{"id":686,"date":"2020-05-29T12:40:38","date_gmt":"2020-05-29T12:40:38","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.critical-stages.org\/21\/?p=686"},"modified":"2022-02-05T13:12:59","modified_gmt":"2022-02-05T13:12:59","slug":"the-jukebox-reimagined-new-musicals-pump-fresh-blood-into-a-tired-genre","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.critical-stages.org\/21\/the-jukebox-reimagined-new-musicals-pump-fresh-blood-into-a-tired-genre\/","title":{"rendered":"The Jukebox Reimagined: New Musicals Pump Fresh Blood into a Tired Genre"},"content":{"rendered":"\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\"><strong>Martin Morrow<\/strong><a href=\"#end\" name=\"back\">*<\/a><\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"has-background wp-block-paragraph\" style=\"background-color:#c69a9f\"><strong><em>Jagged Little Pill<\/em>, lyrics by Alanis Morissette, music by Alanis Morissette and Glen Ballard, book by Diablo Cody; directed by Diane Paulus; Broadhurst Theatre, New York, Nov. 3, 2019 to March 12, 2020. <em>Girl from the North Country<\/em>, music and lyrics by Bob Dylan, written and directed by Conor McPherson; Royal Alexandra Theatre, Toronto, Sept. 28 to Nov. 24, 2019.<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">The last live performance I saw before the Covid-19 pandemic shut Toronto\u2019s (and many of the world\u2019s) theatres this past winter was the underwhelming touring production of <em>Summer: The Donna Summer Musical<\/em>. Like so many jukebox musicals before it, the show uses a tried-and-true formula: a superficial biography of a beloved recording star boasting an array of her greatest hits. Co-created by the Canadian-bred team of director Des McAnuff and choreographer Sergio Trujillo, it follows in the footsteps of their previous jukebox successes, <em>Jersey Boys<\/em> (about Frankie Valli and the Four Seasons) and <em>Ain\u2019t Too Proud: The Life and Times of The Temptations. <\/em>It is a formula that continues to reap dividends at the box office, but one that\u2019s also artistically moribund.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">However, less than a month earlier in New York, I had seen a promising attempt to rethink and rejuvenate the jukebox genre. Indeed, <em>Jagged Little Pill<\/em>, the Alanis Morissette musical, already had some critics in raptures. \u201cThey Finally Fixed the Jukebox\u201d declared the headline on Jesse Green\u2019s enthusiastic <em>New York Times<\/em> review of the show, which opened on Broadway in December of 2019.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<h6 class=\"wp-block-heading\" id=\"video\">Video<\/h6>\n\n\n\n<figure class=\"wp-block-embed is-type-video is-provider-youtube wp-block-embed-youtube wp-embed-aspect-16-9 wp-has-aspect-ratio\"><div class=\"wp-block-embed__wrapper\">\n<iframe loading=\"lazy\" title=\"&quot;Head Over Feet&quot; ft. Celia Rose Gooding and Antonio Cipriano | Jagged Little Pill\" width=\"800\" height=\"450\" src=\"https:\/\/www.youtube.com\/embed\/WRjnS0qp028?feature=oembed\" frameborder=\"0\" allow=\"accelerometer; autoplay; encrypted-media; gyroscope; picture-in-picture\" allowfullscreen><\/iframe>\n<\/div><\/figure>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">Well, \u201cfinally\u201d is not quite accurate. And it is not entirely fixed, either. But this theatrical reshaping of Canadian-born singer-songwriter Morissette\u2019s cherished 1995 confessional album into a twenty-first-century rock musical about today\u2019s hot-button issues is far more creative than what we have come to expect from the genre. And it could be part of a trend. Even as it was premiering in New York, across the pond in London another brilliant jukebox \u201cfix,\u201d the Bob Dylan-inspired <em>Girl from the North Country<\/em>, was making its second visit to the West End.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">What makes these jukebox musicals so refreshing? Instead of simply celebrating their respective troubadours, they repurpose their songs in imaginative and\u2014especially in the case of <em>Girl from the North Country<\/em>\u2014revelatory ways. Conor McPherson, the Irish playwright-director who created the latter show, deserves a special thank-you from hardcore Dylan fans for excavating some of the Nobel Prize laureate\u2019s lesser-known and slightly regarded tunes and holding them up to a new light, where their hitherto hidden facets shine.