Photos: Teller’s ‘Tempest’ premiere is ‘pure brilliance’ and Broadway bound; more Shakespeare to come?
If The Bard of Stratford-on-Avon was alive today, he would be making big bucks writing episodes of Kevin Spacey’s “House of Cards” or Las Vegas writer Anthony Zuiker’s various “CSI” series with Laurence Fishburne and Ted Danson.
Shakespeare’s last play, “The Tempest,” was filled with mystery, crime and intrigue, but he also added wizardry and wonder. So when our silent Rio headliner magician Teller decided to produce his vision, you knew that there’d be magic — and what incredible illusions he has created to weave naturally into the story that England’s preeminent dramatist envisioned in the 1600s.
Shakespeare’s works — among them “Macbeth,” “Hamlet,” “A Midsummer Night’s Dream,” “Taming of the Shrew,” “Othello,” “Much Ado About Nothing” and “The Merry Wives of Windsor” — are known throughout the world. The greatest writer in the English language — yes, every one of us had to study him in school — created comedy, history, tragedy and poetry in his works.
Teller read him while at school. Then for 30 years, he literally dreamed of telling the tale of “The Tempest.” Five years ago, the dream started taking shape, and two years ago our Smith Center for the Performing Arts agreed to partner with Harvard’s American Repertory Theater to present Teller’s vision… ( Nice article by Robin Leach for Las Vegas Sun. Be sure to check out the slide shows..)