Review - I'll Give You Stars and The Moon But You'll Have To Pay For My Music

A big thank you to the folks at New Line Theatre for bringing this entry from Jason Robert Brown's blog to my attention. It seems the Tony-winning composer/lyricist was involved in a lengthy email exchange with a young fan who didn't understand why it was wrong for her to be offering free Internet sheet music downloads of his songs. If you've seen Sherie Rene Scott's Everyday Rapture, prepare for some déjà vu.

By the way, I'm loving the logo for New Line Theatre's new production of Evita:

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It would certainly be an interesting experience for modern playgoers to travel back in time and see how The Merchant of Venice was first received by Shakespeare's audiences. Those only familiar with the play's famous, "Hath not a Jew eyes? Hath not a Jew hands, organs, dimensions, senses, affections, passions..." speech, spoken by the moneylender Shylock, might just assume the author meant it to be a drama attacking anti-Semitic tendencies of the day.

But The Merchant of Venice was first billed as a comedy; a merry romp of amusing lovers who get their happy ending by outsmarting a nasty villain, whose fate might have been seen in the play's premiering days as a hilarious punch line, or maybe even an inspiring opportunity for reformation. It took over 200 years for actors to start interpreting Shylock as a sympathetic character. Before then (and in German productions Hitler supported during his reign) the character was traditionally interpreted as a hideous stereotype. But maybe Shakespeare was pulling something over on his audiences because Shylock does absolutely nothing villainous in the play. His "crime" is simply being a Jew who dares to stand up for his rights when he is wronged by anti-Semitic Christians, but back in the day that might have been enough to send audiences happily out having enjoyed witnessing his downfall.

Director Daniel Sullivan's completely engaging and emotionally troubling production at the Delacorte certainly plays up the comedy. Much of evening is very, very funny, though never at the expense of the Jews. But as the evening progresses, it becomes more difficult to laugh at the romantic antics because the supposed heroes have grown unlikeable, particularly after a horrific silent scene added by Sullivan that brings Shylock's story to a humiliating close. The director buttons the play with an equally chilling visual.

Jess Goldstein's costumes set the evening in the Edwardian Period, a continuous reminder of the troublesome decades approaching, with the Christians looking snazzy in their colorful getups as opposed to the shadowy tones worn by the Jews. Mark Wendland's set places a ticker tape machine center stage with a manually operated exchange board dominating stage right. Tall black iron gates that circle the stage on multiple tracks suggest both the exclusivity of high finance and the entrapment of the ghetto.

The drama begins (or the comedy, if you prefer) when the title character, Antonio (the excellent Byron Jennings playing the role with understated arrogance), arrives at the office of moneylender Shylock (Al Pacino) to secure a loan of 3,000 ducats on behalf of his friend, Bassanio (a goofily romantic and charming Hamish Linklater), a youth of noble birth who has squandered away his money. Bassanio wants to use the cash to travel to Belmont and woo the wealthy and available Portia (Lily Rabe). The merchant would have loaned the money himself but with all of his ships out at sea he has no ready cash available.

Shylock and Antonio do not have a pleasant history. The Christian regularly cuts into the Jew's business by loaning out money interest-free and once spat upon him for good measure. So the moneylender plays a little game with his rival by foregoing the normal interest and instead requiring a pound of Antonio's flesh if the loan is not paid in three months time. Happy to not pay interest and confident that his ships will be returning in plenty of time, Antonio agrees to the terms.

Of course, if Shylock was a villain he would have gone into the bargain with some previous knowledge of Antonio's ships being detained or would have done something to cause a delay. But no, it's pure fate that makes Antonio unable to come up with the cash and Shylock intends to be paid exactly as is stated in their agreement.

Pacino's soft-spoken, hunched over Shylock is a man who has learned to play humble, perhaps at his most acidic when speaking civilly with the merchant, but who is capable of violent proclamation in response to attacks claiming he is being unduly vengeful. Sullivan peppers the production with everyday reminders of the indignities Shylock and his people suffer every day (including a parade featuring a horned Jew puppet), increasing pathos for the character, so that when his own daughter, Jessica (Heather Lind), steals a good hunk of his wealth, converts, and runs off with her Christian lover, Lorenzo (Bill Heck), the actor's rage is frightening and heart-breaking.

But Shylock, no matter how well played, is still a featured role and in Lily Rabe, Sullivan provides a Portia more than worthy of starring status. As the romantically frustrated prize whose deceased father's will demands can only be wed when a suitor of noble birth correctly chooses one of three metal casks, Rabe exudes a hilariously dry wit when ruminating on the flaws of her would-be husbands (though a crack about the Prince of Morocco's skin color has been deleted) and radiates with world-weary, intelligent charm.

Nyambi Nyambi has a marvelously comedic cameo as the pompous Moroccan Prince attempting to win Portia's hand, as does Max Wright as a self-effacing Duke taking his shot. Jesse L. Martin as Bassanio's genial and lusty pal, Gratiano, Marianne Jean-Baptiste as the maid who entices his heart and Jesse Tyler Ferguson, in the clowning role of Shylock's employee, Launcelot, all contribute fine supporting turns to this excellent production.

Photos by Joan Marcus: Top: Al Pacino; Center: Lily Rabe and Marianne Jean-Baptiste; Bottom: Hamish Linklater and Jesse L. Martin.

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