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A CurtainUp DC Review
Astro Boy and The God of Comics
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He (cartoonist Tezuka) used to say that comics was his wife and animation was his lover. —JB (cartoonist friend) tells the audience.
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Karen O'Connell
(Photo: Carol Pratt) |
For those who need help, manga is the Japanese word for print cartoons; anime, animated cartoons. The Japanese have been obsessed with both for at least four decades. The best known manga artist is Osamu Tezuka, creator of Astro Boy, a heroic figure who is determined to do anything, go anywhere, even colonize space if that would help save the world.
The piece enfolds in ten scenes, going backward chronologically The story begins in 2014 with seeking refuge from radiation and ends with the birth in 1928 of Osamu Tezuka. The reverse time-line leads to some confusion, but no matter. The pace is fast and within minutes — no, make that seconds — the audience is transfixed by what is happening on stage. Besides, there’s a cheat sheet in the program that says, for example: Episode 10: Astro Boy Sacrifices His life to Save the Earth, 2014; Interlude: Why do characters in Japanese Animation look more Caucasian than Japanese? Episode 4: Osamu Tezuka Creates the Character of Astro Boy, 1953.
The ensemble of eight multi-talented actors do acrobatics, dance, fight like Japanese warriors, cavort with puppets on sticks, mime, make silhouettes, solve maths problems, construct and then destroy a model of Astro Boy, and use a large vocabulary of gestures. They talk too. But even more intriguing is watching several actors draw comics on a very large piece of paper hung on the back wall of the stage. Some of the drawings are sad — a red mushroom cloud, an automobile crash that leads to a young man’s death. Many are humorous. In fact, the whole piece is infused with satire, vaudeville and laugh-out-loud silliness.
Few ensembles mesh as well as this cast. Karen O’Connell’s lovable Astro Boy knows just when to turn up (or down) the satiric touch and Clark Young’s limber Tezuka gets many well-deserved laughs. In theatrical terms, the other heroes of this performance piece are Natsu Onoda Power and her designers. Luciana Stecconi’s set includes a wide television showing video and film clips within a proscenium arch and at the back of the stage the aforementioned blank piece of paper on which the actors paint comic characters and situations. The projections designed by Jared Mezzocchi add enormously to the understanding of the plot. Evan Rogers’s sound design and compositions range from construction noises to good old honky tonk piano music and jazzed up oriental melodies.
Astro Boy is quite simply the most original piece of theater I have seen in quite some time. One of those bubbles used in comics to contain a character’s thoughts just popped up above my head. It reads, “This show is so good I think I’ll see it again next week.”
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Astro Boy and the God of Comics Created, written and directed by Natsu Onoda Power Set Design, Luciana Stecconi Projections Design, Jared Mezzocchi Lighting Design, Andrew Griffin Sound Design and Compositions, Evan Rogers Costume Design, Frank Labovitz Cast: Joe Brack (Drawer/Ensemble), Jamie Gahlon (Drawer/Ensemble), Lee Liebeskind (Dr. Elefun/Ensemble), Karen O’Connell (Astro Boy/Ensemble), Betsy Rosen (Tezuka’s Wife/Ensemble), JB Tadena (Maestro/Ensemble), Kristin Watson (Tezuka’s Mother/Ensemble), Clark Young (Tezuka/Ensemble) Running time: 70 minutes, no intermission. Performances began February 15, 2012. The run is currently scheduled to end March 11, 2012 but that could change. Tickets: $38 to $43; senior and military discount, $5 off, except Saturday nights; $19, student rush tickets. Studio 2nd Stage, 1501 Fourteenth St., NW; Washington, DC; 202-232-7267; studiotheatre.org. Review by Susan Davidson based on February 22, 2012 performance. REVIEW FEEDBACK Highlight one of the responses below and click "copy" or"CTRL+C"
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