“Company” in London: The Gender-Bent Revival of Sondheim’s Classic that Everyone (Else) is Raving Aboutby Randi / October 11, 2018
It’s Theatre Thursday! Today’s show is Eugenius!, which ends its run at London’s The Other Palace on Sunday, October 21.
Amid all this dreariness, both from the weather getting grayer and Britain’s (slash the world’s) prospects looking bleaker, a goofy superhero musical is exactly what the doctor ordered. (Unless your doctor has actually prescribed you medicine, then take that. (Hooray for universal healthcare.)) Leaning heavily on the spoof side of things, Eugenius! is an easy to enjoy ‘80s-set romp of a familiar comic book story – dorky boy sketches out his feelings and desires in fantastical comic form, proves he has talent, is more than just a dork – but with a clever and, yes, ‘eunique’ (their word) take. From creators Chris Wilkins and Ben Adams, this amusing, cheerful musical needs work before its next incarnation, but what’s there now is happy, silly fun.
Amid all this dreariness, both from the weather getting grayer and Britain’s (slash the world’s) prospects looking bleaker, a goofy superhero musical is exactly what the doctor ordered. (Unless your doctor has actually prescribed you medicine, then take that. (Hooray for universal healthcare.)) Leaning heavily on the spoof side of things, Eugenius! is an easy to enjoy ‘80s-set romp of a familiar comic book story – dorky boy sketches out his feelings and desires in fantastical comic form, proves he has talent, is more than just a dork – but with a clever and, yes, ‘eunique’ (their word) take. From creators Chris Wilkins and Ben Adams, this amusing, cheerful musical needs work before its next incarnation, but what’s there now is happy, silly fun.
Eugenius! (must I use the exclamation point every time? I think it’s really the title so yes!) tells of teenage geek (not nerd; nerds like numbers, geeks like gadgets, we’re told (although ‘geeks like superhero stuff’ would have been more appropriate because they never used gadgets but go on)) Eugene, a supposedly nondescript boy living in 1980s Ohio, spending his days trying to hide from your typical high school bullies and getting out his feels by drawing original comics. Eugene (Rob Houchen), pale and skinny (at least he looks it in clothes – kudos to whoever costumed him and hid alla that til the surprise end), reeks of chronic teenage geek. He doesn’t think he’ll ever be good enough but aspires to greatness nonetheless. His friends believe in him though, and when an opportunity to bring his creative work to a big stage presents itself, they make sure Eugene takes his chance.
As friends/sidekicks/featured actors in musicals go, Eugene’s are pretty wonderful. Feris (Daniel Buckley) is a sweaty goofball with only one ‘r’ but with nonstop ‘80s references and an impeccable Yoda impression to match his Sloth one. Janey (Laura Baldwin) is a supportive, sweet girl who loves Eugene but is scared she’s stuck in the friend zone. I loved that they had the cliche story of a friend in love with another friend who is always complaining about being in the friend zone, but switched the typical pattern and made it a girl. It’s much sweeter than way and not gross like all guys complaining about the zone are.
When a Hollywood studio sends minions around America to find the next big thing, and they inexplicably go to high schools and beg students to just say something, Janey and Feris urge Eugene to present his work. The rep loves it and flies Eugene straight to Hollywood. I thought this part was going to be a dream but then the rest of the show is in Hollywood so it’s the kind of show you just roll with, okay. My least favorite part of the show was the intro to Hollywood song dedicated to the big studio executive (really the most annoying part of the show (well, tied for first; you’ll see)) about how you have to kiss his ass to get anywhere. It’s called “A Little Kiss Ass” and it does not work musically. I spent those five minutes wishing that they had paid for the rights to the most amazing Hollywood executive introduction song, Shaiman and Wittman’s one from Smash – “Don’t Say Yes Until I Finish Talking” – and then I sang it in my head instead. And we liked it and we loved it.
