Show/Boat: A River

Based on both the reviews and word of mouth, I went into Target Margin's "re-envisioning" of Show Boat (here called Show/Boat: A River) with low expectations. Sadly, it lived down to them. 

Whatever the faults of Oscar Hammerstein II, he was a sincere man trying to make the world a better place. Show Boat was sympathetic to a mixed-race couple, depicted and criticized racism, and had an unprecedented cast of Black and White people working together. Remember, this was 1927, almost 100 years ago.

Show Boat can be seen as glass-half-full and it can be seen as glass-half-empty. Show/Boat: A River seems to see it as an empty glass--a broken empty glass. It's fine to re-envision or deconstruct or whatever, but without understanding where the piece comes from, acknowledging its strengths, and having a POV other than "we're better now than they were then," it's just a pointless mess. (One criticism I heard of the original show is that it keeps the Black people in the background of their own story. That's true, but if Hammerstein had put them in the foreground, the show wouldn't get produced--and people now would criticize him for cultural appropriation.) 

The solution of course is equal opportunities for Blacks, women, LGBT+ people, and so on. A friend once said that it doesn't matter if the best of each group finds a place; the goal is for all mediocre people to have the same opportunities as mediocre White men, including second and third chances. Although we've made progress, we still have far to go. 

I should mention that I find most of Hammerstein's depictions of race to be embarrassing, at best. I'm not a fan of his in general. But I still get it that he was ahead of his time. It seems churlish to dismiss him for only being on the first rung of racial consciousness when the vast majority of White people weren't even aware of the ladder! Re-envision, yes, but understand what you're re-envisioning. 

Show/Boat: A River did have moments of insight and legit criticism. But it came across as a high school production. It would have been nice if everyone in the cast could sing. And if the show didn't periodically rely on droning, high, thin, painful notes from guitar (I think) and clarinet. And if it truly had something original to say. (As Hammerstein did, flawed as it was.) 

It's interesting to consider what future generations will think we're doing wrong. We certainly don't have all the answers. 

Wendy Caster

Eureka Day

A built-in weakness in some comedies of ideas is that one side of an argument may simply be right. As someone who believes strongly in vaccines, I thought Eureka Day might have to wrestle with this weakness. But playwright Jonathan Spector, while not supporting the  anti-vax stance per se, does show how someone could legitimately and honestly see vaccines as dangerous and even deadly. He pulls this off in a context of good-hearted, super-woke people trying to keep safe the children of the Eureka Day School. (The illness in question is mumps. The show predates COVID.)

Bill Irwin, Thomas Middleditch, Amber Gray,
Jessica Hecht, Chelsea Yakura-Kurtz
Photo: Jeremy Daniel

While sensitively dealing with woke-ness, inclusivity, accidental racism, and other difficult topics, Eureka Day is also extremely, extremely funny. I've rarely been in an audience that laughed that loud for that long.

The cast is largely excellent, including Jessica Hecht, Amber Gray, Thomas Middleditch, and Chelsea Yakura-Kurtz. Only Bill Irwin disappoints, with a twitchy performance that lacks a specific character. The excellent direction by Anna D. Shapiro keeps the emotions, humor, timing, and characters in balance, while always providing clarity as to where our attention should be. 

Wendy Caster

Women Writing Musicals (book review)

 I reviewed Women Writing Musicals on Talkin' Broadway.

One of the stranger parts of aging is watching time go from "now" to "then" to "retro" to "no one on Jeopardy knows the answer." This is particularly a problem with theatre, where "now" can go to "then" almost instantly. It breaks my heart that few people know about, oh, Colleen Dewhurst, Lynn Thigpen, Michael Jeter, Elizabeth Swados, Myrna Lamb. Time passes so quickly and so much is lost along the way.

In the new book Women Writing Musicals, Jennifer Ashley Tepper and Applause Theatre & Cinema Books rescue one important part of theatre history: women writing musicals. And it is full of juicy info.

Read more 

Passion: Pass It On (TRU Benefit)

Last month I had the pleasure of attending the TRU (Theater Resources Unlimited) benefit. The TRU mission:

TRU was formed to promote a spirit of cooperation and support within the general theatre community by providing information and a variety of entertainment-related services and resources that strengthen the capacity of producing organizations, individuals producers, self-producing artists and other theater professionals.

TRU achieves its mission through 1) maintenance of a member network of producers and other industry professionals in the New York area; 2) linking members to valuable resources both within and beyond the theatrical community, 3) providing public forums for introducing and sharing information, including specific requests for help and support, 4) publishing a printed and electronic newsletter for services, discount offers and other programs of benefit to the membership, 5) providing educational opportunities (including TRU-sponsored events and competitive scholarships) on industry-related topics and training, and 6) serving as producer for selected events that provide practical opportunities to the membership and other theater professionals.

Cool, huh?

To be honest, I'm usually one of those people who go to benefits for the entertainment. And the entertainment was pretty wonderful: Norm Lewis singing "Summertime"; Nona Hendryx singing "Winds of Change"; and so on. 

