#1
Posted: 3/27/06 at 9:01am
The ThreePenny She-bopera: Where’s Bobby Darin when you need him?
Sunday March 26, 2006
After sitting through the endlessly boring revival of “The Threepenny Opera” over at “Studio 54”, I thought to myself that had Bobby Darin caught this production and not the infamous Off-Broadway production in the 1950’s, we would have most certainly been deprived of his legendary rendition of the musical’s opening number “Mack The Knife”.
Flatter than canned soda on a summer day, horribly mangled and misinterpreted, this revival lumbers on till you want Macheath to lash your own throat.
With a horrific new translation by Wallace Shawn, non-direction by Scott Elliot and possibly the most ugly costumes ever to grace a stage by Isaac Mizrahi, this show can’t even be called a trainwreck.
Trainwrecks have speed, points of view, and direction.
This, my friends, is a slow boat to China. Very slow.
Also, may I note, that when one uses the term “opera” in a title, it usually indicates that, even at the simplest level, the piece will have a lot of music in it.
Not so, this “Threepenny”.
It feels as if hours go by before any of the numbers happen and when they do – they fail to register.
I had hoped the performances might enliven the piece but, in most cases, that’s not how it went down.
Alan Cumming, whose character by the way is reduced to an afterthought here, isn’t he the lead, is capable if uninspired.
Jim Dale manages to steal the show every moment he’s on stage. No mean feat.
Ana Gasteyer is a bit to braying at times vocally but otherwise comically capable as expected.
Cyndi Lauper, while vocally secure, displayed a performance more under-cooked than revelatory. She simply forgot most of her lines. One feels this may change with time but right now this is not the “Tony Shoo-in” it is being touted as.
The real revelation came in the form of Nellie McKay. Ravishing in her blond wig and wedding gown, McKay intoned her lines with a creamy MGM innocence that has to be heard to be believed. If vocally, Miss. McKay seems a bit over-parted, one never feels one is in anything less than the presence of a performer assured in her task of bringing her character to life. A true delight.
Vocal and comedic honors of the evening go to Brian Charles Rooney who sings the hell out of ‘Lucy’s aria” and was simply a riot in the scene that followed it.
Poor Bobby Darin. First, Kevin Spacey and now this.
Sunday March 26, 2006
After sitting through the endlessly boring revival of “The Threepenny Opera” over at “Studio 54”, I thought to myself that had Bobby Darin caught this production and not the infamous Off-Broadway production in the 1950’s, we would have most certainly been deprived of his legendary rendition of the musical’s opening number “Mack The Knife”.
Flatter than canned soda on a summer day, horribly mangled and misinterpreted, this revival lumbers on till you want Macheath to lash your own throat.
With a horrific new translation by Wallace Shawn, non-direction by Scott Elliot and possibly the most ugly costumes ever to grace a stage by Isaac Mizrahi, this show can’t even be called a trainwreck.
Trainwrecks have speed, points of view, and direction.
This, my friends, is a slow boat to China. Very slow.
Also, may I note, that when one uses the term “opera” in a title, it usually indicates that, even at the simplest level, the piece will have a lot of music in it.
Not so, this “Threepenny”.
It feels as if hours go by before any of the numbers happen and when they do – they fail to register.
I had hoped the performances might enliven the piece but, in most cases, that’s not how it went down.
Alan Cumming, whose character by the way is reduced to an afterthought here, isn’t he the lead, is capable if uninspired.
Jim Dale manages to steal the show every moment he’s on stage. No mean feat.
Ana Gasteyer is a bit to braying at times vocally but otherwise comically capable as expected.
Cyndi Lauper, while vocally secure, displayed a performance more under-cooked than revelatory. She simply forgot most of her lines. One feels this may change with time but right now this is not the “Tony Shoo-in” it is being touted as.
The real revelation came in the form of Nellie McKay. Ravishing in her blond wig and wedding gown, McKay intoned her lines with a creamy MGM innocence that has to be heard to be believed. If vocally, Miss. McKay seems a bit over-parted, one never feels one is in anything less than the presence of a performer assured in her task of bringing her character to life. A true delight.
Vocal and comedic honors of the evening go to Brian Charles Rooney who sings the hell out of ‘Lucy’s aria” and was simply a riot in the scene that followed it.
Poor Bobby Darin. First, Kevin Spacey and now this.
Updated On: 3/27/06 at 09:01 AM
