strange radiation: the pool of radiance archive
Adventures with an unreliable narrator.
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May 3 07: from the culture desk
Apparently I’ve got a planet in the house of musicals right now. Recently I’ve had the opportunity to see two (2) different big Broadway shows. The first was “Legally Blonde,” which I saw in previews and you should have, too, because I’m not sure it’s worth the full ticket price. It’s pink, it’s intermittently funny, the cast is talented and really really enthusiastic. But the show itself is kind of forgettable. By the next morning I couldn’t remember a single bar of music. Perhaps it would have helped if I’d seen the movie — but Different Bob had, and as much as he adores the film he wasn’t that so crazy about the show either.
Now, “Spring Awakening,” on the other hand. There is a show worth full ticket price. I laughed, I cried, I looked on in amazement at how much the lead actor spits as he enunciates. No, really, I did all three of those things. Somehow my buddy Rich and I ended up in the front row, dead center; in most cases this would be a liability but the staging of the show made these the best seats in the house. What an incredibly talented bunch of kids; and the music (by Duncan Sheik) is great; and the book (a more-or-less verbatim adaptation of the 1891 play by Frank Wedekind), which must have been hugely transgressive in the late 19th century, still contains recognizable human teenagers. Go see that.
But if you are looking for a cheaper ticket — Hey! Twenty bucks! — or something more scientifictional, allow me to make a recommendation. My buddy Manoel Felciano (Tony nominee for his performance as Toby in Sweeney Todd) is producing a one-hour semistaged version of “The Hidden Sky” on May 14 at Joe’s Pub. And you should go see that, too.
“The Hidden Sky” is a musical version of the Ursula K. LeGuin story “The Masters,” from her collection The Wind’s Twelve Quarters. The world is old, and changed: some catastrophe in the distant past has veiled the sky in clouds. The theocracy that emerged to salvage some form of civilization has responded to the destruction by banning all scientific thought, all machinery beyond its most simple forms, even all mathematics beyond the most basic operations. But a young woman cannot help but think, and ask: What makes the ball fall? Can the motion of a body in space be predicted? What are the numerical patterns behind the swirling of clouds, the whirling of water?
“The Hidden Sky” is a show that deserves your attention. I first saw it in a similar showcase at Ars Nova last fall. Peter Foley wrote it (with a book by Kate Chisholm), and the music is fabulous. Manoel will be one of the leads, opposite Marya Grandy, who is superfunny and so very talented. Here’s a flyer, to give to friends; but you should buy your ticket today from Joe’s Pub while you can. This show pushes every happy-button I have, and I am more than pleased to evangelize on its behalf. I mean, it has a song in which revelation on the nature of God is accompanied by a chorus singing the Fibonacci sequence. How can you not go?
