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Show B2 Monday • July 14, 2008 T h e a t e r R e v i e w s Utafj §fjaRe$pearean festivaf The Utah Shakespearean Festival is Cedar City's biggest draw for tourists. The festival is internationally renowned, and produces some of the highest quality theater in the state. Actors from across the country come to the festival, and it makes enough money to create Cyrano de Bergerac high-quality design for each show, For student discounts on tickets, call 800-PLAYT1X. Here are reviews of each show this season. How to: Survive a Cedar City Vacation Natural Attractions Two Gentlemen of Verona www.nps.90v/zi0n/ Kolob Landing at Zion National Park. James Newcomb (left) as Viscount de Valvert and Brian Vaughn as Cyrano de Bergerac in the Utah Shakespearean Festival's 2008 production of Cyrano de Bergerac. If you're going to commit to watching Cyrano de Bergerac, you'll just have to accept that that script will be long and wordy. There's no way to get around it. At times it will feel endless. Ever)' once in a while, there's a line of dialogue that will send your young mind into rapture, but then there will be a lull where it's either just boring or awkward. This is our punishment for translating the script from the original French. The standout aspect of this show is that Brian Vaughn plays Cyrano and Melinda Pfudstein plays his love interest Roxane. The two actors are married in the real world, and are also some of the festival's wonderful stock actors. They both turn out an absolutely fantastic performance. As for the ensemble, it's catch and go. Some of the supporting actors play their roles" brilliantly, and others are a disappointment. There were directorial aspects of the show that were perhaps good ideas originally, but wound up just being awkward. The director had the poor actors freezing in motion with swords up in the air and a vast outpouring of testosterone at the end of act four with no transition to the next act, which is in a nunnery. It just didn't work. Justin Matthew Gordon (left) as Valentine, Carly Germany as Sylvia, and Timothy Pyles as Turio in the Utah Shakespearean Festival' 2008 production of The Two Gentlemen of Verona. This show is by far the most humorous at the festival this season. Brian Vaughn, one of the most critically acclaimed actors to frequent the festival, is given one of the funniest roles Shakespeare ever wrote, and he also has a dog to play off of. Yes, a real dog. This trifecta creates some of the most hilarious physical comedy that has shown at the festival in quite a while. The story is also the most applicable to college students, because similar plots are seen everywhere you look on campus. Four young people switch back and forth, indecisive about whom they really love, Girls go to great lengths to lead on their poor suitors. Take away the petticoats and titles of nobility, and you might as well be looking at a group of freshmen. These characters just have a better vocabulary. The most outstanding directorial trait of this show is the detail work - there are small moments that are not in the script at all, but really make the show worth watching. However, some scenes were cut to make the show shorter, but this wasn't really necessary. Some of the best comedy in the script was omitted for the sakq of time. Cedar Breaks National Monument: 12 miles Bryce Canyon National Park: 49 miles Zion National Park: 58 miles Festivals Galore cirn J www. bard.org MJU Students Performing in The Green Show at the Utah Shakespearean Festival. Utah Shakespearean Festival June 19-October25 Fiddler on the Roof The School For Wives Neil Simon Festival July 15-August 9 Great American Stampede September 4-6 SkyFest September 12-14 Cedar City Livestock & Heritage Festival October 24-25 American Children's Christmas Festival November 20-December 15 Police Hotspots Matthew Henerson (left) as Tevye and Katie Whetsell as Chava in the Utah Shakespearean Festival's 2008 production of Fiddler on the Roof. Rick Ford (left) as Alain, Timothy Casto as Arnolphe, and Lillian Castillo as Georgette in the Utah Shakespearean Festival's 2008 production of The School for Wives. The tragedy about this musical is that the movie was so popular; it almost eliminates any real need for the stage production to be performed. Unless the director has a truly original angle with which to approach the script, the production is often just a shadow of the movie. Unfortunately, this production brings very few original ideas to the table. Of course, it's nice to see a well-executed musical every now and then, but it's hard when you've most likely The most interestingthing about this particular production was that they hired a house translator, which really worked for the actors. Translating Moliere from the original French without adulterating his intention is notoriously difficult, but this translator tossed that stigma to the wind and did what they wanted with the script. The surprising part was that by letting go of some of the rules of translation, the story became a better parallel to the original French. already