By Denise Locke
I promised you a report on Fortune’s Fool, which I saw last Friday (3/29 -- Stamford).
I haven’t read any reviews of the play, and haven’t visited your chat room, so I
don’t know what the talk there is focused on (acting ability or huge brown eyes,
for instance), or what you or your visitors are most interested in regarding
Frank, but I have to say first that I went to this play only to see him, and
wasn’t very concerned about the play one way or the other.
I had no idea beforehand what the play would be about, but from the title, I
thought it might be a comedy.
It was actually sort of a comedy, and sort of a drama - a dramedy, I guess. It
was only mildly entertaining; very confusing in the beginning, and I would
estimate that it was at least 30-40 minutes before Mr. L. made his entrance. I
was by that time very nervous with anticipation. I was in the front row, about 4
feet from the stage.
I hadn’t really seen too much of Frank except for having seen Dracula 5 or 6
times, becoming ever more mesmerized by him each time I watched it. I had
glimpsed him on tv a few times in recent years, and was disappointed that he
seemed to have added some pounds and replaced all that luxurious flowing black
hair for a very short gray crewcut. So that’s what I was expecting, but I just
had to see him anyway, he has always held such a fascination for me.
So, finally Frank strode onto the stage, and everyone applauded, and he looked
very very good. His hair was back (I think it was his), long and gray. He seemed
not as tall as I expected, but this might be because most everyone in the play
was rather tall. The setting for the play is 19th century Russia, and the
costumes were very interesting. Frank, who played a ‘gentleman neighbor’, was
wearing a long suit jacket, rather flashy, I think it was striped vertically,
and a brocade vest with tan pants. When he was near the front of the stage, he
was about 8 feet from me, and I had the luxury of studying every inch of him,
still not quite believing it was really him there before me in the flesh. He has
the most gorgeous smile, very genuine and he seemed to take genuine delight in
this part he was playing, and he played it to the hilt. He was marvelous, as was
Alan Bates. They made a terrific team and played off each other beautifully.
Both his vest and pants had laced panels in the back, which was kinda cool.
Anyway, when seen up close, Frank’s hair seemed to definitely be growing right
out of his temples, so I was convinced it was his very own. J
I stared at his big beautiful hands, very expressive and always in motion in
keeping with this character he was playing, and his eyes are amazing – still
huge and round and sparkling. He definitely stole the show, in my opinion (but I
admit I was a bit prejudiced), and things were quite dull when he wasn’t
onstage.
The play wasn’t that great, and quite a few people left at intermission.
In the 2nd half, there was another lengthy period of time with no Frank, and
then he came on wearing a denim-colored blue suit jacket, and a different vest.
He looked fabulous in blue. At one point, when he was standing off to the side,
he reached up and unbottoned a couple of the vest buttons, and my tummy did a
little flip! Sigh…..
To my great disappointment though, neither Frank nor anybody else in the cast
ever made eye contact with anyone in the audience, so engrossed and concentrated
were they on each other.
AT the end, they all lined up for their bows, holding hands, and Frank’s smile
really lit up the room, he really looked delighted about the whole thing. He
played a great character, insultingly referred to by Alan Bates as an ‘infamous
fatuous fop’ during an argument, and that’s exactly what he was, and he played
it perfectly, and it was great fun to watch him play this character. He was
actually the villain of the piece, though, and Alan was the sympathetic
character.
I felt really strange on the drive home, and disappointed because I really had
hoped, what with this being a very small intimate theater, that there might be
an autograph-signing opportunity afterwards, but there was nothing, only the
curtain coming down and that was it.
So really it wasn’t that much different from seeing a movie, everyone was still
off limits, out of reach, untouchable, unapproachable, unreachable, you know?
Frustrating.