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<div class=\"wp-block-image\"><figure class=\"aligncenter size-large\"><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" width=\"800\" height=\"554\" src=\"https:\/\/www.critical-stages.org\/21\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/22\/2020\/05\/image1-11.jpeg\" alt=\"\" class=\"wp-image-687\" srcset=\"https:\/\/www.critical-stages.org\/21\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/22\/2020\/05\/image1-11.jpeg 800w, https:\/\/www.critical-stages.org\/21\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/22\/2020\/05\/image1-11-300x208.jpeg 300w, https:\/\/www.critical-stages.org\/21\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/22\/2020\/05\/image1-11-768x532.jpeg 768w, https:\/\/www.critical-stages.org\/21\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/22\/2020\/05\/image1-11-392x272.jpeg 392w, https:\/\/www.critical-stages.org\/21\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/22\/2020\/05\/image1-11-130x90.jpeg 130w\" sizes=\"auto, (max-width: 800px) 100vw, 800px\" \/><figcaption>Katie Brayben, Shaq Taylor and the London\/Toronto cast perform a number from Irish playwright-director Conor McPherson\u2019s Bob Dylan musical, <em>Girl from the North Country<\/em>. Photo: Cylla von Tiedemann<\/figcaption><\/figure><\/div>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">Diablo Cody, the Academy Award-winning American screenwriter who wrote the book for <em>Jagged Little Pill<\/em>, tries something similar within a more limited framework. Where McPherson was given access to Dylan\u2019s entire back catalogue spanning six decades, Cody focuses primarily on one seminal album (although she does make use of a handful of other old Morissette songs\u2014among them the hits \u201cThank U\u201d and \u201cHands Clean\u201d\u2014and the songwriter also wrote two new ones for the musical). Consciously avoiding any 1990s nostalgia, Cody puts Morissette\u2019s emotionally raw tunes, with their torn-from-a-diary lyrics, into the mouths of contemporary Americans whose problems, in turn, are torn from the daily headlines. Her book checks all the boxes: opioid addiction, porn addiction, racial identity, same-sex relationships, student activism. The plot even turns on a rape incident during a drunken teenage party that can\u2019t help but recall the 2018 Brett Kavanaugh controversy, in which the soon-to-be U.S. Supreme Court judge was accused of sexual assault during his high school years. (In fact, the musical premiered at the American Repertory Theatre four months before the Kavanaugh accusation surfaced.)<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">The story centres on the Healys, one of those seemingly perfect white middle-class families that, beneath its shiny Christmas-card surface, is roiling with dysfunction. The mother, Mary Jane, is hooked on painkillers that numb a long-hidden trauma. The father, Steve, is finding an online outlet for his frustrated libido. Frankie, their adopted African-American daughter, is struggling with both her racial and sexual identities, while rebelling against parental disapproval. As for their Harvard-bound son Nick, the family\u2019s source of pride, well, it seems he was at that party where the rape took place . . .<\/p>\n\n\n\n<div class=\"wp-block-image\"><figure class=\"aligncenter size-large\"><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" width=\"800\" height=\"533\" src=\"https:\/\/www.critical-stages.org\/21\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/22\/2020\/05\/image2-26.jpeg\" alt=\"\" class=\"wp-image-688\" srcset=\"https:\/\/www.critical-stages.org\/21\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/22\/2020\/05\/image2-26.jpeg 800w, https:\/\/www.critical-stages.org\/21\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/22\/2020\/05\/image2-26-300x200.jpeg 