As friends/sidekicks/featured actors in musicals go, Eugene’s are pretty wonderful. Feris (Daniel Buckley) is a sweaty goofball with only one ‘r’ but with nonstop ‘80s references and an impeccable Yoda impression to match his Sloth one. Janey (Laura Baldwin) is a supportive, sweet girl who loves Eugene but is scared she’s stuck in the friend zone. I loved that they had the cliche story of a friend in love with another friend who is always complaining about being in the friend zone, but switched the typical pattern and made it a girl. It’s much sweeter than way and not gross like all guys complaining about the zone are.
When a Hollywood studio sends minions around America to find the next big thing, and they inexplicably go to high schools and beg students to just say something, Janey and Feris urge Eugene to present his work. The rep loves it and flies Eugene straight to Hollywood. I thought this part was going to be a dream but then the rest of the show is in Hollywood so it’s the kind of show you just roll with, okay. My least favorite part of the show was the intro to Hollywood song dedicated to the big studio executive (really the most annoying part of the show (well, tied for first; you’ll see)) about how you have to kiss his ass to get anywhere. It’s called “A Little Kiss Ass” and it does not work musically. I spent those five minutes wishing that they had paid for the rights to the most amazing Hollywood executive introduction song, Shaiman and Wittman’s one from Smash – “Don’t Say Yes Until I Finish Talking” – and then I sang it in my head instead. And we liked it and we loved it.
Honestly all future productions should cut this song or pay to use the Smash one. (It’s so damn good.) To have the executive then order that all the girls coming in for casting should be sent directly to his office was clearly supposed to be a topical joke, but it also really horribly does not work at all. If you are going to make jokes about that situation, you need to do better and actually have it be clever, not just exist for its own sake.
So they’re making a big movie about Eugene’s comic book story, which is about a superhero called Tough Man. On a faraway planet called Itsaballoon, the rulers were welcoming a new baby, but it turned out to be two, which was bad luck because a prophecy declared that twins would destroy their planet or something. So they sent the weaker one (determined during a truly hilarious bit), named Hector, out into space with a robot, but this kid would grow up with the sole aim of destroying his luckier twin brother, Tough Man. But Tough Man – ‘tough but fair’ – would make sure that justice always won out. And he would make sure that his sidekick Super Hot Lady (it IS a teenage boy’s work, after all) never touched him because that would weaken him.
But plot twist of all plot twists, as they’re making Eugene’s movie, Evil Lord Hector (Neil McDermott, amazing) hears the dumbest actor ever proclaim that he’s Tough Man on set, and he sets course for the Hollywood studio. Yes, Hector is real, and really looking for his brother. Dun dun dunnnn! I loved this twist (and the others to come!), but the book was messy in act two. The characters never showed any real realization or coming to terms with the fact that Hector was actually real, and it wasn’t clear that they realized Eugene had dreamt up a true story. Also, there is too much unnecessary stuff in the second half, and it drags whenever Hector isn’t around (he really is the best). And while it ended all well and good, I wish they made a bigger show of pointing out why Eugene had been dreaming of this story. Using his dad more effectively would help with Eugene’s arc, especially if clarified whether he was who we now assume he was.
That aforementioned ‘unnecessary stuff’ in act two is also the aforementioned ‘most annoying part of the show’. Feris, the stereotypical loony and kind of gross sidekick, has a love song with the actress cast as Super Hot Lady in the movie, and it’s called ‘The No Pants Dance’, and they need to completely cut the song and everything mentioned about the two of them together. It’s infuriating to have a clever show fall back on THE MOST annoying, tired trope there is – the messy overweight boy catching the eye of a, well, a super hot lady. First of all, he is a HIGH SCHOOL STUDENT, so probably underage so COME ON. Second, Kevin James has already tired out all variations on this theme and we’re all tired of it so everyone from now on please cut it out and stop feeling the need to ‘gift’ a hot woman onto a non-hot boy like he deserves it for being not cool or something. It’s beyond irritating, and it’s actually offensive I think to every kind of person, hot or not.
