THE BIRTH OF SHYLOCK AND THE DEATH OF ZERO MOSTEL

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THE BIRTH OF SHYLOCK AND THE DEATH OF ZERO MOSTEL

Name: THE BIRTH OF SHYLOCK AND THE DEATH OF ZERO MOSTEL
Author: Arnold Wesker
ISBN: 0-88064-238-6

by Arnold Wesker ‧ RELEASE DATE: May 1, 1999

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A passionate, peppery backstage diary of a play’s lifespan, from inception to its star’s death and its own demise on Broadway, by the contentious playwright of Chips with Everything. In 1974, after seeing Lawrence Olivier’s oy-vey performance in The Merchant of Venice, Wesker decided to rewrite Shakespeare from a pro-Semitic perspective: a cultured, religious Shylock, a bosom friend of the weary Venetian merchant Antonio, who enters into a contract only because of the city law’s requirements, but who agrees with Shylock’s scheme to make it into “a nonsense bond—to mock the law” by having a pound of flesh as security. Wesker was unable to get the play produced in London, where his recent track record was spotty and his relations with several theaters disaffected. In a stroke of amazing fortune, New York Broadway producers, the Shuberts, offered to back his Merchant thanks to the interest of a bankable star—the great comedian Zero Mostel. Wesker was also thankful to get his friend John Dexter, who was then based in New York, to direct. Unfortunately, behind the scenes things fall predictably apart as Wesker and Dexter fight over cuts, American actors rankle under British stage tradition, and Mostel overwhelms Wesker’s text in an exuberant performance that would be cut short after one night by a heart aneurysm. Wesker airs grievances against his play’s fate with the publication of this diary, with its score-settling footnotes. Also, for a book that will appeal mostly to those passionately interested in the stage, Wesker’s habit of footnoting the obvious, whether famous figures such as Lindsay Anderson and Robert Bolt or explanations of blocking and notes, is as distracting as someone coughing after the curtain goes up. Although Wesker is a prickly impresario, his vivid, often obsessive record brings to life backstage drama, theater politics, and, finally, tragedy.

Pub Date: May 1, 1999

ISBN: 0-88064-238-6

Page Count: 400

Publisher: N/A

Review Posted Online: May 19, 2010

Kirkus Reviews Issue: May 1, 1999

Categories:

GENERAL NONFICTION

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NUTCRACKER

by E.T.A. Hoffmann ‧ RELEASE DATE: Oct. 28, 1996

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This is not the Nutcracker sweet, as passed on by Tchaikovsky and Marius Petipa. No, this is the original Hoffmann tale of 1816, in which the froth of Christmas revelry occasionally parts to let the dark underside of childhood fantasies and fears peek through. The boundaries between dream and reality fade, just as Godfather Drosselmeier, the Nutcracker's creator, is seen as alternately sinister and jolly. And Italian artist Roberto Innocenti gives an errily realistic air to Marie's dreams, in richly detailed illustrations touched by a mysterious light. A beautiful version of this classic tale, which will captivate adults and children alike. (Nutcracker; $35.00; Oct. 28, 1996; 136 pp.; 0-15-100227-4)

Pub Date: Oct. 28, 1996

ISBN: 0-15-100227-4

Page Count: 136

Publisher: Harcourt

Review Posted Online: May 19, 2010

Kirkus Reviews Issue: Aug. 15, 1996

Categories:

GENERAL NONFICTION

- BOOK REVIEW
THE NUTCRACKER AND THE MOUSE KING
by E.T.A. Hoffmann ; adapted by Natalie Andrewson ; illustrated by Natalie Andrewson

- BOOK REVIEW
THE NUTCRACKER
by E.T.A. Hoffmann & illustrated by Julie Paschkis

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TO THE ONE I LOVE THE BEST

EPISODES FROM THE LIFE OF LADY MENDL (ELSIE DE WOLFE)

by Ludwig Bemelmans ‧ RELEASE DATE: Feb. 23, 1955

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An extravaganza in Bemelmans' inimitable vein, but written almost dead pan, with sly, amusing, sometimes biting undertones, breaking through. For Bemelmans was "the man who came to cocktails". And his hostess was Lady Mendl (Elsie de Wolfe), arbiter of American decorating taste over a generation. Lady Mendl was an incredible person,- self-made in proper American tradition on the one hand, for she had been haunted by the poverty of her childhood, and the years of struggle up from its ugliness,- until she became synonymous with the exotic, exquisite, worshipper at beauty's whrine. Bemelmans draws a portrait in extremes, through apt descriptions, through hilarious anecdote, through surprisingly sympathetic and understanding bits of appreciation. The scene shifts from Hollywood to the home she loved the best in Versailles. One meets in passing a vast roster of famous figures of the international and artistic set. And always one feels Bemelmans, slightly offstage, observing, recording, commenting, illustrated.