300w, https:\/\/www.critical-stages.org\/21\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/22\/2020\/05\/image2-26-768x512.jpeg 768w\" sizes=\"auto, (max-width: 800px) 100vw, 800px\" \/><figcaption>Elizabeth Stanley (left) as Mary Jane Healy and Sean Allan Krill as her husband, Steve, confront Celia Rose Gooding as their adopted daughter, Frankie, in a scene from the Broadway production of <em>Jagged Little Pill<\/em>. Photo: Evgenia Eliseeva<\/figcaption><\/figure><\/div>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">You may notice an eerie similarity to the family in another contemporary rock musical, the 2010 Pulitzer Prize winner <em>Next to Normal<\/em>, with its meds-taking mom, frustrated dad, angry sis and golden-boy son. But if there is any borrowing, it\u2019s above-board: <em>Jagged Little Pill\u2019s<\/em> musical supervisor, orchestrator and arranger is Tom Kitt, the composer of <em>Next to Normal<\/em>. And to be fair, this material is also Cody\u2019s screenwriting terrain, from the gutsy misfit teen (<em>Juno<\/em>) to the troubled mother (<em>United States of Tara<\/em>).<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">Some of Cody\u2019s libretto is fashioned to fit Morissette\u2019s lyrics: the pleading love song \u201cMary Jane\u201d now becomes Steve\u2019s attempt to reach out to his wife, and that bitter message to an ex-lover, \u201cYou Oughta Know,\u201d serves as the heartbroken response from Frankie\u2019s girlfriend, Jo, after Frankie becomes romantically involved with a guy. (The latter number is the musical\u2019s big showstopper, delivered with acid-washed fury by Lauren Patten in the Broadway production.)<\/p>\n\n\n\n<div class=\"wp-block-image\"><figure class=\"aligncenter size-large\"><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" width=\"800\" height=\"450\" src=\"https:\/\/www.critical-stages.org\/21\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/22\/2020\/05\/image3-3.jpg\" alt=\"\" class=\"wp-image-689\" srcset=\"https:\/\/www.critical-stages.org\/21\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/22\/2020\/05\/image3-3.jpg 800w, https:\/\/www.critical-stages.org\/21\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/22\/2020\/05\/image3-3-300x169.jpg 300w, https:\/\/www.critical-stages.org\/21\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/22\/2020\/05\/image3-3-768x432.jpg 768w\" sizes=\"auto, (max-width: 800px) 100vw, 800px\" \/><figcaption>The relationship between Frankie (Celia Rose Gooding) and her girlfriend and fellow activist, Jo (Lauren Patten), is imperiled when Frankie falls for a male classmate, Phoenix. Photo: Matthew Murphy<\/figcaption><\/figure><\/div>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">Morissette\u2019s writing can sometimes sound embarrassingly (or endearingly, depending on your viewpoint) like awkward adolescent poetry\u2014she was, after all, barely out of her teens when she penned the <em>Jagged Little Pill<\/em> album. Cody takes advantage of that, too\u2014most amusingly in her use of Morissette\u2019s much-pilloried song, \u201cIronic,\u201d which is notorious for its clear misunderstanding of irony. Here, the lyric becomes a composition by Frankie, read aloud to her high school English class, where her fellow students continually call her out for her failed attempts at ironic metaphors. But even when the lyrics do not quite jibe with the story being told onstage, the songs still connect on the emotional level. It is as though Cody\u2019s characters are continually looking to Morissette\u2019s writing to articulate their feelings, much the same way fans of the recording artist make her songs their own.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">McPherson similarly employs Dylan\u2019s music largely to express emotions and establish moods, rather than to feed his show\u2019s narrative. After all, Dylan\u2019s songs are often crammed with narratives themselves, overflowing with distinctive scenarios and images, so that they defy easy use as generalized expressions of feeling in the way that, say, Carole King\u2019s do in the jukebox musical <em>Beautiful<\/em>. In <em>Girl from the North Country<\/em>, McPherson acknowledges this, instead suggesting that Dylan\u2019s songs are other, complementary tales to the one the playwright sets out to tell.