Other than my two big gripes, it’s a pleasant, amiable show. While there’s no real need to set it in America, I was impressed by all the leads’ solid mid-Western accents. Of course there were some wonky accents. The school bully was doing a full-on New York mobster one, while Eugene’s father was a southerner? It was distracting. And they clearly didn’t have an American go over the book, because everyone kept saying ‘whilst’ instead of ‘while’ and using plural verbs for mass nouns (ugh). Just let me go over all books, guys. But anyway, I love that it’s set in the ‘80s, and they really make it clear with the great lighting and the music. Some of the music was very catchy, but I am concerned that several songs are direct copies of famous ‘80s power ballads. Janey and Eugene’s 11 o’clock number was hundo p Celine’s “Where Does My Heart Beat Now”, while the big Act I ender used the exact instrumentals of “King of Wishful Thinking”. It’s unclear if this was accidental infringement from trying to achieve classic ‘80s sounds, or if these were purposeful ‘homages’. Whichever it is, they need to be clearer about it, because with the line so blurry I’d be worried about people getting the wrong idea (*cough* like lawyers who used to do IP *cough*).
The best numbers go to Janey and Eugene, as they should. Both actors are perfectly cast, and while I wish their nerd personalities, voices, and overall affects were more pronounced so that their transformations stood out more drastically, they were great. I was ready to complain about Janey’s too-sincere Act One ballad not fitting with the mood of the work, but then it turned into a hilarious and perfect ‘80s power ballad, complete with wind machine treatment. Nailing the right tone of the piece with a move like that helps this show succeed, and fixing all the parts where the tone is off would make it amazing.
Hmm, I feel like I’ve complained a lot, but you know what I (and Coach from ‘Love and Basketball’) say. With a few fixes, I think this show could be really great, and it should be a staple in high schools and colleges. As it is, it’s tons of fun and I’m so happy I saw it. They are using that small stage so well, and having something so fresh and exciting in London theatre is a treat.
So they’re making a big movie about Eugene’s comic book story, which is about a superhero called Tough Man. On a faraway planet called Itsaballoon, the rulers were welcoming a new baby, but it turned out to be two, which was bad luck because a prophecy declared that twins would destroy their planet or something. So they sent the weaker one (determined during a truly hilarious bit), named Hector, out into space with a robot, but this kid would grow up with the sole aim of destroying his luckier twin brother, Tough Man. But Tough Man – ‘tough but fair’ – would make sure that justice always won out. And he would make sure that his sidekick Super Hot Lady (it IS a teenage boy’s work, after all) never touched him because that would weaken him.
But plot twist of all plot twists, as they’re making Eugene’s movie, Evil Lord Hector (Neil McDermott, amazing) hears the dumbest actor ever proclaim that he’s Tough Man on set, and he sets course for the Hollywood studio. Yes, Hector is real, and really looking for his brother. Dun dun dunnnn! I loved this twist (and the others to come!), but the book was messy in act two. The characters never showed any real realization or coming to terms with the fact that Hector was actually real, and it wasn’t clear that they realized Eugene had dreamt up a true story. Also, there is too much unnecessary stuff in the second half, and it drags whenever Hector isn’t around (he really is the best). And while it ended all well and good, I wish they made a bigger show of pointing out why Eugene had been dreaming of this story. Using his dad more effectively would help with Eugene’s arc, especially if clarified whether he was who we now assume he was.
That aforementioned ‘unnecessary stuff’ in act two is also the aforementioned ‘most annoying part of the show’. Feris, the stereotypical loony and kind of gross sidekick, has a love song with the actress cast as Super Hot Lady in the movie, and it’s called ‘The No Pants Dance’, and they need to completely cut the song and everything mentioned about the two of them together. It’s infuriating to have a clever show fall back on THE MOST annoying, tired trope there is – the messy overweight boy catching the eye of a, well, a super hot lady. First of all, he is a HIGH SCHOOL STUDENT, so probably underage so COME ON. Second, Kevin James has already tired out all variations on this theme and we’re all tired of it so everyone from now on please cut it out and stop feeling the need to ‘gift’ a hot woman onto a non-hot boy like he deserves it for being not cool or something. It’s beyond irritating, and it’s actually offensive I think to every kind of person, hot or not.
