A Space in My Heart for Spacey and Charo - Part Two

Hello Everyone:


I can't believe how many page views my last blog post A Space in My Heart for Spacey and Charo - Part One received in less than 18 hours.  There are either a ton of Kevin Spacey fans out there or a lot of Charo fans.  Either way, thank you for the page views!


As promised, here is my Part Two discussing my seeing Kevin Spacey in Richard III at BAM - Brooklyn Academy of Music ... Hope you enjoy it!


I've never officially been to Brooklyn.  One time I walked from West 80th Street all the way down to the Brooklyn Bridge, walked over, set a foot in Brooklyn and walked all the way back to West 80th Street.  I'm a walking machine.


But when I heard Kevin Spacey was starring in Richard III at BAM- Brooklyn Academy of Music, I knew I had to get my arse to Brooklyn.  Richard III is my favorite Shakespeare play and if you read my previous blog post, you'll know I loves me some Kevin Spacey.

Now I know you think I am the epitome of class, grace and sophistication, but I really only have two Brooklyn reference points.  First - An old boyfriend is from Brooklyn.  I'm not going to name him because I already had to block him from my Facebook.  (We dated in the late 1990's for God's sake - don't be emailing me on the eve of your marriage to your 2nd wife!  CREEPY!)  Second - the episode of "Sex in the City" where Cynthia Nixon gets in a cab and asks to be taken to Brooklyn, her reluctant new home.  The cab driver says "Sorry - I don't go to Brooklyn."


Yep - a billion apologies to all those who love Brooklyn, but that's it for my reference points.  Clueless, thy name is Lily.  I meekishly asked the floppy haired emo-loving kid concierge at my hotel if he thought I'd have any problem finding a cab in Chelsea to Brooklyn at 6 p.m.  Now seriously, they must teach concierges how to stifle their reactions because I am sure inside he was scoffing at Miss Ultra Clueless.  But on the outside, you'd never know.  He tilted his head with this reassuring look and said in a soft, soothing voice - "No, you'll be fine.  You won't have any problems."  This floppy-haired kid concierge could be my next guru cult master, because he said it and I believed it!


I stepped out of the hotel, hailed a cab and I was in Brooklyn 15 minutes later, just fine with no problems. Thank you kid concierge!


With "Sex in the City" ringing in my ears, I had allotted a large amount of time to get to BAM.  I now had time to kill.  I spotted Junior's Restaurant near the theater.  I've been to the one near Times Square.  It's OK - not my favorite, but definitely somewhere I could kill some time and grab a bite to eat.\


I had the matzo ball soup.  It was decent.  Pretty good, nice flavor.  Not the best cup of matzo ball soup I have had, but certainly not the worse.

Then, of course, I had to have some cheesecake.  The special was a red velvet cheesecake.  This sounded intriguing, so I ordered it.  Only to find out ten minutes later that they were out.  Intent to have cheesecake, I ordered the strawberry shortcake cheesecake instead.

The cheesecake was a huge disappointment.  Chemically artificial-tasting, bland, dried-out layers of cake next to a "I couldn't tell you what flavor this one by taste only, if you paid me a million dollars" pink cheesecake.  Ugh.  So not worth the calories.  Disappointing!


What was even more off-putting than the strawberry shortcake cheesecake was half the patrons at this Brooklyn Junior's Restaurant.  Apparently I missed the sign that announced it was "C You Next Tuesday" night.  Half the tables were filled with the most uppity, biatchy, "someone pissed in my grits this morning so now I am going to make the world pay" women I have ever been around.  I seriously felt like I had been thrown in some frothy, muck-filled boiling stew of menopausal and post-menopausal feminine horror.  I really wanted to go to each woman and say "Life is good, stop being such an a**hole!!"  I wanted to run out of the restaurant screaming and then go do some volunteer work to get the universe back on track.