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<div class=\"wp-block-image\"><figure class=\"aligncenter size-large\"><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" width=\"800\" height=\"452\" src=\"https:\/\/www.critical-stages.org\/21\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/22\/2020\/05\/image4-16.jpeg\" alt=\"\" class=\"wp-image-690\" srcset=\"https:\/\/www.critical-stages.org\/21\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/22\/2020\/05\/image4-16.jpeg 800w, https:\/\/www.critical-stages.org\/21\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/22\/2020\/05\/image4-16-300x170.jpeg 300w, https:\/\/www.critical-stages.org\/21\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/22\/2020\/05\/image4-16-768x434.jpeg 768w\" sizes=\"auto, (max-width: 800px) 100vw, 800px\" \/><figcaption>In McPherson\u2019s staging of <em>Girl from the North Country<\/em>, the cast often breaks from the narrative to perform Dylan\u2019s songs as though at a 1930s concert or recording studio. Photo: Cylla von Tiedemann<\/figcaption><\/figure><\/div>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">That tale, like <em>Jagged Little Pill\u2019s<\/em>, involves a family, the Laines, who run a failing guesthouse in Depression-era Duluth, Minnesota (Dylan\u2019s birthplace). Nick Laine is trying to keep the property from foreclosure while dealing with a mentally ill wife, Elizabeth, an alcoholic writer son, Gene (note the homage to Eugene O\u2019Neill), and a 19-year-old daughter, Marianne, who is pregnant and won\u2019t reveal the father. Like <em>Jagged\u2019s<\/em> Frankie, Marianne is also African-American, a foundling adopted by the Laines. Over the course of the drama, the family\u2019s lives entwine with those of their boarders, including a young widow, a preacher-cum-huckster and a Black boxer fresh from a stint behind bars (cue \u201cHurricane,\u201d Dylan\u2019s searing ballad about the unjustly imprisoned prizefighter Rubin Carter).<\/p>\n\n\n\n<div class=\"wp-block-image\"><figure class=\"aligncenter size-large\"><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" width=\"800\" height=\"533\" src=\"https:\/\/www.critical-stages.org\/21\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/22\/2020\/05\/image5-11.jpeg\" alt=\"\" class=\"wp-image-691\" srcset=\"https:\/\/www.critical-stages.org\/21\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/22\/2020\/05\/image5-11.jpeg 800w, https:\/\/www.critical-stages.org\/21\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/22\/2020\/05\/image5-11-300x200.jpeg 300w, https:\/\/www.critical-stages.org\/21\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/22\/2020\/05\/image5-11-768x512.jpeg 768w\" sizes=\"auto, (max-width: 800px) 100vw, 800px\" \/><figcaption>Colin Bates (left) as the drink-dependent writer Gene and Donald Sage Mackay as his father, guesthouse proprietor Nick Laine, in a scene from <em>Girl from the North Country<\/em>. Photo: Cylla von Tiedemann<\/figcaption><\/figure><\/div>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">Where the Morissette musical is relentlessly contemporary, <em>Girl from the North Country<\/em> gives us an earlier America in crisis, evoking the dustbowl 1930s depicted by Dylan\u2019s mentor, Woody Guthrie. And Dylan\u2019s songs, steeped in American roots music, are the perfect fit. McPherson makes particular use of the songwriter\u2019s less-familiar country-, R&amp;B- and gospel-flavoured tunes, especially those from such minor mid-career albums as <em>Street-Legal<\/em> and <em>Infidels<\/em>. But there are some \u201cgreatest hits,\u201d too, and coincidentally one of the showstopping numbers is Elizabeth\u2019s wild rendition of \u201cLike a Rolling Stone,\u201d that epic, withering put-down which could be the prototype for Morissette\u2019s \u201cYou Oughta Know.