The Etiquette of Death
Photo by: Ves Pitts
Caption: Chris Tanner as Joan Girdler (standing) and Everett
Quinton as Death.
The premiere of Chris Tanner’s heavy-handed farce, The Etiquette of Death at the Ellen
Stewart Theatre, explores the darkness and despair—and the occasional humorous
moments—the loss of life brings: a fitting topic to close La MaMa’s 50th
Anniversary season since Ellen Stewart, the “mama” of La MaMa passed away last
year.
Tanner, part of La Mama since 1979, creates a collaborative
on death with 20 other writers and composers, including Penny Arcade, Angela DiCarlo,
Jeremy X. Halpern (also the keyboardist), John Jesurun, Penny Rockwell and Tony
Stavick. In Etiquette, death becomes
an extravaganza: a variety show of sorts, chock full of glittery costumes, cross-dressing,
and, song and dance. Amid all this absurdity, the authors attempt to imbue
meaning by offering insinuations, conversations, and soliloquies on the
importance of appearances, class, the horror of AIDS, and the sadness of loss,
among other topics. The ambitiousness of the project, ultimately, generates an
overall messiness where narratives and characters stay unconnected and, often,
seem erratic.
The loose storyline introduces Joan Girdler (Tanner), a blonde
bee-hived Mary Kay incarnate with sometimes questionable ethics, who is caring
for her dying son (Brandon Olson) as she struggles with her own Stage 4 brain
cancer diagnosis. Girdler, a regional sales manager of Etiquette Cosmetics,
also hosts a TV show that offers etiquette and makeup tips. Death (a leather
clad, Cher-haired Everett Quinton, who also directs the musical) is a big fan
of hers. Scattered throughout the main action, “death” vignettes showcase
ancillary characters discussing gangrene and the importance of bringing the
right food to a Southern funeral, a chorus of dancing pigeons, and, a funny bit
where two characters eat in a restaurant run by Death’s hench-bitches (Machine
Dazzle and Matthew Crosland in brief costumes that showcase their to-die-for
legs). What the sideshow of anguish and provocation means isn’t always apparent:
Why are the pigeons eating Kentucky Fried Chicken? Why use a Grecian-looking
set with columns and a bridge that entering actors must duck under? Why portray
Isis, an Egyptian goddess who protects the dead, as Death’s cohort? Often, Etiquette offers more shoulder shrugging “huh”
than “a-ha.” moments.
The performances span from the good, the bad, and the ugly.
Quinton, best known for his work during his two-plus decades with The
Ridiculous Theatrical Company, plays death with a campy fierceness, yet still
manages to instill a human fragility in (her? him?) during a hopeful but
disastrous makeover. Greta Jane Pedersen embodies Isis as a modern-day cabaret
chanteuse with a pixie cut and bright red lipstick, who simultaneously channels
Norah Jones, Edith Piaf, and Natalie Merchant. Pedersen’s singing mesmerizes and
makes Etiquette’s two-hour-and-a-half
run time bearable.
Choreography, though, by Julie Atlas Muz offers uninspiring
efforts that invoke a high-school dance recital and, often, the singing is
off-key. Sound problems in the performance I attended periodically made
dialogue and lyrics indiscernible. With clichéd lines such as, “Without death,
life would lose its poetry” and the tongue-in-cheek finale chorus, “We’re all
gonna die,” this might not be a loss
(General seating, press ticket).
The Etiquette of
Death plays from June 14-July 1 at the Ellen Stewart Theatre at La Mama.
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