Review Roundup: CYMBELINE Opens at Shakespeare in the Park

The Public Theater presents Cymbeline, the second show of The Public's Free Shakespeare in the Park season at the Delacorte. Directed by Tony Award winner Daniel Sullivan and starring Hamish Linklater as Posthumus Leonatus/Cloten and Lily Rabe as Imogen, Cymbeline runs through Sunday, August 23, with an official press opening tonight, August 10.

Also in the cast are Teagle F. Bougere (Caius Lucius, Cornelius); Kate Burton (Queen, Belarius); Raúl Esparza (Iachimo); David Furr (Guidarius, First Lord); Jacob Ming-Trent (Aviragus, First Gentleman); Patrick Page (Cymbeline); and Steven Skybell (Pisanio, Gaoler, Frenchman).

CYMBELINE features scenic design by Riccardo Hernandez, costume design by David Zinn, lighting design by David Lander, sound design by Acme Sound Partners, original music by Tom Kitt, and choreography by Mimi Lieber.

A Shakespearean fairytale, Cymbeline is the story of Princess Imogen's fidelity that is put to the royal test when her disapproving father banishes her soul mate. Cross-dressing girls and cross-dressing boys, poisons and swordfights and dastardly villains all take the stage in this enchanting romp about the conquering power of love.

Let's see what the critics had to say...

Charles Isherwood, The New York Times: Daniel Sullivan, the reliably fine director whose Shakespeare productions here usually have avoided self-conscious concepts, has almost made a U-turn with this disappointing staging...Here, the emphasis is somewhat deflatingly on the artifice in "Cymbeline." We are encouraged to recognize that we are watching a troupe of actors in performance, presenting a fictional tale...The trouble is, when the play's strange marvels are presented inside a heavy theatrical frame, they lose some of their wonder. The appeal of Shakespeare's romances lies in recognizing how extravagantly life can go wrong and yet be righted, and when we don't feel the real pulse of life in the drama, the romance seeps out of the romance, and the emotional currents evaporate. That's more or less the case here, despite the valiant and sometimes rewarding work of the performers, a first-class bunch...Ms. Rabe and Mr. Linklater...acquit themselves with their usual polished professionalism. Both are impeccable Shakespeareans in verse speaking and lucidity of expression.

Frank Scheck, The Hollywood Reporter: ...director Sullivan has essentially taken a "throw everything at the wall and see what sticks approach," in which the tone veers wildly between broad slapstick and tearful tragedy...The performers work very hard to put it all over, and for the most part they succeed. Linklater and Rabe...demonstrate an undeniable chemistry which may eventually earn them Lunt and Fontanne status. The booming-voiced Page makes a commanding Cymbeline; Burton effectively inhabits her disparate dual roles, even if her evil queen seems a little too Disneyish; Esparza is memorably creepy and slinky as the villain...But by the time the lengthy evening concludes...you're likely to feel thoroughly exhausted. The play's happy ending has never felt so hard-earned.

Elysa Gardner, USA Today: The result is a sometimes uneven mix of bawdy humor, brooding melodrama and tender, whimsical romance. The excellent cast, under the robust direction of Daniel Sullivan...ensures that the individual elements are at least played supply...Patrick Page, with his resonant bass-baritone and hearty wit, is ideally cast as the king...The marvelous Kate Burton makes a delectably catty queen...Rabe, who also gets to pose as a guy (albeit a younger one) as part of the plot, brings her usual sly, sultry intelligence and patrician grace to Imogen. Theater fans get an added treat in the return of Raúl Esparza, who as Iachimo enters with a hilarious lounge-lizard production number and proceeds to be wicked and touching in equal measure. As a showcase for the talents and range of these players, Cymbeline is, even at three hours long, an enjoyable ride.

Linda Winer, Newsday: The Public Theater's modern-dress production, directed with wit and unexpected substance by Daniel Sullivan, has nine terrific actors switching around 24 sober and silly characters. The style has more than a dash of Lewis Carroll and, with actors generally sitting on chairs facing the stage when not performing, there is a let's-pretend attitude that never loses touch with the need to keep emotions real...Raúl Esparza is a sleazoid joy ride as Iachimo, the Italian scoundrel who, in this vision, is also a kind of Sinatra smoothie in Rome, which is now a casino town. Patrick Page doubles as the basso-profundo Cymbeline, King of Britain, and a Roman thug with a godfather huskiness. Kate Burton is a hoot as the evil second wife of the king, a harridan with henna hair belying the wicked elegance of her gown...Then there are Rabe and Linklater, both with long, expressive faces and long bones that can suggest elegance and lyricism, but also endearing awkwardness...Linklater plays both fellows, back and forth -- Posthumus, poetic and full of trusting ardor, then Cloten, a grandiose goofball and mouth-breather. Rabe's Imogen is innocent and statuesque, but drops the ladylike exterior to growl like a trucker when challenged.

Jeremy Gerard, Deadline: One of Shakespeare's least loved plays, Cymbeline is sort of the True Detective Season 2 of the canon: not as good as what came before, too convoluted to sort out and too dense to follow; increasingly preposterous as the story unfolds, and yet. And yet. A production as wonderful as the one that director Daniel Sullivan has assembled for the Delacorte Theatre in Central Park challenges us to suspend overthinking and simply to luxuriate in the charms of an off-center romantic comedy whose twin triumphs of love and forgiveness override logic, and to just enjoy the damned picnic...And there are eight seriously terrific performances from four actors who effortlessly, almost dreamily, evoke highlights from my own four decades of Delacorteship...Page and Burton bring maturity without pompousness; they seem to be having a great time. Add to that the sexy chemistry between Rabe and Linklater...and the seamless interweaving of Kitt's music to enhance some of the script's most poetic passages, and you have one very fine night in the Central Park.

Robert Kahn, NBC New York: Daffier than those of other period romances, its complex plot is kept comprehensible thanks to a sure-footed cast that includes Lily Rabe and Hamish Linklater as the put-upon lovers Imogen and Posthumus...The two share an on-stage chemistry that's clearly informed by their offstage relationship...Rabe's Imogen, here, is endearing...Linklater...is well-suited as Imogen's leading man...Linklater manages to locate Cloten's buffoonish core, in the same way he keeps Posthumus full of virtue and swagger...As the patriotic Cymbeline, Page...seems regal, without pushing himself into histrionics, and even manages something like humility as the convoluted plot begins to wrap up at the end of the second act...With a permanent sneer and her red hair formed into a disconcerting triangle, Burton seems a ringer for "Bloody" Mary...Broadway vet Esparza is the best thing about "Cymbeline," as the villain...Iachimo seems here to represent decadent Italian fun, which explains why Esparza is dressed as if he'd just walked out of a Rat Pack movie.

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Photo Credit: Carol Rosegg

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