But this benefit introduced me to two amazing women, and I am most grateful. I'd been pessimistic and misanthropic since the election, but these dynamic passionate women reminded me that humans can be incredible, and that they/we can work together to achieve beautiful things.

Susan E. Lee received the TRU Humanitarian Award. Lee works to make theatre more accessible and relevant to people of all ages. She advocates for arts in schools and creates opportunities for young people to actually experience theatre. This dry description fails to capture her passion and commitment to theatre. Her speech was charming.

Irene Gandy received the TRU Spirit of the Theater Award. Gandy has been a trail-blazer for decades in her role as publicist (she is the only black woman in the Association of Theatrical Press Agents and Managers with over 100 Broadway productions to her credit), producer, and Drama League Board member. Those are only some of her accomplishments, and again, they can't begin to do her justice. She is a magnificent, larger-than-life woman who to me epitomizes how uniquely wonderful theatre people can be. Her speech was great.

You can meet these women too, on TRU's YouTube page (click here), where you can also view videos on producing, important and fascinating theatre people and groups, marketing, and using theatre as a force for good.

Wendy Caster

Strike Up the Band

Last week, the wonderful MasterVoices presented the Gershwins' Strike Up the Band. In 1927, its book, about a war over cheese tariffs, was written by George F. Kaufman with a pretty satiric point of view. When that failed to sell tickets, Morrie Ryskin did a rewrite where the war was now over chocolate tariffs (and a dream sequence), the book leaned more toward romance and silly comedy, some new songs replaced some old songs, and the show was a hit.  

David Pittu, Victoria Clark, John Ellison Conlee
Photo: Toby Tenenbaum

Last week's version featured a book rewritten by Laurence Maslon (NYU arts professor) and Ted Sperling (MasterVoices conductor and director) and songs from both earlier versions. Songs included "The Man I Love" and "I've Got a Crush on You."

Strike Up the Band was a great deal of fun in terms of the book, and flat-out glorious in terms of the music and singing. Both the MasterVoices chorale and the MasterVoices orchestra soared, and the individual singers in the cast were fabulous. Perhaps my favorite part of the whole evening was a clarinet solo in the overture (reminiscent of the one at the start of Rhapsody in Blue) aced by Andrew Sterman.

MasterVoices stalwart Victoria Clark stole the show in a supporting role of a wealthy woman who wants to fix the world. She got one of the biggest laughs of the evening with a line that wasn't actually funny. And, of course, her voice was spectacular. Other impressive performers included Bryce Pinkham, Lissa deGuzman, David Pittu, John Ellison Conlee, and Shereen Ahmed. 

For information on the MasterVoices next shows and access to their new podcast, click here.  

Wendy Caster

Sump'n Like Wings

Lynn Riggs (1899-1954) wrote 30 plays, a few of which were produced on Broadway, along with screenplays and poetry. Nowadays he is known--when he is known at all--for having written Green Grow the Lilacs, which Rodgers and Hammerstein turned into Oklahoma!

A gay man and a Native American, Riggs had a strong sense of "otherness" and how it affected people's lives. He often wrote about Oklahoma, where he was born, in the early 1900s, and he was frank about the ways limited opportunity and frequent violence circumscribed the lives of many people, particularly women.

Joy Avigail Sudduth, Lukey Klein,
Julia Brothers, Mariah Lee
Photo: Maria Baranova 

In Sump'n Like Wings, currently being produced by the invaluable Mint Theatre, Riggs focuses on 16-year-old Willie, whose bitter mother is trying desperately to rein in her daughter's energy, desire, and anger. Willie's mother wants to protect Willie from the dangers of the world--i.e., men--but Willie is far from rein-in-able, and she breaks out of the role life has given her, at great cost.

This important theme is familiar from other Mint productions, including Becomes a Woman, by Betty Smith, and The King of Spain's Daughter, by Teresa Deevy. Unfortunately, Sump'n Like Wings is not at their level. It has one-dimensional characters, awkward dialogue, and weird plotting. On the other hand, it does do an excellent job of depicting the claustrophobia that results from women's legitimate fear of men. In the world of this play, fear of violence--particularly rape--runs women's lives. 

Riggs has little use for straight men. The one decent man in the play is a gentle bachelor who is described in the script as walking "about with quick nervous steps--like a bird," i.e., gay.

This production is not up to The Mint's usual standards. The acting is hampered by the dialect and accents used in the play, e.g.:

OSMENT: Well, she done it! I'm as shore of it as I'm shore of goin to heaven when I die—

CLOVIS: Well, I doan know about you and heaven—

MRS. CLOVIS: Pass me sump'n, fer heaven's sake!

And while, granted, the actors don't have a lot to work with, they rarely rise above the material. 

The overall result is an opportunity to catch a museum piece, but that's about all. I wish the Mint had done Green Grow the Lilacs instead, but perhaps they someday will.

Wendy Caster