So Denzel Washington is playing Brutus in Shakespeare's Julius Caesar, and he's just fine. His charisma fills the theater, his acting is mostly good, and hey - that's Denzel up there lookin' good. It's okay if he speechifies in a couple of soliloquies, he's really good in conversation, and his star presence transcends his faults. If you can accept the design concept: modern dress played against Roman ruins, it's brilliantly done -- powerful, fantastic in its dramatic moments (set by Ralph Funicello, lighting by Mimi Jordan Sherin, amazing soundscape by Dan Moses Schreier, costumes by Jess Goldstein, special effects by Gregory Meeh).
But the production is greatly flawed, mostly by the inadequate acting of some main characters. Miscast as Julius Caesar is Willaim Sadler (a good actor in the right role) who comes across as a farmer, with no majesty. Calpurnia, Tamara Tunie, is all surface as she sings her lines; Jessica Hecht is a rather coarse Portia. An inarticulate Marc Anthony, Eamonn Walker, is unforgivable. Why cast the merely partially coherent Walker, who sounds like he has a stuffed nose as he overacts and croaks his emotions? He's just awful in the funeral oration: weak, pleading, a bit of simpering - he even moved himself to tears. In Act Two, his acting is barely community-theater level. Colm Feore is strong and clear as Cassius in Act One, but Sullivan allows him to overact later on.
The one who steals the show is Jack Willis as Casca; his twinkling sense of humor gets the only laughs in the play, and his inner life is the clearest. Hooray for Jack for bringing some life into the production. The warfare scene is spectacular, with startling sound, great flashes of light, explosions and smoke. The production is a noble idea undermined by inadequate acting. Denzel deserves better; I hope he'll grace a New York stage again.