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n<div class=\"wp-block-image\"><figure class=\"aligncenter size-large\"><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" width=\"800\" height=\"596\" src=\"https:\/\/www.critical-stages.org\/21\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/22\/2020\/05\/image6-9.jpeg\" alt=\"\" class=\"wp-image-692\" srcset=\"https:\/\/www.critical-stages.org\/21\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/22\/2020\/05\/image6-9.jpeg 800w, https:\/\/www.critical-stages.org\/21\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/22\/2020\/05\/image6-9-300x224.jpeg 300w, https:\/\/www.critical-stages.org\/21\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/22\/2020\/05\/image6-9-768x572.jpeg 768w\" sizes=\"auto, (max-width: 800px) 100vw, 800px\" \/><figcaption>As Nick\u2019s disturbed wife, Elizabeth, Katie Brayben gives a gripping performance of \u201cLike a Rolling Stone\u201d in the Toronto\/London production of <em>Girl from the North Country<\/em>. Photo: Cylla von Tiedemann<\/figcaption><\/figure><\/div>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">If we are handing out credit for \u201cfixing\u201d the jukebox, McPherson has the edge: <em>Girl from the North Country<\/em> premiered to acclaim at London\u2019s Old Vic Theatre in 2017, a year before <em>Jagged Little Pill\u2019s<\/em> debut at ART. It has since played in the West End and Toronto (where I saw it), had an Off-Broadway run at New York\u2019s Public Theatre and opened on Broadway in March of 2020, just before the pandemic hit town.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">This is not to suggest that there have not been earlier successful variations on the jukebox genre. The massively popular <em>Mamma Mia!<\/em>, which premiered in 1999, cleverly married the ABBA oeuvre to a frothy romantic comedy, paving the way for many similar combinations\u2014although up to now, most of the fictional libretti have tended to be similarly lightweight if not simply fatuous. Or, on occasion, they\u2019ve erred in the other direction, as was the case a few years back with the late David Bowie\u2019s dazzling but enigmatic <em>Lazarus<\/em>, written by another Irishman, Enda Walsh, and directed by avant-garde darling Ivo van Hove.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<div class=\"wp-block-image\"><figure class=\"aligncenter size-large\"><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" width=\"800\" height=\"462\" src=\"https:\/\/www.critical-stages.org\/21\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/22\/2020\/05\/image7.jpg\" alt=\"\" class=\"wp-image-693\" srcset=\"https:\/\/www.critical-stages.org\/21\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/22\/2020\/05\/image7.jpg 800w, https:\/\/www.critical-stages.org\/21\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/22\/2020\/05\/image7-300x173.jpg 300w, https:\/\/www.critical-stages.org\/21\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/22\/2020\/05\/image7-768x444.jpg 768w\" sizes=\"auto, (max-width: 800px) 100vw, 800px\" \/><figcaption>The Broadway cast of <em>Jagged Little Pill<\/em> includes, left to right, Derek Klena (Nick), Kathryn Gallagher (as rape victim Bella), Sean Allan Krill (Steve), Elizabeth Stanley (Mary Jane), Lauren Patten (Jo) and Celia Rose Gooding (Frankie). Photo: Matthew Murphy<\/figcaption><\/figure><\/div>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\"><em>Jagged Little Pill<\/em> and <em>Girl from the North Country<\/em>, in contrast, are compelling dramas that stand on their own. If I have an issue with either, it would only be with <em>Jagged Little Pill\u2019s <\/em>overeager efforts to tap into the zeitgeist. Music aside, its libretto does not quite measure up to those of its obvious antecedents, not only Kitt and Brian Yorkey\u2019s <em>Next to Normal<\/em>, but also Lisa Kron and Jeanine Tesori\u2019s <em>Fun Home<\/em> and <em>Dear Evan Hansen<\/em> by that white-hot duo, Benj Pasek and Justin Paul. All three are strikingly contemporary American musicals that have dealt with dark and difficult issues\u2014and done it with original scores as well.