Toasting Lear: The Young Producer’s Benefit

Photo: Elena Olivo

On the night of January 15, BAM celebrated the opening of Chichester Festival Theatre's lauded production of King Lear at the Harvey Theater, directed by Angus Jackson. The Young Producers, a group of young professionals who make up one of BAM's newest and most forward-thinking patron programs, celebrated as well. And it did so in style: the annual Young Producer's Benefit was a sleek, wine- and food-filled party with the cast and crew.

The night began with a performance of King Lear, starring Tony Award winner and Academy Award nominee Frank Langella as the mad king and disgraced patriarch, one of the most coveted roles in theater. Moments after the actors took their bows, the crowd flooded into the Campbell Lobby for a special post-show reception. The cast and crew joined the celebration, with an English-themed food spread—complete with mini shepherd pies and single servings of fish and chips. In addition, Brooklyn Gin designed a specially themed cocktail for the night, and the lobby was lushly decorated by Bella Meyer and the design team at Fleurs Bella.

In Context: King Lear

Photo: Johan Persson

King Lear runs at the BAM Harvey Theater through February 9. Context is everything, so get even closer to Frank Langella and the rest of the production with this curated selection of articles, videos, and original blog pieces related to the show. For those of you who've already seen it, help us keep the conversation going by telling us what you thought below.

On Langella's Lear

by Brian Scott Lipton

Chu Omambala and Frank Langella. Photo: Johan Persson

It’s long been a truism in theatrical circles that every actor of a certain age considers his career
incomplete until he has played the title role in Shakespeare’s King Lear. Without question, the
Bard’s proud monarch is a banquet for every seasoned thespian to feast on. Now, Tony Award
winner Frank Langella tackles the role.

Similarly, many a great director, from John Houseman to Jonathan Miller, has put his own stamp on Lear. Now, Angus Jackson takes his turn with this classic play. His production arrives at the BAM Harvey Theater on January 7 for a five-week run after a month-long stint at England’s Chichester Festival.

“Angus Jackson’s excellent production becomes the theatrical equivalent of a pressure cooker, scalding in its intensity,” writes Charles Spencer of the Daily Telegraph. “Throughout, the play emerges with clarity and insight as well as dramatic power.”

“It’s a play I always admired, and connected with emotionally, from the first time I saw it with Robert Stephens at the Royal Shakespeare Company when I was a teenager. I even remember the standing ovation,” says Jackson. “Then, a few years ago I did a production of Bingo by Edward Bond at the Young Vic with Patrick Stewart. That play is a bit of a riff on Lear and I did a lot of research on Lear while doing it. It got me thinking about the themes of the play, especially how people abuse their power and then injustice occurs. Plus, I love these dark, epic plays with these very compromised characters whose fortunes keep changing. It’s like a roller-coaster ride.”