Chicago – One of the greatest challenges of any actor is the portrayal of a person in history that is familiar to most of the culture. Orson Welles is such a man, and Jewell Wilson Bridges took on his persona in the new film “Voodoo MacBeth.” He plays Welles as the “Boy Genius” stage director, age 21 in 1936.
Rating: 3.5/5.0
Before the radio notoriety of “War of the Worlds” and the film “Citizen Kane,” there was the stage rendering of “Voodoo MacBeth.” Produced by John Houseman (Daniel Kuhlman) for the Federal Theatre Project as part of a Depression-era “New Deal” government program, it featured an all-black cast in Harlem performing Shakespeare’s MacBeth, including leading Broadway actor Rose McClendon (Inger Tudor). Houseman turned to 21-year-old Orson Welles (Bridges) to bring the production to life, and as director he creates a radical version set in a fictional Caribbean island, using voodoo instead of witchery to drive the famous narrative.
Rating: 3.5/5.0
Before the radio notoriety of “War of the Worlds” and the film “Citizen Kane,” there was the stage rendering of “Voodoo MacBeth.” Produced by John Houseman (Daniel Kuhlman) for the Federal Theatre Project as part of a Depression-era “New Deal” government program, it featured an all-black cast in Harlem performing Shakespeare’s MacBeth, including leading Broadway actor Rose McClendon (Inger Tudor). Houseman turned to 21-year-old Orson Welles (Bridges) to bring the production to life, and as director he creates a radical version set in a fictional Caribbean island, using voodoo instead of witchery to drive the famous narrative.
- 10/25/2022
- by adam@hollywoodchicago.com (Adam Fendelman)
- HollywoodChicago.com
For some theater fans, the 1936 production of the “Voodoo Macbeth” (as it became commonly known) is the stuff of legend. Funded by the Federal Theater Project, which gave financial aid to the struggling theater community during the Great Depression, the “Voodoo Macbeth” starred a cast of black performers in an imaginative new staging of William Shakespeare’s so-called “Scottish Play,” set in Haiti in the early 1800s.
The show was a mammoth success, critically acclaimed and financially successful, and not for nothing, it was one of the more noteworthy early accomplishments of a 20-year-old thespian and director named Orson Welles.
While Welles’s theater days have been the subject of biopics before, with films like “Cradle Will Rock” and “Me and Orson Welles” dramatizing his imaginative stagings, the new film “Voodoo Macbeth” may be the first to properly depict this particular landmark production. It’s attractively filmed and, mostly, solidly performed,...
The show was a mammoth success, critically acclaimed and financially successful, and not for nothing, it was one of the more noteworthy early accomplishments of a 20-year-old thespian and director named Orson Welles.
While Welles’s theater days have been the subject of biopics before, with films like “Cradle Will Rock” and “Me and Orson Welles” dramatizing his imaginative stagings, the new film “Voodoo Macbeth” may be the first to properly depict this particular landmark production. It’s attractively filmed and, mostly, solidly performed,...
- 10/22/2022
- by William Bibbiani
- The Wrap
Exclusive: USC Originals has scored its first theatrical release, in association with Warner Bros., following Lightyear Entertainment’s acquisition of its film, Voodoo Macbeth. The company behind the Oscar-nominated Australian feature Tanna has slated the pic for release across the U.S. and Canada in October.
Based on a true story, Voodoo Macbeth follows a young Orson Welles (Jewell Wilson Bridges) and a group of committed artists as they set out to create what is now considered a landmark event in African-American theater history—the Negro Theatre Unit’s revolutionary 1936 production of Macbeth.
With Fdr’s New Deal providing funding for the Federal Theatre Project, director Rose McClendon (Inger Tudor) convinces co-director John Houseman (Daniel Kuhlman) to help her bring Shakespeare’s Macbeth to the Harlem community at the Lafayette Theater — with an all-Black cast. Well before Citizen Kane and War of the Worlds, they choose for their groundbreaking production...
Based on a true story, Voodoo Macbeth follows a young Orson Welles (Jewell Wilson Bridges) and a group of committed artists as they set out to create what is now considered a landmark event in African-American theater history—the Negro Theatre Unit’s revolutionary 1936 production of Macbeth.
With Fdr’s New Deal providing funding for the Federal Theatre Project, director Rose McClendon (Inger Tudor) convinces co-director John Houseman (Daniel Kuhlman) to help her bring Shakespeare’s Macbeth to the Harlem community at the Lafayette Theater — with an all-Black cast. Well before Citizen Kane and War of the Worlds, they choose for their groundbreaking production...
- 8/9/2022
- by Matt Grobar
- Deadline Film + TV
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