Jacobi's Lear at BAM

[skynyc]

Wow!

I was reluctant to see this again...both Christopher Plummer and Ian McKellan have done this recently. But BAM seldom disappoints, and they had several other things I wanted to see, so I subscribed.

I am so glad I did.

Jacobi, now in his mid-seventies, blew me away both his vocalizations and physicality. I cannot imagine how he does this 8 times a week.

Lear is such a complicated character...so idiotic and full of bluster at the beginning, one cannot imagine that he would ever be worthy of sympathy...he kind of gets what he deserves. And yet his descent into disillusionment, and then despair, and then finally madness is heart-wrenching here.

Goneril and Regan are particularly loathesome here...the ladies who play them must be having a ball.

I suspect that this, like Geoffrey Rush's earlier appearance at BAM this season, will become a very hot ticket, and recommend that if you like Shakespeare, or classic theater, or Jacobi himself, don't miss this, and get your ticket before the reviews come out...I think this Friday 5/13. It only runs until 6/5.

One spoiler...the blinding of Gloucester onstage is both graphic and very bloody. The woman in front of me almost had to leave the theater.

[justaguy]

Lear is one of my favorites. I think if was Sir John Gielgud who said that by the time you're old enough to understand Lear, you're too old to play him. It must be a physically as well as emotionally demanding role.