Moby-Dick, the Opera

As an opera fan who wrote his own stage adaptation of Moby-Dick, I definitely had to see the Met's premiere of Jake Heggie's musicalized version of the novel.

The libretto by Gene Scheer makes some interesting choices, including having Queequeg open the show. The novel's narrator (who asks us to call him Ishmael) is considerably downplayed, and is referred to as "Greenhorn" rather than by a name.

When I wrote my adaptation, I cut the character of Pip. It's a long book, and something had to go, so as a practical matter, getting rid of the cabin boy meant I didn't have to worry about cringe-worthy moments where adults badly try to perform as children.

The opera uses another solution, that employed by Orson Wells in his stage adaptation Moby-Dick Rehearsed, which is to have an adult female perform Pip's role. Soprano Janai Brugger sings the role of Pip with a voice that soars above the voices of all the men on the ship.

Scheer's libretto focuses, however, on Captain Ahab, portrayed by tenor Brandon Jovanovich. His challenge to the forces of the universe rings out (fittingly) with an operatic intensity. The climactic confrontation between him and the whale is staged assuming that we all know the story, but is powerful, nonetheless.

In many ways, however, the star of the show is not Jovanovich but the design. Never have I seen set and digital projections work together so well as in this production. Performers literally climb the walls, and the projections turn the environment into boats, masts, ocean waves, or whatever else is needed.

The opera is playing this month only, closing on March 29th, so get your tickets while you can! This is a ship you won't want to miss.

The Tryal

During the 18th century, British plays sometimes revolved around a plot in which a woman pretended to be lesser than she is to determine if a potential matrimonial partner truly loves her.

Oliver Goldsmith set the standard with his comedy She Stoops to Conquer, which premiered at Covent Garden in 1773. Hannah Cowley developed the idea further in her play The Belle's Stratagem.

While I've seen both of those plays on stage, I've never seen a live production of Joanna Baillie's The Tryal. That play, first published in 1798, shows an heiress named Agnes Witherington pretending to be penniless during a visit to Bath so that she can avoid fortune hunters.

The play recently had a staged reading at the Theatre Royal in Bury St Edmunds which fortunately was recorded and can now be viewed online. Helen Dallas plays Agnes and Ed Whatley-Smith plays Mr. Harwood, who falls in love with her while other suitors bestow their affections on Agnes's poor cousin Mariane, played by Ailun Zhou. Added comedy is provided by the loquacious Miss Eston, played by Lesley Peterson.

Robert Price is quite sympathetic as Agnes's uncle Mr. Witherington, who suggests that Harwood's love for Agnes might be perverse. If he can remain affectionate even for a woman who is truly vile, Agnes will never be able to be happy with him. To ensure this is not the case, Agnes resolves upon a second trial. She will allow Harwood to read a letter that implies she has a dark secret. If he still loves her after that, she will refuse to marry him, but resolves never to be married at all if that is the case.

What is the secret? While it's not explicit in the text, Baillie implies the black mark is that Agnes has lost her virginity. The conservative Baillie appears to be engaging in a bit of 18th-century slut shaming. In the recent production, the author was brought on stage, in the person of Sarah Burdett who commented on the action and mimed writing.

Price, Burdett, and Peterson adapted the script, which was directed by Robert Price and produced by Chris Bundock. If you want to check it out, you can view it here.

William West and the Toy Theatre

Printmaker William West pioneered the creation of the Regency toy theatre, helping to preserve the theatrical legacy of Britain in the early nineteenth century.

West's work was the subject of an exhibition at Sir John Soane's Museum in 2004 and later an accompanying book. His endeavor began with a print showing characters from the pantomime Mother Goose which were derived from the contemporary theatre.

Initially, West worked together with an engraver's apprentice named John Green, who later set up his own toy theatre business. Their first prints were just sheets of characters that children could color, cut out, and mount on stiffened backings to enact on a miniature stage.

