Word: comically
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...writers and producers who learned their craft in the 1970s at the MTM factory and created such hits as Mary Tyler Moore and Taxi. Their shows typically revolve around the workplace rather than the family, are filled with intricately crafted one- liners and feature ensemble casts of exaggerated comic types. By the end of its run, the Cheers laughpoints had become so familiar -- Woody's naivete, Carla's surly put-downs, mailman Cliff's out-to-lunch monologues -- that the show seemed almost to write itself...
There is some sentimentality in this, but it is lightly, genially stated. And it is balanced with a sharp comic shrewdness. Reitman has succeeded in recruiting all sorts of prominent people -- ranging from sitting Senators to the McLaughlin Group to Oliver Stone, contributing a paranoid slant on good- heartedness -- to satirize their own and, more important, the media's self- importance. They impart to Dave just the topical edge it requires...
...range of his talents, the temptation would be to compare Keneally to Larry McMurtry, the elegiast of the American suburb and Texas history. Both can go over the top and still keep readers asking "What next?" Especially Keneally, who can play it hot or cool, tragic or comic, without forgetting the basic tricks of the trade. Never show a stick of dynamite that does not go off in a later chapter. Don't discourse on a kangaroo's boxing ability if he isn't going to kick the stuffing out of someone later...
...Breheny is not the only one lacking conviction. The production never engages fully with the play. In the comic scens, instead of cracking Shakespeare,s jokes, the actors parody themselves by sending up the obscure language of the humor. Alfred Divenuti, as the pimp Lucio, gradually surrenders his creative characterization in favor of slapstick hamming. The prostitute Pmopey (Jessica Viertel) decides to make a joke out of her delivery, apparently because she doesn't know how to make the jokes themselves...
...dance both in their home and later in-front of the ball, and in their interplay with the Shakespearean court jester (dressed in the Lampoon's purple, red and yellow), the sisters offer an unexpected element of hilarity to romance and of mockery to ballet's conservatism. While offering comic relief, the cross-gender casting also fits into the old English tradition of en travestie, linking theater to dance. Finally, stylistically, the stage presence of two giant stepsisters dwarf the waif-like Cinderella, played by Jennifer Gelfand, enhancing the sense of her powerlessness. Between the cross-gender roles and cross...