Raji Writes
Sep 24, 20171 min
Satchmo at the Waldorf
John Douglas Thompson
Transformed into the brooding Prince of Denmark.
His father's ghost
Commanding, owning the stage.
The captivating Steven Anthony Jones.
Who then transformed into
Claudius, scheming, nefarious.
He brought a memory of the theatre across the bay
Where another unforgettable apparition
Cackling "When shall we three meet again?"
The most memorable Frances McDormand
Appeared later as Lady Macbeth.
Ophelia, delicate, lively, then unhinged
Laertes, bold, lean, lithe, fiery
Gertrude, airy then torn
Polonius, as Eliot said,
fittingly “full of high sentence, a bit obtuse”
The set, nondescript, warehouse-like, mutable
The costumes contemporary, sharply modern
The King and Polonius in three-piece suits
Gertrude, Ophelia in smart dresses
Laertes in skinny pants
Many beloved lines
Which the audience greets with a titter of recognition
To thine own self be true
Brevity is the soul of wit
To be or not to be…
(at which mercifully the audience was silent, expectant)
Good night sweet prince…
And the line which is forever entwined
With the memory of my mother
From whom I heard Shakespeare’s lines
Before I ever read any:
Sweets for the sweet.
She taught me never to say that
(As many do)
When giving flowers to someone.
Gertrude said it, she explained,
As she laid flowers
On Ophelia's grave.
In my mind, I whispered the words to you (aptly, you would agree)
When I laid the flowers I sent you for Mother's Day
On your body
As you lay in repose
After flights of angels
Came to bear thee singing to thy rest.