Asolo Repertory Theatre, Sarasota, Florida – Mezzanine, Seat D17 ($56).
Book, music & lyrics - Jill Santoriello; Director - Michael Donald Edwards; Sydney Carton – James Barbour, Charles Darnay – Derek Keeling, Miss Pross – Katherine McGrath; Lucie Manette – Jessica Rush, Madame Therese Defarge – Natalie Toro, John Barsad – Nick Wyman.
Story. Dr. Alexander Manette is released from the Bastille after a 17-year imprisonment and returns to London with his daughter Lucie and faithful banker Mr. Lorry. The young man Charles Darnay they meet is arrested as a spy on the word of Barsad; Darnay is however cleared by the brilliant defense put up by Sydney Carton. Both Darnay and Carton fall in love with Lucie but Darnay eventually marries Lucie while Carton remains a friend of the family. Darnay has to return to Paris to save a friend, but is arrested, again on the word of Barsad, who has changed his name after faking his own death. Darnay is condemned to the guillotine when Madame Defarge shows the crowd Dr. Manette's letter hidden in the Bastille, revealing Darnay as the nephew of the hated Marquis Evremonde. Carton gets Barsad to arrange a switch (of Carton) with Darnay in prison, and goes to the guillotine in his stead.
One reason we came to Sarasota this week was to see the world premiere of the musical “A Tale of Two Cities.” I have heard about this Dickens' book since I was a school kid but had never read it, and didn't know much about the story. I looked for the book when I was in Hong Kong and managed to buy an abridged version. The original is very long (it's Dickens, after all), so I am glad a digested version exists. The disappointment is the shortened version doesn't begin with the famous line “It was the best of times, it was the worst of times.” It does contain Carton's famous last thoughts, though.
The show is going to be at the Asolo Theater for about four weeks. It has sold most of the tickets (17,000 total), ranging in price from $16 to $56. We noticed some companies were making this an event where employees and guests get to enjoy cocktails before the show. The local marketing people are doing a great job.
Including the 20 minute break, the show lasted 2 hours 50 minutes, which is a bit long. Act I was quite long at about 85 minutes, good thing the theater has adequate restroom facilities.
The company of actors numbered about 40, which is a bit large for the 500 seat auditorium. Similarly the sound system and attendant audio effects were a bit overwhelming. Since the Sarasota run is a preparation for (hopefully) a Broadway engagement, I can see the production staff agonizing over these issues.
The sets were more appropriate for the Asolo Theater, but the 2-story frames still managed to fill the entire stage. The design is generally elegant, at times ingenious. They need to be spiffied up considerably for Broadway, in my opinion. Comparisons with Les Miserables are inevitable, and the Tale pales in this instance.
Madame Defarge and Sydney Carton both put out impressive performances. Other actors/singers were okay, though not spectacular. Musical actors use mikes, this is the first time I see these small mikes protruding from the hairlines, quite interesting.
The story, especially at the beginning, appeared a bit disjoint from scene to scene. This may be due to how it was written, or how it was performed – I'm not sure. The storyline is remarkably close to the book, much to the writer Jill Santoriello's credit.
There are a few quibbles with the show, though. The most memorable song of the show “Out of sight, out of mind” is quite moving and done very well by Madame Defarge. However, to have the antagonist sing your best song is unfortunate. The typical theater-goer would like to walk away humming an uplifting song rather than how the rich enjoy not knowing the poor suffer. The only instance I can think of where this comes to close to working is Delilah singing “Mon coeur s'ouvre a ta voix” in Mendelssohn's Samson and Delilah, and it is a love song (even though the singer is insincere). The character of Sydney Carton could be developed a bit more. He has a lot of singing parts, but the transformation of the character is not well defined in the show.
It is beyond my literary capacity to compare Dickens with Hugo. Both stories involve social injustice, revolutions, love triangles, redemption, sacrifice, the list goes on. There is even the Tale's Little Gaspard to Les Miserables's Gavroche. In most, if not all, instances, the Musical Les Miz develops the character more fully; and the Tale certainly has enough running time to do so. Similarly, Valjean quickly becomes a sympathetic character; I believe the audience feels for Carton only towards the end. Les Miz also took more advantage of its catchy tunes, reusing them quite often.
It is clear the production staff is tuning the show. I actually went to a practice session in New York where they were rehearsing the Christmas song “Round and Round”. It is a nice tune, but it was deleted from the show we saw. Anne remarked the grave robber's song “No Honest Way”, while funny, wasn't necessary either. She also said there were some instances of humor that were incongruent with the mood.
Now to be as successful as Les Miz may be asking for too much. Even in its present form, I think the Tale ranks up there as one of the great musicals I have seen (and I have seen quite a few).
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