Other than my two big gripes, it’s a pleasant, amiable show. While there’s no real need to set it in America, I was impressed by all the leads’ solid mid-Western accents. Of course there were some wonky accents. The school bully was doing a full-on New York mobster one, while Eugene’s father was a southerner? It was distracting. And they clearly didn’t have an American go over the book, because everyone kept saying ‘whilst’ instead of ‘while’ and using plural verbs for mass nouns (ugh). Just let me go over all books, guys. But anyway, I love that it’s set in the ‘80s, and they really make it clear with the great lighting and the music. Some of the music was very catchy, but I am concerned that several songs are direct copies of famous ‘80s power ballads. Janey and Eugene’s 11 o’clock number was hundo p Celine’s “Where Does My Heart Beat Now”, while the big Act I ender used the exact instrumentals of “King of Wishful Thinking”. It’s unclear if this was accidental infringement from trying to achieve classic ‘80s sounds, or if these were purposeful ‘homages’. Whichever it is, they need to be clearer about it, because with the line so blurry I’d be worried about people getting the wrong idea (*cough* like lawyers who used to do IP *cough*).
The best numbers go to Janey and Eugene, as they should. Both actors are perfectly cast, and while I wish their nerd personalities, voices, and overall affects were more pronounced so that their transformations stood out more drastically, they were great. I was ready to complain about Janey’s too-sincere Act One ballad not fitting with the mood of the work, but then it turned into a hilarious and perfect ‘80s power ballad, complete with wind machine treatment. Nailing the right tone of the piece with a move like that helps this show succeed, and fixing all the parts where the tone is off would make it amazing.
Hmm, I feel like I’ve complained a lot, but you know what I (and Coach from ‘Love and Basketball’) say. With a few fixes, I think this show could be really great, and it should be a staple in high schools and colleges. As it is, it’s tons of fun and I’m so happy I saw it. They are using that small stage so well, and having something so fresh and exciting in London theatre is a treat.
INFORMATION
Eugenius! closes at The Other Palace on Sunday, so if you are in London go quick. It was supposed to transfer to the West End, but they just announced that that fell through due to an investor pulling out (so it won’t get preeeeeegnannnnnnnnnnnnt). I hope they get another chance to hit the West End in the future – maybe after taking the above suggestions into account.
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Condensed, Silly Fun at Opera Undone: Tosca & La Boheme
How fun does it sound to see two of Puccini’s best operas performed in the same night? Okay it sounds long. But this new production of Opera Undone does just that – generally speaking. This new joint ticket of Tosca and La Boheme gives each classic work an hour max, sharing the gist and the highlights, and while that’s not the ideal way to enjoy classic opera, it is a whole lot of fun.
Perfect for short attention spans and newcomers to opera, this show was also hugely enjoyable for someone like me, who wrote a thesis on La Boheme and knows almost every word. Not that the words mattered here: both reimagined and reformed operas are performed in English, and especially in one case lots of liberties are taken with the ‘translation.’ Purists and those with sticks up their butts about opera might not appreciate it, but it’s a joy to see opera used in a flexible, fun way.
Tosca is performed first, so you know the warnings about loud gun shots are coming in this half, unless they seriously rewrote La Boheme (which they did but not in a murdery way). I’ve seen a traditional production of Tosca before but I don’t know it well enough to notice how much the story was changed here, if it was, aside from setting the scene during like a mob boss’s reign? I think? It was definitely not during Napoleon’s time, I know that much. Tosca is about an artist named Mario, who is keeping quiet the hiding place of his political prisoner friend Angelotti, and Mario’s girlfriend Tosca, a singer and a typical nagging annoying WOMAN that men in history have written thinking they’re being funny. Obviously, this means Tosca gets jealous easily too, because that’s how the women do. When she sees Mario’s latest painting, of a woman, she’s all WHO’S THAT WHY IS SHE SO PRETTY and you’re like girl, it’s a painting. I mean he’s an Italian man living in Rome you probably have realer problems to worry about. But the evil Scarpia, the chief of police, goads her to be jealous of the painting so you know he’s the bad guy straight away. He wants to bang Tosca and kill Mario, since he’s pretty sure the latter knows where Angelotti is hiding (it’s true though), so he has Mario arrested. Tosca goes to Scarpia to beg for Mario’s life and some shit goes down from there.
