Cate Blanchett is the blondest jaguar ever. She prowled around, poised for attack, and generally acted the shit out of Hedda Gabler and I got to watch it all happen.
This play is so much more convincing on the stage than on the page. Even though I had issues with the music (too generically "dramatic" and functioning more as a way not to be silent than to say something of its own), the idiot girls behind me who giggled throughout the show (?!?), and the way the actors portraying Juliane, Berte, and Ejlert Lovborg went about their business, it was still an amazing show. Because Cate as Hedda ruled, and she was matched by Hugo Weaving as Brack and the woman whose name I cannot remember who played Mrs. Elvsted. Cate made it plausible that a woman like Hedda would marry a man like Tesman, despite her digs at Mrs. Elvsted about propriety and the way she admires how far away Mrs. Elvsted has pushed propriety for love. Her voice was low, almost to the point of pain, and she stood straight and tall without being stiff, and she walked like an arrow, and when she played the flirt, she had a whole new set of behaviors, like gracefully curling fingers and a suddenly pliant waist. Really, an astonishing performance and a real treat.
I've been very lucky with some of the shows I've seen, but I've sat through quite a few painful experiences. New York offers such a variety that it can be hard to pick through them properly.
No, I kid.
The show was, as detailed, amazing and I have a bigger girlcrush than ever on Cate. Do you get out to New York often? Where are you now?