Category: Outside NYC Reviews

As a graduate of the University of Notre Dame and a current season ticketholder to its football team, I am clearly in the bullseye for the target audience for a musical based on its legendary football coach, Knute Rockne.  Something in the Game: An All-American Musical had its first outing ten years ago and was then titled Knute Rockne:  All-American.  The name change makes sense.  This show is certainly about the famed, larger than life man.  The bigger story involves his personal orbit (family, players, coaching highlights) and a growing college which at the time attracted unwelcome minorities, notably immigrants and Catholics.

Can a rags to riches story centered around football be successfully turned into a big musical?  The answer is yes although the scoreboard might read field goal instead of touchdown.  For Notre Dame fans the score might instead read touchdown with a missed extra point attempt.

The show begins as Knute is leaving South Bend for an opportunity to coach at Columbia University.  Immediately we have family conflict as his wife was not consulted.  Both Stef Tovar (Knute) and Dara Cameron (Bonnie) deliver heartfelt, strong characterizations.  The story then tracks Knute from his arrival at Notre Dame where he meets his new roommate Gus Dorais (a period perfect Neal Davidson) who also plays football.  The two worked together to create many memorable developments in their sport, notably popularizing the forward pass in a historic win over Army in 1913.  There is a musical number incorporating this concept, “Completing the Forward Pass,” which is surprisingly effective storytelling and fun.

The football scenes are the winning part of the formula here.  The team’s famous use of “The Shift” allows for some very creative scrimmage line inspired choreography.  The Artistic Director for Northwestern’s American Music Theater Project David H. Bell directed and choreographed Something in the Game.  The crop of young actors from the student body (and even some from their football team) added a real sense of athleticism to the show.

The superhero star of Notre Dame football and of this musical is George Gipp who played from 1917 until 1920.  He became a legend, immortalized by Ronald Reagan in the 1940 film Knute Rockne: All American.  Adrian Aguilar’s extraordinarily fine performance hints at why the show changed its name.  The musical is at its best when this talented young man is overachieving on the field while sinning and gambling off the field.  “Welcome to the Bottom” is a showstopper when things go wrong for George which he sings with the speakeasy’s owner and singer.

The focus on George Gipp, the Rockne family troubles, tensions with University clergy and a coach with massive self-promotion instincts make for a very full book.  A few minor scenes should probably be reconsidered.  The staging of Jimmy the Goat’s saloon felt inauthentic as well.  A drinking, gambling hangout around the time of Prohibition in South Bend, Indiana would likely be a bit grittier than suggested by the smiling flapper tappers on display.  (More like Chicago than Crazy for You.)  Importantly, the score is strong with many memorable ballads and jazzy songs including Bonnie’s gorgeous “If There Had Been Roses,” Gipp’s “Confession,” and the title song.  For the Notre Dame faithful, no need to fear.  Our fight song makes a welcome appearance.  Go Irish!

www.somethinginthegame.com

Half Time is a new musical based on the 2008 documentary Gotta Dance about the debut of the New Jersey Nets basketball team’s first ever senior hip-hop dance squad.  Twelve women and one man were followed from the audition period to the performance.  This stage adaptation does not frolic in the fountain of youth but instead wallows in a pool of formulaic musical comedy blandness with largely unmemorable songs.  There are, however, quite a few high points to discuss.

Georgia Engel is a five time Emmy nominee for The Mary Tyler Moore Show and Everybody Loves Raymond.  Over the past decade I have seen her repeatedly excel on stage in plays such as Will Eno’s Middletown and Annie Baker’s John.  As Mrs. Tottendale in The Drowsy Chaperone, she was a superlative ditzy clown.

Ms. Engel plays Dorothy, a ditzy kindergarten teacher who has developed a passion for hip hop, having confiscated music from her inattentive students.  As her alter ego Dottie, she becomes the reluctant team leader, mic dropping and all.  Her performance is fresh, funny and probably more poignant due to the fact that she walks with a cane and looks like a hip replacement is weeks away.  At the curtain call, she oddly had the second to last bow before Donna McKechnie.  While her Tony Award winning turn as Cassie in A Chorus Line was (perhaps over) referenced, the part was less significant than Ms. Engel’s and truly one-dimensional either as written or as acted, or both.

