Ethan Hawke in Macbeth
As my birthday present, I had requested that Christian get us tickets to Macbeth at Lincoln Center, since it was starring one of my favorite actors, Ethan Hawke. We succeeded and planned a whole evening in the city for last night.
Contrary to our usual reliance on public transportation, we drove in, since the show ended late and we didn't want to have to wait for the infrequent late-night trains back to New Haven. Funnily enough, we had never driven into NYC from Connecticut, always bypassing to the north across the Tappan Zee when visiting my family in New Jersey. The routes were unfamiliar to me and consequently reminded me of just how claustrophobic and choked some of the thoroughfares going through the city are. While driving along the Henry Hudson Highway, I remarked with amazement that there were huge hunks of ice in the Hudson. Christian shrugged his shoulders -- the Niagara River freezes over all the time. But I told him that in all my years living in NJ, including four years commuting into high school in NYC, I had never, ever seen ice in the Hudson River. Turns out, I'm not bonkers for being amazed: the Hudson hasn't had big ice floes in it since about 1980.
We started off with dinner at Sushi Yasaka. We arrived at 5:30 with a reservation, which was prudent, since the place started filling up quickly as 6 approached. Both of us began with an Akadashi Miso, which is basically a heartier broth in an otherwise typical miso. Then Christian ordered some sweet potato tempura for us to share. This was good, but kind of boring. But I was waiting for our main plates anyway with rapt excitement. I had ordered the regular omakase and was looking forward to the surprise of what I would be served. The waitress explained all the fish and seasoning, and though it all sounded great, I frankly lost track. I got a mix of standard fishes: fatty tuna, salmon, eel, and others, but nothing too unusual. The most "unusual" thing I got was the one I left for last: a fatty squid with a dollop of plum sauce. I was so right to leave it for last, since it was superb in flavor. Christian got the miyabi, which was a similar assortment of sushi, though without any special treatment of sauces or flavors. Both our fish melted in our mouths and was served at good temperatures with appropriately resilient and lightly vinegary rice. I enjoyed the meal immensely, though I was disappointed there were no unusual fish on my plate. When I ordered the omakase, the waitress asked if there was anything I didn't like or whether I had food restrictions. I simply said that I don't like uni (sea urchin) but everything else was good. I wonder whether I should have mentioned that I really, really love ikura (salmon roe) and eagerly eat octopus and squid, because my fish were so standard. That lingering suspicion that I had received the boring gaijin version was stoked when the Japanese woman next to us got served her assorted sushi, which included ikura(!!) and uni (bingo!). Oh well. I still loved the meal and will just simply know for the next time how to order. To drink, we had a nice bottle of sake, followed by some of the complimentary green tea. For dessert we both ordered mille crepes, which actually consisted of numerous layers of thin crepe with a vanilla (mine) or green tea (Christian's) custard, vanilla ice cream, whipped cream and some adzuki beans on top. Frankly, compared to the modesty of the main course, this dessert was huge overkill and we couldn't finish it, even though it was tasty. Overall, I'd recommend the sushi here and definitely want to come back and try something else. 9/10.
As for Macbeth, we almost didn't go because the prices were so high, but surprisingly, we discovered that we still qualified for the "youth" rate (under 35) and got the tickets for only $32 each. I thought that these discount tickets would be way in the back, but amazingly, our tickets (misleadingly labeled 507 and 508) were for the first row at the very end of the semi-circular auditorium. This meant that we could the actors so close up that you could practically reach out and touch them, and see every burst of spittle from their projected diction. In one battle scene, a shield slid across the stage and I thought it would fall into my lap, but it stopped just at the edge of the stage. One of the witches, after he took his bow, even turned around, raised his eyebrows and winked at me while Ethan Hawke and Anne-Marie Duff were lapping up their applause. The seats did have the downside that if actors stood on the other side of the stage and faced outwards, you couldn't hear them that well, but it was a small disadvantage to having all the other thrills.
Overall, the acting was fantastic. Anne-Marie Duff, a British actress, gave Lady Macbeth suitable complexity and strength. Daniel Sunjata imposed as Macduff with a buff body that just emanated strength and nobility -- here was a man whose impervious character, perfect body and deep, resonating voice could eject the usurper from his throne. Richard Easton gave a gloriously regal performance as King Duncan, who projected respectability but also a fatal trust that everyone intended to do good acts. The three withces were all played by men, with sagging fake breasts and tremendous cackles. In a pleasant change, they impersonated many of the minor roles in the play, making their manipulations all the more involved. Since the witches have always been my favorite part of Macbeth, I applauded the greater role given to them, and to the fantastic hair and makeup of the powerful head witch, Hecate. The acting was great all around, except from the man we came to see: Ethan Hawke.
