A Summertime Musical Treat

By Frank Furnari, New Rep Reviewer

I entered the theatre for New Rep’s production of The World Goes ‘Round not in the best of moods. After two hours, I left smiling and humming a few good songs. This is the sign of a good summertime musical revue.

The World Goes ‘Round was conceived in 1991 as a revue of the work of John Kander and Fred Ebb who wrote wonderful musicals such as Cabaret and Chicago as well as recently premiered works, Curtains and The Scottsboro Boys. Thankfully, this work, conceived by Susan Stroman, Scott Ellis, and David Thompson did not seek to insert a narrator or add scenes of dialogue to try string together songs. They simply let the songs speak for themselves and tell their own story. What they weave together is an enjoyable night of many tunes you know as well as some that you may not.

New Rep favorites Leigh Barrett and Aimee Doherty are a joy to watch and hear sing this great music – their performance of Class is stellar – it’s a joy to see them perform. In addition Shannon Lee Jones, David Costa, and De’Lon Grant – all of whom have appeared in New Rep productions – deliver solid performances. Ilyse Robbin’s direction is uneven with some truly outstanding and greatly conceived moments, as well as a few times when the actors seem to lack direction. The funnier moments, especially the numbers Coffee, Sara Lee, and Class are the standout numbers of the show and make the evening a memorable one. I wonder if the show itself would be tighter if a few numbers were eliminated and it be made into a slightly shorter intermission-less piece. These are simply minor qualms to an overall enjoyable piece.

The set is, simple art deco inspired, and provides the actors lots of room to shine. The orchestra is comprised of four players – keyboard, wind, string bass, and percussion. They are located on stage in what reminded me of a big band look and provide good sounding accompaniment.

The show was a great way to end New Rep’s year. It is was a very enjoyable evening and is highly recommended for Fans of Kander and Ebb.

Happy Holidays!

December 24

Today was largely spent blocking the book scenes. Directing is a fascinating process because there is this fine line between completely prescriptive direction and setting up a framework for the actor’s own creativity to fill in beyond the directorial composition. We’re always in search of moment to moment specificity in the theatre, but where in the collaboration those specifics get decided on is really hard to place.

That said today’s scenes had a lot of gags and comic moments in them. They’re all fairly early in the play, so much of the heavier themes aren’t apparent on the surface yet. I have a theory that people won’t cry at a show unless they’ve already laughed, so the humor is well placed here.

What’s also so important that never gets discussed enough are the moments between the lines. Reactions to lines can be as powerful as the lines themselves. That’s one of the strengths of good writing, that it can be mined by actors and directors for actions and reactions. One aspect of Rick’s direction that I particularly admire is his control of rhythm. It’s often the spaces in between the lines where the rhythm of a scene can be found.

I was thinking about some of the a historical moments in the show. Fraulien Kost is always bringing home sailors as part of her patriotic duty. I read it as a sign of the remilitarization of Germany. That would not have been happening just yet in terms of history, but the way that the show compresses time it makes dramatic sense. There is also a really interesting moment in terms of Cliff’s language lessons. Most Continental Europeans learned (and probably still learn) British English and British pronunciation, so an American teaching English in that period would be working against a specific establishment.

We’re still fairly early in the rehearsal process. Later on I hope to get into detail about certain moments and maybe talk a little about how some of the stage combat works once we get up to the fights.

Have a good holiday!

Meron

Stage Combat for CABARET

December 23

Perhaps this is only of interest to stage combat types, but those people who have read one of the published scripts may not be aware that there is a fight written into the score that is not mentioned in any readily available versions of the script that I’ve read. It takes place among the ensemble in one of the club scenes during a dance number. What’s especially interesting is that the direction is only that there be a fight during a specific portion of the music. Not which characters are fighting or why, but only that there is a fight. Rick and Kelli and I discussed just how much havoc might be wreaked in that moment. We know that we’ll want maximum chaos in a fairly contained time frame. That moment of composition hasn’t happened yet, but the foundation for the character conflicts that lead to the physical confrontation have started to be set.

Meron

First Rehersal

December 19, 2008

Hello everyone! My name is Meron Langsner. I’m the fight director and one of the assistant directors for Cabaret, and I’ll be one of your guest bloggers for this rehearsal period. Last season I was New Rep’s Playwright in Residence through the National New Play Network, and I’ve done all sorts of things with the company including writing, fighting, curating, and teaching.

I signed on to this project back in May, not knowing it was going to be Rick’s last show here. That said, I really feel privileged to be a part of it.

The rehearsal hall was filled with a mix of new and familiar faces, even including a former student of mine from Tufts! It’s a pretty large project, so the diversity of talents we have at work here adds to the excitement. I’ve been doing quite a bit of research on the cabaret movement in Berlin and other related areas and I’d been waiting to be able to apply that scholarship in the context of the production.

This rehearsal was about design and dramaturgy presentations, discussing the concepts of the production, and doing the first read through/sing through so we could start to get the voices and characters together.

What we’re exploring in this production is the fragility of civilization. The show is set at the end of Germany’s Weimar Period and ends with the rise of the Nazi party. This is heavy stuff we’re dealing with. Part of what makes this show so effective is how much fun it is. We’re in mid party when one of the ugliest parts of the modern era begins. “In here, life is beautiful.” But we can’t be in there forever, and the longer we wait, the uglier it gets.
Along with the design presentations (which I won’t get into as you deserve to be surprised), my fellow AD Adrienne and I did dramaturgical presentations. She covered the general period in terms of WWI history and the Weimar government and I concentrated on the cabaret movement.

I go into this in more detail in my program note of course, but it’s worth saying here that the cabaret movement of the time was something really special with no real modern equivalent. It sort of occupied a place between popular entertainment and the avant-garde. The movement began in Paris and spread from there, adapting to the specific culture of each new location. The basic structure was a small stage for a small audience, numerous entertainments linked by a host, and much smoke and drink. The character of the entertainment was often satiric, sexual, and topical. Berlin as a city was known for having an especially biting wit, and its entertainments followed suit.

History plays an interesting role in this show. In many ways, the more knowledgeable you are about history, the more problems you might have with the book. But what’s important to remember is that in this context aesthetics trump accuracy. The more I look at the a historical moments of the play, the more I see the human truth they are getting at more than the chronological moment they are meant to represent. I may be talking about these moments more as the process goes on as it’s a really interesting problem in period pieces.Rehearsal was called off early as the blizzard was just beginning, but even with the semi snow day we’re off to a really great start.