Jerry Lee Lewis Channels Iago
The first stage production of Catch My Soul, a musical version of Othello, featured Blacula star William Marshall as the Moor and rock-and-roll wild man Jerry Lee Lewis as Iago. Here's a sample of Lewis's Iago:
The relevant lines come from Iago's telling Roderigo that love is "a lust of the blood and a permission of the will" (1.3.329) and from two soliloquies:
I hate the Moor:
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Cassio's a proper man. Let me see now
To get his place and to plume up my will
In double knavery—how, how? Let's see
After some time, to abuse Othello's ears
That he is too familiar with his wife
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The Moor is of a free and open nature,
That thinks men honest that but seem to be so,
And will as tenderly be led by the nose
As asses are.
I ha't. It is engendered. Hell and night
Must bring this monstrous birth to the world's light.
(1.3.368, 374-79, 381-86, my emphasis)
That she loves him, 'tis apt and of great credit.
The Moor . . .
Is of a constant, loving, noble nature,
And I dare think he'll prove to Desdemona
A most dear husband. Now, I do love her too
Not out of absolute lust . . .
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But partly led to diet my revenge,
For that I do suspect the lusty Moor
Hath leaped into my seat . . .
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And nothing can or shall content my soul
Till I am evened with him, wife for wife,
Or failing so, yet that I put the Moor
At least into a jealousy so strong
That judgment cannot cure. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .
Knavery's plain face is never seen till used.
(2.1.273-79, 281-83, 286-90, 299, my emphasis)
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