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Encore! Series "Juno" - A DARK AND STIRRING MUSICAL - Part 1 Review by: Beth M., Apr 3, 2008 |
THE LUCK OF THE IRISH, NOT: REFLECTIONS ON THE MUSICAL “JUNO”
By Beth Mandelbaum - Part 1
I would like to sing the praises of the NYCity Center’s Encores! Series, which for the past 14 seasons has been offering 3 classic musicals, each of which runs for about 5 performances. Encores! revives musicals which tend to be gems from many time periods, and which honor many of our greatest composers. And because of this, the emphasis in the ... read more productions tends to be on the scores, played by the fantastic Encores! Orchestra.
And this weekend (March 27th-30th), one of the most glorious and extraordinary scores, by the composer Marc Blitzstein, was celebrated with the revival of the musical “Juno.” “Juno” is a superb example of the splendid work done by the NYCity Center Encores! Series. I am so very grateful for the opportunity to have seen this deeply affecting musical, which some have suggested, was ahead its time.
It opened in 1959 to negative reviews and ran for 16 performances, a true “flop.” My parents actually saw the last performance. Apparently, when Juno opened, audiences and critics were far less appreciative of dark and sad subject matter in musicals as they have been in recent years and decades. To illustrate, only one year before, the delightful and up beat “The Music Man, won the Tony for Best Musical (as well as 4 others) over the brilliant and far darker West Side Story.
This musical, which was based on the Irish playwright Sean O’Casey’s play “Juno and Peacock.” To me, “Juno” can easily be called a “musical tragedy,” even though there are certainly comic elements, especially in songs sung by the townspeople, including ladies who love to complain and gossip, singing a delightfully humorous song called “Poor Thing,’” and by Captain Jack and his drinking buddies (“Daarlin’ Man”).
I have long had a very strong penchant for dark Irish plays, some humorous, some not. And to me, “Juno” holds a very strong place in this genre, though here in the form of a musical. I cried more than a few times during the extraordinarily moving “Juno.” This musical is perhaps at the other end of the Irish spectrum from the extremely popular Riverdance!
Marc Blitzstein is perhaps best known for having translated and adapted Bertolt Brecht and Kurt Weill’s off Broadway revival of “The Three Penny Opera” in the 1950’s. The score of “Juno” offers a wide range of styles, including songs with a traditional Irish flavor and gorgeous ballads perhaps more typical of traditional Broadway scores. Blitzstein’s score expresses an extraordinarily diverse range of emotions.
And as is also typical of Encore! productions, the cast was wonderful, with fine acting and even finer singing voices. Victoria Clark and Celia Keenan-Bolger did an extraordinary job playing mother and daughter. Also very noteworthy were Conrad John Schuck as the ever inebriated Captain Jack and Michael Arden, the young suitor, suffering from unrequited love, when rejected by Mary and the amazing dancing of Tyler Hanes and Kurt Fromann. |
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Encore! Series "Juno" - A DARK AND STIRRING MUSICAL - Part 2 Review by: Beth M., Apr 3, 2008 |
THE LUCK OF THE IRISH, NOT: REFLECTIONS ON THE MUSICAL “JUNO”
By Beth Mandelbaum - Part 2
“Juno” is a musical that truly weeps. Among its main themes are some of life’s most tragic circumstances: loss of life, loss of dreams, loss of love and even loss of hope.
It is set in Dublin, Ireland during the early 1920’s, a period of great political unrest, when, it is said, that the streets “are running red,” filled with the blood of war.... read more. This was a time when the British were in charge and the Irish struggled for independence. It was also a time when terrorism swept the country.
Set against this background, which sadly evokes some of the landscapes familiar in parts of our world, including our own country, is the story of the Boyle family, living in the tenements of Dublin. The mother, Juno, is an extraordinarily strong woman with many burdens to bear, most significantly a deeply troubled marriage. Her alcoholic and rather pathetic husband, Captain Jack, who gets pains in his legs the moment any prospect of work appears, spends much of his time in the pubs. She works very hard as the only breadwinner in the family, and is also an extremely responsible mother who worries greatly about her children.
Their son Johnny, who has just one arm as a result of a civil war injury, is quiet and sullen. He hides at home as he is under suspicion for having revealed the whereabouts of a young man from the neighborhood named Robbie Tancredo, who has just been killed by the British.
In fact, “Juno” opens with Dubliners singing a very powerful and inspiring anthem called “We’re Alive,” in which they sing about their capacity to survive under the brutal circumstances in which they constantly live. And just a few seconds later, we see Robbie killed before our eyes.
The Boyle’s daughter Mary who is searching for love (and sings the magnificent song, “I Wish It So”), rejects her long term suitor, Jerry Devine, who truly loves her, singing the beautiful song “One Kind Word.” Mary eventually finds love in the wrong place, which ultimately devastates her life.
