Interludes

THE HANGOVER REPORT – ERC’s languorous BECAUSE I COULD NOT STOP uniquely attempts to conjure Emily Dickinson’s inner life, via music

• By drediman
• September 30, 2018
• No Comments

Angelica Page in Ensemble for the Romantic Century’s “Because I Could Not Stop: An Encounter with Emily Dickinson” at the Pershing Square Signature Center.

It’s difficult to critique a production like Ensemble for the Romantic Century’s Because I Could Not Stop: An Encounter with Emily Dickinson, which opened Off-Broadway last week at the Pershing Square Signature Center. On paper, the driving idea behind ERC’s biographical portraits of important 19th-Century artists is an intriguing one – their productions strictly use the classical music of the time – particularly chamber music – as well primary artifacts (e.g., the subject’s works, letters written by and to them), to outline the person behind the art. Now in its second season in New York, the company has created “impressions” of influential artists such as painter Vincent van Gogh, novelist Mary Shelley, composer Pyotr Ilyich Tchaikovsky, and now poet Emily Dickinson.

Written by James Melo and directed per usual by Donald T. Sanders, Because I Could Not Stop more or less sticks to this hybrid approach. As a piece of dramatic writing, does the show work? Not really. I could see how the languorous pace and stitched-together quality of the piece may frustrate theatergoers looking for proper (albeit many times reducing) dramatic tension to be applied to Ms. Dickinson’s sheltered, solitary life, à la the conventional, pleasant solo show The Belle of Amherst.

But as a sort of free-association contemplation on the life and times of the fascinating poet, it somehow clicks. One just needs to be attuned to the intentional meditative qualities of the piece, which I think uniquely attempts to conjure the inner life and very soul of Ms. Dickinson. As the poet in question, Angelica Page gives an elegant, attractive performance that’s the appropriate mixture of congeniality and mystery. As always, the music-making (generated by piano, string quartet, and soprano voice) is top-notch, playing the chamber compositions of Amy Beach – although younger, a New England contemporary of Ms. Dickinson’s – with gorgeous luster. In Because I Could Not Stop, as in other ERC offerings, this musical component richly leads.

RECOMMENDED

BECAUSE I COULD NOT STOP: AN ENCOUNTER WITH EMILY DICKINSON
Off-Broadway, Play / Classical Music
Ensemble for the Romantic Century
1 hour, 45 minutes (with one intermission)
Through October 21