Wednesday, May 4, 2011

BRIAN BEDFORD-ANOTHER TONY NOMINATION

Congratulations to Brian Bedford: Tony nominated -- as Lady Bracknell -- for the fifth time in five Broadway appearances over the last eighteen years He'd already won for Jumpers in 1974, School for Wives, 1971, and The Misanthrope, 1968 -- the last two having opened in Ann Arbor with the APA (Phoenix) Company before New York. He's also won several Drama Desk awards for other performances. Because of his frequent visits to this town in the sixties and seventies with APA, and our proximity to his Stratford (Ontario) base, we've seen him on stage more than any other great actor.

His comic appearances, in Moliere plays, as Dogberry in Much Ado, as Elyot in Private Lives (ones I've seen) make him one of the best comic stage actors of our time. His understated approach magnifies his gifts; he has an almost supernatural ability to use long silences to brilliant effect and uproarious laughter. In The Moliere Comedies at Stratford he took his curtain call in full period costume and bowed with a great arcing swipe of his feathered hat then stood straight and stared unsmiling at the full house for an almost unbearable time, eventually provoking giggles, and then, just when you could stand it no longer, he raised an eyebrow and brought down the house.

He'll be back at Stratford this summer in The Misanthrope.

Thanks, Brian Bedford. I hope to see you again soon.