Twelfth Night: Act 3, Scene 4 (part 2)

Let's keep plugging away at The Scene That Never Ends! When we last left our heroes, Malvolio was busy making a fool of himself in front of Olivia...

OK, he might be lurking in the background like some sort of third wheel, but Fabian is my Most Valuable Player in this scene. First of all, he's got the great meta-theatrical line: "If this were played upon a stage now, I could condemn it as an improbably fiction." It's basically a giant, knowing wink to the audience that screams "SEE WHAT I DID THERE?"

He also has one of my all-time favorite bad puns: "Is't so saucy?" This never gets as big a laugh in performance as I want it to get. I love an unapologetic bad pun, and Fabian is the master here.

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Twelfth Night: Act 3, Scene 4 (part 1)

OK, so, Act 3 Scene 4 of Twelfth Night  is a monster. It just keeps going on and on and on and all the plots get tangled up in it. So it's going to take me a while to get through it. Bear with me, and let's start with seeing how Malvolio's ill-advised wooing of Olivia goes...

CHECK OUT THAT GLORIOUS TECHNICOLOR ON MALVOLIO'S STOCKINGS. IS THAT ART OR WHAT?

....don't answer that. 

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Twelfth Night: Act 3, Scene 3

OK, we've spent a lot of time with Viola/Cesario, so let's take a quick moment to check in with her totally-not-drowned identical twin brother, who is roaming around. 

YOU'D BETTER TELL HIM AGAIN, ANTONIO. I DON'T THINK HE HEARD YOU.

Seriously, Sebastian is totally leading Antonio on. Poor old Antonio. 

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Twelfth Night: Act 3, Scene 2

THE PLOT SO FAR: Olivia is busy mooning over Cesario, which has upset Sir Andrew, who is only hanging out and drinking with Sir Toby because Sir Toby has convinced him that he can successfully woo Olivia. He can't, because he's an idiot, but nobody wants to tell him this. 

Let's be honest... Sir Andrew is one of those people who would look up if you told the someone had written "gullible" on the ceiling.

Dramatis Personae | 1.1 | 1.2 | 1.3 | 1.4 | 1.5, part 1 | 1.5, part 2 | 1.5, part 3|2.1 | 2.2 | 2.3, part 1 | 2.3, part 2 | 2.4, part 1 | 2.4, part 2 | 2.5, part 1 | 2.5, part 2 | 3.1, part 1 | 3.1, part 2 | 3.2

The Ohio Light Opera 2016 Season in 3 Panels Each

We take a break from our regularly scheduled romp through Twelfth Night for a musical interlude!

OK, OK, I'm a big Shakespeare person. Shakespeare Shakespeare Shakespeare. But honestly, if you excavate the layers of my theatrical soul, the bedrock and very foundation of it is operetta, and nothing fulfills my operetta yearnings quite so much as a week at the Ohio Light Opera. As of tomorrow, all seven of their shows, ranging from operetta to early American musical, will be open, and I will be traipsing down there with my family next week to SEE ALL THE SHOWS. 

"But what shows are these?" I hear you ask. Well.. let me tell you...

Our first show is one that will be familiar to most Shakespeare fans. With lyrics and music by Cole Porter, Kiss Me Kate is a wonderful blend of Shakespearean send-up and back-stage antics. One of my favorite musicals.

SAMPLE SONG: Brush Up Your Shakespeare.

I've never actually seen Annie Get Your Gun (with lyrics and music by the marvelous Irving Berlin) but I know at least half the songs already and can do a terrible Ethel Merman impression whilst singing them.

SAMPLE SONG: Anything You Can Do.

OK, let's get this out of the way: I am a person of Asian extraction who loves Gilbert and Sullivan's The Mikado. Yes, a Victorian comic opera set in Japan is problematic. I see both sides of the issue, but, at the end of the day, I grew up with this music and I love it. Gilbert and Sullivan is in my blood. 

SAMPLE SONG: Brightly Dawns Our Wedding Day.

Have a Heart is one of several collaborations between composer Jerome Kern and lyricist (and general literary wit) P.G. Wodehouse. It debuted in 1917, is hardly ever performed nowadays, and, as far as I can tell, has an incredibly stupid plot typical of this era of musicals.

SAMPLE SONG: Couldn't find one on YouTube, which is a pity. There's a song called Napoleon which sounds wonderfully stupid. 

Ah! Now this one I have seen. La Vie Parisienne, with music by Jacques Offenbach, has (wait for it) an incredibly stupid plot. I've seen it before at least twice (once at the Ohio Light Opera and once on film) and the only thing I remember is that some guy sings about being from Brazil and another guy's coat splits down the back when he bows over.

I have a Sadler's Wells English recording and it has a song with the immortal lyrics "Her petticoats go frou frou frou, her little feet go tok tok tok, her petticoats go frou frou frou frou frou frou frou frou frou frou frou." Which tells you all you need to know about Offenbach, really.

SAMPLE SONG: Votre Habit à Craqué Dans le Dos (Your Coat is Splitting Down the Back). 

This here is classic, self-indulgent, melodramatic light opera plot stuff here. I'm looking forward to it mainly because it's by Welsh songwriter and (later) movie star Ivor Novello, whom you may recall was played with great panache by Jeremy Northam in Gosford Park. I mostly know Novello from his famous World War I song Keep the Home Fires Burning.

SAMPLE SONG: I Can Give You The Starlight.

I have to say, one of my favorite operetta composers is hipster's choice Emmerich Kalman. His Countess Maritza remains one of my favorite operettas of all time. You can always count on Kalman to have a spirited gypsy csardas somewhere in his work. I know absolutely nothing about The Little Dutch Girl except it sounds like such a typical operetta plot and I'm assuming there will be gypsies involved somehow.

SAMPLE SONG: I have no idea! 

And that's the Ohio Light Opera's 2016 season! If you're at OLO, keep an eye out for me and come say hello! I'll be there throughout the symposium week, soaking up all the light opera goodness.

Twelfth Night: Act 3, Scene 1 (part 2)

THE STORY SO FAR: Olivia has fallen in love with Cesario, who is actually Viola dressed as a boy. Viola is in love with Orsino, who is in love with Olivia, who refuses to take "no" for an answer, and everyone is just really confused.

Oh Olivia. You're adorable. 

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Twelfth Night: Act 3, Scene 1 (part 1)

With all the excitement over Malvolio's letter last week, you'd be forgiven for forgetting the "main" plot of Twelfth Night is about this girl dressed as a boy who is wooing a woman who is in love with him/her on behalf of the man who she/he secretly loves.

Got it? 

Poor Sir Andrew just can't win. 

Dramatis Personae | 1.1 | 1.2 | 1.3 | 1.4 | 1.5, part 1 | 1.5, part 2 | 1.5, part 3 |2.1 | 2.2 | 2.3, part 1 | 2.3, part 2 | 2.4, part 1 | 2.4, part 2 | 2.5, part 1 | 2.5, part 2 | 3.1, part 1