In this well-reduced version, the action begins with Mario painting, and oh my god, since there’s really no set (it’s in the tiny Studio 2 at Trafalgar Studios which is a tiny dark room) and this is in the round, he puts a painting’s frame around the neck of an AUDIENCE MEMBER. This chosen audience member is then pretty involved in the action for the next 20 minutes or so as Mario and Tosca and Scarpia examine and discuss the painting. IF YOU DO NOT WANT THIS TO BE YOU, do not sit in the front rows and be a woman. Our participant didn’t seem to mind but my god my face would have burnt off from mortification-induced redness.
My Tosca this evening (it’s a rotating cast like a proper opera does), Honey Rouhani, was superb, so it’s a shame she didn’t have as much as usual to do. It seemed like Scarpia had an aria too many, and while strong, his voice began to feel grating. Maybe because he’s the bad guy and I was itching for him to get all murdered. Okay so Mario gets arrested, and Tosca goes to Scarpia and he’s like ‘I’ll let him go if we do the no-pants dance’ and Tosca’s all ughhh really ugh I mean I guess okay I gotta save Mario. Scarpia shows her a gun that he says has blanks in it, so she will have to pretend to shoot Mario and he will have to pretend to die, and then the guards will let her escape (with the body?? mmkay). I mean OBVIOUSLY YOU SHOULD TEST THE GUN FIRST, TOSCA, like shoot someone in the foot or something. Or the hand so you can run if it’s real? Shit what’s the best thing to shoot to test a gun? I mean Scarpia clearly! But she doesn’t. Once Scarpia tells her his plan for saving Mario, he then is all ‘okay it’s party time’ and she pretends to be letting him enter the bone zone but then she STABS HIM IN THE HEAD and it’s the MOST SATISFYING murder maybe of all time.
After killing a guy nbd she then goes to save Mario and tells him the plan of ‘blanks in the gun’ and OBVIOUSLY that was a lie and she kills him and then realizes it and kills herself. Yeah so Tosca is a full on murder-sui sitch. I love a good murder-sui but I’ve never seen one happen literally at my feet before – Studio 2 is a tiny little living room of a theatre and it was eek I was like ‘call the cops!’ ‘no not the regular cops!’ Anyway I enjoyed this condensed version a whole lot. There’s a lot of filler in the standard version that gets boring so I’m all in for this one.
It helps that Tosca isn’t one of my most beloved things like La Boheme is. I was nervous that they’d cut my favorite parts, which was undeniable and unavoidable because the whole thing is my favorite part. Luckily, they decided to change the story so much that it was like a whole different work, making me feel much less precious about it but still enjoying all the familiar melodies. I loved being able to compare this version to the original and noticing what clever little changes they made to allude to the original (not surprising considering how much work I’ve done comparing it to Rent). So La Boheme is about two friends, Rodolfo and Marcello, who are both poor artists. Rodolfo falls in love with Mimi, a poor young lady who has TB and is dying. Marcello has a complicated relationship with his ex-girlfriend Musetta. Just think Rent and you get the story.
