Signature Theatre has presented concert stagings
of musicals before, but it was outdoor in a park in Arlington. Now, they present
a rousing, touching and often thrilling concert version of a show in the
biggest enclosed space they've ever had. No 86-seat Gunston Theatre Two,
or 136-seat Garage, or 399-seat Max ... the Music Center at Strathmore has
almost 2,000 seats. It is a room dedicated to music listening. The sixteen
songs of Jason Robert Brown (Parade,
Urban Cowboy) fill it with music that not only deserves to be listened
to - it demands attention. Brown himself sits at the piano, backed by a
quartet of really good instrumentalists supporting four great musical
theater performers who not only sing each song with musical power, they
treat each song as a scene to be played with full dramatic or comedic
power. Mounting this show as a concert
looses nothing of the impact of its original concept because it was never
conceived as anything more than a series of thematically connected songs. With voices of
Laura Griffith, Brian d'Arcy James, Alice Ripley and
Titus Burgess, the evening is a parade of one strong number after another
delivered with power, punch and pizzazz.
Storyline: At age
twenty-five, songwriter Jason Robert Brown pulled together sixteen of the
songs he had written for various projects (shows, cabaret, concerts) and
director Daisy Prince found a common theme to make a show of the pieces.
The theme is the moment of decision, the point at which you transition
from the old to the new. The change may be geographical, emotional,
professional or marital, but things are different than they were before.
The result is neither musical play nor revue, it is closer to a
theatrical song cycle, a very theatrical song cycle.
Brown writes intensely
personal, highly dramatic songs. They range from country-ish story songs
to gospel tinged wails and from pop colored romps to solo pieces of either
concentrated personal revelation or slightly off beat comedy. There’s a
pregnant woman’s expression of wonder at creation, the story of a would-be
basketball star aching to escape the dead-end world of failure, the lament
of a couple who broke up only to find their separate ways led nowhere, even the hopes and fears for the future that weigh heavily on the
explorers sailing to find a new world in 1492, and the flag maker creating
the banner for a new nation in 1775. Each song is musically
distinctive and dramatically effective. Brown's skill as a performer was
on display as well. He played the piano with a passion and even a certain
freshness that is notable since he must have played these arrangements
hundreds of times since he wrote them.
The strongest single performance of the evening
comes from a young woman named Laura. That would not have surprised many
when it was first announced that the cast would include Tony Nominee Laura Benanti. But Benanti had to pull out of the project and her replacement is
another Laura - Laura Griffith. She was simply fabulous, hitting every
note and enunciating every word with clarity while communicating the drama
or comedy of each moment. Nearly as impressive was Brian d'Arcy James,
himself a Tony Award Nominee who's often found impressing audiences on
Broadway (Sweet Smell of Success, Titanic,
The Apple Tree). His
power was on display here, especially when teamed with Griffith on "The
World Was Dancing." The other Tony Award nominee in the cast is Alice
Ripley (Side Show) who is also well known to Potomac Region theatergoers for
her work on
Shakespeare in Hollywood at Arena Stage and
Company
at the Kennedy Center. Her comic skills on "Just One Step" and
"Surabaya-Santa" was contrasted with an equally impressive dramatic touch
on "Stars and the Moon."
Michael Baron directed this presentation. He avoided
any temptation to add gimmicks or extraneous diversions, while, at the same
time, letting the cast act the songs/scenes rather than just stand
center-stage and belt. The only prop used is a single baseball cap for
Titus Burgess for his biggest solo - the song in which he becomes the
would-be basketball star who hopes to become famous as "The Steam Train."
Burgess can create character and attitude without props, however. His two
finger tracing of tears is one of the simplest and most effective moves of
the evening, while Alice Ripley's toss of an imagined wedding ring is a gem
of a gesture. The cast had a week of rehearsals in which to master the
material. The lyrics aren't simple and no one was carrying their script.
The lighting design, however, was a bit too complicated resulting in too
many moments where a key vocalist was outside his or her spotlight.
Music and lyrics by Jason Robert Brown. Conceived by
Daisy Prince. Directed by Michael Baron. Music direction by Jason Robert
Brown. Cast: Titus Burgess, Laura Griffith, Brian d'Arcy James, Alice
Ripley. Musicians: Jason Robert Brown, Brian Dunne, Shawn Galvin, Randy
Landau, Gary Sieger. |
