Did Anyone Out There See The Christopher Plummer-James Ear Jones Othello?

No I haven't but I love the question.

[quote] I heard they changed roles.

Yes. Othello went active and Iago went passive.

I'd love to see this.

Like two sow hams bumping each other to death in the scalding limelight.

[quote]Jimmy as Iago

There's a parrot in Othello?

Christopher Plummer always looked like a centenarian. Seriously. I saw him in a couple of movies with young Natalie Wood, FFS, and he already looked older than Olivia de Haviland today.

Plummer always looked like a cigar store indian.

"Plummer always looked like a cigar store Indian." That implies he was wooden. I suggest you do a little homework, see his very wide range of work, and then come back to us with your assessemnt.

[quote]Olivia de Haviland today.

I'm dead, dear.

[quote] a scene from the Broadway revival of the play "Othello" (New York)

So this show was a revival?

It wasn't the original production?

"James Ear"?????

It's Jimmy Ear

Oh, Christ, I started this thread and didn't see the typo. Sorry, Jimmy. You're the man

R13 Too late to apologize

You de man, Jimmy!

R15 No

You are not the man, Christopher Plummer is the man.

Op. Tell us more about the production. You have tried the library at Lincoln center i presume. What year was it?

Yes! They both performed Othello at DC's Warner Theater in 1983. I think it was a special matinee only for DMV high school theater department students and teachers to attend. I remember they came out and talked with the students after the show.

I was there R19. Plummer sang Edelweiss and answered questions about The Sound of Music.

They call me "Vincent 'Ear' Van Gogh"!

I saw them at the Morris Mechanic Theater in Baltimore when I was in the tenth grade. Plummer’s gave the best performance-to this day-I have ever seen.

[quote] Plummer’s gave the best performance

—in this recording. With a BRILLIANT soundtrack!

(It's histrionic but it needed to be)

I saw the production on Broadway. Plummer was excellent as Iago. Jones played Othello from the neck up, relying on his voice and doing little else physically. Very disappointing. Dianne Wiest was Desdemona but I don't really remember anything about her performance. One bright spot was Kelsey Grammer as Cassio, before he made a career as Frasier (and then bombed onstage later on as Macbeth).

I saw this on Broadway when I was a senior in high school. It was the first time I saw a production of Shakespeare professionally performed. At the time, I had seen movies with both James Earl Jones and Christopher Plummer, they were the only ones in the cast who I knew.

I agree with the poster above that said JEJ acted from the neck up. But he did have a beautiful voice. And being a naive high school kid, I thought that was how Shakespeare was supposed to be: all very grand speech directed to the back of the house.

I liked Christopher Plummer back then as Iago. But years later, my memory is one of a “twirling his mustache performance.”

I remember hating the Desdemona (played by Dianne Wiest) because she was so whiny. She didn’t seem like a real person at all.

Kelsey Grammer was also in the play, although unknown at the time. He writes a bit about the production. He said there was a moment where he went upstage, leaned against the back wall and slid down to his knees. He was injured in a fight scene by Christopher Plummer and had to leave for a bit and when he came back, Plummer had stolen his sliding down the wall idea. He also said he had to stop a rehearsal because in the fight scene Plummer grabbed him the same way and was going to injure him again.

I remember being really disappointed with the scenery because it was a bunch of curtains that swished around the stage to create different locations. Also, the theater was the Wintergarden, which is huge, and I felt it needed better scenery to fill that theater.

Years later I saw Othello in Central Park with Raul Julia and Christopher Walken. That was really a misdirected production.

[quote] Jones played Othello from the neck up, relying on his voice and doing little else physically

The director advised that a fat man waddling on stage in a difficult play can give rise to unintended hilarity and mirth.

Plummer was awesome as Commodus. Hi

We must be the same age, r25. I saw it as a senior in HS as well. It was the Winter Garden, right? Just before CATS invaded. Unlike you, I honestly didn't know the first thing about Shakespeare at the time, but I felt very sophisticated seeing Shakespeare on Broadway and I remember being very impressed with myself that I could follow what was going on (after the first ten-fifteen minutes or so). And those guys had genuine stage presence, I remember that much. Funnily, I have no memory whatsoever Grammer whatsoever.

How clumsy of me . I meant to accuse you.

[quote] "Plummer always looked like a cigar store Indian." That implies he was wooden.

Christopher Plummer would never compete with Jim Carrey, Jerry Lewis or Mr Bean in being a knockabout, rubber-faced comedian.

[quote] Plummer always looked like a cigar store Indian.