Once in a blue moon (or should I now say red?) you take in a new work off-off Broadway and walk out of the theater wholly impressed. Such is the feeling generated by the musical Red Emma and the Mad Monk being presented this month at The Tank. Writer Alexis Roblan and Director Katie Lindsay co-created this original and ambitious piece composed by Teresa Lotz. Twelve year old Addison is in her room doing the usual internet surfing and tweeting. Addison is also a history buff. The show is set in the United States in 2017 “where the 19th, 20th, and 21st centuries exist side by side, online and in a theatre.”
Addison has an imaginary best friend in the Russian mystic Grigori Rasputin who elevated himself from poverty to holy man. Or is that charlatan? This monk was a healer to the last tsar’s son prior to the Russian revolution and all of their assassinations. She is also obsessed with Emma Goldman, the writer who was a pivotal figure in the development of anarchist political philosophy in the early 20th century. Along with her lover Sasha Berkman, they planned but failed to murder steel industrialist and union-buster Henry Clay Frick in support of the worker’s movement.
Incidentally, Addison also has her own young person’s life crises to manage. What emerges from this richly conceived phantasmagoria is much more than a history lesson juxtaposed with school age internet drama. Red Emma and the Mad Monk confronts the politics, trials and tribulations that lead to anarchies both large and small. This musical contemplates the internet, our news cycle and oppressive systems of government by imaginatively combining and contrasting these stories. Complexity is embraced and analyzed. What is the best way to make change? Is there a best way?
Now for the cherry on top. Surprisingly, Red Emma is funny and very entertaining. Drita Kabashi’s performance as Rasputin is light as air yet mystical and substantial, filled with thoughtful, sometimes hilarious observations on life. (Her eyes should have a curtain call.) As Addison, Maybe Burke believably grounds this story so we experience thought processes from a twelve year old’s point of view. In multiple important roles, Jonathan Randell Silver was spot on in each characterization.
The creative team did truly inspired work in mounting this production, notably the set design by Diggle. When you enter the theater, you immediately feel that you are in a young person’s bedroom. The lighting, costumes and, in particular, the direction of Red Emma and the Mad Monk inventively showcased this unique musical. So many topical themes and ideas poured from the stage. America is and may always have been the promise of freedom but that doesn’t necessarily happen in practical terms. Some impressive new voices in theater worth a serious listen.