<a name=\"end\">&nbsp;<\/a><\/p>\n\n\n\n<hr class=\"wp-block-separator is-style-wide\"\/>\n\n\n\n<figure class=\"wp-block-image size-thumbnail is-resized\"><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" src=\"https:\/\/www.critical-stages.org\/21\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/22\/2020\/05\/Morrow250-150x150.jpg\" alt=\"\" class=\"wp-image-694\" width=\"150\" height=\"150\"\/><\/figure>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\"><a name=\"end\" href=\"#back\">*<\/a><strong>Martin Morrow<\/strong> is the Past President of the Canadian Theatre Critics Association and a two-time winner of Canada\u2019s Nathan Cohen Award for excellence in critical writing. He has served as chief theatre critic of the <em>Calgary Herald<\/em> (1988\u20132000), <em>Fast Forward Weekly<\/em> (2003\u201306) and <em>The Grid<\/em> (2011\u201314). Since 2010, he has been a theatre critic and arts writer for <em>The Globe and Mail<\/em>, Canada\u2019s national newspaper. He is also the author of <em>Wild Theatre: The History of One Yellow Rabbit<\/em>, a chronicle of the seminal Canadian avant-garde company.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"has-text-align-center has-small-font-size wp-block-paragraph\">Copyright <strong>\u00a9<\/strong> 2020 Martin Morrow<br><em>Critical Stages\/Sc\u00e8nes critiques<\/em> e-ISSN: 2409-7411<\/p>\n\n\n\n<div class=\"wp-block-image\"><figure class=\"aligncenter\"><a href=\"https:\/\/creativecommons.org\/licenses\/by-nc-nd\/4.0\/\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noreferrer noopener\"><img decoding=\"async\" src=\"https:\/\/www.critical-stages.org\/wp-content\/uploads\/2021\/03\/88x31.png\" alt=\"Creative Commons Attribution International License\"\/><\/a><\/figure><\/div>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"has-text-align-center has-small-font-size wp-block-paragraph\">This work is licensed under the<br>Creative Commons Attribution International License CC BY-NC-ND 4.0.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":691,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_jetpack_newsletter_access":"","_jetpack_dont_email_post_to_subs":false,"_jetpack_newsletter_tier_id":0,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paywalled_content":false,"_jetpack_feature_clip_id":0,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paid_content":false,"footnotes":"","jetpack_post_was_ever_published":false},"categories":[8],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-686","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-performance-reviews"],"jetpack_featured_media_url":"https:\/\/www.critical-stages.org\/21\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/22\/2020\/05\/image5-11.jpeg","jetpack_sharing_enabled":true,"jetpack-related-posts":[{"id":195,"url":"https:\/\/www.critical-stages.org\/21\/tomorrows-theatre-maybe\/","url_meta":{"origin":686,"position":0},"title":"Tomorrow\u2019s Theatre! Maybe","author":"Martin Morrow","date":"April 18, 2020","format":false,"excerpt":"Steve Capra* A Performance for One, produced by Untitled Theatre Company #61 at Chashama, New York. Conceived by Edward Einhorn and Yvonne Roen. Written and directed by Edward Einhorn. Opened 6 September 2019. Theatre in the Dark: Carpe Diem. Produced by This is not a Theatre Company. Conceived and directed\u2026","rel":"","context":"In &quot;Performance Reviews&quot;","block_context":{"text":"Performance Reviews","link":"https:\/\/www.critical-stages.org\/21\/category\/performance-reviews\/"},"img":{"alt_text":"","src":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/www.critical-stages.org\/21\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/22\/2020\/04\/featured.jpg?resize=350%2C200&ssl=1","width":350,"height":200},"classes":[]},{"id":653,"url":"https:\/\/www.critical-stages.org\/21\/notes-on-light-the-musicality-of-light-and-theatre\/","url_meta":{"origin":686,"position":1},"title":"Notes on Light: The Musicality of Light and Theatre","author":"Martin Morrow","date":"June 4, 2020","format":false,"excerpt":"Amy Chan* Abstract Light is a major visual element in theatre but remains subordinated to texts in dramatic theatre. With the development of the concept of postdramatic theatre, the potentialities of light in theatre, particularly the musicality of light, open up. In this paper, I examine the interrelationship among light,\u2026","rel":"","context":"In &quot;Special Topic&quot;","block_context":{"text":"Special