Interludes

VIEWPOINTS – Two artists brought to unorthodox life onstage: HANS CHRISTIAN ANDERSEN & PAUL SWAN

• By drediman
• May 16, 2019
• No Comments

If you’re an avid theatergoer like myself, you’ve likely seen numerous depictions of the lives of notable figures played out on the stage. Out of respect to the memory of these men and women, theatrical works based on their lives tend to be by-the-book renderings. For example, plays like Robert Bolt’s A Man for All Seasons and more recent works like Robert Schenkkan’s All the Way stay true to the mold of the “well-made” play. However, currently Off-Broadway, more adventurous theatergoers have had the refreshing opportunity to catch a pair of rather unorthodox – if not totally successful – theatrical biographies.

Jimmy Ray Bennett in Ensemble for the Romantic Century’s production of “Hans Christian Andersen: Tales Real & Imagined” at the Duke on 42nd Street. Photo by Shirin Tinati.

Now running at the Duke on 42^ndStreet is Ensemble for the Romantic Century’s Hans Christian Andersen: Tales Real & Imagined (RECOMMENDED). As you can probably already gather from the title, the piece chronicles the Danish writer’s life and reanimates his ever-popular body of works for children. If you’re not familiar with ERC’s aesthetic, the company uses various modes of performance in its shows. It primarily turns to classical music – played live, typically at the highest standards – to capture the essence of the life and times of iconic artists of the past. In Hans Christian Andersen: Tales Real & Imagined, compositions by Britten and Purcell compellingly accompany the storytelling (kudos, in particular, to countertenor Daniel Moody for his commanding vocal performance). New to the company’s toolkit in this show is the generous utilization of puppets. Even if the puppetry is less than polished and the pacing sometimes frustratingly sluggish, the dreamy show is nonetheless a welcome departure from ERC’s previous portraits in that it attempts to more fully integrate its many components in order to present a more overtly theatrical articulation of Hans Christian Andersen’s somewhat melancholy life.

Tony Torn in The Civilians’ production of “Paul Swan Is Dead and Gone” at the Torn Page Townhouse. Photo by Maria Baranova.

Farther downtown at the Torn Page Townhouse, you’ll be able to find Paul Swan Is Dead and Gone (RECOMMENDED), The Civilians’ immersive little show which recreates one of the by-invite-only salons hosted by queer artist Paul Swan. Playwright Claire Kiechel has essentially written a relatively traditional memory play that efficiently gives us a snapshot of the multi-disciplinary artist’s life. We encounter Swan at the very end of his storied career, when past and present begin to blur. As the hallucinatory play unfolds, Swan’s life flashes before his eyes in a parade of bite-sized scenes. However, the play is perhaps a bit too efficient. Indeed, at only 75-minutes, the piece seems to end when the audience is just starting to warm up to the characters and the wonderful atmosphere that’s been created. And that’s where the production sets itself apart – director Steve Cosson has created an intoxicatingly intimate environment that casts an atmospheric spell (thanks in part to Avi A. Amon’s emotive score), immersing audiences into the eccentric and campy mind of Paul Swan. In the title role, Tony Torn is sublime, completely in touch with both the aged artist’s irrepressible sense of camp and late career world weariness. It’s a fascinatingly self-aware performance that I wish I saw more of before being tossed back out to onto the streets of Chelsea, back to reality.

HANS CHRISTIAN ANDERSEN: TALES REAL & IMAGINED
Off-Broadway, Play
Ensemble for the Romantic Century at the Duke on 42^ndStreet
2 hours (with one intermission)
Through June 1

PAUL SWAN IS DEAD AND GONE
Off-Broadway, Play
The Civilians at the Torn Page Townhouse
1 hour, 15 minutes (with no intermission)
Through May 19