September 18, 2012
“Chaplin” to “Tribes” ~
“Bring It On”
by TONY VELLELA
It happens much less often to young men than it does to young women. By my reckoning, the last few times were 1993 and 2003. And it’s happened again.
The ‘it?’ A nearly unknown young man dazzles and captivates in an original musical, filling the stage and commanding everyone’s attention for all the right reasons. In 1993, it was Michael Cerveris, in “Tommy.” Ten years later, in 2003, John Lloyd Young practically flattened audiences as Frankie Valli in “Jersey Boys.” And now, Rob McClure conjures up that same special magic, the fantastic performance only a spellbinder can deliver, as the title character in “Chaplin.”
Expecting anyone to ignite the types of talents Charlie Chaplin bestowed on the whole world during the first few decades of the last century would seem like a chore so tough that no one could fill those shoes – and we’re talking about those oversized floppers that were part of Chaplin’s trademark outfit. Chaplin, dubbed the Little Tramp, literally revolutionized how the motion picture industry operated, how to balance artificial, prank-based comedy with genuine, heart-rending pathos, and to do it all without speaking a single word.
Charles Chaplin, along with his older brother and business manager Sydney, took the collective raw energies from London’s East End streets and alleys, and used them to shape a style of performing that simply – connected. No words needed. Young Charlie witnessed basic emotions as they sprang up, on and in the streets, and soon was experiencing them first-hand. Chief among them happened as he was forced to witness something he would never forget – watching his mother, a saloon singer, fall prey to the bottle. Charlie forever felt some measure of guilt as he saw her mind descend into a hazy blur, leading to her institutionalization. His guilt, however undeserved, never left him.
Like a chapter from one of the popular penny paperbacks of the day, Charlie was discovered! He often stepped in to fill one of his mother’s performing dates, and had gained a measure of recognition while still a young teen. After seeing him on tour in America, Hollywoodland’s Mack Sennett tapped young Charlie to return with him to California, and join his growing ensemble of silent screen actors and actresses. Sennett saw Chaplin’s skilled talent for inventing business as he went along, the same style Sennett had been using to crank out his nickelodeon shorts. Sydney stayed in London to care for mother Hannah, until Charlie, now one of America’s richest and most popular screen ‘stars,’ persuaded Sydney to pack up himself, their mother and anything else of value, and move the whole lot to the sunny shores of the Pacific.
For more than a dozen years, Charlie’s comic antics and hilarious mishaps, which he drew from recollections of his childhood street life, fueled a movie career that catapulted him to the top, leading eventually to a break with Sennett, and the creation of Chaplin Productions. His films mesmerized audiences everywhere, viewing them in newly-outfitted movie theatres and in cleaned-up storefronts fitted with a white bed sheet. Three marriages repeated the same track in and out of divorce court, however costly the settlements. His marriage to film actress Paulette Goddard gave him some pleasure, to be sure, but it was his marriage in 1943, to Oona O’Neill, 18-year old daughter of playwright Eugene, where he finally found a true soul mate, at the age of 53. They shared left-wing political beliefs, as well as eight children. It was not until he snubbed the reigning widely-syndicated queen of the gossip columnists of the era, Hedda Hopper, that his misadventures and libertine lifestyle caught up with him. Hopper launched a crusade to ruin the Little Tramp, charging him with being a Communist – she had a direct line to J. Edgar [think Hunsicker in “Sweet Smell of Success”]. Hopper, whose own one-dimensional acting on screen never brought her more than quirky supporting roles, turned her columns into platforms for this vengeful obsession. Her publishers loved it; his fans did not. His self-imposed exile to Paris lasted until his status was reversed, and Hollywood honored him with an honorary Oscar in 1971. He was 88.
This man, Chaplin, led a surprising, colorful, extraordinary life. This show, “Chaplin,” is quite ordinary, devoid of much color [literally – the show’s palette is almost exclusively black and white, to evoke the silents], and rather predictable, all the more because its ills are so starkly self-inflicted.
Presenting this overstuffed life on a stage with no sets, few set pieces and devoid of color imposes a judgment on the content that is so at odds with its reality. Trying to ‘fill’ the stage instead with a few dancing couples and painted drops only calls attention to how vacant the spaces are. This rumpled show, saddled with the constantly-shifting time sequences from librettists Christopher Curtis and Thomas Meehan, gets no assistance from Warren Carlyle’s pedestrian direction and choreography. Jon Driscoll’s video and projection design work deserves special mention for adding sorely-needed movement and eye relief with a deft touch of true artistry. However, the overall effect remains that of a high-end university production caught short of funds at the end of the semester. [minor case-in-point: American flags of post 1960]
A word about Jenn Colella [Hedda Hopper]. This woman makes nasty look amusing. She holds the stage in every one of her scenes [too few, for my taste], especially since HH’s role in Charlie’s reversals was so – uh – paramount?
