In 1998 \Shakespeare in Love"" was awarded Oscars for Best Picture, Best Actress and Best Supporting Actress. Its blend of history, clever humor and life in the theater was enough to surprise audiences by taking the Best Picture award from ""Saving Private Ryan."" It seemed as if ""Shakespeare"" required a knockoff, and it was only a matter of time before a film came along that tried to match it. ""Stage Beauty"" is that knock-off.
That's not to demean it, as ""Beauty"" manages to balance many of the same elements its predecessor juggled, only not quite as fluidly. Where ""Shakespeare's"" wit complemented its pace, ""Beauty's"" humor is just behind its sometimes-rushed transitions. Also, the performances that made ""Shakespeare"" great are instead pretty good in ""Beauty."" The leading lady of ""Shakespeare,"" Gwyneth Paltrow, won an Oscar for Best Actress, but it doesn't look like Claire Danes, the woman at ""Stage Beauty's"" helm, is destined for the same.
Danes stars as Maria, a woman who toils behind the scenes of the theater in the 1660s. She runs errands for the actors who play all the women's roles and envies every man who portrays classic female characters like Desdemona or Goneril. While toiling for Edward Kynaston (Billy Crudup), the most popular actor in England, she runs off to a tavern to take the stage for herself.
Because the tavern is an unlicensed theater, Maria gets around the law that bars women from the stage. She fills the seats and appeals to King Charles II (Rupert Everett) so completely that he strikes down the decree. Kynaston, who has only played women for his entire career, is suddenly out of a job and descends into the bawdiest corners of the English stage. Maria, sensing that she sent him into his downward spiral, takes it upon herself to revive his career and make a man out of him.
""Stage Beauty"" winds up in dramatic fashion, but takes plenty of time getting there. The first quarter of the movie is hardest to follow. There is little time spent on exposition or setting, throwing viewers into seventeenth-century England with little explanation. It initially sets up the conflict as Crudup acting in opposition to Danes instead of acting with her. Unfortunately, that drags down the film in its later scenes.
Crudup, for an arrogant and then devastated man, never has the part down pat. He is only adequate as both a woman and a man. His performance as Desdemona is deliberately light, and he offers little to alleviate the featherweight feeling when he takes off the make-up. When he is humbled into masculinity, his transition is too quick and violent, ignoring the subtleties of both roles.
Danes, on the other hand, is steady and powerful throughout. As Maria she has depth, as Desdemona she has gravity. Despite her wide-eyed gaze, there's plenty of time for introspection in her character. What she lacks is the occasional moment of finesse that Paltrow featured in ""Shakespeare in Love.""
Throughout most of ""Stage Beauty"" the actors are being someone they are not. The film follows suit, offering a little less than ""Shakespeare in Love"" without enough of its own energy to carry it through. Though it is impressive and dramatic for much of its running time, it's also the knockoff that was a long time coming.