At this point, I was praying Kevin Spacey would blow my mind in "Richard III" and remove this nasty "why are people so mean?" feeling that had thoroughly saturated my psyche.


Kevin Spacey delivered.  Once again, he was my fairy Godfather.  (Read my last blog post if you don't know what this means!)


However, before I write about Kevin Spacey's performance.  Let me tell you about the origins of my love of Shakespeare's Richard III.  In high school, we read the standard Shakespeare fare -- Romeo and Juliet, Merchant of Venice, Midsummer Night's Dream, Much Ado About Nothing, Hamlet, King Lear ... I think we might have even read Twelfth Night.  However, one year, my beloved Guthrie Theatre (read my blog post on the Guthrie here), was staging "Richard III" starring Byron Jennings and directed by the wonderful Garland Wright.  I knew nothing about "Richard III" other than some generic War of the Roses bits, but I loved the Guthrie; so off I went.  Plus I'm pretty sure my step-father had bought the tickets for us, I'm a sucker for free theater!


Richard III has one of the best and most lyrical opening lines of all plays.  "Now is the winter of our discontent/Made glorious summer by this son of York."


In the Guthrie Theater production of Richard III, I was mesmerized by Byron Jennings' performance as Richard.  How do you convey allure, horror, villainy, soullessness and sexiness all in one character?  I don't know how, but Byron Jennings did it.  He was captivating, you could not take your eyes off of him.  The show had one element that creeps me out to this very day.  On the stage was a large gleaming ivory pillar, rising from stage to ceiling.  It was incandescent, glowing like an angel's halo in the darkened theater.  Whenever Richard III would order the death of one of his rivals, a shrieking noise would flood the theater.  It was so high-pitched it was like nails on a chalkboard.  Hearing it made me feel like someone was dragging their nails down my spine.  My body literally contorted hearing the shriek.  But that was not all.  In addition to the shrieking pillar, whenever Richard would order someone's death; a blood red liquid would run down the glistening white pillar.  If you know the play Richard III, you'll know Richard was responsible for quite a lot of deaths.  That once angelic pillar was shrieking and bloody for most of the play.  It was one of the most effective stage props I have every seen.  And I have seen a heck of a lot of good theatre.  This production has stayed in my heart for a very long time.


However, I will say looking back on the play as a more seasoned adult; I think Byron Jennings' performance was a bit of a cheat.  He played his Richard III as more of a sexy, intense, villainous politician.  Whereas most actors don the freakshow/hunchback side of Richard III.  Harder to balance sexy with "bottled spider."  I was very curious to see how Kevin Spacey would adorn the role.  Especially since I knew he would be using a cane and a leg brace to play the deformed King.


Kevin Spacey's performance was definitely more lush and complex than Byron Jenning's Richard III.  There were some aspects that were classic Kevin Spacey as campy villain persona.  After all, this is the man who played "Lex Luther" to Superman.  However there were times when I lost sight of Kevin Spacey all together.  His performance was classic Freudian.  You could see a lifetime of Richard III's bruised psyche in Kevin Spacey's body language, his affectation and his looks.  You could clearly see the genesis of a villain without giving a tremendous amount of exposition.


Richard III - the physically twisted son, forgotten amidst the stronger nobler sons, unable to straighten himself to their measure has decided to form his insides to match his outside.  But at the core, there's still the competition to be seen as worthy, valuable and loveable.  Maybe if he can be King, he can "straighten" himself.  Maybe, just maybe.  The pregnant hope is made in vain and we, as the audience, suspect Richard III knows that as well.


Kevin Spacey's "Richard III" was a multi-dimensional layering of emotion.  The way he physically contorted himself with the leg brace was the most visually moving of his performance.  His left leg at times seemed almost 90 degrees from his knee.  I can only imagine the pain he must be going through, doing this performance night after night for months on end for the show's Bridge Project world tour.  It was painful to watch him, leg tossed in awkward angles.  However it also tore at your heart - you feel pity on his form but also fear for his wickedness.


