I love a good stage review: <g>
dailynews.yahoo.com
Tuesday August 1 7:48 AM ET
Barely a Good Word for Jerry Hall's Mrs. Robinson
By Simon Gardner
LONDON (Reuters) - Texan model Jerry Hall may have dropped her towel to bare all in her stage debut as ``The Graduate's'' seductive Mrs. Robinson, but given her reviews she may do best to throw it in altogether.
For all her acting lessons and voice coaching -- she even cut her trademark blonde mane for her incarnation as the temptress -- she was mauled by Britain's press, who found just one redeeming thing to say about Monday's preview performance: that she was in good shape for a woman of 44.
``Enter Jerry Hall, barely acting'' proclaimed The Times. ''Wooden as a toothpick,'' chimed the Daily Mail, likening her ''amateur dramatic'' range of stage emotion to that of ``a retiring clam.''
The Daily Telegraph was scarcely less damning, describing her as ``stiff without much passion and less than convincing.''
Even the show's main selling point -- the famous fully nude scene that won Kathleen Turner such acclaim in her stint in the role earlier this year -- fell flat as the leggy blonde model was carefully shrouded in shadow.
``Two fried eggs in the gloaming -- that's all I saw,'' complained the Mail's Quentin Letts.
``Voyeurs will have left the Gielgud Theater sorely frustrated,'' he added, harking back to the ``theatrical Viagra'' Hollywood actress Nicole Kidman brought to the London stage in her nude appearance in ``The Blue Room.''
``If you're waiting for a glimpse of Jerry's fine form...wait for next photo shoot for Vogue,'' agreed the tabloid Sun, adding her onstage strip lasted just eight seconds.
Even Hall herself had been unwittingly prophetic in a recent interview.
``I kinda thought I'd missed the boat as an actress, but here I am,'' she told Hello magazine.
However the brutal reviews of Hall -- who is reported to have fought off stiff competition from film stars Sharon Stone and Goldie Hawn for the part -- are unlikely to end there.
The critics will also be out in force for the official premiere Tuesday.
There was some solace for the Texan, if from a predictable quarter, her former husband, Rolling Stone Mick Jagger.
``She looked great and I really enjoyed it. It was fantastic,'' said Jagger, who is still close to Hall and reportedly sat through her debut ``bewitched...as though in a trance.'' |
