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A GLOROUS CHAPTER IN THEATER HISTORY Review by: Beth M, Jan 5, 2008 |
“A wooden stage. An audience. And a great actor. This, my friends, is my idea of Heaven” (Flaminio Scala’s opening line, thanks to Lynn Ahrens): THE GLORIOUS ONES
Written by Beth Mandelbaum
I have always greatly admired the work of Lynn Ahrens and Stephen Flaherty for the courage of their subject matter, in such diverse musicals as Ragtime, based on E. L. Doctorow’s book of turn of the century American which treated, among ... read more other themes, the plight of workers and racial inequality; the struggle of immigrants in America; and changing cultural values; Seussical: the Musical, based on the stories of Dr, Seuss; A Man of No Importance, which focused the theme of homosexuality; and Dessa Rose, which treated the issue of slavery.
And this season they have offered us The Glorious Ones, an intimate ensemble piece which captures the world of the origins of the Commedia Dell’Arte, a chapter of theater history from Renaissance Italy, which I found quite compelling. I feel very fortunate to have seen this lovely and unusual musical the day before it is to close.
The Glorious Ones offers a fascinating glimpse at the origins of this genre of performance, in which a troupe of comic players played to audiences in the streets of Italy, using bawdy and raucous subject matter, a physicality that today might be considered as “slapstick” comedy, drawing on mime, and also improvisational techniques. This was a time before the use of scripts came into use, so these improvisational sketches were done with the use of what was called “stock characters,” in which each drew upon their own personalities without the intermediary of scripted lines.
I found the show to be extraordinarily visually beautiful, which worked very well in the smallish Mitzi Newhouse Theater. The set was simple, with the structure of Italian Renaissance architecture, which opened to a broad blue sky filled with sweeping white clouds, very akin to Italian Renaissance painting. I got a very fine sense of what this period in theater history looked like, sounded like and moved like. And the gorgeous costumes were a treasure in the depiction of this world.
The actors were all wonderful, especially Marc Kudisch as the leading man, Flaminio Scala, the historical creator and founder of the early form of the Commedia Dell’Arte, whose rich and golden baritone voice gave great power and passion to several very fine songs. And was much of the score by Ahrens and Flaherty, which I really look forward to hearing again, was a gift. The songs that were of an especially bawdy nature, fit very well within the context, mood and spirit of the show, whether it is to one's taste or not. And I found many of the other songs to be clever, moving and in a number of cases, deeply meaningful. All of the singing voices were excellent, in different ways.
The Glorious Ones follows the life of this theater troupe from its creation and great success as improvisational street theater, where it had enormous public appeal, to its disastrous failure at the Court of the French King who was so offended by the bawdy and raucous subject matter that immediately after their performance he asked the troupe to leave that evening, under penalty of death.
A member of the troupe, the young Francesco Andreini, whom Flaminio took under his wing and mentored, has come to realize through his meeting and marriage to a young poetess and playwright Isabella (both are also historical figures), that street theater had become an outmoded and dying form, and that the future of theater lay in the offering the more poetic and spiritual refinements that would make it completely acceptable to Kings and courts.
While Flaminio was extraordinarily resistant to trying a new approach, as he vehemently defended the old form of the Commedia which he created, with its improvisational style, he agrees to trying the scripted form “just once,” as the other members of the trou |
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I saw this show with:
Alone
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Recommended for:
Seniors, Tourists, Adults
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