seen this particular script before, and you know just how the stpry is going to end. In the past,, most of the Festival's musicals have been truly immaculate, from curtain to curtain. This production only had one spotless number, and that was at the very beginning. To be honest, it kind of got my hopes up, and then the rest of the numbers were just disappointing. But five minutes of perfection is better than nothing. This show is meant to be funny. But if you start thinking about the characters too much, it really becomes tragic. All of these people are so disillusioned and cruel to each other. However, there are plenty of things to distract you from their callous motivations. The costumes are lovely, the supporting cast is wonderfully ludicrous, and the blocking is enough to keep even those with the shortest of attention spans interested. "www.i stockphoto.com Try to keep these lights from flashing. There are two main roads to watch your speed on in or on the way to Cedar City. The first is on 1-15, between Scipio and Fillmore, and the second is on College Way in Cedar city. There is a bend in the road that almost consistently hides a police car. For more ways to survive your Cedar City vacation visit www.uvcoilegetlmes.com The Taming of the Shrew Othello from FESTIVALS • B1 Melinda Parrert (left) as Katharina Minola and Grant Goodman as Petruchio in the Utah Shakespearean Festival's 2008 production of The Taming of the Shrew. James Newcomb (left) as lago, and Jonathan Earl Peck as Othello in the Utah Shakespearean Festival's 2008 production of Othello. The only show of the season directed by a woman, Taming of the Shrew wasn't interpreted as a very Shakespeare-y Shakespeare. It is set in the forties, which allows for the already raunchy dialogue to be interpreted as even raunchier. The time period also makes it fun because every stereotypical Italian man in the forties was a gangster or a Don Johnson look-a-like, and this adds an entirely new level to the male cast. One popular complaint about the script of this play is that it promotes the idea that The casting of this show was particularly inconsistent. Some of the actors (namely lago, Cassio, and Desdemona) were played as actual human beings, while others (Othello and Emilia) were over-acted in comparison. In addition, the costuming was particularly disappointing. The designer intended to incorporate modern pieces to make the actors more .comfortable, but the idea only made it as far as leather Levis instead of period-appropriate britches. Other than that, almost all women are about as useful as cattle. However, the final monologue in which Katharine states that a wife should be a slave to her husband does not necessarily need to be interpreted that way, and in this production it isn't. The play is a heightened discussion on reciprocation in relationships, which is very applicable today. On a lighter note, this show is very visually pleasing. The costumes allow for great range of motion, the set is flexible and inventive, and the actors aren't too bad to look at either. of the costume pieces were made in house, and appropriate to the time in which the action was set. It came across as cheap, which is just silly for a festival that has to bring in $6.5 million just to break even. The saving quality of this show is that it dramatically picks up after intermission. That's when the real quality violence and drama begins. For more reviews of the Utah Shakespearean Festival please visit www.uvcollegetimes.com tacular summer festivities. The safe, small-town atmosphere is extremely conducive to the American festival spirit. There are a great deal of festivals held in Utah County, but very few of them are as specialized as those in Cedar City. Utah County festivals tend to celebrate grand topics like community and heritage, whereas those merely a few hours south seem more dedicated to specialized topics like hot air balloons and Neil Simon. If you are looking for a relatively close summer vacation, Cedar City is particularly nice, since it doesn't require driving through a hellish landscape to get there - unlike most other popular destinations for Utah County residents. To get to Wendover, you have to make it through the salt flats. To get to Las Vegas or St. George, you have to make it through a tumbleweed-infested wasteland. The entire trip to Cedar City, on the other hand, is extremely aesthetically pleasing. This city is lamb dressed as mutton. They haven't yet grown into their britches. There still aren't enough hotels to really accommodate all of the needs of the festivalgoers, and there are only sparse restaurants. Southern Utah University also adds a fair bit of flavor to the town. If you choose to visit during the school year, there are college parties aplenty to entertain yourself with. However, in the summer, there are very few college students there (because many of them come home to Utah county), and it can be a nice escape from students if that's what you're looking for. For more information about Cedar City TourIsm. Visit www.cedarcity, org - the official website of Cedar City |