CurtainUp
The Internet Theater Magazine of Reviews, Features,
Annotated Listings
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CurtainUp The Internet Theater Magazine of Reviews, Features,
Annotated Listings |
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A CurtainUp Review
The Beast In The Jungle
By Elyse Sommer
Kander's latest score is for an enchanting new dance musical, named The Beast In the Jungle, which is also the title of the famous 1903 Henry James novella that serves as the template for David Thompson's book. The sad-glad romantic mood of the scintillating waltz time melodies enables director-choreographer Susan Stroman to let her dazzling dances function as songs do in more traditional musicals. The sublime cast of dancers headed by two stars from Broadway and the classical Ballet World— Tony Yazbeck and Irina Dvorovenko— beautifully evoke the glad, sad and and scary elements of this half a century spanning love story. The dancing and the simple but elegant and full of surprises stage craft by Stroman and her designers deflect any sense of monotony in the persistent 3/4 beat of the music.(The evocative lighting is by Ben Stanton, the costumes and sets are by Curry). Mr. Thompson's book follows the James novel, but very loosely. It changes the time frame, adds characters and alters the details to accommodate the gorgeous dancing that's the heart and soul of this unique blend of ballet and book musical. The main characters are still John Marcher, a man with sense of foreboding that some sort of family curse has doomed him to experience something horrible. That unstoppable horror is like the symbolic beast that makes him unable to commit himself to love, even that of the lovely and ready to love him May Bertram. Though he comes close to ignoring that foreboding and give a fulfilled life with May a chance, the beast wins out. True to any star-crossed love story, by the time he recognizes his fear as the real beast in the jungle of his life, it is of course too late. James structured his novella to tell his beast-haunted protagonist's story in the third person and to keep May a constant presence in Marcher's life, but only as a sympathetic friend. Mr. Thompson has changed this setup, by beginning and ending the story in Marcher's present day New York apartment, and limiting the unconsummated love affair to just a few meetings. The first takes us back to Naples, Italy in 1968; the second, and most critical one, fast forwards to England in 1988; and the poignant final one takes us back to Marcher after his last battle with "the beast." To structure James's story as a memory play Thompson's book calls for a prelude to introduce two actors. One as the non-dancing older Marcher. The second is an actor-dancer playing a double role: the first as Marcher's nephew whose own fraught romance sets his uncle's memories in motion which in turn results in the nephew morphing into the the uncle's younger persona . This may sound like a too schematic device, and too much diddling with what many Henry James fans and scholars regard as a masterpiece. Actually, it works quite well. Unlike James's rather dry and boring Marcher, Thompson's man, while still eccentric and with a rather convoluted back story, is more interesting and debonair. Even though he's unable to shake off the fear of an eerie, uncontrollable "beast" ready to pounce, he has managed a working life as a successful art dealer. This older Marcher doesn't just bookend the the flashbacks but is integrated into all the dance dominated scenes — a good thing since the older Marcher is played by Peter Friedman, a master of any role calling for a solid interpreter. James's hint that May too had a life beyond that sexless friendship is here realized more fully and introduces another new to the play, non-dancing character—, a wealthy husband (a brief but astute performance by Teagle F. Bougere). As Marcher observes "He didn't live in fear of his beasts. He killed them." Clearly these non-dancing, non-singing characters involve more dialogue than Stroman's 1999 dance play Contact, an original concept by her and John Weidman. The use of recorded music as is usual in the ballet world, didn't keep Contact from being a hit with theater audiences. However, the Vineyard has gone all out to make The Beast in the Jungle a dance play that not only crisscrosses across countries, but the worlds of ballet, contemporary dance and musicals with songs to carry the story forward. And so Kander's lovely score gets the full instrumental treatment by a terrific 10-member orchestra playing 16 instruments— the piano, horn and string players in the balcony at one side of the theater and the percussionist in the one on the other side. Making Marcher an art dealer is especially effective in reconnecting him with the now married May. The famous Matisse painting of a group of dancers is beautifully animated and echoed by the play's ensemble of women in three show-stopping waltzes. The wonderful sexual chemistry between Tony Yazbeck and Irina Dvorovenko is especially sizzling during Ms. Stroman's witty "Picnic Waltz." These are just some of the highlights of Stroman's choreographic wizardry. Her clever stage tricks include having Dvorovenko dive into a sea created with rippling blue sheets. Call it what you will— a story ballet, a dance play, or dance-driven book musical— it works, though it would be even better with a ten-minute trim. Still, I'm probably being cranky to mention this, given the nonstop visual feast dished up. Even if The Beast in the Jungle ends up having a second life uptown, don't miss this chance to see Yazbeck and Dvorenko up close in an intimate space like the Vineyard. If you'd like to read or re-read the Henry James novella, it's still in print, and available free for e-reading at both Amazon and Project Gutenberg. Now there's the sort of long life theater produces dream about.
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Search CurtainUp in the box below PRODUCTION NOTES The Beast In The Jungle Music By John Kander Book By David Thompson, based on Henry James novella Direction & choreography By Susan Stroman Cast: Teagle F. Bougere (Husband/Stranger), former American Ballet principal dancer Irina Dvorovenko (May Bertram), Peter Friedman (John Marcher), Tony Yazbeck (Nephew/Young Mrcher),Maira Barriga, Elizabeth Dugas, Leah Hofmann, Naomi Kakuk, Brittany Marcin Maschmeyer, Erin N.f Moore (The Women Scenic and costume design by Michael Curry Lighting design by Ben Stanton Sound design by Peter Hylenski Music supervision by David Loud Stage manager: Johnny Milani Run time: 1 hour and 40 minutes, no intermission . Vineyard Theater 108 E. 15 St. From 5/04/18; opening 5/23/18. closing 6/24/18 Reviewed by Elyse Sommer at 5/21/18 press preview REVIEW FEEDBACK Highlight one of the responses below and click "copy" or"CTRL+C"
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