Broadway blitz

NEW YORK - Any weatherman worth his isobars can tell you that the winds of change blow across America from west to east - that the atmospheric phenomenon that affects Los Angeles may gradually make its way to New York.

In the case of theater, however, the reverse tends to be true. To paraphrase the song, if a show can make it there (in New York), the reasoning goes, it can make it anywhere.

Right now, the New York theater scene, and the Broadway theater district in particular, is thriving as never before. The transformation of Times Square has brought about a renaissance in the formerly seedy part of town where hookers and porn shops used to outnumber theatergoers.

Not being a born-and-bred New Yorker, I can only relate to this turnabout from the point of view of a tourist and theater critic, one who is openly in awe of what`s taking place, and more than a little envious.

There is an electric energy that pervades this part of town - a hustling, bustling harmonic convergence of locals and visitors who share a common love for live theater. Any night, except Monday, when actors (like God) are allowed a day of rest, the population swells as patrons empty out of cabs and buses, emerge from the subway and converge on the greatest concentration of legitimate theaters in the world.

As a result, anyone who is planning a visit to New York, especially those on a limited schedule, are faced with the daunting challenge of choosing which shows to see.

A little advice: If your city is a regular stop on the national touring circuit, you`re safe to skip the "Miss Saigons," "Jekylls & Hydes" and "Chicagos" - let them find their way to you. This will narrow the field a bit, allowing you to choose among the current crop of hit musicals, revivals, dramas and comedies, while the more adventurous theatergoer may wish to consider one of the many off-Broadway offerings.

During a recent two-day visit to the Big Apple, I managed to cram in three shows, two of which are almost certain to tour the country.

Consider this, then, a preview of things to come with Broadway`s "Aida" and "Copenhagen" almost certain to make the westward journey.

For a major new musical, the choice was Disney`s latest stage spectacular, "Aida," with music by Elton John and lyrics by Tim Rice. I was curious to see how, and why, the Disney moguls thought Verdi`s Ethiopian princess was in need of a millennium make over. Could this possibly be a good idea?

In comparison, the decision to see Michael Frayn`s Tony Award-winning drama "Copenhagen" was a slam-dunk. This play about the secretive 1941 meeting between two of the world`s most imaginative, and potentially destructive, physicists, Niels Bohr and Werner Heisenberg, at the height of World War II, represented the potential for thought-provoking theater at its best.

The third selection was by far the most difficult, since it involved picking a play that was new, off the beaten path, more cutting-edge in its theatricality, and therefore potentially a bust.

After careful consideration, the choice was "Alice in Bed" by Susan Sontag at the New York Theatre Workshop, an institution renowned for generating exciting new work. Published in 1993, this dreamlike drama, based on the character of Alice James (the invalid sister of American author Henry James) had recently been revived as part of the 2000 Holland Festival in Amsterdam. Directed by Ivo van Hove, and starring Joan MacIntosh, the production was having its American premiere.

Wednesday is matinee day in the Broadway theater district. And as 2 p.m. approached, the streets, already jammed with New Yorkers, swelled to tidal-wave proportions as busloads of tourists arrived with tickets to the most popular shows.

"Aida" was sold out. The average age of the audience was, perhaps, 60-65, and enthusiasm was high. However, I remained skeptical. Just because John and Rice clicked with "The Lion King" didn`t mean they were up to reinventing Verdi`s grand opera. At the same time, it was intriguing that as sharp a playwright as David Henry Hwang ("M. Butterfly" and "The Golden Child") was listed as one of three contributors responsible for the show`s book.

Three hours later, my opinion of John`s ability to compose a full-length musical had not been altered. His flashy pop-rock musical vocabulary simply wasn`t flexible enough to go the distance. The surprise was that I had been totally won over by the show`s contemporary spin on the story, and the performances of the two female leads: the statuesque Heather Headley who plays Aida, and Sherie Rene Scott as her Egyptian bond mistress, Amneris.

Disney`s "Aida" begins in the present day, as a group of museum-goers wend their way through a display of Egyptian artifacts and costumes, one of which suddenly comes to life as Amneris. And as Scott sings the show`s opening number, "Every Story is a Love Story," a beautiful African-American woman and a handsome young white man exchange the type of glances that speaks volumes; perhaps they have known one another in a former life.

The scene then dissolves and we are transported back to the ancient civilization on the Nile, but with a decidedly hip, modern twist. It`s a formula that the folks at Disney have been using for years in their animated features, combining an atmosphere of vague historical authenticity with characters whose point of view and manner of speech is decidedly of today.

And because there always has to be a bad guy, someone to hiss at in a Disney production, the writers have added an evil power behind the throne, Rhadames` father, Zoser.

