MONDAY, NOVEMBER 11, 2019 THEATER: Good Intentions No Substitute For Good Melodies In "Broadbend, Arkansas" BROADBEND, ARKANSAS ** out of **** TRANSPORT GROUP AT DUKE ON 42ND STREET Good intentions do not a good musical make.</p><p> Composer Ted Shen's heart is in the right place with this odd duck of a two-hander show.</p><p> InAct One, nursing home orderly Benny narrates an on-going feudbetween two women at his place of work in 1961.</p><p> Then this widowed father of twins feels compelled to join the Freedom Riders fighting for justice in the deep South.</p><p> He shadows a bus filled with a rainbow ofprotestors, protects a friend when the police move in, gets proudlyarrested and finally heads back home though he'd love to ride on thatbus to the next town.</p><p> In Act Two, it's 1988 and the struggle continues.</p><p> Benny's daughter Ruby is in a cemetery looking for the strength to carry on.</p><p> We soonrealize Benny was killed by a policeman just miles from home.</p><p> Andnow his grandson is in the hospital after being brutally beaten by yet another lawless cop.</p><p> For all we know, that cop might be the grandson of Benny's murderer.</p><p> Will it ever end? The stage is filled by just two actors and they are far and away the best and only reason to check out this piece.</p><p> As Benny Justin Cunningham fills the stage with his warmth and presence, even if the elderly women he briefly assays aren't terribly distinct in our minds.</p><p> As Ruby, DanyelFulton has the less interesting half yet she too brings complexity andpassion to a part that offers little of that on its own.</p><p> Sadly, they are not enough.</p><p> The tech elements are minimal but even those go astray.</p><p> Lighting cues by Jen Schriever don't clearly indicatewhen Cunningham is tackling a different character, though sometimesthey seem to do so.</p><p> The costumes by Peiyi Wong don't seem periodenough.</p><p> And director Jack Cummings III doesn't mold all this together to give the two actors the support they need and deserve.MICHAEL GILTZ AT WORK Michael Giltz is a freelance writer based in NYC and can be reached atmgiltz@pipeline.com FAVORITE LINKS Americablog Five O'Clock Lightning baseball blogDeep Pop -- Lori Lakin's Blog The Back Page -- Jason Page on ESPN Radio Cine-Blog -- George Robinson's Blog Documents On Art & Cinema - Daryl Chin's Blog Brucie G's Wondrous Blog Of Adventure and Mystery -- Bruce Greenspan's Blog BLOG ARCHIVE ▼ 2019 (86) ▼ November (6) BOOKS: Is Finance The Root Of All Evil?Photo by Carol Rosegg ©2019 But it all begins with this essay/history lesson disguised as a work of theater.</p><p> Though the two acts are intimately connected, the first act iswritten by Ellen Fitzhugh and the second by Harrison David Rivers.The music and additional lyrics are by Ted Shen.</p><p> Curiously, about half of act one involves that feud between two women.</p><p> One is the owner of the nursing home while the other is a patient.</p><p> They bicker and fight over a game of Scrabble.</p><p> But really theirfight is over the man they shared: the patient's husband left her for themuch younger owner of the nursing home, but not before the wife wounded him with a steaming hot iron.</p><p> Benny claims to be refereeing the two women and making peace but really he's just narrating theirstory.</p><p> Cunningham doesn't create two distinct women but that's partlythe fault of Fitzhugh since their voices tend to blur together.</p><p> Abruptlythis ends and Benny goes off on his civil rights crusade.</p><p> The big problem? The feuding old biddies are by far the most interesting and fresh part of the musical.</p><p> Their story feels like a story,not a noble speech dressed up as a story.</p><p> And yet, they have nothing todo with the rest of the evening.</p><p> Half of act one is devoted to this essentially separate tale and then switches over to civil rights.</p><p> I suppose you could pretend they make peace and so can blacks andwhites, but that's quite the stretch.</p><p> The other half of act one flows right into the story of Ruby, the daughter of Benny. here actress Fulton has far fewer roles to tackle.