As Miranda, Waterston gives us the iconic version of a stranded princes – beautiful but with no self-assurance, guileless and dependent. She glides through life as easily as a knife through butter. When she falls in love it is not with the astonishment that there are actually other people on the planet but rather with the zeal of a young girl who was just granted her extra-favorite dessert. As Caliban, the half monster who serves as slave to Prospero, Nyambi Nyambi blusters his way through his lines as though he were swinging a rubber club. The rest of the cast slogs on through, offering just enough oxygen to keep the flame alive but no more.
There are a lot of people who can sit down with you and tell you why The Tempest is an important play. I’m not one of them. I am, however, student enough of Shakespeare to know that his writing is music without the orchestra. If treated kindly, his words will swell full up and take wing into the theatre.
O, wonder!
How many goodly creatures are there here!
How beauteous mankind is! O brave new world,
That has such people in't!
(Miranda, Act V, Sc 1)
I think Shakespeare wanted us to feel those lines down to our toes. Instead we walk out of this production feeling parched and a little dulled between the ears.
The Tempest by William Shakespeare; directed by Brian Kulick
WITH: Craig Baldwin (Sebastian), Yusef Bulos (Gonzalo), Angel Desai (Ariel/Ariel as Ceres), Karl Kenzler (Antonio), Nana Mansah (Spirit/Spirit as Juno), Nyambi Nyambi (Caliban), Bhavesh Patel (Boatswain/Spirit/Adrian/ Spirit as Isis), Mandy Patinkin (Prospero), Michael Potts (Alonso), Steven Rattazzi (Stefano), Stark Sands (Ferdinand), Tony Torn (Master of the Ship/Trinculo) and Elisabeth Waterston (Miranda).
Sets by Jian Jung; costumes by Oana Botez-Ban; lighting by Brian Scott; original music and sound by Christian Frederickson; production manager, Travis Walker; production stage manager, Christina Lowe; assistant stage manager, Chandra LaViolette; general manager, Jeff Griffin. Presented by the Classic Stage Company, Brian Kulick, artistic director; Jessica R. Jenen, executive director. At the Classic Stage Company, 136 East 13th Street, Manhattan; (212) 352-3101. Through Oct. 19. Running time: 2 hours 15 minutes.
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