Topic","link":"https:\/\/www.critical-stages.org\/21\/category\/special-topic\/"},"img":{"alt_text":"","src":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/www.critical-stages.org\/21\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/22\/2020\/05\/featured-2.jpg?resize=350%2C200&ssl=1","width":350,"height":200,"srcset":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/www.critical-stages.org\/21\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/22\/2020\/05\/featured-2.jpg?resize=350%2C200&ssl=1 1x, https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/www.critical-stages.org\/21\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/22\/2020\/05\/featured-2.jpg?resize=525%2C300&ssl=1 1.5x, https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/www.critical-stages.org\/21\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/22\/2020\/05\/featured-2.jpg?resize=700%2C400&ssl=1 2x"},"classes":[]},{"id":742,"url":"https:\/\/www.critical-stages.org\/21\/a-town-remembered-and-recreated\/","url_meta":{"origin":686,"position":2},"title":"A Town Remembered and Recreated","author":"Martin Morrow","date":"April 18, 2020","format":false,"excerpt":"Maria Z\u0103rnescu* Our Town (A mi kis v\u00e1rosunk). Written by Thornton Wilder. Translated by Marcell Benedek. Adapted by Vladimir Anton and R\u00e9ka D\u00e1lnoky. Directed by Vladimir Anton. Set design: Eranio Petru\u015fca. Costumes: Bogl\u00e1rka B\u00edr\u00f3. Music: Attila P\u00e1l. Lighting design: Istv\u00e1n To\u00e1s\u00f3. Sound Design:\u00a0 Hunor-Lehel Boca. Produced by the Tomcsa S\u00e1ndor\u2026","rel":"","context":"In &quot;Performance Reviews&quot;","block_context":{"text":"Performance Reviews","link":"https:\/\/www.critical-stages.org\/21\/category\/performance-reviews\/"},"img":{"alt_text":"","src":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/www.critical-stages.org\/21\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/22\/2020\/06\/PER-Ourtown8.jpg?resize=350%2C200&ssl=1","width":350,"height":200,"srcset":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/www.critical-stages.org\/21\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/22\/2020\/06\/PER-Ourtown8.jpg?resize=350%2C200&ssl=1 1x, https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/www.critical-stages.org\/21\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/22\/2020\/06\/PER-Ourtown8.jpg?resize=525%2C300&ssl=1 1.5x, https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/www.critical-stages.org\/21\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/22\/2020\/06\/PER-Ourtown8.jpg?resize=700%2C400&ssl=1 2x"},"classes":[]},{"id":624,"url":"https:\/\/www.critical-stages.org\/21\/performing-outdoors-about-aesthetics-and-ideology-an-interview-with-joan-font\/","url_meta":{"origin":686,"position":3},"title":"Performing Outdoors: About Aesthetics and Ideology:                                An Interview with Joan Font","author":"Martin Morrow","date":"May 24, 2020","format":false,"excerpt":"by Merc\u00e8 Saumell* Joan Font was born in 1949, in a town near Barcelona. He trained at the prestigious Jack Lecoq school in Paris. In 1971, together with several Catalan colleagues, some of whom were also Lecoq students, he founded the Comediants theatre group. Comediants is one of the finest\u2026","rel":"","context":"In &quot;Interviews&quot;","block_context":{"text":"Interviews","link":"https:\/\/www.critical-stages.org\/21\/category\/interviews\/"},"img":{"alt_text":"","src":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/www.critical-stages.org\/21\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/22\/2020\/05\/Font.jpeg?resize=350%2C200&ssl=1","width":350,"height":200},"classes":[]},{"id":675,"url":"https:\/\/www.critical-stages.org\/21\/russian-theatre-before-the-crash\/","url_meta":{"origin":686,"position":4},"title":"Russian Theatre Before the Crash","author":"Martin Morrow","date":"May 30, 2020","format":false,"excerpt":"Christine Matvienko* The 2020 Golden Mask Festival in Moscow was postponed because of the coronavirus threat, and likewise the accompanying Russian Case, a showcase for foreign visitors. As a jury member, Christine Matvienko saw the productions before the pandemic. Russian theatre before the pandemic