</p><p> It's essentially a monologue and not a particularly fresh or interestingone.</p><p> Worst of all, the presentation glides back and forth betweendialogue and music.</p><p> Shen seems wary of anything approaching anactual song or memorable melody.</p><p> Part 5 of "The Bridge" sticks briefly in the mind as Benny sings about how "It's such a comfort to take the bus." And Ruby comes briefly to life via song when she remembers hertwin sister telling anyone who would listen that their mom was abackup singer for Diana Ross.THEATER: Good Intentions No Substitute For Good Me...</p><p> THEATER: "Richard III," A Schemer Undone By Greed,...</p><p> THEATER: "Enchanted April" -- The Charming Tale Th...</p><p> THEATER: To Delete or Not To Delete, That Is The D...</p><p> MOVIES: "American Dharma" Bum Steve Bannon ► October (21) ► September (10) ► August (9) ► July (7) ► June (3) ► May (6) ► April (10) ► March (5) ► February (1) ► January (8) ► 2018 (38) ► 2017 (6) ► 2016 (2) ► 2015 (22) ► 2014 (2) ► 2013 (5) ► 2012 (17) ► 2011 (15) ► 2010 (10) ► 2009 (43) ► 2008 (86) ► 2007 (781) ► 2006 (2412) ► 2005 (5)That's it.</p><p> The rest is sincere, principled, polite, sometimes politely righteous and even angry! But always, always forgettable.</p><p> I can't figureout why the story of two feuding old ladies takes up half of act one.</p><p> Icertainly know all why they wanted to illuminate the bravery of the Freedom Riders and show how that struggle goes on. (Act Three might easily have jumped to Black Lives Matter.) But whether you're creatinga musical about shopping or slavery, you better have the songs.</p><p> AsDuke Ellington and Irving Mills put it, it don't mean a thing....</p><p> See, youknew how to finish the lyrics ("...if it ain't got that swing") without me telling you.</p><p> High art should not mean a disdain for the low appeal of a catchy tune.</p><p> THEATER OF 2019 Frankenstein: Under The Radar Fest at the Public ** 1/2 Minor Character: Under The Radar Festival at the Public *** Ink: Under The Radar Festival at the Public ** 1/2 Choir Boy ** 1/2 White Noise ** 1/2 Kiss Me, Kate *** Ain't No Mo' *** 1/2 Ain't Too Proud ** The Cradle Will Rock * 1/2 Mrs.</p><p> Murray's Menagerie *** 1/2 Oklahoma! (on Broadway) ** 1/2 Socrates ** The Pain Of My Belligerence * Burn This ** Hadestown *** 1/2 All My Sons * 1/2 Tootsie ** 1/2 Ink *** Beetlejuice ** Estado Vegetal *** Hans Christian Andersen * 1/2 Cirque du Soleil: Luzia *** BLKS ** 1/2 Moulin Rouge ** 1/2 Bat Out Of Hell ** Unchilding ** Sea Wall/ A Life ** 1/2 Harry Potter and the Cursed Child *** Betrayal *** 1/2 Fifty Million Frenchmen ** 1/2 Freestyle Love Supreme ** 1/2 Derren Brown: Secret *** (A)loft Modulation * 1/2 The Great Society ** I Can't See * Heroes Of The Fourth Turning ** 1/2 Chasing Rainbows: The Road To Oz *** The Glass Menagerie (dir Austin Pendleton & Peter Bloch) ** Terra Firma (debut of The Coop theater company) ** Forbidden Broadway: The Next Generation *** Dublin Carol ** 1/2 Soft Power ** The Decline and Fall of The Entire World As Seen Through The Eyes Of Cole Porter *** For Colored Girls ** 1/2 Scotland, PA ** The Sound Inside *** (great cast, clumsy ending) User Not Found ** Enchanted April ** DruidShakespeare: Richard III * 1/2 Broadbend, Arkansas ** Thanks for reading.</p><p> Michael Giltz is the creator of BookFilter, a book lover’s best friend.</p><p> It’s a website that lets you browse for books online the way you do in a physical bookstore, provides comprehensive info on new releases every week in every category and offers passionate personal recommendations every step of the way.</p><p> He’s also the cohost of Showbiz Sandbox , a weekly pop culture podcast that reveals the industry take on entertainment news of the day with top journalists and opinion makers as guests.</p><p> It’s available for free on iTunes.</p><p> Visit Michael Giltz at his website.</p><p> Download his podcast of celebrity interviews and his radio show, also called Popsurfing and also available for free on iTunes.</p><p> POSTED BY MICHAEL GILTZ AT 7:01 PM NO COMMENTS: Post a Comment Subscribe to: Post Comments (Atom)Newer Post Older Post Home
