Meryl Streep should be the last person to steal the show from Phyllida Lloyd. The director, after all, gave Streep her biggest commercial hit, “Mamma Mia!” and her third Oscar win, for “The Iron Lady.” Regardless, Streep’s dead-on impersonation of Donald Trump at the Public Theater’s June 6 gala went viral just one week before Lloyd’s all-female, Trump-bashing “The Taming of the Shrew” opened Monday at Central Park’s outdoor Delacorte Theater.
Streep delivered a devastatingly funny blowhard, completely with orange makeup, bleach-blond pompadour and beefy bodysuit. The many actresses in male drag in Lloyd’s “Shrew,” on the other hand, appear dwarfed in their two-piece suits and fedoras, all of which look several sizes too big.
Blame the costume designer Mark Thompson? Not completely.
Judy Gold, playing Gremio, offers up a Trump Lite character halfway through the show. She’s mildly amusing. Actually, the best moments of this “Shrew” are when Lloyd dumps Shakespeare and riffs on the presumptive Republican nominee for president.
She has fashioned this battle-of-the-sexes comedy around a contemporary beauty contest in Padua, Italy, hosted and produced by a man who uses the words “huge” and “amazing” a lot.
Gayle Rankin turns Bianca into a Southern beauty queen, with Cush Jumbo playing the also-ran sister Kate, who’s tired of being upstaged. Rankin charms in a legally blonde sort of way. Jumbo proves that she’s no more adept at comedy than drama, having made a dull Broadway debut two seasons ago in “The River.” At least she does convince us she’s female, although a very loud and coarse one – and not in the ways the shrew needs to be played.
But back to the women in drag. Streep scored as Trump because she took his macho affectations and made them even bigger than life. No small feat.
Because men are physically larger than women, it’s easy to get laughs when they wear dresses, jewelry, feather boas, and much make-up. When women do drag, there aren’t any of those flamboyant accessories and the clothes are boring.
Worse, what you get is a lot of small men on stage. It’s just not very funny, and Lloyd doesn’t push the machismo enough to be parody, unlike Streep.
Janet McTeer delivers an adequate Petrochio, the man who turns Kate from shrew to lady. McTeer takes all those over-the-top male traits and tries to make a character out of them: She leers, belches, wags her tongue, scratches a lot. Later, she vomits beer and pees on stage, her back discreetly turned to the audience. After her Petrocchio rapes Kate on their wedding night, I fully expected her to emerge from the trainer dangling a big dildo between her legs. Alas, Lloyd doesn’t go there. It’s Central Park, after all. How much better it would be to have a man in the role, someone like Christian Borle, who gave us this same rock-star performance in his recent run in “Something Rotten”?
With women impersonating men, Lloyd means to say that while the play has the word “shrew” in the title it’s populated with a bunch of total pricks. The men are the ones who’ve made Kate bad. This take is interesting for about five minutes. In performance, it turns dull fast.
All 14 Tony Awards Musical Performances (Videos)
"Hamilton" Greets James Corden
To kick off the show, the cast of "Hamilton" parodies its own opening number to introduce James Corden as the Tony host. "It needs a trouble-maker, a mover and a shaker. It needs that chubby dude from 'Into the Woods' who played the Baker." Classic!
Opening Number
James Corden takes a typically self-deprecating approach to his own opening number: He reimagines his boyhood self dreaming of being on the stage -- and quick-changing through classic roles from the Phantom to the Lion King to Maria in "The Sound of Music."
"She Loves Me"
Jane Krakowski does an impressive split. Zachary Levi stumbles a bit on a not quite note-perfect rendition of the title song. But Laura Benanti belts the heck out of "Vanilla Ice Cream."
"The Color Purple"
"I'm beautiful and I'm here," declares Cynthia Erivo at the end of this medley from the Tony-winning revival. Yes, she is. And it's no wonder she snatched one of the few non-"Hamilton" Tonys.
"The Fiddler on the Roof"
Danny Burstein leads the ensemble in the staple "Sunrise, Sunset" before the energetic chorus kicks up (and squats down for) some athletic dancing.
"School of Rock"
Despite the high energy, this wasn't the strongest number from the youthful show, which is an adaptation of the big-screen comedy with an unlikely pedigree -- music by Andrew Lloyd Webber, book by "Downton Abbey" writer Julian Fellowes.
"Bright Star"
Steve Martin and Edie Brickell introduce the rousing bluegrass anthem "If You Knew My Story" from their own new musical.
"Spring Awakening"
Deaf Theater West's groundbreaking revival, which has sadly closed, cleverly combined sign language and choreography to powerful effect. Plus, you can spot "Glee Project" contestant Ali Stroker as well as "Smash" alums Krysta Rodriguez and Andy Mientus.
"Shuffle Along"
Audra McDonald, tragically snubbed for a nomination this year, hoofs up a storm. The number also showcases Savion Glover's choreography -- which was similarly passed over by Tony voters in the "Hamilton" near-sweep.
"On Your Feet"
Gloria Estefan duets with her onstage alter ego, Ana Villafane -- even though the show didn't manage to land a Best Musical nomination. Best part: Lin-Manuel Miranda conga-ing with two of the pint-size cast members.
"Chicago"
Bebe Neuwirth sings just a few bars of "All That Jazz" to celebrate the 20th anniversary of the hit revival that won her a Tony in 1997.
"Hamilton"
Lin-Manuel Miranda & Co. did not throw away their shot.
"Waitress"
Tony winner Jessie Mueller & Co. sing a bit of the opening number and then cede the stage to their composer, Sara Bareilles, for the big 11 o'clock ballad -- who then hands it back to Mueller.
"Hamilton" Pt. 2
OK, so the trio is a little pitchy in this rendition of "The Schuyler Sisters," which closed the Tony broadcast. But the sentiment was spot-on: History is happening, in the greatest city in the world.
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The cast of “Hamilton” makes three appearances — plus cameos from Sara Bareilles and Gloria Estefan
"Hamilton" Greets James Corden
To kick off the show, the cast of "Hamilton" parodies its own opening number to introduce James Corden as the Tony host. "It needs a trouble-maker, a mover and a shaker. It needs that chubby dude from 'Into the Woods' who played the Baker." Classic!
Robert Hofler, TheWrap's lead theater critic, has worked as an editor at Life, Us Weekly and Variety. His books include "The Man Who Invented Rock Hudson," "Party Animals," and "Sexplosion: From Andy Warhol to A Clockwork Orange, How a Generation of Pop Rebels Broke All the Taboos." His latest book, "Money, Murder, and Dominick Dunne," is now in paperback.