Craving COLOR? Moaning for MOVEMENT? Looking for a little LEG? Your longings can be satisfied only three blocks south, at the St. James. “Bring It On: The Musical” delivers all you desire, and lots and lots more. Inspired by the series of “Bring It On” modest teen features from the 2000’s, this production makes helium look like lead.
The scene: American high schools # 1 and # 2. Award-winning cheerleading squad from school # 1 [white bread heaven] learns its main attraction, captain Campbell [Taylor Louderman] has been transferred to school # 2 [we’re made to think their kids can’t even spell ‘ghetto’]. Plus – they have NO cheerleading squad. None. Talk about anti-American. Joining Campbell in a move to # 2 is Bridget, # 1 squad’s overweight ‘mascot’ cheerleader. This unlikely set of allies grabs the bit and decides [without seeking input] that the hip-hop dance crew will morph into a squad. Predictable resistance [led by the super-strong vocals of knockout Adrienne Warren]. Boyfriend/girlfriend criss-crosses [Jason Gotay is the deserving b.f. of choice]. Plus a few eyebrow-raisers [even “Glee” does not have a transgender student – yet]. And for those of you who were in high school along with Andy Hardy, there’s the porcelain-perfect Elle McElmore, who reincarnates young June Presser, who routinely portrayed the nemesis of every one of Andy’s ‘real’ bobby-soxer babes.
Respect is earned by these cavorters, because the moves they engineer, from handstand pyramids and sweep cradles to the truly perilous double full basket toss, can take your breath away. And Andy Blankenbuehler’s choreography keeps everyone looking lighter than air as they glide through it, sneakers a foot off the ground, to the pumped score from Lin-Manuel Miranda and Tom Kitt. Jeff Whitty’s book, Andy B’s direction and the lyrics by Lin-Manuel and Amanda Green = B+, although credit is due for how they manage to echo Lady Gaga when the ladies belt out they’re doing “what we were born to do.”
So here’s a thought: you’re wanting to plan a Broadway foray with your musically-inclined teens. Send those who prefer pep to “Bring It On.” Drop off those who find fun on page one to “Newsies.” You? You’re on your own. Just this “Once.”
Cheerleading squads. Basketball teams. Studio contract players. Hip-hop dance crews. They’re all, in one way or another, what I often call a ‘false group,’ people who share one thing that connects them, but may not share anything else. Families. Democrats. Tribes.
In Nina Raine’s sensitive new play “Tribes,” currently at the Barrow Street Theatre, a family that has defined itself as being societal outsiders uses that aspect of their collective ‘persona’ to define what makes them a tribe. That, and how they seem to treat the one of their own who is deaf.
Seemingly of above-average intelligence that barely gets used in coherent ways, this clan manages to survive because they’ve evolved a lower standard of living and they all pitch in to maintain it. They might be the 21st century version of the delightfully eccentric Vanderhofs in Kaufman & Hart’s “You Can’t Take It With You.” In that supremely charming comedy-with-messages, a suitor turns up to court the sanest of the bunch [partial outsider: she works in a bank], and his attentions [plus a lot of other plot stuff] disrupt the disorderly order of the household. In “Tribes,” the deaf son [outsider family member] begins courting a young woman whose hearing has started to fade. And her presence lifts the veil on the realities of how he is treated – which is to say, his deafness is largely ignored.
Raine has already sharpened her skills when it comes to interweaving the motives and agendas and prejudices and foibles and expectations and fears of members of a false group, which is no easy task at all. No list of how each of this family’s members lays claim to each of these aspects could be complete, short of an open-ended after-play panel discussion with the playwright, the cast, the director [the miracle worker David Cromer] and a team of psychologists, social workers and representatives from all major and minor religions. And gallons and gallons to drink. Moderator: Oprah.
What you need to know is this – “Tribes” is a first-rate work of theatrical literature, minor flaws and all. When people spoke of ‘plays’ two generations ago, this is what they meant. And if they didn’t get this, they at least expected it.
On Book
Let’s start with a laugh or a million – “You Can’t Take It With You,” a comedy in three acts by Moss Hart and George S. Kaufman, opened at the Booth on December 14, 1936, with a cast that’s largely been forgotten, expect for Josephine Hull, immortalized on film as the puzzled aunt in “Harvey” and one of the two ladies known for their killer brew in “Arsenic and Old Lace.” You can read the Kaufman & Hart original playscript, either in the Dramatists Play Service version, or as part of the Library of America’s excellent collection, “Kaufman & Co. – the Broadway Comedies.”
