Stephen Fry Stars as "Malvolio" in Twelfth Night on Broadway!
A few weekends ago, I had the great pleasure of seeing "Twelfth Night" on Broadway with my parents. My family and I are avid fans of "the Bard,"so we were delighted when we learned that a new Shakespeare company would be coming to New York City. This all male ensemble is in town performing two of Shakespeare's plays: "Twelfth Night" and "Richard the III." For us, the question wasn't "will we go?", but rather, "which play will we see?"
The dual signs advertising both plays. Most of the players in this cast, except for Stephen Fry, star in both productions. For example, Mark Rylance (pictured above) plays Lady Olivia in "Twelfth Night" and King Richard in "Richard the III." Its amazing the dual characters these actors can pull off!
Giant poster outside of the theater with pictures of the cast
Besides the fact that these gents are staying true to Shakespeare by having an all male cast, I think one of the coolest parts of this company and this Shakespearian production is the fact that you can watch the cast get ready, right on stage! I think this is super cool. Rather than just sit in your seats, waiting for the play to start, the cast gets dressed up and has their make up done in front of everyone. How cool is that?! It was really fascinating to see just what it takes to don Tudor garb and the amount of effort it requires. Did I mention, this is all accompanied by traditional Tudor music. Super amusing.
The man wearing the dress is Paul Chahidi. He played Maria, Lady Olivia's maid, in "Twelfth Night." I was amazed by just how many layers the female costumes require. Such time and effort goes into being a woman! I think he was being dressed for at least 30 min! I was so amused to think about what this scene would have been like in Shakespeare's time at The Globe.
And there he is, all calm and ready to just relax.
The musicians played some wonderful music!
Overall, I have to say, "Twelfth Night" was quite entertaining. At the risk of upsetting many of you, I will admit, I am not a "Twelfth Night" fan. I never found it particularly funny and the ill treatment of Malvolio never sat well with me. Sure, I get a chuckle here and there and I love Sir Toby Belch and Sir Andrew Aguecheek, but overall, I am just not a "Twelfth Night" fan.
That said, I enjoyed this production more than I thought I would. It certainly helps that Stephen Fry was in it, even though I cringed at the end when he has a meltdown and yells at everyone. I know this is a rather obvious statement, but have phenomenal actors, who can really bring Shakeaspeare's words to life also helped significantly. Watching the body language, listening to the tone of voice, and hearing the dialogue spoken as if it were the modern vernacular…it really made a difference! It made me enjoy the play more than I thought.
After the show, the main event --- the stage door. Here, I eagerly waited to meet Samuel Barnett and Stephen Fry.
Samuel Barnett, young man in front of Stephen Fry, played Viola in "Twelfth Night," but I know and love him from "The History Boys." In that play/film, he played Posner. He was fantastic as Viola and I must say, he is very good at playing a woman! That said, he also has a lovely singing voice. He didn't really sing in this production, but if you watch "The History Boys," you definitely can. I got to chat with him briefly at the stage door and he was very very nice.
And here he is, Stephen Fry, jovial as ever and happy to meet his fans! Chatting with Samuel Barnett was wonderful, but nothing compares to shmoozing with Stephen Fry. I cannot emphasize enough, he is such a lovely gentleman. Sure, there were a fair number of people waiting besides me, but I was able to talk to Stephen about his novels, his performance that evening, his recent television appearances, and basically tell him how much I love him. He was delighted and I was able to snap some shots with him! Huzzah!
Here is Stephen Fry, signing my copy of his novel, "The Hippopotamus"
At the end of the night, I came home with a playbill signed by both Samuel Barnett and Stephen Fry
My biggest achievement that evening was having Stephen Fry sign all of his novels for me! When I met him two years ago at his book signing at Barnes & Noble, he signed my favorite of his four novels, "Making History." This time, I brought the other three novels with me to the play and at the stage door, he graciously accepted my request and signed the rest! I now own a complete set of Stephen Fry's novels, all signed by him! Hooray!!!!!! This was such a highlight and a major achievement, for me. ;D
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