He spoke most of his lines in a modern interpretation, with a casual locution like some regular guy you'd see on TV or the street. Surely, he did this to make the dialogue seem more natural and lived in, but it had two discordant effects. The first is that he rushed through his lines, not even pausing where a pause would be absolutely necessary, just continuing in freeflow like someone yakking on the phone. The second was that he did not match everyone else in the cast, who spoke with a far more traditional Shakespearean locution. Funnily enough, they managed to bring the dialogue to life as natural speech from these people, though from people from the appropriate era, not like modern people speaking these lines. Coupled with this, as well, was Hawke's body language, which had several calculated shakes of the hand or other movements, but did not flow organically as part of the natural movement of a person. Hawke always seemed to be consciously performing, while the rest of the principals seemed like actual people. This discord should have been ironed out by the director, who seems to have failed at taming his actors into an ensemble. He also seems to have failed to grasp Hawke's strengths. Twice during the performance, Macbeth grabs women by the waist and kisses/tries to kiss them while delivering passionate dialogue. This was all wrong. Yes, the dialogue could be interpreted as passionate, but Hawke was so stilted in his delivery: yes, he can be provocatively smirky, romantic, or amorously cruel, but lustful, no, that's just not an emotion that he can convincingly deliver. Hawke also suffered from his own vocal limits. Half his dialogue was delivered in regular volume, the other times he was screaming. There was no happy intermediate loudness: heated discussion equaled viciously angry yelling, which in turn equaled the volume when he yelled for his servants offstage. It was overblown and unpleasant. He improved as the play continued, though that's because Macbeth spends a lot more time justifiably ranting and screaming. I'm rather surprised that Hawke didn't succeed in this role, because with the gaunt face and furrowed brow, but handsome bone structure, he could easily transform from ambitious man to a miserable, hollowed out version of himself. But he didn't deliver, which was key to keeping this performance from being absolutely wonderful.
The staging was pretty wonderful, yet spartan. The background featured large banners, projected images, and monolithic stone walls with slashes of light, which worked especially well in scenes which commanded a sense of wide space, such as Lady Macbeth's sleepwalking, or the march to war. Yet small details worked well, too, such as a bouquet of blood red roses whose petals all fall when Duncan is murdered in the first act (being seated so closed, I could see the tiny metal wires that pushed up out of the stems to release the pinned petals). The only element I didn't especially like were the catwalk and stairs that represented the second floor of the castle: they were lined with tacky metal piping that looked more suited for a 70's disco. I also was baffled by one element of the staging: all the promotional posters featured a pentagram with runes. Being seated so close, I could see that the exact same designed had been etched into the black circular stage. Yet, being all black, I kept expecting them to light it up at some moment to make it more visible, yet from my angle, it never seemed like they did. It just seemed odd to go to all that trouble for something you couldn't see well.
So, overall, I'm happy to have seen Hawke, even if he was disappointing, and the rest of the cast made it into a good performance, though I'm glad we didn't pay full prices. 7/10.
Contrary to our usual reliance on public transportation, we drove in, since the show ended late and we didn't want to have to wait for the infrequent late-night trains back to New Haven. Funnily enough, we had never driven into NYC from Connecticut, always bypassing to the north across the Tappan Zee when visiting my family in New Jersey. The routes were unfamiliar to me and consequently reminded me of just how claustrophobic and choked some of the thoroughfares going through the city are. While driving along the Henry Hudson Highway, I remarked with amazement that there were huge hunks of ice in the Hudson. Christian shrugged his shoulders -- the Niagara River freezes over all the time. But I told him that in all my years living in NJ, including four years commuting into high school in NYC, I had never, ever seen ice in the Hudson River. Turns out, I'm not bonkers for being amazed: the Hudson hasn't had big ice floes in it since about 1980.
We started off with dinner at Sushi Yasaka. We arrived at 5:30 with a reservation, which was prudent, since the place started filling up quickly as 6 approached. Both of us began with an Akadashi Miso, which is basically a heartier broth in an otherwise typical miso. Then Christian ordered some sweet potato tempura for us to share. This was good, but kind of boring. But I was waiting for our main plates anyway with rapt excitement. I had ordered the regular omakase and was looking forward to the surprise of what I would be served. The waitress explained all the fish and seasoning, and though it all sounded great, I frankly lost track. I got a mix of standard fishes: fatty tuna, salmon, eel, and others, but nothing too unusual. The most "unusual" thing I got was the one I left for last: a fatty squid with a dollop of plum sauce. I was so right to leave it for last, since it was superb in flavor. Christian got the miyabi, which was a similar assortment of sushi, though without any special treatment of sauces or flavors. Both our fish melted in our mouths and was served at good temperatures with appropriately resilient and lightly vinegary rice. I enjoyed the meal immensely, though I was disappointed there were no unusual fish on my plate. When I ordered the omakase, the waitress asked if there was anything I didn't like or whether I had food restrictions. I simply said that I don't like uni (sea urchin) but everything else was good. I wonder whether I should have mentioned that I really, really love ikura (salmon roe) and eagerly eat octopus and squid, because my fish were so standard. That lingering suspicion that I had received the boring gaijin version was stoked when the Japanese woman next to us got served her assorted sushi, which included ikura(!!) and uni (bingo!). Oh well. I still loved the meal and will just simply know for the next time how to order. To drink, we had a nice bottle of sake, followed by some of the complimentary green tea. For dessert we both ordered mille crepes, which actually consisted of numerous layers of thin crepe with a vanilla (mine) or green tea (Christian's) custard, vanilla ice cream, whipped cream and some adzuki beans on top. Frankly, compared to the modesty of the main course, this dessert was huge overkill and we couldn't finish it, even though it was tasty. Overall, I'd recommend the sushi here and definitely want to come back and try something else. 9/10.