From tip to toe, this "Aida" projects a very modern level of cultural awareness and political correctness, most of which is focused on the three-way relationship between Aida, the Egyptian general; Rhadames (Adam Pascal) who captures her; and his royal betrothed, Amneris, daughter of Pharaoh.

Unlike her operatic counterpart, there is nothing timid or the least bit submissive about this Aida. She`s a warrior/princess, every inch the equal of Rhadames. Headley, who won the Tony, Drama Desk and Drama League awards for her performance, combines an exotic sense of alluring femininity with a genuine sense of regal stature. As we watch, she struggles to reconcile the growing passion she feels for Rhadames, with her royal responsibility to deliver her people from bondage.

Amneris, however, is the character who benefits the most from this modernized reinterpretation. Scott`s Amneris is more like Madonna on the Nile. And as Egypt`s No. 1 "material girl," she`s convinced that image is everything. It`s a state of mind that Scott embodies perfectly in her glittery star-turn number, "My Strongest Suit," which features Amneris and her handmaidens modeling a parade of the most outrageous costumes, designed by Bob Crowley.

Aida may be the one who is trapped between her love for Rhadames and the love of her people, but it is Amneris, in the end, who undergoes the greatest transformation of personality from spoiled brat to mature monarch.

Some critics have accused "Aida" of being pieced together out of leftovers from "The Lion King." It`s not true. The show has a bold visual style all its own and the ability to appeal to a wide audience. Its principal shortcoming is the music, which repeats its rock-simple melodic formula again and again.

In contrast, "Copenhagen" is a brilliantly constructed set of variations on a theme.

"The central event is a real one," the playwright explains in his printed introduction. "Heisenberg did go to Copenhagen in 1941, and there was a meeting with Bohr, in the teeth of all the dangers and difficulties encountered by my characters," (a reference to Nazi-occupied Denmark).

The conundrum that is so brilliantly explored in "Copenhagen" concerns the possible whys and wherefores behind the meeting. And as the play unfolds, the ghostly participants relive the events of the past again and again, each time introducing a different point of view and a different set of variables.

In one scenario, Heisenberg, who is heading the Nazi war machine`s effort to develop an atomic bomb, has risked everything to let Bohr know what his employers are doing. He tells his former professor that he has even made attempts to stall the progress of the project. His present concern is that the Allied forces are involved in similar atomic efforts, and he implores Bohr to function as a go-between providing information to both sides.

In another variation, Heisenberg`s motives are far less humanitarian and more self-serving - the brilliant pupil out to impress his mentor with how far he has advanced the hypothetical theories of quantum mechanics they worked on together, in the direction of a devastating physical reality.

It`s a revelation that startles Bohr, especially when he remembers how prone Heisenberg was to sacrificing scientific methodology in favor of a headlong rush to get results, at any cost.

Throughout the play, which is superbly directed by Michael Blakemore, Bohr (Philip Bosco), his wife Margrethe (Blair Brown) and Heisenberg (Michael Crumpsty) move about the bare circular wooden stage as if they were swirling atomic particles in a carefully controlled experiment. And each time the story is replayed, the variables of the encounter are altered, so a new set of questions arises.

To what extent should science be allowed to become the tool of any political agenda? Can the scientist stand as guardian of a higher order, beyond the realm of nationalism? Can an inherently good person willingly become a cog in an immoral system? And what is the human factor in this complex equation?

The greatest challenge in attending an off-Braodway play in New York, is, first of all, finding the theater. You can always try a cab, but it may cost a small fortune and there is no guarantee you`ll arrive before curtain time. The subway can prove a better solution, even if you have to walk a bit and admit you need the help of native guides.

Such was the case in finding the New York Theatre Workshop, a nondescript storefront in the East Village. This is the theater that gained notoriety for giving birth to the musical "Rent."

The theater`s presentation of "Alice in Bed" proved a fascinating, if rather confusing, exercise in high-tech multimedia staging. For most of the play, the central character, Alice (Joan MacIntosh), lies prone on an elevated body cast that serves as a bed. Suspended all around her are television monitors and a menagerie of assorted props suspended by strings. As MacIntosh slips in and out of a sort of delirium, the key figures in her life, both literary and real, appear on the screens that surround her like a cubistic fever dream.

Unfortunately, it`s an experiment in perception that proves more interesting as a display of audiovisual components than as a thought-provoking exploration of this tortured woman`s psyche. Nevertheless, the production left me with a disturbing sense of disquietude, as if somehow those free-floating images had permeated my psyche.

(c) Copley News Service

Article continues below

---

advertisement

---

Author: Jim Farber