Too often, great stagecraft and performances are let down by the script behind them.
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A friend of mine once described herself as a playwright who doesnt like plays.
Commissioning them, workshopping them, producing them, attending them we know how to do it.
Theater, though, is something else.
Theater can happen without plays.
We know all this, but were also very good at forgetting it.
(It violates Kurt Vonneguts No.
Whats happening when its the words that are weighing down something thats attempting to fly?
Buena Vista Social Clubis unquestionably rich with moments of flight.
The whoops resurface and are warranted throughout.
Where its not at its best is in its script.
Perhaps inevitably,Buena Vistathe musical is more overtly heartstring-tugging thanthe wonderful documentary Wim Wenders madein 1999.
Some of it onlyfeelstrue.
Whether its truth or fiction, what it predominantlyfeelsis polished: neat and expected.
to communicate yourawarenessthat the speech is part of the formula.
/ The world needs pretty songs).
And they give rise to dialogue that cant help but thud in many actors mouths.
To be clear: I love stories.
But its not the narrative part thats worrisome its that inevitable drift.
Every so often, a flat-painted bum and legs emerge from the wings cheekily?
allowing a scroll with some important message on it to unfurl from guess-where.
If theyd thought of it, the creators ofSpamalotmight have gone there.
Worse, at times it turns cloying and cutesy.
(Grastorfs scary-dentistry sketch is an especially worn-out piece of shtick.)
Were ready to move on, but the performers are still giving us jazz hands.
What it does possess is abundant warmth and an appealingly mischievous energy.
Thats the upside of a joyful devising process.
Ive got to read their face.
What are their eyes doing?
What should my tone be?
How close do I stand?
; Did you get my text?
; Jenn, over here!
Do you remember me?
While thats a worthy goal, I question the assumption that the abstract is necessarily the unavailable.
Onstage, if the body is telling us something, the text need not always hammer it home.
Isnt one of theaters great opportunities the dynamic manifestation of metaphor?
Not talking is frightening.
Writing that pushes a play toward the ecstatic leap into theater isnt easy or ordinary or formulaic.
