoying spirits from centuries ago as well as contemporary hysteria about weapons of mass destruction. Considering the $55 price, your entertainment bucks can't help finding better places to go. Mr. Scheffler's several sets centering on a greenhouse certainly are attractive. Ms. Schmidt and Mr. Meadow do fine work on their respective costume and lighting designs. The playwright thinks he has written a comedy, and while he has written some pretty lame material that ludicrously departs from the Dumas novel, he at least could have insisted that his producer hire a director to give the play some comic flavor. Instead he chose to take on the task himself, and thereby compound the dramatic fracture.
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Retold by Tina Packer of Shakespeare & Co. Click image to buy. Our Review Mendes at the Donmar Our Review At This Theater Leonard Maltin's 2003 Movie and Video Guide Ridiculous!The Theatrical Life & Times of Charles Ludlam 6, 500 Comparative Phrases including 800 Shakespearean Metaphors by CurtainUp's editor. Click image to buy. Go here for details and larger image. |