Later, West printed stage fronts that could be attached to miniature prosceniums, and eventually scenery that could be used as backdrops or wings. Many toy theatre makers also printed abridged texts of popular plays to be used in at-home amateur performances.

Black-and-white prints were traditionally sold for a penny, with pre-colored prints offered for two pence. West employed some serious artists, including George Cruikshank, who seems to have designed characters from the pantomime Harlequin Whittington. Cruikshank's brother Robert also created numerous toy theatre prints.

The artist Charles Tomkins began making theatrical prints for West and later became a scene painter for real theatres, first at the Royal Coburg and later at the Surrey and the Adelphi. West himself had numerous connections with the theatre, and by his own account even talked his way into getting a sketch of the new proscenium at the Theatre Royal, Drury Lane before the rebuilt theatre had been opened to the public.

Popular plays West offered in toy theatre form included Charles Robert Maturin's Bertram, Richard Brinsley Peake's The Bottle Imp, and Isaac Pocock's The Miller and His Men, which according to West sold better than any other play he offered in a toy version.

The Price

Arthur Miller's 1968 play The Price isn't performed very often, so when it does get a production, you're going to want to see it.

The Price has had four Broadway revivals, most recently in 2017 with Danny DeVito, Mark Ruffalo, Tony Shalhoub, and Jessica Hecht. However, the Village Theater Group's production now playing at Theatre at St. Clement's is apparently the play's first appearance Off Broadway.

The intimate play is perhaps more at home in a smaller, Off-Broadway house. Seth Tyler Black's set design packs the stage with antiques that even spill into the audience. The first row, which is billed as "immersive" seating is made up of lush, antique-looking chairs much like those up on stage.

While this production is hardly "immersive" in the traditional sense, it does allow the audience to get close to the action, enabling them to see some amazing acting, particularly by Bill Barry, who plays Victor Franz. Once a budding scientist who experimented with radios in his youth, Victor left college to take care of his father after the stock market collapsed in 1929.

Victor's brother Walter, played by Cullen Wheeler, made different choices after the crash, finishing medical school and becoming a financially successful doctor. While Victor seems to have made the more principled decision, the more the audience learns, the more they come to realize that the truth is more complicated. Both brothers, in fact, have paid a price for choices they made.

Though Victor has spent his entire career as a beat cop, never rising very high due to his refusal to compromise on his principles, he has been able to build a family with his wife Esther, played by Janelle Farias Sando. Walter, on the other hand, is divorced and estranged from his children, though now with plenty of money, which he is willing to share with Victor, if he'll only take it.

There is of course plenty of history between the brothers that tends to make negotiation over every dollar particularly complicated. Into this family morass walks Gregory Solomon, played by Mike Durkin. A 90-year-old used furniture dealer, Solomon has seen more of the world than anyone else in the play.

Asked to purchase the antique furniture of Victor and Walter's parents, the appropriately named Solomon is more than happy to buy the family's unwanted treasures and make a nice profit, but he is also keen on getting Victor to look beyond the dollar value of everything.

Director Noelle McGrath, who is better known as an actor, coached some lovely performances out of the cast. If you have a chance to see the production, go.

Garside's Career

Yesterday, I saw the Mint Theater Company's production of Garside's Career, Harold Brighthouse's political drama first produced in 1914.

Daniel Marconi plays Peter Garside, a laboring-class man with a gift for oratory who has earned a bachelor's degree while also working as an engineer.

In spite of the reservations of his fiancée Margaret, played by Madeline Seidman, Garside runs for parliament as a candidate of the Labour Party. He is invited to meet the mayor, who is supposed to be neutral in the election, but clearly opposes Labour.

This is where the show's set designers, Christopher and Justin Swader, get to really show off, transforming Garside's humble cottage into the lush drawing room of the mayor. Essentially all of the play's set pieces are visible throughout the show, but the actors rearrange them for each new scene, surprising us even when we've seen everything coming from the beginning.