Here, it was rewritten to be present day London, and Rod hears the famous knock on his door not from a girl who needs a light for her candle but from a guy who is answering Rod’s GRINDR invitation! I mean, it’s forking hilarious. The lyrics had the audience in stitches. It’s not all funny because this guy, who calls himself Mimi to keep it simple, is a drug addict whose eventual demise is from that addiction, but man do they cram in the humor. My favorite little quirk was having Marcello and Musetta (now Melissa because nobody modern is named Musetta, which is a shame, it just means little baby muse) struggle with polyamory. That’s so good. Again, Rouhani’s Melissa was the standout (luckily they included Musetta’s Waltz in this short version). The rewrites made it a lot of fun, and it was a clever modernization. Rewritten for a tenor, Mimi’s music doesn’t scratch the full itch of familiarity you (I) expect from her parts, so I was looking forward to listening to my recordings to hear the Rodolfo-Mimi sections in all their soprano-having glory. But even so, it’s a fun, cheeky version that even the old men who didn’t know what they were getting into with this show seemed to fully enjoy. I definitely recommend Opera Undone both for newbies and opera aficionados.
INFORMATION
Each act/opera is one hour and there’s a 15-minute interval. With a 19:45 (NB!) curtain, Act 1 ended at 20:48. The show ended at 22:00 EXACTLY which deserves a medal. Studio 2 is tiny and on the same floor as the Trafalgar Studios bar, which means the ladies room is very convenient.
3 Great Productions You Probably Missed: HMS Pinafore, Once on this Island, Dogfight
It’s Theatre Thursday! We’re celebrating a FANTASTIC week of theatre-going by looking at not one, not two, but THREE great-to-fantastic shows…that all sadly closed on Saturday. However, they’re all established shows that we should see future productions of fairly soon.
H.M.S. Pinafore at Wilton’s Music Hall
Whenever a Gilbert & Sullivan classic comes to Wilton’s Music Hall, we’re there. Well, whenever anything comes to Wilton’s we’re there, because they’re our neighbors. Hey neighbors! But their G&S productions are without fail hysterical, in a way that really lets the comic masterpieces shine. Thanks to the Opera Della Luna company, the recent H.M.S. Pinafore continued the trend, with their game cast showing off their perfect comedic timing.
With an ensemble of just 8 players, many changing in and out of several roles, Opera Della Luna energetically tells the tale of the poor sailor in love with the captain’s daughter, the captain’s daughter who loves him back but is promised to an admiral, the absurdly funny captain who never (well, hardly ever) uses bad language, and all the confusion and hilarity that abounds aboard the ship.
For those of you unfamiliar with the 1878 comic opera, it takes place on a docked British warship. An older woman named Buttercup comes on board to sell some ‘wares’ which no matter what the context or show or painting always looks like a basket full of ribbon, which is like, not what I’d expect sailors to need on board. Ralph Rackstraw, a sailor in the fleet, comes on deck and pretends to buy from Buttercup and then doesn’t, which as someone who ran a vegan bakery stall on Brick Lane for six months I can tell you is really shitty behavior. Nothing more frustrating. Anyway Ralph is like ‘no I don’t need ribbon but I LOVEEEE JOSEPHINEEEE’ who is the captain’s lovely daughter (with the best voice in the cast). The other sailors are like ‘avast ye matey, she’s the captain’s daughter so she can’t be with you.’ And then the captain, Captain Corcoran, comes on deck and sings his famous song about how he ‘hardly ever’ does a bunch of stuff and is HILARIOUS and I wish that I could find the name of the actor from the ODL website but it’s incredibly confusing and I think only has the 2000-era cast lists for this show up because I googled the names and they don’t look like who I need the name of, guys, so please tell whoever plays Corcoran how great he is.
The captain talks to the old lady Buttercup and they def have some history or future or something going on, but there’s no time for that because the Admiral that Josephine’s set to marry comes aboard (never seen so much coming and going on a ship) with his sister, his cousin, and his aunt and he sings a forking hilarious song introducing himself and his sister, his cousin, and his aunt. The Admiral is a bumbling fool who despite being in a very high position in the Queen’s Navee knows nothing about the sea or sailing, like most men in power. He also thinks the Captain should say ‘if you please’ to his sailors whenever giving orders. The Admiral and the Captain are comedic gold and definitely the standouts here, although they do have the two best roles.
