More Friday Flashing!

I KNOW I have mentioned in the past how much I love Craig Lucas' work.  I'm hoping to catch An American in Paris, for which Craig has provided the libretto.  In the hope that I get to enjoy some of his writing soon, I present a Friday flashback to six years ago today.  I went down to the Public to catch Craig's play The Singing Forest.  It was flawed to be sure, but I went back twice more to just revel in the scale of it, and I rather like this review.  I hope to see the show again someday.  But in case you missed it, here you go...

4/17/2009:  After having a DELICIOUS cocktail with my GNO+1 pals (it was called something like A Delirious Summer Night and had limoncello, proseco and pomegranate liqueur.  YUMMMMM), I went to the Public to catch a preview of Craig Lucas’ The Singing Forest.  As with a lot of Craig’s work, this is chock-full of stuff to ponder, so I need to go back and see the show again.  I feel like there was a lot I missed.

The story begins with Olympia Dukakis as a Holocaust survivor at an AA meeting, wanting to talk about the whole idea of ‘making amends.’  Can Hitler make amends?  Do amends even exist?  I thought these were some very interesting ideas and the monologue was a good way to get to know this incredibly complex character.  The play has quite a few characters and how they all relate to and interact with Olympia Dukakis’ character is a big part of the construct. 

The play takes place in New York in 2000, Vienna in 1933-38 and London, 1940.  There is a lot of time-shifting, as we see events in the past that explain some of the behavior of the ‘present.’  Themes of forgiveness, the sins of the parents, inaccuracy of memory, the effects of psychoanalysis and the downward trend of intellect pervade (comparisons between the intellectually stimulating coffee houses of Vienna in the ‘30s and the not-so-intellectually stimulating Starbucks of today are quite striking). 

For me, this piece is messy, a tad schizo, funny, sad, completely true and incredibly ambitious.  But I did notice quite a few walkouts at the intermissions (there are two intermissions) and plenty of sleeping people around me.  I heard some people in the lobby afterwards complaining bitterly that they had no idea what the show was about.  So perhaps my love of Craig and his work are holding me up.  But I wasn’t bored for an instant and do feel as if I should go back after it opens to see if some of the mess has been cleaned up.  But, truthfully, most of the mess is pretty interesting.  I liked the first two acts better than the third, though I was really moved by the last scene.

photo credit: Carol Rosegg

The actors are pretty terrific, save one or two.  Olympia Dukakis is really grand as this monster who reveals her pain to you little by little.  She’s caustic, she’s funny—the things she does for non-intimate relationships are hysterical.  Mark Blum (a longtime favorite of mine) is wonderful as one of the various analysts we meet throughout the piece.  I also really liked Jonathan Groff (from Spring Awakening) as the boy who is always playing a part and never really finds out who he actually is.  There’s a little nudity, for those of you who like that sort of thing.  

So, as you probably could’ve guessed without even reading the review, I suggest you see this.  Plays that are so ambitious and tackle ideas this large are few and far between these days.  The fact that it isn’t entirely successful doesn’t negate the attempt.  Does it?

Oh, and seat neighbor report:  the kids sitting next to me were pretty young.  At the first intermission, the girl asked me if the play was over.  I said, no, just intermission.  After the second intermission, the boy wanted to leave, but the girl wanted to know how it all turned out!  Very cute.  Behind me was a foursome of a certain age.  At the first intermission, one of the gentlemen proceeded to explain the first act to his seatmates.  His wife exclaimed “How would you know?!  You were asleep!”  He says, “SO?!”  They left at the second intermission.  Apparently, they didn’t want to know how it all turned out.  Then there was the British couple to my left who argued, quite loudly, that they thought the two psychoanalysts were in fact the same person.  The id and the superego.  Ummm…ok.  I love listening to conversations at intermission - I really believe in the 'five block rule,' but hearing what people are getting out of a show is fascinating to me.  Maybe I should do a blog just on audience reaction - something to ponder... :)