Word: protagonists
(lookup in dictionary)
(lookup stats)
Dates: all
Sort By: most recent first
(reverse)
...POINT IN DOLORES CLAIBORNE is its eponymous protagonist tied to a railroad track or strapped down in the path of a rapidly impending train or buzz saw. And a good thing too, for this adaptation of Stephen King's best seller (does he write anything else?) also lacks a hero, or indeed any remotely admirable masculine figure, eager to race to her rescue...
...plot of Gianni Schicchi turns on the engaging protagonist, a wily peasant who thwarts the rapacious Donati, a family of Florentine landowners, in order to provide his daughter and her lover with the money they need to wed. All of the opera's characters are sharply delineated, with a delicate but mordant touch of satire--the greedy relatives (the Donati), the starry-eyed lover (Rinuccio), and the resourceful swindler (Schicchi...
...production really hits its stride with the entrance of the protagonist. Saccente's magnetic presence and strong voice are enough to bring order to the haphazard bumbling of the Donati clan. He is a marvel to watch. Taking care to ensure his delivery is clear and comprehensible, he displays a range of gesture and emotion that transcends the handwaving and mugging of some of the smaller roles. Here, we have comic subtlety of the true buffa coin...
...Floyd's death. But though full and strong in its buildup, the play loses its potency as it reaches its climax. Floyd's death may be plausible, even inevitable, but it becomes tangled in a confusing thicket of mysticism and subplots. Though Floyd is as charming and sympathetic a protagonist as we could want, the surprising truth is that his death has little effect on us. We leave the theater entertained and admiring but not truly moved...
Sexual harassment is a good subject for legal briefs, psychological studies and outraged essays. It is not a natural topic for popular entertainments. Typically (to put it mildly), the protagonist lacks heroic stature, and it is hard to spin a plot of page-turning intricacy from such a crude offense...