| SF Chronicle review of "Galileo" with Esparza | |
| Posted by: Delvino 10:58 am EDT 05/17/24 | |
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| "Surely, you think, somewhere in its three hours, 'Galileo: A Rock Musical' must proffer some insight, nuance or surprise in its account of the astronomer. But Berkeley Repertory Theatre’s world premiere, which opened Wednesday, May 15, has all the narrative verve of a rotely recited liturgy, seeing storytelling signposts it must hit and trudging toward them... Accordingly, Galileo’s daughter Virginia (Madalynn Mathews) has to be a budding scientist in her own right, but she must also have marriage prospects that her father’s discoveries threaten. The same custom dictates that Bishop Maffeo Barberini (Jeremy Kushnier) be a flawless human, friend to our hero (four-time Tony Award nominee Raúl Esparza) and, eventually, pope until his signature betrayal. "That betrayal, and the dilemma between Galileo’s own sincere faith and what his eyes as an empiricist tell him, would seem to afford plenty of opportunity for shading and depth. But the show, which has a book by Danny Strong, delays reckoning till it’s nearly over and even then barely nicks the surface. Barberini about-faces like it’s another pro-forma bit of papal bureaucracy. Curiously, Virginia sings the lead before Galileo finally decides whether to recant his teachings, and Michael Weiner and Zoe Sarnak’s lyrics — “Is it worth it? When does the truth cost too much?” — stay abstract and trite." and then, in summation: "But the show gives so much air time to vague religiosity that you might start to feel like it’s asking you if you have a moment to discuss our lord and savior. It grasps toward contemporary relevance — the way Galileo’s discoveries get dismissed as fake news, the way his pupils look around as if to say, “Can we report this to the authorities?” — but it winds up sounding like the shadow of any other debate between science and religion. In an unfortunate irony, history’s champion of new ideas is boxed into storytelling formula and cliche." |
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| Link | Review: Berkeley Rep’s ‘Galileo’ has problems with its art, not its science |
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