One of my favorite parts of this performance, was the use of shadow.  When Richard III's brother George, the Duke of Clarence is imprisoned in the Tower of London; even in rags his shadow cast high upon the wall behind him is like the silhouette of a Disney Prince Charming.  He doesn't have to say a word, we realize he is of solid good heart and noble intention just by viewing his shadow.  Not to say that actor Chandler Williams' performance wasn't stellar, he did a wonderful role as the loving brother, blind to the end toward his brother's true heart.


Watching Kevin Spacey's Richard III, I felt pity, horror, revulsion, sadness, empathy, fear, disgust, dark humor and at times, even admiration.  Richard III is a complex character and Kevin Spacey played each aspect of this complexity as if he were plucking strings on a lute.  Each note resonated through the theater.  I enjoyed the bawdy camp spin, he played at times.  However it was peppered in at just the right amount to not turn the tragedy into a farce.


Unfortunately there was one note in this production that did seem too much of a farce.  When I first saw "Richard III" at the Guthrie Theater, the King's young sons were played by children.  Making the horror of their murder by Richard's instructions even more horrific.  In this version, the children's roles are played by short women.  It was off-putting listening to women try to look and sound like young boys.  Next time, spring for some kid actors.  This isn't Shakespeare's time!  You have the ability to showcase child actors.  Give the kids a shot!  


The incredible Sam Mendes directed "Richard III."  He had also directed Kevin Spacey in his Best Actor Oscar winning performance in "American Beauty."  The production has minimal staging - just random wooden tables and chairs.  The emphasis is all on performance, where it should be.  Second only to Kevin Spacey's richly complex performance, was the incredible Chuk Iwuji as the Duke of Buckingham.  Instead of just playing the henchman, Iwuji brought an equally layered and complex performance as the wicked Buckingham who doesn't realize his mistakes until it is too late.


Haydn Gwynne, who plays Queen Elizabeth, reminded me very much of the wonderfully lovely and strong actress Kristen Scott Thomas.  Gwynne rang true to the Shakespearean role of a woman - going from haughty to despair and dragging you over each emotional bump of the journey.  If you're looking to feel the ravaged soul of this performance of Richard III, you need only to listen to the rise and fall of Haydn Gwynne's voice.


I am probably the only audience member not cheering the demise of Richard III at the end of the play.  For at the heart, I have always felt that Richard III's villainy was a product of a lifetime of being scorned and underestimated.  Yes, he was ruthless and killed half the people in the play; but I empathize with the circumstances that brought him to this tyrannical end product.    


I shall despair. There is no creature loves me;
And if I die, no soul shall pity me.
Nay, wherefore should they? since that I myself
Find in myself no pity to myself.


Richard III is wrong when he says the above lines.  There is pity, but horror and disgust scream louder.


A special thanks to Reader Kelly - her comment made me remember that I had neglected to write about the last scene of the production!  After Richard's death, a rope with a hook comes down from the ceiling.  They attach the rope to Kevin Spacey's feet and slowly hoist him up.  He is hanging above the actors as the Earl of Richmond gives the final speech.  You could hear a gasp from the audience, as Richard III's bloody body was hanging above.  The final speech seemed to go on forever and I wondered how bad of a blood rushing headache, Kevin Spacey must be having dangling there for so long.  Although after having his leg in a brace for most of the production, perhaps being hung by one's ankles felt good at least from a leg stretching standpoint.  Kevin Spacey, your body may not appreciate all you are doing to it for this production; but your audience certainly does.  BRAVO!


I very much enjoyed Kevin Spacey's version of Richard III.  It delivered everything I adore in a Kevin Spacey performance - complexity, laughter, joy, sadness, pity, hope, dashed hopes and naughtiness.  While the shrieking, bloody pillar in Director Garland Wright's performance will always be my favorite, Director Sam Mendes' production has managed to carve out its own niche in my theater-loving heart.