The Bacchae and Legally Blonde

The Bacchae
National Theatre of Scotland at Lincoln Center
July 6, 2008, 3 PM
Orch T 110

The last time the National Theatre of Scotland landed in New York, it was with a production that held everyone spellbound (Black Watch, returning to Brooklyn in October, get your tickets now!), so The Bacchae had some pretty large shoes to fill. Sadly, they don’t manage it, and one problem is exactly that, the size. Namely, of the theater. The huge stage in the Rose Theater at Jazz at Lincoln Center, adorned with no set whatsoever, is far too cavernous for this tragedy.

The Bacchae has a petulant god, dancing women in the throes of madness, mob violence, cross-dressing, and infanticide. Such a show needs to be done in a way that is totally over the top. We need freaky lighting, spooky sounds, carnivale masks, puppets… Instead, we get a blank stage that bursts into flames once and some very stiff acting by the ‘humans’. The god Dionysus is played by Alan Cumming, who, acting-wise, is never less than totally relaxed. Dressed in gold llame skirt and vest, he is lowered upside down from the ceiling for his entrance, giving you the hope that something exciting is about to happen. (This could also be due to my memory of a Robbie Williams concert in which he entered the same way, albeit with pants on.) Alas, we are instead treated to a very long opening monologue about the History of Dionysus. In summation: Dad, Zeus. Mum, human. Dionysus, bitter and out for vengeance on people who deny he is a proper god. All his wrath is focused on one family, and the story is all about how he stays in disguise and arranges the son’s death.

He’s surrounded by a chorus of women in red dresses (the Bacchae) who break into song from time to time. Occasionally, he joins them. I’d forgotten what a good voice for rock he has. Stronger than I remembered, too. The songs are upbeat; the lyrics are decidedly not. (Given the plot, how could they be?)

However, comparisons of this production to Cabaret are wishful thinking. Apart from Alan, there’s not much here to recommend it. Aside from the songs, which the ladies hold up quite capably with or without him, any scene he’s not in falls flat. At one point, the audience held in a collective sigh of dismay upon realizing we were about to be subjected to a long conversation between mother and son near the end of the intermission-less 2 hours.

The production was so sapped of emotional depth that even the scenes in which characters are humiliated were met with a lack of response by the audience. So Dionysus got his wig ripped off? And he’s going to be beaten? He’s a god—he’ll bounce back. So Dionysus is tricking a guy into wearing a dress? And he’s going to get set upon by wild women? Hey, he looks good in blue. You just don’t care.

Basically, we learn 2 things from The Bacchae. 1. Don’t make your gods mad. 2. Alan Cumming has great legs. In fact, watching him during a long scene in which he sits near the edge of the stage and drops one over the side and does nothing else was more interesting than the scene itself.

Legally Blonde
July 6, 2008 7:00 PM
Rear Mezz H13

I unwittingly had a theme day, theatrically, as what does Legally Blonde feature? A Greek chorus! The 3 girls who shadow Elle made for a more interesting story and a more convincing chorus than the Bacchae, and, as we know since many people are familiar with the plot of this show, that is saying a lot.

Legally Blonde…if you took the songs out, you would have 19 lines of dialogue, and still know the entire story. The bulk of the show is icing, and in act 1 I was getting tired of it. It’s not often I go to a musical and wish they would stop singing.

However, I thought the entire cast was great. Laura Bell Bundy is nearing her end-date, which is why I finally got myself in gear to see this show. She’s brilliant. So. Darn. Perky. Christian Borle was quite enjoyable as Emmett, and I was surprised and pleased to see Michael Rupert from Falsettos as the teacher. Orfeh was fantastic. I don’t think I knew who she was, but what a voice!

Act 2 was much better than act 1, both song and dialogue-wise. Also, it was shorter.

But that song, my God, that incessant song!

Oh my God, oh my God you guys…

EEEEK!!!