After the Admiral, Sir Joseph, sings about how British sailors are any man’s equal – except, of course, his own – Ralph is buoyed by the thought and confesses his love to Josephine. She loves him back, but knows her duty is to marry the goofy old man so JUST LIKE NIKKI K HIGH-KICKING IT DOWN AT THE MOULIN ROUGE, she pretends not to love Ralph back which is like RULE #1 of farcey romcoms and lies IN ORDER TO SAVE HIM. HURT HIM, TO SAVE HIM, as the wise and scary Jim Broadbent told Nikki K before she didn’t win the Oscar she should have won.
Ralph threatens to kill himself due to his broken heart and his shipmates are like ‘eh them’s the breaks matey’, surprisingly cool with the very bad plan, but the luckily Josephine enters again and sees him and is like NO DON’T I LOVE YOU, and while I’m sure there are examples of this very shitty plot device in older works, for now I’m going to blame Pinafore for giving weak misogynists this ploy in their arsenal, that if a pretty woman doesn’t love them they should threaten to kill themselves so they know it’s ‘their fault if they die’ which is SOME REAL MISOGYNIST GASLIGHTY BULLSHIT.
My only real complaint with the story though; the rest is so fun and ridiculous.
In Act II, Sir Joseph complains to the captain that Josephine hasn’t officially accepted his proposal yet and he’s like wahhhh just make your teenage daughter marry my old ass alreadyyyyy, and the Captain suggests that maybe she’s overwhelmed by his lofty rank and feels he’s too far above her. Sir Joseph says pish posh and sings a song arguing that love ‘levels all ranks’, which he doesn’t realize, of course, is arguing that Josephine and Ralph should be able to marry despite their different ranks. DRAMATIC IRONY.
Josephine and Ralph plan to leave the ship and elope but the Captain catches them and is unmoved by their protestations of love, saying – historically noteworthy because omg he said like the worst word ever uttered on stage at that time – “why damn, it’s too bad!” I KNOW! bad. Sir Joseph is horrified by the bad language and confines the Captain to his quarters. Sir Joseph asks the crew what happened to make the Captain CURSE SO BAD, Ralph spills the beans about him and Josephine, which Sir Joseph does NOT like, and so he orders Ralph to be loaded with chains and taken to the brig, which is shipcute for jail! We definitely need a completely random deus ex machina to save Ralph from this fate right about now guys! Oh good, here comes one in the form of a revelation from random lady Buttercup: She steps forward and reveals to the crew that many years ago, she practiced BABY FARMING, and she cared for two babies, one of low birth, one upper-class, and she mixed the babies up. OKAY IT SOUNDS LIKE A WAR CRIME, this baby farming, but what of this now? Well the two babies – are you ready – were RALPH AND THE CAPTAIN. So CLEARLY the big revelation is supposed to be ‘oh wow, Ralph is actually of noble birth and the Captain is the lowly one, so their troubles with the whole marriage issue are over if Ralph chooses!’ but the real revelation is HOT FUCK RALPH IS THE SAME AGE AS THE *FATHER* OF THE WOMAN HE LOVES OMG THAT IS GROSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSS. So Ralph is like 20 years older give or take the era-appropriate standard deviation than the girl he loves?? Blech. Josephine RUN/swim.
So instead of like taking a beat and realizing how stupid the whole idea of noble blood is and how they’ve lived in the ‘wrong’ lives long enough to prove that, instead RALPH AND THE CAPTAIN SWITCH POSITIONS. Ralph literally puts on Corcoran’s uniform, says “I’M THE CAPTAIN NOW”, and Corcoran becomes a lowly sailor. WAT. Didn’t the captain earn his captaincy? Like wtf. Obviously, Josephine, the daughter of a sailor, is now too low for the Admiral to marry, so she and Ralph are cleared for takeoff despite their truly gross age difference. And now, since Corcoran is a lowly sailor, he can up and marry…Buttercup! LIKE WTF. SHE JUST RUINED YOUR LIFE. And why did it take her so long to share? What an asshole!
Anyway it was amazing.