Andre De Shields originated the role of The Wiz in 1975.  Here he delivers everything from his trademark big personality to smooth, emotionally fine singing and dancing in the show’s best number, The Prince of Swing.  Mr. De Shields and Ms. Engel nicely underplayed their scenes together so their relationship growth was organic.

Haven Burton portrayed the coach who needs to get this motley crew ready for the big time.  Her voice is big and beautiful, clearly demonstrating why she has previously been an understudy for Sutton Foster.  Ms. Burton’s performance was so relaxed and seemingly effortless that she held the whole show together.  As Camilla, the sex-crazed caricature Latina, Nancy Ticotin nonetheless killed with her big salsa dance number making it impossible to believe she was and is a senior.

Rapping seniors based on a true story is a fun idea for an updated take on the old-fashioned “let’s put on a show” backstage story.  Revelling in these performers getting a chance to steal the spotlight late in their careers adds a nostalgic bonus.  Half Time maybe gets halfway there.  Directed by Jerry Mitchell, this show had Broadway aspirations.  How to get all the way there?  Cut the mediocre songs and spend more time developing characters with dimensions.

www.papermill.org

For the second Saturday in a row, I traveled back to Philadelphia for the next and final twelve hours of Taylor Mac’s politicized, gender-bending – as far from conservative evangelical as possible – 246 song opus, A 24-Decade History of Popular Music.  Right from the start we learn that the show is “a radical fairy realness ritual sacrifice.”  Mr. Mac points out that we don’t have to agree with him as “it’s not Oprah.  It’s not the GOP.”  The show immediately heads into the crowded Jewish tenements of the early 20th Century and a beautiful version of “Shine On, Harvest Moon.”

By the time we get to the 1960s things are so outrageous that his persona is akin to Baby Jane (Bette Davis movie) playing Jackie O (President Kennedy’s wife) at a beach party.  The superbly conceptualized costume designs are by Machine Dazzle and dazzle they do.  The show traverses a century of wars both between governments and between oppressors and the oppressed.  The Cold War is hilariously staged with giant inflatables as the two sides face off to determine who is bigger.

At the end of this musical extravaganza we are told (and it seems logical) that “no other show in the history of theater has a roller derby butt showing stage manager.”  How you react to that admission is likely how you will react to this combination of artistic empire expansion protest meeting (and sledgehammering) of the “heteronormative narrative” of America.  Not that his audience wasn’t on board but he does warn that our inherent white supremacy instincts might just start freaking out because “all those people are having so much fun.”

There were two moments in Part II which left a big impression.  First was the not so subtle abuse shoveled toward conservative NRA activist Ted Nugent.  Taylor Mac decided to turn his song “Snakeskin Cowboy” into an onstage gay prom dance.  The second was the depiction of white flight out of the America’s cities.  All of the white people seated in center orchestra were sent to the sides of the theater.  The people of color were then moved into those seats.  And if you didn’t like it, Mr. Mac had a safe word for you.  It was EXIT.

The Bob Dylan song “A Hard Rain’s a-Gonna Fall” perhaps hit me like never before.  “I met one man who was wounded in love/I met another man who was wounded in hatred/And it’s a hard, it’s a hard, it’s a hard, it’s a hard/It’s a hard rain’s a-gonna fall.”  By the time the line “where black is the color, where none is the number” is sung, I felt overwhelmed.  This show was closer to capturing a feeling of spiritual community than any of the endlessly recited religious babble from my youth.

