I just got back from my what's-still-playing-amid-the-strike weekend. A new round of negotiations in the stagehand strike began this past Saturday morning, and apparently continue as I write this on Sunday.
But I did get to see three shows, including The Glorious Ones at Lincoln Center, which was still running because the Mitzi Newhouse Theater is considered Off-Broadway. The show takes its inspiration from the eponymous novel by Francine Prose, which itself is based on the commedia dell'arte tradition, with its stock characters (Columbina, Pantalone, Pierrot, Harlequin, etc.) and characteristic improvisation. The show is partly about the transition from extemporized performances to scripted shows.
The score is by composer Stephen Flaherty, and the book and lyrics are by Lynn Ahrens, both of whom I simply adore. I think they're the most talented team working today. They always make interesting choices and execute their craft with stalwart professionalism and heart. Even their not-so-successful shows are brimming with sympathetic characters, rich and melodious music, and clever and heartfelt lyrics.
Would that I could report that The Glorious Ones ranked with Ragtime, Once on This Island, or A Man of No Importance. Alas, no. Unfortunately, The Glorious Ones bears more similarity to the heartbreakingly imperfect Seussical and My Favorite Year, everyone's favorite F&A flop. The pair seem to do far better when they have a separate librettist, such as Terrence McNally, who wrote the book to both Ragtime and AMONI. With The Glorious Ones, F&A retain their keen sense of theatricality, but the show reflects their unfortunate weakness when it comes to through-line and dramatic cohesion.
The main problem with The Glorious Ones is that the plot doesn't really kick in until 45 minutes into this 90 minute show. Up until then, there's no dramatic imperative: the show is fragmented, episodic, and...improvised? I get the sense that this may have been intentional on the authors' part, but it just doesn't work. I was left wondering what the show was going to be about far too late into the evening. On the whole, the show felt like a very promising out-of-town tryout: not quite ready for New York, but featuring a large mass of tremendously rich, albeit inchoate material.
Director/choreographer Graciela Danielle certainly gives the cast lots to do. Danielle takes her inspiration from the sheer energy of the commedia characters and tradition. There's always a brisk sense of crispness and purpose to the proceedings. The humor is often crude, and deliberately so, but a lot of it comes off forced, although there are some genuinely funny bits.
But the good news is that Flaherty and Ahrens have once again
demonstrated their mastery at writing marvelous extended ensemble
numbers. You can always count on F&A to know how to start a show, in particular. Their various opening
numbers comprise a veritable treatise on how to set the proper tone (cf. "Twenty Million People," My Favorite Year; "We Dance," Once on this Island; "We Are Descended," Dessa Rose; and the title numbers from both Ragtime and A Man of No Importance), and the opening/title number to The Glorious Ones is no exception.
Because the characterizations tend to be on the thin side, certain major plot points aren't quite believable. F&A justify a particular key development (it's pretty much the denouement, so I don't want to give it away) with a powerful and moving song, "I Was Here," which Marc Kudisch delivers masterfully. But it still doesn't make the character's actions credible. Kudisch is, in general, full of bluster and menace, and extremely effective. There's a reason he's one of the busiest actors in New York. He's also one of the most talented, bringing a self-assured presence and vitality to each role.
The very talented Erin Davie has very little to do. It's not clear at first that she's actually playing two different parts, another indication of the slightly sloppy characterizations in the show. Natalie Venetia Belcon is lusty and sharp in the Columbina role. I recognized her face at once, but it took me a while to remember from where: she originated the Gary Coleman role in Avenue Q. The entire cast is strong and affecting, particularly John Kassir as Dottore (who proves himself a skilled mime. Yes, mime.), and Julyana Soelistyo as the love-struck Armanda.
Overall, I'm reminded of Frank Rich's New York Times review of the original Broadway production of Stephen Sondheim's notorious flop Merrily We Roll Along. Rich wrote: "As we all should probably have learned by now, to be a Stephen Sondheim fan is to have one's heart broken at regular intervals." I will always be interested in seeing what Stephen Flaherty and Lynn Ahrens come up with from their fertile imaginations. But holding two creators in such high esteem and affection means that I'm going to feel their missteps all the more keenly. Even so, I'm glad that Flaherty and Ahrens are out there planning new shows even as I type.
