A nervous splendor . . .
Equity Showcase (July 13 - August 5)
review by Louis Lopardi . . July 11, 2002
It has been said by scholars that the powerhouse that was Europe began to crumble with the death of Crown Prince Rudolf, and that the malaise persisted right through the second world war - arguably even to the collapse of the U.S.S.R. The authors Zellnik have created a musical that portrays the nervous and glittering world that was fin-de-siecle MittelEurope, and, incredibly, actually clarifies events surrounding one of history's most bizarre political deaths.
The elegant Ben Nordstrom played a very young Prince Rudolf - petulant and anxiety ridden as his time. The beautiful Megan McGinnis played Mary Vetsera, Rudolf's secret (and then not so secret) love. A fine actress who works with shadings rather than broad strokes, she bears an uncanny resemblance to the real Mary. Their light voices were well paired, and their acting talents superb.
D. Michael Berkowitz played the unpleasant Emperor Franz Josef, doggedly determined to maintain an uneasy status quo between Rudolf and his wife Stephanie (Sharron Bower). The stage glowed whenever Kristin Griffith appeared as Rudolf's mother, the mad Empress Elizabeth. There was a similar increase in depth to Alison Fraser's scenes as Countess Larisch, Mary's protector. One eagerly waited for either to reappear.
Skeletal settings by Mark Fitzgibbons rightly gave the impression of gold pilasters and elegance. And the piano was so wisely integrated into the opening action it became abstracted away for the rest of the evening. Designer and Director seemed to have studied Balanchine's piano ballets. Hideaki Tsutsui's lighting was delicious - unforgettably evocative in a rainy rendezvous scene; it is hard to believe this artist had a repertory plot for a palette. Perfectly complimented by Ryan Streber's delicate ambient sound. One technical quibble: Why not light the piano unobtrusively with a pin-spot from the grid? The halogen mini-light on the music stand was a distracting and needless anachronism. There was First Class music direction with the composer at the piano, accompanied sparsely by a discreet synthesizer (Christine Cadarette)
David Zellnik's text is pretty good history besides being good theatre. Rudolf and others give us a good period profile in the ensemble number "I Am Vienna", superbly staged by Director Michael Alltop. To demonstrate the Austrian inferiority complex, we are reminded in song that "other nations rise on steel and steam". Even the birth of psychiatry is predicted in Freud's "...there's no darkness we can't bear, once darkness has a name." The first act ends with Rudolf revealing his secret to all Vienna ("Let Them Look"). But surprisingly, though the number was quite good neither staging nor music fulfilled the promise of a really dramatic act-ending.
We were guided through the historical tangles by the unlikely pairing of Sigmund Freud and the then society painter Gustav Klimt - played by Paul Anthony Stewart, an intense actor with a light clear tenor. (This by the way was the year when Klimt first began experimenting with real gold overlays which would eventually make his paintings as glittering as the era.) Freud was the only character rather skewed by artistic license. Stephen Bel Davies played a glib, effervescent Freud - totally wrong, yet delightful for musical theatre. He displayed a beautiful, fully supported sotto-voce which remained fully controlled. Not an easy task. He bears a true physical resemblance to the young Freud - except of course for the unforgivable lack of a full beard.
John Hellyer had great fun with the role of Rudolf's cousin, Kaiser Wilhelm. His song "You Don't Like Me" was a good history lesson - unlike the heavy handed one from earlier in the act. He doubled as one of the Emperor's spies with the versatile and sinister Michael Mendiola. His costume was the only lapse in an otherwise good costume design by Randall E. Klein.
Halfway through Act Two the two spies are discovered secreting Mary's body away from the hunting lodge. The scene is historically accurate (in reality she was even propped up with a broomstick to make her look alive). But the text gives the impression that her body was then ditched in the woods. In actuality they buried her in a well known cemetery, and she lies in that very place to this day. In what was truly one of the oddest of reprises, the title song accompanied this macabre ride, heard now as a haunting, half-remembered thing.
History was also foreshadowed in the show's closing music. The final chorus dissolved into what sounded like a poly-tonal morass, fittingly evoking the social dissolution which was soon to follow. But it is that title song, predictably a waltz, that was the most memorable of the evening - evoking the city of all our dreams with its bittersweet refrain. The lilting, stepwise motion visiting and revisiting almost the same notes reminds us that memory changes things; perfection is only in the mind. The final tableaux was heartbreaking.
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