Mr. Mac did ask his audience to think about what the show meant to them.  What reactions, both positive and negative, that we might have.  So many come to mind from this singularly brilliant and vividly indulgent exercise in creative expression.  So here’s one of my takeaways:  Why would I ever want to be part of a religion that won’t bake cakes for people in love?  I am certain I will never see anything like A 24-Decade History of Popular Music ever again.  Bravo.

www.taylormac.org

theaterreviewsfrommyseat/a24decadehistoryofpopularmusicpart1

In the fall of 2016, Taylor Mac brought his show to St. Ann’s Warehouse in Brooklyn.  A 24-Decade History of Popular Music was billed as a 24 hour marathon in which every decade of American music would be presented, each for one hour.  Without any more knowledge, I declined to subject myself to that adventure.  The rave reviews followed.  In 2017, this work was one of three finalists for the Pulitzer Prize for drama.  Luckily, the show is being presented in two 12 hour installments over two weekends at the Kimmel Center for the Performing Arts in Philadelphia.

First and foremost, Taylor Mac is a drag performance artist and this is a drag show filled with all the glitter and bawdiness you would expect.  But it is so much more than that.  A 24-Decade is also history lesson, a musical jukebox, a political manifesto and a group improvisation exercise, all doused in gorgeous lighting and outrageous costumes.

Mr. Mac opens the show with an apology to Native Americans followed by a discussion of Thomas Paine’s pamphlet “Common Sense.”  For the young people, he helpfully instructs that a pamphlet is smaller than a book and larger than a blog.  How does he define government?  The example used is “Nudie Baby.”  A four year old likes to run around the house naked shouting “nudie baby, nudie baby.”  It’s cute and funny.  One time at the mall, the child takes off his clothes and runs around shouting “nudie baby, nudie baby.”  He is then captured by parents who forcibly put the clothes back on while he cries and sadly wails, “nudie baby, nudie baby.”  “THAT’S GOVERNMENT,” insists Mr. Mac.

Who knew Yankee Doodle Dandy was originally a song the British used to mock the American colonists, suggesting they were low-class men lacking in masculinity?  That’s “really saying something coming from the British.”  The history goes on and on from the Revolution to the temperance movement, from Native American genocide to the Oklahoma land rush, from abolitionists to Reconstruction and from the Trail of Tears to the robber barons of the late 19th Century.  The scope of this piece is enormous.  The politics unabashedly liberal.

From the lyrics to Johnny Comes Marching Home Again:  “The men will cheer and the boys will shout/the ladies they will all turn out/and we’ll all feel gay/when Johnny comes marching home.”  Yes it’s history and yes it’s hilarious.  But seriousness lurks behind every eyelash, deepening the entire experience.  I didn’t know My Old Kentucky Home written by Steven Foster was a minstrel song which, up until recently, contained the lyric “there comes a time when the darkies have to part.”

Mr. Mac is onstage for nearly the entire twelve hours and sings throughout.  He is riveting, intense, outraged and hugely entertaining.  He is celebrating freedom.  He is also commenting on America and asking us to consider what it’s values were, are and should be.  For him, “nostalgia is the last refuge of the racist.”  The performance is colossal.  I sat in my seat and remained glued to the spectacle while being firmly engrossed in its messaging.  I cannot wait to see the second half this Saturday.  Surely, we’ll hear more about politics mixing with religion and oppression of minorities as Mr. Mac continues deconstructing the “heteronormative narrative and colonialism” history of America.

www.kimmelcenter.org

Parked “Up North” with friends, we decided to take in a local production of the musical Young Frankenstein.  The venue was the Old Town Playhouse in downtown Traverse City.  The company’s mission is to be a volunteer-based organization promoting quality community theater experiences for the people of Northwest Michigan by providing educational opportunities and entertainment in the theatrical arts.  I saw the original Broadway cast of this show and thought it a rather bland affair.  This version was infinitely more entertaining and, importantly, much more fun.

Young Frankenstein is based on the very funny Mel Brooks film from 1974.  The movie was a riff on 1930’s horror films heavily doused in Borscht Belt humor.  Young Victor Frankenstein, a brain surgeon in New York, is the only remaining heir and has inherited the family castle in Transylvania.  The musical added in songs of varying quality, the best one (by far) is “Putting On The Ritz.” That song was also in the movie.

