Ragtime and more

So here it is, finally. I really should stop promising to have posts up by certain times when I'm not intent on following through. I did want to write this post yesterday, but I spent two hours in the afternoon figuring out how to run the Tivo through my recordable DVD player so that I could finally get around to recording The Wiz and Show Boat onto DVD. After two hours of fidling around, shining a flashlight into the back of the entertainment center, marking wires with masking tape labels, I finally got it hooked up. Usually it doesn't take me nearly as long to fiddle with things like that, but for some reason, this was not very intuitive and the instruction manual for the DVD player didn't help. There's such a thing as too much dumbing down. Finally though, I got it and now have permenent copies of The Wiz (although it's the VHS version, full frame with muddied video and unremastered audio, watching it again in this format reminded me why I didn't like it the first time I saw it, but now that I appreciate it more, it's worth having) and Show Boat, the movie musical that started it all. Of course, nothing like it would get made today, but it's a great capsule of its time and what we find offensive about it today is exactly what it was about, how we deal with prejudice, stereotyping, and small-mindedness. So, with that, let's transition into the main event.

First of all, as I mentioned Friday night, how the hell did The Lion King end up winning Best Musical, especially after Ratime very deservingly won Best Book and Best Score? Of course, it's the same reason Jersey Boys won after The Drowsy Chaperone won the same awards: the touring theater building owners across the country get to vote for Best Musical and they knew The Lion King would be a much bigger draw (and they were right), so they wanted to create goodwill with the producers by giving it the top prize, even though it's artistic merits are mixed (great stage, costume, and lighting design, but a mixed bag musically and it's way too bloated, they should have stuck with Elton John for the additional music, and trusted the movie's script to get the themes across instead of trying to pad it and double the running time just to hit the audience over the head with every theme). Now, on the Broadway stage, Ragtime cries out for epic treatment. It had massive sets, larger than life actors, and numerous showstoppers/anthems. That's not going to work in Porchlight's space, and to their credit, they realized this and didn't even try. What we got was a much more subtle, nuanced Ragtime with numbers that came out organically and felt natural to what was going on on the stage. Even a lighting snafu at the beginning of the second act, causing the act to be halted and restarted about 5 minutes in, felt natural. Despite the posted running time, it really did end up being almost as long as the Broadway production, and I didn't notice any cuts other than the dialogue before Wheels of a Dream. They went right from Sarah coming down the stairs, to lying in a field by the car and with only two lines of spoken intro, went right into Wheels. Instead of being the big blockbuster number of the Broadway production, it was instead a softer medidation on the life they hoped for for themselves and Coalhouse Jr. The second act, which felt incomplete on Broadway, particularly benefited from this style and really came alive, bringing everything from the first act together and creating a full rich story. My only quibble is that at a couple of points, particularly during Make Them Hear You, the orchestra's enthusiasm nearly overpowered the singers. It would behoove the director at these moments to either pull back ever so slightly on the orchestra, or increase the volume ever so slightly on the performer's mics. This is actually the same single issue I had with the Light Opera Works production, I think it's because the music is so good the orchestra can't help but get so enthusiastic and play its heart out. As for the performers, they were all excellent, but the standout was Charissa Armon as Mother. In the two other productions I've seen, Mother has always faded into the back. She was an important character, but not quite the lynchpin she needed to be. Charissa changed that, bringing Mother to the forefront of the show and making it her story. She performed a searing rendition of Back To Before that crystallized the whole point of the show and sealed Mother's position as the chief character. As Coalhouse, Jayson Brooks was excellent, making Coalhouse more authentic than the previous versions I've seen, which tended to glamorize the African American's poverty. Coalhouse was real, and his rage was palpable, which was why I didn't even notice the lighting problem at the beginning of Act Two until the director came out and stopped the show. I was so wrapped up in his emotion I didn't notice that the illumination was coming from the house lights. They could have done the rest of the act without lights and I wouldn't have noticed. Jayson had an excellent voice, even if he was somewhat overpowered by the orchestra in Make Them Hear You (not his fault), and I look forward to seeing him in more productions in the future. As always, Jeremy Trager gave a memorable performance primarily as Harry Houdini but also as other immigrants and the Judge in Evelyn Nesbitt's trial. The staging was so perfect. This musical doesn't need a massive house in the center of the stage, a real model T, or any other elaborate sets or a huge cast. This production relied on a mostly static background of brick walls and doors and was so effective, the sign of a truly great musical being that it can be produced in almost any size theatre, large or small, and not loose anything, which is not true of The Lion King. Best of all, the creativity showed here in adapting to the small space means they won't get sued by the producers of the Broadway version. They even carefully rechoreographed the opening number so that instead of going around in a circle as three spokes, the three groups instead moved backwards and forwards and left and right, so there should be no lawsuits here. The only real disappointment was that the theatre was only about 3/4 full. This is most likely due to the fact that it starts early and it was a Friday night, making it harder for the work crowd to make it on time, especially since with the long running time, dinner beforehand is a must. Still, this show deserves a sold out run. Go see it.

Next season Porchlight is doing Maury Yeston's Phantom, as well as Nine, and I intend to be there for both of them. I picked up the revival recording of Nine this morning at Borders to get myself ready. The Harold Washington Library has Phantom, so I'll be getting that at some point too. So, better late than never, that is all for now. Hurry and see Ragtime before it ends. As a side note, Bohemian Theatre at the Theatre Building, which got raves last year for its production of Side Show, to be reprised this summer at Theatre on the Lake, will be doing The Life starting July 2. I'll be there for that one.