The one ray of hope for the Boyle family occurs very suddenly, when a dapper lawyer, Charlie Bentham, who appears to be from England, arrives to tell the family that they have inherited a fair amount of money from a relative. They find great happiness in the belief that their troubles will be behind them. The first act ends in a most optimistic and joyful manner, with a glorious singing and dance number called “On a Day Like This.”
Captain Boyle goes on a spending spree to give himself and his family some of the finer things in life, but he does this by borrowing money from neighbors before his “inheritance” arrives. Juno, even though seemingly enjoying wearing a very pretty dress instead of her somber work clothes, feels that he is extremely foolhardy to be doing this.
Months go by, the inheritance never comes, and the family is left in dire financial straits. And Charlie, who had swept Mary off her feet (“My True Heart”) and makes her pregnant, abandons her. She sings of her profound loss (the gorgeous “For Love.”)
One of the most extraordinary and fascinating pieces of choreography (and there is much excellent choreography in “Juno”) is a so-called “dream ballet,” (“The Ballad of Johnny Boyle”) magnificently and rather terrifyingly danced by Johnny and the dead Robbie. This was choreographed in the original production by Agnes De Mille, who choreographed the better known dream ballet in Oklahoma many years before. In this sequence Johnny comes face to face with the friend that he sent to his death. Robbie expresses his anger through dance, and puts his bloody hand on Johnny, who is then also covered with blood. Behind them are anonymous and frightening Irish Republican Army agents in their trench coats, moving flashlights in the dark as they search for Johnny, who is facing his guilt and h |
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Another Great Show from the Encore! Series - “Follies” Review by: Beth M., Feb 16, 2008 |
“FOLLIES:” A CHORUS LINE OF MEMORY, DESPERATION AND REGRET
by Beth Mandelbaum
While watching the brilliant and deeply moving production of Stephen Sondheim’s “Follies” at the City Center, as part of its wonderful Encores! Series, it suddenly occurred to me, during a series of absolutely delightful vignettes—“Rain on the Roof,” “Ah, Paris,” and “Broadway Baby”, that I sensed some kind of kinship with “A Chorus Line.” ... read more While I saw the Roundabout production of “Follies” three times, it had been many many years since I had seen “A Chorus Line,” whereas this is a theater season in which I have had the privilege of seeing both.
And it was not simply this series of songs that made a connection for me. It was the remarkable way in which “Follies” really struck me more than it ever did before, as a true landmark, breakthrough musical that seems so very different in its structure and the way songs are presented.
“Follies” seemed very different from a traditional “book musical,” to coin a phrase that I have read many times. Songs seemed to be used in ways that seem very different than in many of the older musicals, which appear to carry the plot forward in a more traditional way. Here are songs that are often sung by individuals, sharing pure and often raw emotion, songs of states of mind, some of which seems “out of context,” almost removed from time and space, in a brilliant and highly creative way.
In reflecting on “A Chorus Line,” I thought about how songs are sung by the individual characters, telling their stories, again in a form of “vignettes.” As in “Follies,” the sung vignettes of “A Chorus Line” are of a very powerful and moving nature.
In contrast to “Follies,” “A Chorus Line presents a group of people, most of whom who have never met, but who are brought together for the purpose of the audition. Whereas in “Follies” these are all characters who had spent a great deal of time together at a significance point in their careers.
And yet, the characters of both musicals are sharing from the depth of their hearts and souls. However in “A Chorus Line,” this is a result of the requirements of the interview phase of the audition process. But here again, as in “Follies,” most of the musical numbers seem to offer a brilliant form of storytelling, and there does not seem to be that linear progression of the music that one would find in a more traditional Broadway book musical. For the most part, the characters seem to each stand alone when they sing their stories, rather than interacting. The one major exception would seem to be Cassie’s big number, “The Music and The Mirror,” where she is deeply engaged with Zack.
Also it’s important to note that in “A Chorus Line”, we are seeing people for the most part at the beginnings of their careers, looking forward with hope, fortitude and a with a bit of desperation and perhaps frustration, as they endure the grueling process of the audition, whereas in “Follies,” the characters are clearly looking backward and sing songs of memory, often about relationships, and clearly express their emotional states of mind in an almost frightening way. Perhaps one can say that in “A Chorus Line,” while we find a brilliant use of dramatic and musical structure, the songs serve more as songs of storytelling, as we learn about the lives of these young people. Everyone has his or her turn to share.
