Book
and Lyrics by John Dempsey
Music
by Dana P Rowe
American
Pie
On
the verge of the presidency, Reed Chandler, a family man with ambitious wife
Violet and handsome, if ne'er do well, son Cal, suffers a setback. In the
over-excitement of a private Miss Whiplash
encounter he literally has a heart stopping moment and dies.
His
brother Grahame, a crippled Harvard-educated Machiavellian lawyer agrees with
his sister in law Violet, a cross between Jackie O and Cruella De Vil, that
the show must go on, with the star now Cal, plucked from playing air guitar in
his bedroom, groomed for the Oval Office.
The
story was apparently originally based on Robert Graves's novel "I, Claudius",
itself already given various movie, theatre and TV adaptations, charting corruption
and conspiracy in imperial Rome
It's a lively if flawed piece matched by a
production with the same qualities and faults directed by Michael Strassen.
There are echoes of Pygmalion, Dorian Gray and even a mention for Aristophanes' The Birds as
well as a hefty Shakespearean dollop alongside the Roman decadence,
Fra
Fee as the tousled haired Cal who goes from Marlon Brando white T shirt andjeans to suited and unexpectedly charismatic, if drug-addled, politician looks the part, even if
his singing when tackling rock numbers such as One, Two, Three is slightly
underpowered in the first act. However he proved sweet voiced and clear in the quieter
numbers.
As
the mafia honeytrap lover and small fry drug pusher, Tina McCoy, Madalena Alberto again looks the part and
also, despite lacking diction in the first act while having the vocal strength,
eventually comes into her own with both strong vocals and diction in the second
act.
Peter
Saul Blewden impresses as Reed Chandler, in a Hamlet's father-like ghostly
return with the song Control to advise his son, by then a soldier, amidst Middle East minefields. He takes on with equal aplomb another part, the role of
mafia don Anthony Gilardi.
Nonetheless
the show belongs to Grahame, whose dark second act song First Came Mercy with its mix of religion
and politics is a tour-de-force, and Violet with Ken Christiansen and Lucy Williamson
respectively.
Grahame on crutches, a Claudius stutterer, whom Christiansen
invests with an interesting mix of villainy
and vulnerability, forms a partnership with Violet, the single-minded Jezebel, whose whole raison
d' être centres on making the men in her
life the country's power players.
There is also a strong professional debut from Sam Barrett in the smaller role of the Presidetial bodyguard Peter.
Despite
being revised since its first production, it still feels very much a 1990s'
piece. The to and fro between Grahame and Violet on the one hand and Cal on the
other also throws into relief the problems of an unbalanced book
The
introduction of I Claudius into a Kennedyesque late twentieth century political
dynasty feels inconsistent and scattergun. The analogy between Cal and a
manufactured rock star is truncated as, in the end, is Grahame's story. In fact
it's Violet who has the best, most consistent dramatic arc with a satisfying
finale to her story.
Sitting
in the third row there was a sightline problem as the characters fell to their
knees for some of the action. Some of the lyrics also became hard to hear as
the characters retreated towards the back wall.
Nevertheless
there is fine choral singing with an excellent bandn- keyboards, guitar, bass
and drums - led by Josh Sood
It's
a solid start to the Union Theatre's new
venue with plenty to enjoy in an energetic show with a strong narrative drive
even if the book feels somewhat forced. So we elect an amber light for this
presidential piece.
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