Recent theater

[troisoiseaux]

Emily Burns' new adaptation of Frankenstein at the Shakespeare Theatre Company is phenomenal— I've been struggling to explain it in a way that a. doesn't undersell how well it works and b. isn't just the Jenny Slate Drunk History meme, but trust me, it's so good. It's a reimagining of Mary Shelley's original plot— the first half takes the events of Victor's return to Geneva and re-centers it on his foster sister/fiancée(!) Elizabeth, and on Justine, the servant framed for the murder of Victor's younger brother; the second half departs from the book entirely, but has more than a little of Mary and Percy Shelley's history in its DNA— with a distinctly contemporary voice, but it weaves in Mary Shelley's original text in ways that carry new meanings: the scene that's is going to live rent-free in my head is the end of act one, in which Elizabeth - no longer in love with Victor, but its the 1800s and she's an unmarried woman and an orphan and isolated and she wants a family, goddammit - asks Victor to make her a wife in a speech adapted from the Creature's request for a companion. The dynamic between Victor and Elizabeth is messed up in a way that makes for delicious theater— Victor is the worst, in an "abusive boyfriend learns therapy words" way that, I swear, you could feel the audience (which, at least where I was sitting, skewed towards younger women) mentally screaming for Elizabeth to throw the entire man out; this play leans into the Gothic faux-cest vibes with flashbacks to the pair of them sniping like siblings— and the main theme is one of parents and children, explored through three different plot threads: obviously, that of Victor Frankenstein's refusal to take responsibility for the creature he created, which hangs over most of the play as an unspoken but omnipresent rebuke; the undercurrent of grief (mutual), resentment (Victor's), and guilt (Elizabeth's) over the fact that Victor's mother died because she'd nursed Elizabeth when she was ill; and the arc of the second act: Victor and Elizabeth have a baby, who Victor convinces Elizabeth to leave behind when he insists they flee his "enemy" (i.e., the creature, although Victor has spun a whole story about "his enemy" that sounds much more like Victor himself) because he doesn't know about the baby, only us! she'll be safe!; Elizabeth spends years searching for the child as they live on the run, and is finally convinced she's found her, in a little girl at an orphanage, and although Victor responds by declaring that actually, the baby died, he's been lying for years just to avoid hurting her feelings!, Elizabeth is like fuck you, actually and adopts the child, who actually IS their daughter, AND it turns out that the Creature adopted her as his own, having seen Victor abandon her at a church, just as Victor abandoned him!!! AND THEN the Creature sacrifices himself to the mob that Victor whips up against him, to allow Elizabeth and the little girl to escape from Victor!!! YES, all of this sounds like it absolutely jumps the shark, but I swear to god, it worked.

And actually, there was a fourth storyline that ties into the theme and, in retrospect, foreshadows the twist ending re: the Creature— in the expanded backstory/role for the servant Justine, she basically raised Victor's little brother William as her own after his mother died, only to be accused of and executed for (!) his murder; she also grew up alongside Victor and Elizabeth but, unlike Elizabeth, she came into the family as a servant rather than a daughter. The same actress makes an appearance in the second act as the wet nurse for Elizabeth's newborn daughter, and confronts Victor when he demands to know why Elizabeth isn't nursing their baby (what's wrong with you that you can't do your ONE job??— seriously, he was the literal worst), pointing out that she (the wet nurse) is only there because her own baby died.

Also saw The Untitled Unauthorized Hunter S. Thompson Musical at the Signature Theater, having finally wised up to the fact that if a new musical is being produced in DC it's probably on its way to Broadway, so I might as well see it now. (Cheaper tickets! Potential bragging rights!) This is exactly what it says on the tin - a rock musical by Joe Iconis about writer Hunter S. Thompson, father of Gonzo journalism in the 1960s-70s - and certainly timely; to lean into the inevitable Hamilton comparisons, Hunter...'s Burr is Richard Nixon as a so-sleezy-it's-camp psychopomp haunting Thompson's final hours as he runs through his life story, and the parallels to, you know, that other guy are about as subtle as a bonk to the head. Very meta, overall: as it goes on, the other characters begin to confront Thompson over his version of events and demand to speak for themselves. There was a frequent use of puppets, including a peacock, a baby that could make a fight the man! fist and flip the bird, and a giant Nixon head. (Yes, in addition to the actor playing Nixon.) I enjoyed this a lot!! The only downside of seeing such a new show is that I've had random snippets of lyrics and melodies floating around in my head for days and there's no cast recording to listen to. (ETA: There is an official trailer, though!)

ETA #2: The Unofficial The Untitled Unauthorized Hunter S. Thompson Musical Playlist:
- "The Opening Number Is Indulgent and Perverse"
- "Steadman's Song" (short clip)
- "The Song of the Brown Buffalo"
- "Wavesong"
- "Nixon's Big Number"
- "Hey Dad"
- "Kaboom"

Comments

[sabotabby]

I wanna see the Hunter S. Thompson musical!