I also experienced a deep seated kinship between Sally’s magnificent plaint “Losing My Mind” and Cassie’s plea to Zack in “The Music and The Mirror.” These are songs of raw emotion, desperation, longing and perhaps even fear. Both are songs where these women have truly dug right down to the bottom of their souls, to coin a phrase. For Cassie, this seems to be is a highly proactive kind of song in which she makes her case while begging for work, whereas it sees to me that Sally sings with a resignation that her dream will |
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ALL ABOUT ENCORES! Review by: Beth M., Feb 14, 2008 |
By Beth Mandelbaum
I would like to sing the praises of the Encores! Series, which for the past 14 seasons has been offering 3 classic musicals a season each of which runs for about 5 performances. Encores! revives musicals which tend to be gems from many time periods, and which honor many of our greatest songwriters. And because of this, the emphasis in the productions tends to be on the scores, played by the fabulous Encores! Orchestra.... read more. Many of these musicals have not been seen for many years; many have won Tony Awards and even Pulitzer Prizes in their time.
I have found Encores! musicals to be not only highly entertaining, but also extremely educational as they provide me and many audience members who are not familiar with some of these musicals the opportunity to see them in very fine productions.
The Encores! musicals have wonderful casts: some are extremely famous and others are very talented new comers. Something that I find completely amazing about these productions is that the cast members have just slightly more than a week to rehearse, which is such a short time when one thinks of how much rehearsal time goes into commercial Broadway productions, not to mention out of town try-outs and then weeks of previews. It always amazes me what wonderful works of theater are created under what would seem to be extraordinary time pressure. Cast members are permitted to carry books which contain the script and the song lyrics. And while some performers do use them at times, often there seems to be a miraculous lack of need to glance down very often.
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APPLAUSE: “YOU GET A TASTE OF THE SOUND THAT SAYS LOVE" Review by: Beth M., Feb 14, 2008 |
By Beth Mandelbaum
Let's hear it once again for the New York City Center Encores! Series, for presenting another vintage classic musical, this time the 1970 Tony Award winning musical Applause, in a wonderful semi-concert version this past weekend. Applause was written by such luminaries as composer Charles Strauss and lyricist Lee Adams, probably best known to audiences for the scores of Bye Bye Birdie and Annie, and has a book by the ... read more brilliant team of Betty Comden and Adolph Green, who wrote the book and lyrics to such extraordinary musicals as Wonderful Town, Bells Are Ringing, On The Town and Peter Pan. It originally starred Lauren Bacall.
Applause is based on the chilling movie All About Eve, starring Bette Davis. The plot centers around the aging, but still enormously talented and popular star of stage and screen, Margo Channing, and Eve Harrington, whom we first meet as a young and very unassuming young woman, first portrayed as a lovingly dedicated fan. She tells Ms. Channing that she has brought light, happiness and meaning back into her life, as she is grieving the death of her husband who was killed in the war, and feels that her life is over.
Ms. Channing would never be able to anticipate at this point that Eve has an agenda with a capital A. As anyone who has seen or knows the plot of All about Eve, Eve finds cunning and ultimately rather sinister ways to become an integral part of Eve’s life. Eve turns out not to be the adoringly innocent sycophant that she at first appears to be.
We suddenly find her taking on the role of Margo's personal assistant, who is so beautiful, smart and efficient that she draws the attention of key members of the backstage and the creative team of Margo's current show, ultimately and ruthlessly clawing her way to the top (with some unexpected help from one of Margo's closest friends). Eventually, Eve fully comprises herself to become a star.
There is a very telling moment, while Eve is still playing the innocent, grateful and perhaps overly helpful assistant, when she tells Margo that she is staying behind to sew some beads on to one of her costumes. But suddenly Margo comes back inside her dressing room and catches Eve holding up her costume and looking in the mirror, as if pretending to be wearing it. This is where Margo's growing suspicions about Eve become more validated.
My understanding is that Applause, while drawing heavily in the story of All About Eve, has softened and tempered the terrifying and much darker version of the film. The dark musicals and play of more recent decades were probably not the typical fare of the “Golden Age” of musical of the 1950’s, 60’s and very early 70’s.
However, Applause does have its darker moments. To me, the character of Eve grows increasing sinister and maniacal. By the end of Act One, she has taken the opportunity of successfully auditioning to be Margo’s understudy, without Margo’s knowledge. And the one night that Eve has the opportunity to go on for Margo, we find that someone has invited critics and journalists to this particular performance, even though the show has already opened! (And we discover that this was arranged by a key member of the production team, who has a taken far more that a “shine” for Eve.).
The Act One closer is a very powerful, sarcastic and ironic song called “Welcome to the Theater,” in which Margo pours out her venom towards Eve, who she now realizes has become a significant and treacherous threat. And there is the rather scary moment toward the end of Act Two, when Eve, who has now fully triumphed, stands alone on the stage, reprising a song called “The Best Night of My Life,” which she initially sang to Margo when she first met her, at that time as an expression of gratitude and joy. She also sings parts of Margo’s signature song, “Alive.” But now the melodies, and Eve herself, seem rather “off kilter,” and the oddl |
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My recommendation:
must see!
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