As for Macbeth, we almost didn't go because the prices were so high, but surprisingly, we discovered that we still qualified for the "youth" rate (under 35) and got the tickets for only $32 each. I thought that these discount tickets would be way in the back, but amazingly, our tickets (misleadingly labeled 507 and 508) were for the first row at the very end of the semi-circular auditorium. This meant that we could the actors so close up that you could practically reach out and touch them, and see every burst of spittle from their projected diction. In one battle scene, a shield slid across the stage and I thought it would fall into my lap, but it stopped just at the edge of the stage. One of the witches, after he took his bow, even turned around, raised his eyebrows and winked at me while Ethan Hawke and Anne-Marie Duff were lapping up their applause. The seats did have the downside that if actors stood on the other side of the stage and faced outwards, you couldn't hear them that well, but it was a small disadvantage to having all the other thrills.
Overall, the acting was fantastic. Anne-Marie Duff, a British actress, gave Lady Macbeth suitable complexity and strength. Daniel Sunjata imposed as Macduff with a buff body that just emanated strength and nobility -- here was a man whose impervious character, perfect body and deep, resonating voice could eject the usurper from his throne. Richard Easton gave a gloriously regal performance as King Duncan, who projected respectability but also a fatal trust that everyone intended to do good acts. The three withces were all played by men, with sagging fake breasts and tremendous cackles. In a pleasant change, they impersonated many of the minor roles in the play, making their manipulations all the more involved. Since the witches have always been my favorite part of Macbeth, I applauded the greater role given to them, and to the fantastic hair and makeup of the powerful head witch, Hecate. The acting was great all around, except from the man we came to see: Ethan Hawke.
He spoke most of his lines in a modern interpretation, with a casual locution like some regular guy you'd see on TV or the street. Surely, he did this to make the dialogue seem more natural and lived in, but it had two discordant effects. The first is that he rushed through his lines, not even pausing where a pause would be absolutely necessary, just continuing in freeflow like someone yakking on the phone. The second was that he did not match everyone else in the cast, who spoke with a far more traditional Shakespearean locution. Funnily enough, they managed to bring the dialogue to life as natural speech from these people, though from people from the appropriate era, not like modern people speaking these lines. Coupled with this, as well, was Hawke's body language, which had several calculated shakes of the hand or other movements, but did not flow organically as part of the natural movement of a person. Hawke always seemed to be consciously performing, while the rest of the principals seemed like actual people. This discord should have been ironed out by the director, who seems to have failed at taming his actors into an ensemble. He also seems to have failed to grasp Hawke's strengths. Twice during the performance, Macbeth grabs women by the waist and kisses/tries to kiss them while delivering passionate dialogue. This was all wrong. Yes, the dialogue could be interpreted as passionate, but Hawke was so stilted in his delivery: yes, he can be provocatively smirky, romantic, or amorously cruel, but lustful, no, that's just not an emotion that he can convincingly deliver. Hawke also suffered from his own vocal limits. Half his dialogue was delivered in regular volume, the other times he was screaming. There was no happy intermediate loudness: heated discussion equaled viciously angry yelling, which in turn equaled the volume when he yelled for his servants offstage. It was overblown and unpleasant. He improved as the play continued, though that's because Macbeth spends a lot more time justifiably ranting and screaming. I'm rather surprised that Hawke didn't succeed in this role, because with the gaunt face and furrowed brow, but handsome bone structure, he could easily transform from ambitious man to a miserable, hollowed out version of himself. But he didn't deliver, which was key to keeping this performance from being absolutely wonderful.
The staging was pretty wonderful, yet spartan. The background featured large banners, projected images, and monolithic stone walls with slashes of light, which worked especially well in scenes which commanded a sense of wide space, such as Lady Macbeth's sleepwalking, or the march to war. Yet small details worked well, too, such as a bouquet of blood red roses whose petals all fall when Duncan is murdered in the first act (being seated so closed, I could see the tiny metal wires that pushed up out of the stems to release the pinned petals). The only element I didn't especially like were the catwalk and stairs that represented the second floor of the castle: they were lined with tacky metal piping that looked more suited for a 70's disco. I also was baffled by one element of the staging: all the promotional posters featured a pentagram with runes. Being seated so close, I could see that the exact same designed had been etched into the black circular stage. Yet, being all black, I kept expecting them to light it up at some moment to make it more visible, yet from my angle, it never seemed like they did. It just seemed odd to go to all that trouble for something you couldn't see well.
So, overall, I'm happy to have seen Hawke, even if he was disappointing, and the rest of the cast made it into a good performance, though I'm glad we didn't pay full prices. 7/10.