[troisoiseaux]

I just added a link to Signature Theater's "trailer" for the show, so you can at least see snippets of it!

[sabotabby]

Unconvinced by the music, still wanna see it though.

[troisoiseaux]

Yeah, this was... not the best song. (Also, overall, I'd say that the lyrics were the weakest part.) I did find a couple of other videos - this one is the big emotional finale - so fingers crossed that Sig Theater will eventually post at least one of the songs that really stuck with me. (I loved the song that the "and I always squeeze my bloody heart / and let it drip onto my art" lyric callback in the linked Big Finale Song was from, which was the number for/about illustrator Ralph Steadman.)

[sabotabby]

I don't know enough about music theory to describe why I obsess over some musical-type music and dislike others, and alas this is doing the latter for me.

[troisoiseaux]

That's fair! I feel like musical theater songs fall on a spectrum of cheesy <——> clever, and these songs tended to fall solidly on the "cheesy" side of things?? (Of the other lyrics I remember, there were two different songs with lyrical hooks of "I'm in love with a man named George McGovern" and "Dick Nixon is going to beat your hippie ass", respectively.)

...it was a very fun musical, though!

[sabotabby]

Yeah, that makes sense.

I feel like the lyrics for this ought to be hilarious.

[troisoiseaux]

Not to keep spamming you with songs from this I've found random places, but I did really like this one. (Still cheesy! But it was a stunning moment on stage.)

I feel like the lyrics for this ought to be hilarious.

It was a very funny musical! Also at one point the actor playing Nixon roller skates across the stage wearing nothing but a sparkly American flag speedo to represent The American Dream(TM).

[sabotabby]

Video not available, le sigh. I hope you don't think the cheesiness would discourage me from going if it ever comes here!

[troisoiseaux]

Try here?

[sabotabby]

Yeah I like that a lot better.

[kore]

which was the number for/about illustrator Ralph Steadman

Ooh, I love him.

[kore]

That Frankenstein adaptation sounds AMAZING.

[troisoiseaux]

It was SO good. Also, now I need to finally get around to actually reading Frankenstein.

[kore]

I of course totally overidentified with the Creature, lolsob. Autodidacts unite!

[lunabee34]

OMG that Frankenstein adaptation sounds amazing!!!!

[troisoiseaux]

Back in 2019 (technically the 2018-19 and 2019-20 seasons), STC produced a number of new adaptations of classic literature by female playwrights: Vanity Fair, Peter Pan, and the Oresteia. I'm glad they're returning to that particular niche!

[dolorosa_12]

That Frankenstein adaptation sounds phenomenal!

[troisoiseaux]

It was SO good. I actually haven't been wild about most of the shows at the STC this year (2024-25 season), but my GOD did they hit it out of the park with the first (Comedy of Errors) and last (this one) shows of the season.

[chestnut_pod]

This Frankenstein sounds so much better than the Frankenstein ballet I am being forced (forced!) by the cruel hand of social etiquette to see in the fall is going to be ;-;. I wish I could see it; how interesting some of those changes are!

[troisoiseaux]

Ooh. I've seen pictures of (presumably different productions?) of the Frankenstein ballet floating around for years and have always been intrigued by it. This was such a good adaptation, though— I have grown to feel cynical about "female character-centric retellings" as a genre but Emily Burns understood the assignment.

[chestnut_pod]

This is the Liam Scarlett one, which adds a whole other layer to the gender politics of it all…

I love a really good female character-centric retelling, and in GENERAL I think it's a good sign that the market is so, hm, fulsome with examples, but it does make it a little hard to find the Lavinia-quality ones!

[troisoiseaux]

This is the Liam Scarlett one, which adds a whole other layer to the gender politics of it all…

Oh??? I don't know anything about this adaptation beyond pics look cool, but now I'm curious.

[chestnut_pod]

Well, it's about bad sexual harassment/abuse things, so here's a cut--

Basically, Scarlett was accused by male students and corps members at three companies/company schools in Australia, the UK, and Denmark of sexual misconduct with students and dancers, in a number of different ways both on and off the job. Scarlett killed himself after the allegations became public and some of the companies distanced themselves from him. After his death, the investigations were basically dropped or fudged, such that the exact extent and nature of this behavior never became clear. It's been some years now, and companies are quietly bringing his choreography back out of the woodwork, I think basically hoping that people will either have forgotten, or will say, well, he's dead anyway. But it has been extremely disappointing to see companies and individuals alike try to memory-hole the whole affair.

Hence why reviving a Frankenstein take by him in particular has a certain special unsavoriness.</details

[troisoiseaux]

Ohhhh. Yikes.

(I was unaware of All Of That and read "...adds a whole other layer..." as, like, something in the adaptation vs. original Frankenstein, like the recent Crime and Punishment ballet that rotated between male and female dancers for the role of Raskolnikov.)

[chestnut_pod]

Yeah, sorry! I suppose I was being rather flippant.

I wish it were something more like the Crime and Punishment!