Rock’s glam days reborn, and ‘Hamlet’ becomes a comedy at Theatre 3
I SEE A LITTLE SILHOUETTE OF A MAN | The future is bleak on the iplanet, but the music of Queen could save humanity in the campy, tuneful rock musical ‘We Will Rock You.’
ARNOLD WAYNE JONES | Life+Style Editor
The biggest surprise about Less Than Kind, a 70-year-old romantic comedy from British playwright Terence Rattigan making its North American debut at Theatre 3, is: Who knew Rattigan did comedy? His works were the quintessence of veddy English, stiff-upper-lippery, often dealing with abstract notions like justice (The Winslow Boy), emotional repression (The Browning Version), fidelity and honor (The Deep Blue Sea, Separate Tables). His is a morally foggy universe, where the reality rarely comports with the ideal.
Those themes are in play with Less Than Kind, though the tone is decidedly more buoyant — surprising even more, since it is set during the London blitz. Sir John Fletcher (Paul Taylor), a wealthy industrialist and current wartime minister, has been living with his fiancé Olivia (Lisa-Gabrielle Greene) pending his final divorce from Lady Diana (Jenna Anderson). They all seem content with the arrangement until Olivia’s teenaged son Michael (Zak Reynolds), returned from studying in Canada, learns of the affair and can’t decide if he’s more upset that mom is bedding someone other than dear ol’ dad, or that she has chosen a capitalist dog to lay with. He forbids the relationship — or if that won’t work, suggests a few drops of poison in the ear (or a well-placed night at the theater) might do away with Fletcher, or at least reveal the conscience of the king.
Of course, that only works in melodramas and the minds of teen boys (is there a difference?), but Olivia isn’t so steely. Can she choose between the man she loves and her only child? And can she live with the consequences?
On paper, the play sounds like a melodrama, but Rattigan — even at his most theatrical — was always able to rise above clichés and imbue his characters and situations with a contemporary realism. He dealt with extramarital sex and homosexuality in mature ways that were ahead of his time (at least in mainstream drama), reflecting the way even polite society talked when they weren’t in public. The situations here are well-layered: Olivia is a bit of a ditz, if not an outright gold digger, and wonders herself if she loves the man or the money; Sir John is priggish and secretive, but not one-dimension; even his shrewish ex doesn’t seem all bad. Indeed, if it weren’t for Michael’s petulance, there wouldn’t really be much of a conflict at all. He’s a drama queen, and we all know what they bring to ordinary events.
Rattigan branches into unexpected moments of absurdism in this well-constructed romantic farce, though the dialogue’s erudition always earmarks it as more highbrow than low comedy. When the longish Act 1 ends, it seems like the play could end on a completed idea, but Act 2 still squeezes out a few tricks.
Director Jac Alder teases out likable performances from Taylor and Greene, and even taps into Michael’s tantrum-like naïveté that so distinguishes an only child. It’s a joy rediscovering an old work, and better still, to see it so joyously showcased.
Some more old stuff that seems new can be found at Fair Park Music Hall, where We Will Rock You continues through the weekend. A hit in London for nearly a decade, this jukebox musical takes the songs of Queen, constructs a campy, futuristic story around them, and sets a host of muscular, titanium-lunged singers on rock’s most iconic glam band.
Of all the pop song catalogues that have been adapted for Broadway — from ABBA to Johnny Cash, Motown, Gershwin, the Footloose and Xanadu soundtracks and countless more — the music of Queen is probably the most daunting. The group’s legendary lead vocalist, Freddie Mercury, was a sorcerer of soaring arena rock (“We Are the Champions,” “Another One Bites the Dust”), whose mellifluous pitch-perfect tone adapted effortlessly to softer ballads (“Crazy Little Thing Called Love”) and even kitschy bubblegum pop (“You’re My Best Friend”). His powerhouse voice would be difficult to recreate, like turning Meat Loaf’s songbook into something high school students could pull off.
In fact, the style of We Will Rock You most resembles another musical with a side of Meat Loaf: The Rocky Horror Show. Both build joyous set-pieces around an affectionate and self-aware love of both rock ‘n’ roll and science fiction. In this case, Earth’s future is a bleak one: Now called iPlanet dominated by GlobalSoft corporation’s rampant technologies, music has been outlawed unless programmed by the evil CEO Killer Queen (Jacqueline B. Arnold). But a band of bohemians — rebels holed up at a base in the devastated remains of Las Vegas — still dream of the rhapsodic ecstasy possible if only they can invent a musical instrument and decode the ancient texts that talk about da-do-ron-ronning and shama-lama-ding-donging.
Their only hope is a Neo-like prophet named Galileo Figaro (Brian Justin Crum), who “hears” these tunes and lyrics in his head. Can he and his on-again-off-again girlfriend Scaramouche (Ruby Lewis) decipher the clues and finally fulfill the wishes of their god, Mercury?
Scaramouche, Killer Queen, “Bohemian Rhapsody” — these are barely-veiled code words for Queen devotees, or really any fan of music for the past half-century.
Writer-director Ben Elton has fashioned dialogue and plot points that cobble together lyrics and titles from a litany of songs, artists (the leader of the bohemians is Brit, short for Britney) and images from rock’s storied history. Remarkably, none of the references elicit groans — they are so transparent, it’s more like a well-meaning inside joke for the Music Hall’s 3,000 closest friends.
It all works because the performers are having as much fun as the audience. Lewis actually received a mid-act standing ovation with her delivery of “Somebody to Love” early in the show, and the encore (“Bohemian Rhapsody,” natch) had most everyone present on their feet, singing along and waving lighters. It’s as close to a rock concert as you can get without drunk girls lifting their shirts and overpriced beer getting spilled on your back.
Subtlety isn’t the point, but unlike, say, Rock of Ages — which feels heavy-handed and relies on bad jokes and a less interesting collection of music — We Will Rock You seethes with sex appeal, style and a light-hearted energy, plus an inventive staging that includes video components and up-to-date pop culture references (Miley Cyrus twerking, for instance).
Lewis also isn’t the only one with the pipes to keep up with winged Mercury’s vocal gymnastics. Crum is a passionate, sex Galileo who can do the fandango whenever he wants; Arnold’s fat-bottomed Killer Queen sashays like a contestant on RuPaul’s Drag Race; and Ryan Knowles (as Buddy), P.J. Griffith (as Killer Queen’s icy henchman) and Jared Kirilli (as Brit) each have stand-out moment. As with the Green Day musical American Idiot, We Will Rock You proves that not all jukebox musical have to sound (and look) alike. Who needs radio ga-ga when you can have “Radio Ga-Ga?”
This article appeared in the Dallas Voice print edition March 14, 2014.