I was very excited when I read about City Center's new Encores Off-Center series, producing American musicals that don't quite fit into the usual Encores mandate. When they announced their season of The Cradle Will Rock, Violet and I'm Getting My Act Together and Taking it On the Road, I was so intrigued. Plus, I knew Jeanine Tesori, the new artistic director of this endeavor, would take care of the musicals beautifully. And when a handsome friend asked if I'd accompany him to The Cradle Will Rock, I immediately said yes. Oh, and then, hello, Raul Esparza was announced for the cast. Serendipity all around. :) 
I didn't know The Cradle Will Rock at all before last night. I've never heard the music, I'd never read a synopsis and I never saw Tim Robbins' movie. But, somehow, I did know the legend of the show. So I went into City Center with practically no expectations, other than being excited about such a spectacular cast. That's one of the wonderful things about Encores, and now Encores Off-Center - they get fantastic people to participate. How often do you get to see a show with all of these people on one stage: Raul Esparza, Danny Burstein, Anika Noni Rose, Judy Kuhn, Peter Friedman, Martin Moran, Henry Stram, Robert Petkoff, Michael Park, Eisa Davis, Da'Vine Joy Randolph, David Margulies, Matthew Saldivar and Aidan Gemme? Seriously.
After all the previous blabbity blah, I will say I definitely enjoyed myself last night, though I'm not quite sure this particular production of The Cradle Will Rock was completely successful. The piece itself is very timely and could probably work in a different setting, but here, I just don't know. Done as a concert, the actors were on-book (some of them never opened them, but still) and there were chairs lined up on stage in front of the orchestra. Staged by Sam Gold, there were placards and odd-for-odd's-sake (or so it seemed to me) casting choices. We had double casting, cross-gender casting, cross-dressing cast members and a ten-year-old playing several adult roles. All while dressed in formal evening clothes. I ddin't quite get the point - were they satirizing the satire? It seemed strange to have people look posh and elegant whilst playing up class warfare, but ok. I guess I went with that. But some of the staging choices were definitely off-putting to me. The curtain came down at one point for no apparent reason. There was also a lot of sitting throughout quite a bit of the show, which sucked the energy out of the piece at times. At least for me. Intellectually, I guess I can understand why they were sitting, but I just felt why should I bother to pay attention if they can't bother to stand up and tell me the story? Strange reasonings, I know...
(The photo at left, by Joan Marcus, was found on the internet. Standard disclosure applies.) When there weren't oddities (seemingly unrelated to the script) happening on stage, I was completely engrossed in the story. In fact, and this is an issue with the actual script, I guess, but I was definitely more engaged in the stories about the non-corrupted as opposed to the flashbacks about how people GOT corrupted. If that even makes sense. For example, the scene in the drugstore between the Polish couple before they get sent to their doom, was so touching and simply portrayed. Robert Petkoff and Judy Kuhn were just sublime here. And when Da'Vine Joy Randolph belts a lament to her fallen husband, it's chilling. Those moments worked best for me. Though the cast as a whole was fantastic - Danny Burstein was slimy as Mr. Mister, the city's most corrupt official; Raul Esparza was appropriately fiery and honorable as the union organizer; Anika Noni Rose was gorgeous in both roles she played, the oppressed prostitute who is the heart and brains of the piece, and also as the amoral Mrs. Mister; and Peter Friedman was heartbreaking as the now-homeless druggist who mourns the loss of his son.
The music was well-played by the fourteen-piece orchestra, and I enjoyed hearing this score for the first time. There was a lot of variation in the music, from jazzy undertones to comedic satire to unsettingly rhythmic beats, to lyrical loveliness. I also heard a hint of Weill underneath some of the patter numbers (and had some Threepenny Opera bouncing around in my brain afterwards), but all in all, this is definitely a show I'd like to see (and hear) again.
One directorial choice I found completely and utterly brilliant was towards the end of the night, which showed just how timely The Cradle Will Rock still is (I won't spoil it for you, because I think surprise is key here). I think that could've been brought out even more, but in the Encores-style compressed time frame, I guess I'm grateful we got as much wonderfulness as we did. But when you have a little wonderfulness, you always think there should be more. At least I do...
No comments:
Post a Comment