Back from THE FROGS.
Well...
It's an oddball piece, to be sure. It has been expanded (make that 'padded') from its original incarnation, which made its point far more succinctly. Also, the original premise had Dionysios bringing Shakespeare back from Hades to revivify a moribund theater scene. Now, it's to save the world, which just doesn't make sense, given that theater is hardly a political force in our culture. Be that as it may, the evening promises to take on some current sacred cows and so the audience, eagerly wanting to like the show, expects some sharp, sly satirical humor. Instead we get lame vaudeville humor and mostly unfunny gags lobbed at easy targets (the "bush frog"), as if Lane were determined to write A FUNNY THING HAPPENED ON THE WAY TO THE FORUM...AGAIN. He should stick to his day job. I mean, are we to fall into a paroxysm of hilarity at the mention of dated references to THE LION KING or buzzwords like Viagra? The whole enterprise feels tired and frankly could use a hit of Viagra itself.
The new Sondheim songs make little impression. In general, they service the plot but are overly wordy and often incomprehensible. Stylistically, they seem at odds with the original songs, favoring a Broadway show tune feel rather than the neo-classic style of the original. There is a great deal of dissonant, contrapuntal beauty to be found in those earlier songs but you'd never know it from Gemignani's cut-and-dried musical direction. Finally, FEAR NO MORE, like SOMETHING JUST BROKE in ASSASSINS, fails to provide the evening with its emotional climax, as surely intended.
Stroman's staging and choreography are her most undistinguished yet, with its usual overreliance on gimmickry and in-your-face-sexuality with not a trace of sensuality. The bungee ropes, a one-joke idea, should have been cut in rehearsal along with the three graces' mid-air gyrations which immediately brought to mind last season's NINE.
The supporting actors are fine, with particularly winning contributions from Burke Moses and Peter Bartlett. Lane himself seems curiously recessive. His costuming is certainly feminizing and unflattering, making him look less like a lusty Olympian deity than an overgrown baby in a sagging diaper.
The essential message Lane seems to have wanted to impart is "Get out and vote," which is fine. But someone should have told him bookending this message around two-and-a-half hours of sub-par shtick does not a convincing message make nor an evening's entertainment.
Updated On: 7/22/04 at 10:41 AM