In a way, this echos the play's structure. Margaret warns Garside what might happen if he embarks on a new career in politics, but he is filled with enthusiasm and doesn't want to hear. Blessed with the skills of a powerful orator, he collects fees for speaking engagements rather than attending to his duties in parliament. Like so many politicians in the U.S. today, be becomes more concerned with bolstering his own personal brand than representing the people who elected him.

Brighthouse is best known for his play Hobson's Choice, which premiered just a couple years after Garside's Career. He was also a friend and rival of Stanley Houghton--another member of the so-called "Manchester School" of dramatists--who penned the brilliant Hindle Wakes around the same time.

Director Matt Dickson helms this strong production, which also features Amelia White, Erik Gratton, Michael Schantz, Paul Niebanck, Sara Haider, Avery Whitted, and Melissa Maxwell.

The play is only running through the Ides of March, so see it now!

Coming Soon!

I have lots of events coming up over the next several months related--in various ways--to the theatre, both past and present.

Today, February 7th, is the birthday of Charles Dickens, and the Friends of Dickens New York will be having a special luncheon tomorrow, including a reading from Dickens's novella The Chimes. That story has been frequently adapted for the stage, including at the Adelphi Theatre the very year it was first published.

Later this month, I'll be directing a reading of scenes from Mark Levine's play Evicting the Rabbit Goddess for American Renaissance Theatre Company. This will just be a private reading, and not even of the whole play, but Mark has expressed a desire for getting the full play read in the future. We have a great cast, with Nick Walther and Pëtra Denison both performing.

Then, next month, I'll have my own work performed in Clifton Park, New York by Bunbury Players. Today, I met with the director, Ro Dell'Acqua. Ro will be staging as a 10-minute play the beginning of After an Earlier Incident. I've been developing the piece as a full-length play, but the first scene can also be performed on its own. It will be presented as part of Bunbury Players' Festival of One-Acts at Clifton Park-Halfmoon Public Library, March 28-30.

Later this year, I plan on going to Boston for the 2025 Dickens Symposium, where I am slated to deliver a paper called "'Dirt and Discomfort': Theatrical Audiences in Dickens." Much attention has been given to Dickens’s representations of actors in novels, but this talk will examine the author’s portrayal of audiences.

That's quite a bit happening soon, so perhaps I will get to see you, dear reader, at one of these upcoming events!

Kowalski

Kowalski, Gregg Ostrin's new play currently running at The Duke on 42nd Street, imagines a possible meeting between playwright Tennessee Williams and actor Marlon Brando, who originated the role of Stanley Kowalski in the Broadway premiere of A Streetcar Named Desire.

While the play is a standoff between two icons of American culture, my favorite character was not Williams, played with queenly campiness by Robin Lord Taylor, nor Brando, acted with youthful intensity by Brandon Flynn. Instead, I was drawn to the character of Margo Jones, brought to life by stage veteran Alison Cimmet.

Like Williams and Brando, Jones was a real person, but far less known than some of the people she helped to make famous. Known as the "Texas Tornado," Jones essentially discovered Williams. She co-directed the original production of A Glass Menagerie, together with Eddie Dowling, who played Tom. She went on to direct the New York premieres of Maxwell Anderson's Joan of Lorraine and Williams's Summer and Smoke.

It would seem natural, then, that Williams would have wanted Jones to direct A Streetcar Named Desire. After all, she seemed to understand his work better than anyone else. Toward the beginning of Ostrin's play, Jones gushes to Williams about the brilliance of his new drama, only to find out he has offered it to the hot new director Elia Kazan, leaving her in the dust.

We instantly get the relationship between the two old friends, and when Jones reappears later in the play to once again help Willams out of a jam and receive little thanks for her efforts, it's hardly a surprise. In spite of her pivotal role in American theatre--including revolutionary work with theatre-in-the-round--Jones has been under-appreciated by history just as she was by Williams.

Most people who see Kowalski will want to see the sparks fly between Williams and Brando, and they won't be disappointed. Still, just as the Joneses of the world have helped keep the American theatre grounded, the character of Margo Jones grounds this production, helping it rise above just being a showcase for two male actors.