The Taming of the Shrew (Broadway Theatre Archive)
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Actor: Marc Singer, Raye Birk, Sandra Shotwell, Stephen St. Paul, William PatersonBrand: Kultur
DVD: Region Code 1
Audio: English (Unknown); English (Original Language)
Format: Color, DVD, NTSC
Picture Format: 1.33:1
Running Time: 102 minutes
DVD Release Date: 2002-07-30
Audience Rating: NR (Not Rated)
Studio: Kultur Video
DVD Reviews of The Taming of the Shrew (Broadway Theatre Archive)
DVD Review: Best production on video.
Summary: 5 Stars
This one is simply the best. I have no problem at all choosing between this production and the Burton/Taylor movie. This one wins without a contest. Grab it while you can!
William Ball's production remembers one thing that many productions forget: this is a comedy and it is supposed to be funny. It is not literary scripture to be intoned in solemn reverence to the great Bard of Stratford on Avon. To accomplish this Ball makes a robust and ribald presentation based on the Commedia dell'arte, a broad and slapstick style that was current in Shakespeare's time. The result is baldly, not subtly, hilarious.
More subtle is the direction of the story itself. Thoughtful direction, brilliantly delivered by the Marc Singer as Petruchio and Fredi Olster as Kate, is used to show Petruchio's increasing regard for Kate as the play proceeds. Even in the final scene it is clear that when he calls for Kate to come, after the other two wives have refused, that he is uncertain of the outcome. Thus he is surprised, delighted and gratified when she does come, not gloating in overbearing male chauvinist triumph. This goes a long way toward making modern sense of the now problematic text about the roles of men and women, and the way she is brought to heel. (I find the middle section of the play where the shrew taming is accomplished, with methods that include food and sleep deprivation, has an uncomfortable resemblance to modern day brainwashing and torture. It leaves today's audience with the question: Is it love? Or is it Stockholm syndrome? The very idea of such obedience is now controversial, even without the issue of abuse. This presents a huge challenge for the present day production of Taming of the Shrew as anything but a theatrical museum piece.) Portrayed in this way, Petruchio is not a just a swaggering playboy out to cash in a dowry, but someone who might be worthy of the obedience he expects, and is coming to value the strength and honesty of Kate and its advantages over the coquettish, spoiled personalities of Bianca and her friends back in Padua. Thus this production is both traditional and modern without upending the play entirely in some PC "re-visioning" or gender-bent re-interpretation. And most of all, it is funny.
I saw it one time on PBS before the VCR and I thought I would never see it again, and worse, nor would anybody else leaving Zeffirelli's text mangled showpiece or much duller "official" versions as the only ones available. I was overjoyed to find that it had been released on DVD in along with many other similar programs that I enjoyed on PBS (do not let the politicians kill PBS!) many years ago that are also in this Broadway Theater Archives series.
The Burton/Taylor/Zeffirelli version is just a movie. It places showcasing its marquee power, plush production, and cinematography far above the play itself. It seems like about half the play is omitted outright and the rest, even some the most prominent and well known speeches are hacked up. (Compare the play or this production to the "streamlining" done to the final scene in the movie. Completely unedited presentations of any Shakespeare are rare, and for good reason, but this was too much.) Seeing both in close sequence reminded me just how good this one is, and how much the other suffers after subtracting the contribution of movie stardom and lush production.
Description of The Taming of the Shrew (Broadway Theatre Archive)
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