Interludes

VIEWPOINTS – Proving the relevance of mythology: Adam Guettel’s MYTHS AND HYMNS & Target Margin’s NOW GO AND ACT ACCORDINGLY

• By drediman
• June 1, 2021
• No Comments

This uncommonly torrential Memorial Day weekend, I had the chance to consume two works (one in-person, the other virtually) that playfully riffed on Roman mythology, and in the process, exemplified the continued relevance – no, necessity – of these ancient tales. Read on for my further thoughts.

MYTHS AND HYMNS, CHAPTER 4: FAITH
MasterVoices
On-demand through June 30

Over the course of the pandemic, one of the things I looked forward to the most was MasterVoice’s staggered online release of Adam Guettel’s quirky yet ravishing 1998 song cycle Myths and Hymns (originally entitled Saturn Returns). To this day, it remains a singular creation in music theater, brashly clashing musical styles to intoxicating effect. Last week, the fourth and final “chapter” (HIGHLY RECOMMENDED) – on the sweeping notion of faith (chapters on flight, work, and love preceded it) – dropped, and I’m happy to report that it concludes the collective endeavor on a brilliant high note. As conceived by Ted Sperling, not only does this incarnation of Myths and Hymns speaks powerfully to our current circumstances, it’s also an aesthetic triumph that’s as visually stunning (thanks to some wildly inventive imagery) as it is musically sublime. Although this latest installment features gorgeous contributions from headliners like Kelli O’Hara and Jennifer Holliday, I was especially captivated by the emotionally naked performances of musical theater up-and-comers Mykal Kilgore and especially Larry Owens (who was so sensational in the Pulitzer Prize winning A Strange Loop). The chapter concludes by bringing together the larger cast in a finale that’s saturated with joy – ecstatically coinciding the closure of Mr. Guettel’s song cycle with, for many of us, the long-awaited return to normalcy.

NOW GO AND ACT ACCORDINGLY
Target Margin Theater
Closed

This weekend, I also braved the elements (the wind! the rain! the chill!) and ventured out to Sunset Park to attend the final outdoor performance of Target Margin Theater’s Now Go and Act Accordingly (RECOMMENDED). The short play, devised by the folks at Target Margin and directed by artistic director David Herskovits especially for the pandemic, takes its inspiration from Ovid’s tale of Baucis and Philemon. In the myth, the gods Jupiter and Mercury disguise themselves as poverty-stricken mortals in order to test people’s capacity for empathy and hospitality. The duo is repeatedly turned away, and only the married couple of Baucis and Philemon show any compassion towards the disguised gods. As a reward, they’re given the opportunity to continue on past their human lives as intertwined trees. The production plays to the theater company’s unique strengths – namely, vigorous storytelling, tight-knit ensemble acting, and playful (and sometimes irreverent) meta-theatricality. And although the play’s thrust occasionally breaks from the narrative of Baucis and Philemon, it never meanders thematically. Indeed, the work’s emphasis on the paramount importance of kindness and human decency – and their very concrete knock-on effects – is front and center at all times, firmly reminding us of that we’re all in this together.