My overall impression
It’s an oddity of Broadway, everybody seems to think that Rent glorifies AIDS, and yet, when Spring Awakening came around, nobody seemed to get that it was glorifying ignorance. That’s the entire reason why I hated the book, and 50% of the reason why I loved Lonesome No More’s non-corny, holds-no-punches, non-musical version.
The other 50% could belong to the fact that I personally cannot say any ill words towards this production.
LNM (in what could be construed as an ironic title for a company doing a play about horniness)is full of fantastic actors that hit every note. But I’d like to talk about the director, Dana Murphy, for a quick second.
Murphy’s vision of neglect and foolishness hits home in the current era of “Do It Yourself” logic. We are in the age of ignorance, and this play’s uncompromising moral shines a harsh truth on the dark side of self-education. Not one character in this play is a hero or a villain – it’s almost as if we are just watching a documentary on human nature.
Each actor is brilliant in her or his own way. Not one of them slumps. Each brings something to the table. Patrick Riley portrays Melchior not as a savior or a bastion of hope among “the children”, but as a know-it-all that actually knows nothing. One might call him oversexed, if there was any indication that he was getting some. A huge plot point is that he is not- none of them are (nor should be)- but Melchior can’t process the new things he knows about sex with his bursting feelings of rage and lust. Jennifer Alcott literally becomes a fifteen year old as she portrays Wendla in all her youthful enthusiasm and imagination. Dan Beckner is a fantastic bully (and thankfully not gay, like in the Broadway version, which came off there as incredibly tacked on to an already tacky translation/adaptation). Mike Beatty is stunning as Moritz, a 100% realistic human tragedy that speaks to anyone that has ever been completely left without a lifeboat in their environment. Ariana Hodes as the girl-on-the-streets.
Then Meghan McCauley comes in and decides to steal the entire thing.
It ends almost as abruptly and as oddly as it begins, as it should. This is a play with where the only thing clear is the moral of ignorance. We are the only ones we have in this world, and if we fail each other, this place just gets a bit darker. That’s really all there is to it.
Go see this.
Go see this now, with the power of a thousand Gods.