And while we’re on the subject, treat yourself to a substantial, satisfying and all-around first-rate collection of great plays. You know you’ve always planned to. If you’re lucky, you might discover on the shelves of your favorite bookshop and mine one of these classic tomes: “Sixteen Famous American Plays,” edited by Bennett Cerf and Van H. Cartmell, originally published in 1941 by Random House, or “Critics’ Choice – New York Drama Critics’ Circle Prize Plays, 1935 – 1955,” edited by Jack Gaver for Hawthorn Books in 1955. If the bookshelves, the internet or Craig’s List don’t deliver, ask one of those friendly and knowledgeable folks behind the information counter at the bookshop for their recommended titles that provide the same kind of collection. Every civilized home should have one, or many.
Finally, a title that gives one of our most celebrated actors another opportunity to stand out, this time by his own hand . . . Frank Langella’s “Dropped Names: Famous Men and Women As I Knew Them.” He presents, cheek by jowl, sixty odd bold-face names of the last century, from all corners of the world of what every civilized family knows and gossips about – I mean, discusses. There are people whose names you may hear mentioned virtually every single day [Elizabeth Taylor, Marilyn Monroe, Princess Diana], to those you may never have heard of, but should have [Maureen Stapleton, Stella Adler, Jo Van Fleet]. There’s no index, so you can’t cherry-pick entries about people you’re eager to consume stories about. What there is, though, is a first-person look back at how a man measures his life – by the people he meets. Isn’t that what we heard in sixth grade – a man is known by the company he keeps? At least you can keep a book about a man who lives that type of life.
Afterpieces
‘Next door’ to the subject matter of “Clybourne Park,” the Jonathan Frazen novel “House For Sale” has been adapted for the stage, and will be presented by the always-ambitious Transport Group in October. And a different kind of adaptation, based on Jean Shepherd’s stories from the 1960s and the popular 1983 film, “A Christmas Story” is said to be waiting in the wings for a theatre to settle into for the holiday season. If you’ve experienced the heart-wrenching mirth of raconteur Shepherd’s classic tale of nine-year-old Ralphie. his deep desire for a BB gun for Christmas, his mother’s admonition that “you’ll shoot your eye out,” and the antics and adventures surrounding the most eventful week of Ralphie’s life, keep watch!
The Vineyard harkens back to the 1952 Presidential race, when veep GOP candidate, Cong. Richard M. Nixon, [R], CA, was forced to take to the television airwaves, still largely the province of the 1%, to disavow any rumors that he had amassed a secret ‘slush fund,’ to use at his own, possibly illegal, discretion. It opens October 3, and it’s called “Checkers.” It’s not about a board game.
Angelica Page, daughter of Rip Torn and the late, great Geraldine Page, has chosen to create “Turning Page,” a solo show about her mom, rather than run away from that legacy. Set to premiere at the Cherry Lane on October 11, this piece is sure to bring back any emotion-layered memories of the time(s) you saw Miss Page perform, in film, on television, and best of all, on the stage. My best stage memory recalls Ms. Page, eyes flashing, body undulating with the hidden power of a woman smarter than any of the men in the room, when she portrayed Regina in “The Little Foxes,” at the Pocono Playhouse, in Pennsylvania. I can still see her putting her brothers in their place, oh, so gently.
Finally, how to entertain your out-of-town relatives, if they’re joining you for the holidays, with something new and probably not on your radar screen. A unique attraction that’s been a fixture in other major cities in the U.S. and Europe, the Fazzino Ride, designed by 3-D Pop Artist Charles Fazzino, lets you glide through the streets of Manhattan and take in the sights from the comfort of a sideways-built tour bus. Along with two jolly tour guides who narrate the trip, the riders face a bus-long set of windows that bring both average New Yorkers who think they’re on ‘Candid Camera,’ and charmingly Thurber-like performers almost into your lap. Especially memorable are the red-haired tap dancer who swings to a jazz beat, right hand swinging him from a lamp post, a happy girl playing the sax, who obliges a passenger by belting out an Adele number, and a pair of star-crossed lovers, a dungarees dude sporting a backpack, and a delicate ballerina whose tutu is studded with mini-lights. If you missed it this season, jot it down for the spring break crowd when they encamp on your sofa.
==============================================================
TONY VELLELA wrote and produced the PBS series about theatre, “Character Studies.” His play “Admissions,” directed by Austin Pendleton, was awarded Best Play at the International Fringe Festival, and is published by Playscripts. He has written seven plays and musicals, two political musical comedy revues, and a CableAce Award-winning documentary for Lifetime Television, “The Test of Time.” He teaches small-group theatre courses from his home, as well as personal sessions in play, scene and character analysis, as well as audition prep.