was diverse and interesting both in\u2026","rel":"","context":"In &quot;Performance Reviews&quot;","block_context":{"text":"Performance Reviews","link":"https:\/\/www.critical-stages.org\/21\/category\/performance-reviews\/"},"img":{"alt_text":"","src":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/www.critical-stages.org\/21\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/22\/2020\/05\/PER-Rusbefore-The-Storm.jpg?resize=350%2C200&ssl=1","width":350,"height":200,"srcset":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/www.critical-stages.org\/21\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/22\/2020\/05\/PER-Rusbefore-The-Storm.jpg?resize=350%2C200&ssl=1 1x, https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/www.critical-stages.org\/21\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/22\/2020\/05\/PER-Rusbefore-The-Storm.jpg?resize=525%2C300&ssl=1 1.5x, https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/www.critical-stages.org\/21\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/22\/2020\/05\/PER-Rusbefore-The-Storm.jpg?resize=700%2C400&ssl=1 2x"},"classes":[]},{"id":222,"url":"https:\/\/www.critical-stages.org\/21\/time-chance-and-space-stan-lais-newest-work-ago\/","url_meta":{"origin":686,"position":5},"title":"Time, Chance and Space: Stan Lai\u2019s Newest Work, Ago","author":"Martin Morrow","date":"April 18, 2020","format":false,"excerpt":"Yu Kuo-Hua* Ago, written and directed by Stan Lai. Performed in Mandarin Chinese. Set and Costume Design: Sandra Woodall. Lighting: Michael Lee-zenChien. Projections: Ethan Wang. Company: Performance Workshop Shanghai. Venue: Theatre Above, Shanghai, China. Premiere: December 6, 2019. With a playing time of over five hours, Stan Lai\u2019s latest work,\u2026","rel":"","context":"In &quot;Performance Reviews&quot;","block_context":{"text":"Performance Reviews","link":"https:\/\/www.critical-stages.org\/21\/category\/performance-reviews\/"},"img":{"alt_text":"","src":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/www.critical-stages.org\/21\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/22\/2020\/04\/image10.jpeg?resize=350%2C200&ssl=1","width":350,"height":200,"srcset":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/www.critical-stages.org\/21\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/22\/2020\/04\/image10.jpeg?resize=350%2C200&ssl=1 1x, https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/www.critical-stages.org\/21\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/22\/2020\/04\/image10.jpeg?resize=525%2C300&ssl=1 1.5x, https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/www.critical-stages.org\/21\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/22\/2020\/04\/image10.jpeg?resize=700%2C400&ssl=1 2x"},"classes":[]}],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.critical-stages.org\/21\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/686","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.critical-stages.org\/21\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.critical-stages.org\/21\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.critical-stages.org\/21\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.critical-stages.org\/21\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=686"}],"version-history":[{"count":5,"href":"https:\/\/www.critical-stages.org\/21\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/686\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":1152,"href":"https:\/\/www.critical-stages.org\/21\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/686\/revisions\/1152"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.critical-stages.org\/21\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/691"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.critical-stages.org\/21\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=686"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.critical-stages.org\/21\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=686"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.critical-stages.org\/21\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=686"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}