Interludes

THE HANGOVER REPORT – The disjointed but beautifully produced MAESTRO is a two-for-one deal of theater and classical music

• By drediman
• January 27, 2019
• No Comments

John Noble in Ensemble for the Romantic Century’s production of “Maestro” at the Duke on 42nd Street. Photo by Shirin Tinali.

Yesterday afternoon at the Duke on 42nd Street, I caught Ensemble for the Romantic Century’s latest theatrical portrait of an artist. In this case, the life examined was that of popular Italian conductor Arturo Toscanini. Unlike the lives of ERC’s previous subjects (who seemed content to live within the fertile world of their imaginations), Toscanini’s was famously intertwined with world politics, particularly as it relates to his vocal and very public opposition of Fascism in his native Italy after transplanting to New York.

As with other ERC offerings, it’s difficult to assess a two-for-one production (the show essentially doubles as both theater and classical music concert) like the uneven Maestro. It has many things going for it – a strong central performance, superb music making by a talented group of young musicians (here comprised of a pianist, a string quartet, and a trumpet player), and excellent production values. With this latest effort, I applaud writer Eve Wolf and director Donald T. Sanders’ more noticeable attempt to create a more coherent bridge between its two modes of performance. Although the ideal balance between theater and classical music concert has yet to be realized, it’s getting there.

As Toscanini himself, British actor John Noble does a good job of steering Maestro, even when the script he’s been handed wavers between melodramatic browbeating and awkward pregnant pauses. And at nearly two-and-a-half-hours, the production feels padded and like its been stretched to its limits; an intermission-less 90 minutes would have suited the show better. But no one can argue the luxurious sounds of Maestro‘s musical interludes, much of which are culled from the Verdi “songbook” (particularly the opera Aida, which the Italian maestro is famous for having conducted).

RECOMMENDED

MAESTRO
Off-Broadway, Play (with lots of live classical music)
Ensemble for the Romantic Century at the Duke on 42nd Street
2 hours, 20 minutes (with one intermission)
Through February 9