Off-Broadway Musicals since 1919 by Hischak Thomas S.;

Off-Broadway Musicals since 1919 by Hischak Thomas S.;

Author:Hischak, Thomas S.; [Hischak, Thomas S.]
Language: eng
Format: epub
Publisher: Scarecrow Press
Published: 2010-12-31T16:00:00+00:00


The Human Comedy

[28 December 1983, Public Theatre/Anspacher Theatre, 79 performances; Royale Theatre, 13 performances] a musical play by William Dumaresq based on William Saroyan’s novel. Score: Galt MacDermot (music), Dumaresq (lyrics). Cast: Rex Smith, Bonnie Koloc, Mary Elizabeth Mastrantonio, Stephen Geoffreys, Delores Hall, Caroline Peyton, Laurie Franks, Josh Blake, Anne Marie Bobby.

Perhaps the saddest casualty of the 1983–1984 New York theatre season was the failure of this ambitious and often enthralling musical play. The Human Comedy offered Galt MacDermot’s best score since Hair, the book based on a William Saroyan novel and film was rich with engaging characters, and the sung-through piece was given a splendid production both Off and then on Broadway. Yet The Human Comedy was not a success and, even sadder, it still has not received the recognition it deserves.

In the small California town of Ithaca during World War II, the residents go through their everyday lives with dread and hope. For the widowed Kate MacCauley (Bonnie Koloc), all her concerns are for her children, who are either in the war or at home dealing with the pains of growing up. The death of her son Marcus (Don Kehr) brings momentary tragedy, then life struggles on, particularly when Marcus’s army friend Tobey (Joseph Kolinski) comes to town looking for the family that he’s heard so much about. The large cast of characters also included featured performances by Rex Smith, Mary Elizabeth Mastrantonio, Stephen Geoffreys, Josh Blake, Gordon Connell, Caroline Peyton, and Debra Byrd, all directed expertly by Wilford Leach. The entire cast remained on stage during the performance and served as a Greek chorus commenting on the action and joining the other characters in song. It was an episodic tale and one that might have been bathed in sentimentality (as it had in the film) had the creators not handled the material so well. Some called The Human Comedy an opera because it was filled with music (over eighty separate musical numbers) and all dialogue was sung or delivered in a recitative style. Yet the show did not sound or feel like an opera with its wonderful blending of swing, jazz, folk, and gospel music. William Dumaresq adapted Saroyan’s words into lyrics that were more conversational than poetic, often avoiding rhymes and traditional song structure. MacDermot’s music provided the poetry, and the resulting score was frequently intoxicating. The different musical styles were revealing expressions of everyday emotions, sometimes as simple as a hymn, as in “Everlasting” and “When I Am Lost,” other times complicated, as with the bitter “I Don’t Know Who to Hate” or the questioning “Everything Is Changed.” “Long Past Sunset” and “Somewhere, Someone” were engaging folk songs, while “Beautiful Music” was a rousing gospel number which took its energy from the sounds of the telegraph office bringing dreaded news of the war dead. MacDermot also composed music to convey the rushing of the passing train as well as a musical theme for the teenager’s bicycle as he delivers the telegrams. The Human Comedy was flooded with music, and all of it was superior.



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