{"id":247610,"date":"2014-08-15T00:00:00","date_gmt":"2014-08-15T07:00:00","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/sdnews.com\/no-veneer-on-this-old-age\/"},"modified":"2014-08-15T00:00:00","modified_gmt":"2014-08-15T07:00:00","slug":"no-veneer-on-this-old-age","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/test.sdnews.com\/es\/no-veneer-on-this-old-age\/","title":{"rendered":"No veneer on this old age"},"content":{"rendered":"

Charlene Baldridge |\u00a0Uptown News<\/p>\n

This writer went home from the Old Globe\u2019s production of Sir Ronald Harwood\u2019s \u201cQuartet<\/a>\u201d wishing several things, among them that she were a just a \u201cregular\u201d theatregoer approximately 60 to 65 years of age; that she had never been upon a stage; that it did not pain her so to watch real actors whose median age is 70 perform in a play about old people who have trod the boards in grand opera and are now living in straitened circumstances in a Kent assisted living home for former musicians. The pain is equal to that of watching younger actors act old. \u201cQuartet\u201d is 1999 play that became a 2012 film directed by Dustin Hoffman.<\/p>\n

\"(l<\/a>
(l to r) Roger Forbes as Wilfred Bond and Robert Foxworth as Reginald Paget in Ronald Harwood’s Quartet (Photo by Jim Cox)<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

Straitened as their circumstances may be, three once famous opera stars \u2014 baritone Wilfred Bond, tenor Reginald Paget and contralto Cecily Robson \u2014 have lavishly decorated the sitting room they claim as their own. Now they\u2019re joined by soprano Jean Horton, who shared their glory days and who sang with them on a newly reissued recording of Giuseppe Verdi\u2019s \u201cRigoletto.\u201d<\/p>\n

Giuseppe Verdi\u2019s birthday is just around the corner, and Harwood\u2019s play consists of the three trying to convince the one that they must perform the quartet from \u201cRigoletto\u201d as the climax of the impending celebration. Many factors complicate the performance of this challenging quartet, including the fact that the pedantic Reggie (Robert Foxworth, the dastardly Duke of Mantua) and the downcast Jean (Elizabeth Franz, Gilda on the recording) were briefly married. She attempts to be civil, to apologize.<\/p>\n

\"(l<\/a>
(l to r) Elizabeth Franz as Jean Horton and Jill Tanner as Cecily Robson
(Foto por Jim Cox)<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

\u201cWe were different people then,\u201d she says of their nine-hour, unconsummated marriage, which ended in divorce. Reggie, who never got over her, still loves her and so treats her with immense disdain.<\/p>\n

\"(l<\/a>
(l to r) Elizabeth Franz as Jean Horton and Robert Foxworth as Reginald Paget
(Foto por Jim Cox)<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

Word has it that Wilfred (Roger Forbes, Rigoletto in the quartet) was unfaithful during his marriage of 34 years. He is an absolutely lecherous old coot and begins the play by telling Cecily (Jill Tanner, the slutty Maddelena of the quartet) how luscious her tits are. The truth is that Cecily was more disappointed than round-heeled in her search for love.<\/p>\n

Jean cannot believe that her grandiose and glamorous life, which she reportedly abdicated in favor of marriage and motherhood, is ending this way. \u201cI was somebody once,\u201d she says. \u201cI thought I was somebody now,\u201d says Cecily.<\/p>\n

Eventually, the original three, who have long outlawed what they call self-pity parties, bring Jean the love, acceptance and affection that she needs in order to move on.<\/p>\n

The treacherous script, written by Harwood, now nearing 80, who is responsible for the screenplays of \u201cThe Dresser\u201d and \u201cThe Pianist\u201d (for which he received an Oscar) among many others, could easily fall into a morass of treacle. Thanks to Old Globe director Richard Seer and the skills of his septuagenarian company, it does not. Some of the actors are more infirm than others physically and vocally. To them, medals of valor, and to the others, sincere affection for holding it all together moment by moment.\"SDUN<\/a><\/p>\n

Do the four actors truly sing the tricky quartet? Come to the Globe to find out.<\/p>\n

Old Globe Associate Artist Ralph Funicello creates the glorious salon; Charlotte Devaux, the costumes; York Kennedy, the lighting; and Christopher R. Walker, the Chopin-infused sound design.<\/p>","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Charlene Baldridge |\u00a0Uptown News<\/p>","protected":false},"author":731,"featured_media":247611,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_seopress_robots_primary_cat":"11555","_seopress_titles_title":"No veneer on this old age","_seopress_titles_desc":"","_seopress_robots_index":"","jnews-multi-image_gallery":[],"jnews_single_post":[],"jnews_primary_category":[],"jnews_social_meta":[],"jnews_override_counter":[],"footnotes":""},"categories":[11549,11551,11550,11555],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-247610","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-arts-entertainment","category-news","category-top-stories","category-uptown-news"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/test.sdnews.com\/es\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/247610","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/test.sdnews.com\/es\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/test.sdnews.com\/es\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/test.sdnews.com\/es\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/731"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/test.sdnews.com\/es\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=247610"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/test.sdnews.com\/es\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/247610\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/test.sdnews.com\/es\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/247611"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/test.sdnews.com\/es\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=247610"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/test.sdnews.com\/es\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=247610"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/test.sdnews.com\/es\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=247610"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}