This musical by Stephen Flaherty, Lynn Arehns and Terrence McNally, which
debuted on Broadway in 1998 after lengthy pre-Broadway runs in Toronto and
Los Angeles, was the last great new musical written in the twentieth
century. It viewed the century and its glorious potential from the
perspective of the beginning with all the hopes, optimism and challenges
that were apparent at the turn of the century.
Professional productions have been tremendously satisfying and now amateur
companies are taking a crack at this challenging, sprawling piece. Some
succeed more than others, of course. This production has some nice
performances and features but it is dominated more by its shortcomings than
its successes.
Storyline: Based on E. L. Doctorow’s novel which threaded fictional
characters and historical figures into a portrait of three interlocking
worlds that existed within miles of each other in the New York City of 1906,
the musical focuses on a black piano player who suffers mindless injustice,
a Jewish immigrant who rises to success in the new world, and a white upper
class family whose fates are intertwined with both of them. Through it all,
the figures of Henry Ford, J. P. Morgan, Booker T. Washington, the starlet
Evelyn Nesbit and the escapist Houdini give a sense of time and historic
import to the piece.
This is a musical that
touches the heart on many levels. The score of composer Stephen Flaherty and
lyricist Lynn Ahrens is so full of gorgeous, emotional anthems that it would
overload a less emotionally charged and narratively rich book. But they are
the perfect match for Terrence McNally’s huge adaptation of Doctorow’s
novel. A tremendous amount of the story is told through the songs rather
than in dialogue between musical numbers. Ahrens’ ability to encapsulate a
plot point in a very few words is astonishing. The true story of the
shooting of Stanford White by Harry K. Thaw, “the crime of the century,”
takes exactly 25 words: “Then I went and married Harry Thaw. Eccentric
millionaire. Oh! Oh! Harry’s a jealous man. Bang! Bang! That was the end of
Stan. Boo hoo!” Ahrens ability to capture the essence of emotions is
beautifully matched by Flaherty’s music which rocks gently to true ragtime,
soars nearly effortlessly to emotional crescendos and lifts the spirit at
key moments.
Among the most satisfying performances in the
large cast (25 named characters plus an ensemble) are Sara Charbonneau
in the role of "Mother," Zack Phillips as her young son who acts as narrator
and foreshadower of events ("something horrible is going to happen, an
explosion, people are going to die"), Bruce G. Pope as the immigrant
father and Beth Cooney as the real-life Evelyn Nesbit ("The Girl on the
Swing" over whom Thaw shot White). Charbonneau sings the central role very
well and gives the character more edge than is frequently the case.
Pope sings acceptably but his acting is the source of his success as he wins
first the audience's sympathy and then its affection.
Director Rachelle A. Horn needs a larger
company from which to cast the piece, however. The middle class and the
immigrant roles populated by white performers are filled in sufficient numbers
and frequently sufficient skill, but the black third of the roles are thinly
filled both in terms of numbers and in terms of skills. The central role of
the black piano player is sung with some passion but not always on key,
especially in the edges of the baritone range for which the part was
written. His love interest is a very challenging role which exceeds the
abilities of Maya Cherian both vocally and emotionally. Then, too, there is
the problem that his "gang" is composed of a single actor, making references
to "us" and "them" rather obviously inappropriate. The company finesses the
strained resources nicely with regard to design. The set is thoroughly
functional and the sense of time, place and atmosphere enhanced by well
presented projections and a solid costume design.
Music by Stephen Flaherty. Lyrics by Lynn
Ahrens. Book by Terrence McNally based on the book by E.L. Doctorow.
Directed by Rachelle A. Horn. Choreographed by Karen Kushner. Music
direction by Keith Tittermary. Design: David Lashof (set and sound) Richard
Battistelli (costumes) Joy Prentice (properties) Stephen D. Welsh (hair)
Tom Reed (lights) Andrew Dodge (stage manager). Cast: Richard Battistelli,
Bill Brown, Sandy Burns, Joe Cannon, Danielle Carneiro, Sara Charbonneau,
Maya Cherian, Beth Cooney, Patrick M. Doneghy, Frieda Enoch, Marlyn Setren
Ferguson, Joy Cecilly Gerst, Hugh Gordon, Peter Greenfield, Dustin James,
Curtis Jones, Willy LaHood, Erin Hall Lashof, Harold Gregory Martin, Ryan
Geoffrey Edward Martin, Kevin O'Reilly, Zack Phillips, Bruce G. Pope, Gene
Ridberg, Nancy Shneiderman, Ray Sickles, Angela Walker, Alexa Yarboro, Mary
Yee, Rebecca Zeigler, Anna Zimmerman. |
