Aug 05 2008
Much of what I love about this job is coincidence and synergy. Well, the parties, too. But substantive things first.
Today (OK, yesterday, since it's now past midnight) I wrote a review of Quantum's "Cymbeline," which means I was thinking about it more than you'd ever get to see in a review, even one 20 inches long such as will appear tomorrow morning (I mean today). And one aspect of "Cymbeline" I never did get to discuss is its revision of the archtypal Romeo & Juliet theme. Then later the same day, just a couple of hours ago, I saw the opening of the CLO's "West Side Story," which everyone knows (more than anyone knows "Cymbeline" at all) is a full-scale version of "R&J."
It's the contrasts among these that offer such interest. To start, there's the main difference between Shakespeare and the musical, which is that the latter pretty much obliterates the grownups, as I'll probably discuss in the review I'm about to write for Thursday's paper. Even given that major difference, the musical's Bernstein-Sondheim-Laurents story is like Shakespeare in that a socially unacceptable marriage between rival tribes is rejected, leading to five deaths in Shakespeare, three in the musical.
In Shakespeare, Mercutio, Tybalt and Paris are slain in domino fashion, and then Romeo and Juliet take their own lives in romantic despair, one mistaken, the other justified. That's why the great Leon Katz used to say "R&J" was a catastrophe for western culture, because it made romantic self-sacrifice glamorous. In the musical, Riff and Bernardo parallel Mercutio and Tybalt and die similarly, and Tony (Romeo) similarly seeks death, although with a slight twist, getting himself killed by Chino (Paris). Maria (Juliet), however, has the wit not to kill herself. Still, there's tragic waste all around.
But Leonatus and Imogen, the young lovers of "Cymbeline," are made of more pragmatic stuff. Each believes the other to be dead, but neither then seeks suicide. Indeed, Imogen wakes up beside what she believes to be the beheaded body of her love, but she survives to learn differently. Leonatus believes himself responsible for Imogen's death, but he puts his despair to good use, fighting to keep his country free, and is rewarded with his lover's rebirth.
So "Cymbeline" is the preferable mirror of human behavior, right?
I'll have to think that out some more.
"West Side Story" being the final CLO show of the season, I decided to go to the opening night party -- just as I decided to go to the party for the previous show, "Annie Get Your Gun," because it was the penultimate opening. . . . No, it was also the occasion for the annual presentation of the Julia Deberson Award to an outstanding ensemble member.
This year's winner was Ward Billeisen (right, with Van Kaplan), as I reported in my July 24 In the Wings column.
But as I say, parties are one of the perks of the job. Not that I go to them all the time. My rule is that I usually don't if I was disappointed in the show, lest I say something insincere just to be nice. And I try not to say much about the show in any case, since I don't really know just what I think until I discover that in writing the review.
But I enjoy hanging out now and then with show people. I think many critics do. This one was a good party, with an extra edge of hilarity and relief since it concludes the season. I had the pleasure of saying hi to Yurel Echezarreta, Ahmad Simmons and Steffi Garrard, the three young ensemble members I interviewed last week. (Yurel's the one who's been cast in this fall's Broadway revival of "West Side Story"; Ahmad, we'll see in Point Park dance programs; and Steffi will be in CMU's "Into the Woods.")
I also got my first look at the Capital Grill -- the CLO has a nice way of moving its party to different venues each week, and I don't get out to eat much, so that's a bonus. Now back to writing that review.