|
Practical Anatomy
A new musical
Book, Music & Lyrics by Elizabeth Babby
Directed by Terry Selucky
Produced by Sansculottes Theater Company
At Chicago’s Storefront Theater
In Gallery 37 Center for the Arts
66 East Randolph
Chicago, IL
Call 312-742-8497, tickets $10 - $15
Wednesday through Saturday at 7:30 PM
Sunday at 3 PM
Running time is 2 hrs, 45 min with intermission
Through February 12, 2006
Practical Anatomy needs a dissection
Kudos to Sansculottes Theater Company for mounting Elizabeth Bagby’s dark folk chamber musical, Practical Anatomy. This ambitious work shows promise and after cutting and tightening the piece and solving casting and pacing problems, Practical Anatomy could be an interesting show. However, as presented, the show has too many flaws to be worthy of an audience.
My problem with the work starts with the snail paced scenes that drag the show into a 90 minute first act. Too slow, too long. Next, all cast members were equipped with body microphones yet many could not be heard even while singing. Either they were turned off or set too low. The accents, well, they were all over the place. Several characters such as Chris Prentice, Joe Stearns, Dan Kerr-Hobert sported rich Irish or Scottish accents, however, often they spoke too fast and/or mumbled rendering them inaudible. The women, Amelia Lorenz, Renee Roy, Collen McSherry and Roseann Clark spoke much too soft and mumbled so bad I couldn’t understand them and could barely hear them. (I checked with a friend who was setting opposite from me at intermission and he also said who couldn’t hear and/or understands the women.) Young actors don’t know how to project. (Joe Stearns and Dan Kerr-Hobert sure know how to project with eloquence.)
 |
Next, the singing seemed forced, at times off key and, of course, not loud enough. When I could hear Renee Roy and Chris Prentice, they nailed their songs deftly. Joe Stearns landed the closing number with stirring emotions. Most cast numbers sounded hollow and wooden, singers who can act are better than actors who can’t sing.
The fight choreography was lame and the killing scenes seemed amateurish at best. The book tries to excuse William Burke’s crimes and paints Maggie Hare as pure evil and the never ending drinking scenes suggest that the two killers were so drunk that they were not responsible for their crimes. Tone problems happen when a character’s motivation is shallow and underdeveloped.
Act two is about half anticlimactic. Do we need the trail scene and the jail house scenes before Burke gets hanged? The songs almost paint him as a victim rather than a cold blooded killer. The show has several false endings. This needs to be corrected.
Now for the positive elements: The music is rich in Celtic (Irish, Scottish and English folk melodies and once the cast sings them without the shaky accents with the mics on, the lyrics will carry the shows message nicely. The songs need to flow from character and/or from the action smoother. Chris Prentice, as Burke, sported a rich brogue and showed his apprehension and guilt from killing. Joe Stearns was commanding, articulate as the Irish-hating teaching doctor. Renee Roy’s sweet melodic voice was a pleasure and the five piece orchestra sounded terrific. Some dark and scary musical underscoring would help maintain the dramatic tension.
I applaud the ambition of this brave troupe for attempting this difficult show. Even though as it plays now, Practical Anatomy isn’t ready, it shows promise. It is further along than many world premieres I’ve seen by established veteran artists.
Not Recommended
Tom Williams
tom@chicagocritic.com for comments
Talk Theatre in Chicago Radio show
January 26, 2006
|
