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$59.00 - $159.00
Playing the great Belle Époque actress Sarah Bernhardt, who is herself, preparing to play Hamlet, Janet McTeer proves to be a woman not only for all seasons, but particularly and triumphantly for this one. Theresa Rebeck’s world premiere play, “Bernhardt/Hamlet,” is an investigation of creative genius in female form. The part gives McTeer not only a potentially career-defining star turn, but one that is uncannily tuned in to the current zeitgeist of traditional gender power dynamics that continue to challenge newly empowered women.
Is it chance or synchronicity that brings “Bernhardt/Hamlet,” a muscular comedy about a woman unbound, to Broadway at this grim transitional moment in gender politics? Either way, Theresa Rebeck’s new play, which opened on Tuesday at the American Airlines Theater, is so clever it uplifts, so timely it hurts.
Running alongside all the backstage drama is Bernhardt’s romantic entanglement with the lovesick, creatively tortured Rostand, who against his better judgment gives in to Bernhardt’s request that he trim and rewrite the greatest drama in history. (Both Harner and Dylan Baker, as Bernhardt’s ever loyal co-star, hold their own on this beautifully designed set, no small feat with McTeer.)
Playing the great Belle Époque actress Sarah Bernhardt, who is herself, preparing to play Hamlet, Janet McTeer proves to be a woman not only for all seasons, but particularly and triumphantly for this one. Theresa Rebeck’s world premiere play, “Bernhardt/Hamlet,” is an investigation of creative genius in female form. The part gives McTeer not only a potentially career-defining star turn, but one that is uncannily tuned in to the current zeitgeist of traditional gender power dynamics that continue to challenge newly empowered women.
