点评:We recently saw Richard III and it was pure genius and delight. Had it not been one of the final days, we would have considered seeing it again - it was that good. The writers ingeniously interwove the Bard's timeless words with modern songs and the pairings of song lyrics and Shakespearean scrip was spot on every time. However what made the show a smashing success was Ryan Beil as a rather smug and sarcastic Richard III. There were moments he so reminded me of SNL's Jon Lovitz. But all of the cast were a delight - The Wailing Queens kept lovely tight harmony while hilariously advancing the plot. And as always, a live stage out of doors is the best (and where else can you have a horse on stage, or charging through the woods behind the stage?).
My only BIG proviso was my 2024 experience with "The Bear & The Proposal: An Okanagan Wedding Party". That would have been rated a 2 at best. The acting and singing and script writing was also all excellent, but the script was interspersed with these attempts to generate white guilt over the great injustices suffered by Indigenous people in BC's past. As a society reconciliation requires facing the bare and hard truths of the past, but the whole evening felt like a personalized finger wagging lecture. It was in such poor taste that I had no intention of ever going back, and I had every intention of steering others clear of the same mishap. But this year they more than redeemed themselves.
翻译:我们最近看了《理查三世》,简直是天才之作,令人欣喜。如果不是最后几天,我们肯定会考虑再看一遍——它真的太精彩了。编剧巧妙地将莎士比亚永恒的文字与现代歌曲交织在一起,歌词与莎士比亚剧本的搭配每次都恰到好处。然而,真正让这部剧大获成功的是瑞恩·贝尔饰演的那个自鸣得意、爱挖苦人的理查三世。他有时让我想起《周六夜现场》的乔恩·洛维茨。但所有演员都令人欣喜——“哭泣女王”乐队在滑稽推进剧情的同时,保持着美妙而紧密的和声。一如既往,户外现场演出是最好的(还有什么地方能让马儿在舞台上驰骋,或者在舞台后面的树林里飞奔呢?)。
我唯一的重大遗憾是我在2024年观看《熊与求婚:奥卡纳根婚礼派对》的经历。那最多只能给2分。表演、演唱和剧本也都十分精彩,但剧本中穿插着一些试图激起白人对不列颠哥伦比亚省原住民过去遭受的巨大不公的愧疚感的桥段。作为一个社会,和解需要直面赤裸裸的残酷历史真相,但整晚的演出感觉就像一场针对个人的指手画脚的说教。这种表演品味低劣,我根本不想再看下去,而且我真心希望其他人不要重蹈覆辙。但今年他们的表现远超预期。