Dogfight and Once on this Island at the Southwark Playhouse
If anyone, for whatever bad reason, was worrying about the future talent pool in Britain, there’s no need to worry. The British Theatre Academy’s two fantastic youth productions that played the Southwark Theatre in August were both brimming with impressive young talent, up to the task of handling two challenging – and two of my all-time favorite – shows. We all know how overprotective I can be of things that are my faves, and how attached I am to past great productions. My review of the recent Broadway revivial of Once on this Island is pretty much me saying OMG OMG OMG THIS IS AMAZING OMG OMG OMG OMG I CAN’T BELIEVE HOW MAGICAL IT’S AMAZING MAGIC for like 4 pages.
But despite my high standards for my (not mine) truly beloved show, the BTA yoots blew me away. Despite the smaller space, budget, experience level, everything, the yoots put on a show that was just as magical and moving and TRIUMPHANT as I could have hoped. Lee Proud’s clever direction captured all the thrills that elevate the story, from the Ti Moune switch (which never fails to make me sob, even when I’m just listening to the cast recording and know it’s that part) to the charming representation of the chirping birds. His equally fantastic choreography brought to mind the greatest parts of Camille A. Brown’s work on Broadway (which should have won the Tony), with powerful and vigorous ensemble dance numbers the most compelling and exciting.
What was done with this small space and barely any props or set truly begs for another longer run, or a transfer. Since I saw the Broadway revival, I’ve read the infamous words of Brandon Victor Dixon condemning this show, and I was prepared to see what he meant regarding the issues in the story, now that I was enlightened. But such a lovely, blissful production made it hard to agree with him. And sure, as a white person I’m not the person to comment on whether the show’s attempt to comment on issues of race fail and it becomes itself racist. But the audience, filled with people of all backgrounds, all jumped to their feet at the end faster than I’ve ever seen, weeping and cheering. It’s hard to find fault with a show that does that.
And that ensemble, man alive, the talent on display was so uplifting. Everyone seemed to be having the time of their lives (especially my favorite boy ensemblist who was just SO young and SO happy, and I was just so happy for him) and that kind of joy was infectious. The standout performer for me, who as a casting agent I’d be keeping an eye on, was Aviva Tulley, who played the goddess of love Erzulie. Her natural ease and grace suggested a performer of much more experience. Others in the cast, like Ti Moune (the very talented Chrissie Bhime) and Euralie, will need to work on melting into their characters more and not obviously Acting, but for a youth ensemble they’re all ahead of where you’d expect.
We found it really interesting that both our Ti Moune and our Rose, in Dogfight, both frequently tended to speak the ends of sung lyrics for emphasis instead of acting through their singing, which is definitely one key technique to work on. But like our Ti Moune, our Rose (the roles are double cast and nowhere in the programme or theatre was our show’s cast listed, which is a shame, because I’d like to give her her due) was otherwise very impressive. She gave an added nerdy awkwardness to Rose’s self-consciousness that was different from any other production of Dogfight I’ve seen, and it worked. (It reminded both of us of Ben Platt’s Evan Hansen tics.) I was also greatly impressed by our Eddie. With Dogfight, no set is required (and as this one was in the Southwark’s “Little”, the black box room, there was none), but the story needs shrewd and careful direction to sing as it’s meant to. Dean Johnson’s direction definitely let the story land properly, as did the talent. It could be because we were all so close in that tiny room, but I was struck more than ever at how the soldiers’ reprise of their anthem was being sung out of heartbreaking desperation, a need to convince themselves that they were special and that what they were doing was guaranteed to garner them a homecoming parade, because if they stop thinking that for one second, they’ll realize they’re probably going to die. This was so well done, making you feel for the soldiers even though they’ve already established that they’re mostly bad people. And that’s the beauty of Dogfight, telling so effectively a character-driven story that lets you recognize the humanity in people that you might hate, and maybe their ability to change, which felt incredibly relevant in today’s culture.
Hopefully another production, or another run of these productions, will be coming to London again soon, because it was quite wonderful to see such strong work.
