Interludes

THE HANGOVER REPORT – A long day’s journey into night and back: Taylor Mac’s 24-hour A 24-DECADE HISTORY OF POPULAR MUSIC was miraculous, triumphant

• By drediman
• October 11, 2016
• No Comments

Taylor Mac in “A 24-Decade History of Popular Music” at St. Ann’s Warehouse

After 48 hours, I’m still reeling from the experience I had last weekend at St. Ann’s Warehouse. From noon on Saturday to noon on Sunday – that’s right, a whopping 24 hours in total – Taylor Mac for the first time performed his miraculous A 24-Decade History of Popular Music in its entirety. Without an intermission. And it was triumphant, life-changing theater (if you can call it simply that).

Mac’s magnum opus is comprised of 24 decade-spanning segments in which our tireless chanteuse performs songs that were popular during each decade and provides queer-filtered commentary on the years at hand. But to call it a merely a concert would be doing this all-encompassing experience a great disservice. Popular Music basks in defying categorization. Indeed, there are elements of cabaret, puppetry, burlesque, drag performance, improv, monologue, immersive theater, rock concert, performance art/experimental theater, even the culinary arts (two meals are served in over the course of the 24 hours) sprinkled throughout. Suffice to say, each decade possesses an internal logic so different from those that have preceded it – which makes for compulsive viewing.

But what makes Popular Music so downright revolutionary is its stubborn belief that theater is first and foremost a communal experience. Mac pushes us beyond our comfort zones in order to get us to engage more fully in the experience and actively participate in the act of creating theater. As a result, one emerges from Mac’s fever dream transformed in one way or another.

Technically and logistically, the piece is astonishing. The endless parade of eye-popping costumes by Machine Dazzle are wonders of craft and imagination. Scenic and lighting by the talented Mimi Lien and John Torres, respectively, accommodate Mac’s vision with panache and thrilling efficiency. Co-directors Mac and Nigel Smith have impressively tamed this behemoth; despite its epic length and the fact that it’s only been performed in its entirety once (so far), Popular Music by and large unfolded itself without a hitch. Last but not least, the heroic music director Matt Ray was responsible for casting and arranging literally the American Songbook to fit Mac’s needs.

Which gets us to judy himself. Mac’s performance here is the stuff of legend. His stage persona is irresistible; Mac is both deliciously subversive yet totally accessible. His voice is a steely instrument that can handle both delicacy and punk/operatic grandeur. During the last two acts, he appeared to be delirious, as if driven only by the energy he was receiving from his adoring audience. Although his voice, body and mind were starting to fail him, his eyes told you otherwise – there was no way judy was not going to see this to its conclusion. How appropriate, therefore, that the final decade featured the magnetic Mac alone in the spotlight. Taylor Mac for president.

HIGHLY RECOMMENDED

A 24-DECADE HISTORY OF POPULAR MUSIC
Off-Broadway, Concert/Theater/Performance Art
St. Ann’s Warehouse
24 hours (without an intermission)
Closed