Why is the Old Town Playhouse’s version of this show much more enjoyable than the original?  This musical seems much funnier in a more intimate setting.  Broadway’s Lyric Theater is ginormous, this venue is 277 seats.  The very funny “Roll in the Hay” performed on a traveling wagon was lost on the big stage.  Here the number is staged up close, the moving wagon is pantomimed and as Inga, Danielle Pelshaw yodeled like a pro.

On the whole, the singing in this production was excellent.  Inspired clowning all around, especially by Steve Ford as Igor.  I have to give the best in show award to John Klapko who played Frankenstein’s Monster.  This character can make you laugh out loud.  In the hands of Mr. Klapko, the laughs were elevated into guffaws.  His vocalizations, physical movements and facial expressions hit the comedy bulls-eye.

The creative team has staged a high quality production.  I particularly loved the set design by Matt McCormick.  He not only captured the essence of the castle and the laboratory,  but he also allowed for cleverly efficient scene changes for what I imagine was a relatively modest budget.  For a troupe of volunteer players putting on a nicely orchestrated musical with a $28 top ticket price, this Young Frankenstein is a grand value.  I will be back to the Old Town Playhouse.  Kudos to them and their donors who keep our theaters alive.

www.oldtownplayhouse.com

Visiting Long Beach, staying with friends and following their recommendation to see Daddy Long Legs proved to be excellent ideas, all around.  I was not familiar with the loosely adapted 1955 film starring Fred Astaire and Leslie Caron which I could overhear being widely discussed amongst the audience.  Based on her very successful 1912 novel, Jean Webster adapted her story into a play.  Here is what the New York Times said on September 29, 1914:  “If you will take your pencil and write down, one below the other, the words delightful, charming, sweet, beautiful and entertaining and then draw a line and add them up the answer would be Daddy Long Legs.”

The play made Ruth Chatterton a star and she was later nominated for Best Actress Academy Awards for two pre-code films, Madame X (1929) and Sarah and Son (1930).  How significant was this story?  Films were made by Mary Pickford in 1919, Janet Gaynor in 1931 and a Shirley Temple adaption in 1935 called Curly Top.  This version is a musical first produced in 2009 with subsequent stagings in the West End and off-Broadway.  The effective book was written by John Caird (Tony Award Best Director of both Nicholas Nickelby and Les Miserables).  Paul Gordon (Jane Eyre) wrote this beautiful score which felt like a chamber piece overflowing with lilting, elegant, moving, character-driven heartfelt songs.

Daddy Long Legs begins at the John Grier Home, an orphanage where Jerusha Abbott is the oldest resident at seventeen.  One of the trustees, a “Mr. John Smith” becomes her benefactor and sends her off to college to fulfill her promise as a writer.  All she needs to do is write him a monthly letter.  Jerusha comes up with his nickname, Daddy Long Legs.  This musical traces the lives of these two characters through their letter writing.  While the original book and play had more than twenty characters, many of whom are mentioned here, this musical has been structured into an intimate two person show.

We have a good Samaritan using his considerable wealth to allow a smart, heretofore unlucky girl a shot at the opportunity of a lifetime.  Ashley Ruth Jones and Dino Nicandros deliver superb acting and singing performances which build from simple beginnings to more complicated characters in a organically developing story arc.  Dozens of gorgeous songs, both solos and duets, keep their relationship evolving despite the fact that most of the interaction is through letter writing.  Credit has to be given to the director Mary Jo DuPrey who keeps this period piece flowing gently, melodically and emotionally to its satisfying finale.

Perhaps the most outstanding song was titled, “The Secret of Happiness.”  Seeing this production of Daddy Long Legs was one of those such secrets.  So was the fact that I beat my friends – for the first time ever – in the card game of Oh Hell.  And I did it twice this weekend!  So let’s update the New York Times formula from 1914:  If you take your pencil and write down, one below the other, the words Daddy Long Legs, International City Theatre and two card victories then draw a line and add them up, the answer would be bliss.

www.ictlongbeach.org