Review - The Giacomo Variations

If I were a classical music critic I might describe The Giacomo Variations as an ambitious exploration of common themes expressed in the three operas Mozart composed with librettist Lorenzo Da Ponte.

I would note how it has been said that Da Ponte not only drew inspiration for the libretto of Don Giovanni from his pal Giacomo Casanova, but that scholars conclude the legendary lover himself had a hand in writing the final text. I would perhaps point out passages in the librettist's work in Le nozzi di Figaro and Cosi fan tutti that could have been taken by his contemporaries as references to the famous Venetian.

But as I am a theatre critic who was invited to see the production by a theatre press agent and write a review for a theatre-minded audience, I'll refrain from calling The Giacomo Variations a chamber opera made up of arias and scenes from the three Mozart/Da Ponte collaborations because we have a shorthand phrase that sums it up nicely; it's a jukebox musical.

With a text based on Casanova's own Histoire de ma vie written by director Michael Sturminger and the music adapted by music director Martin Haselbock, the piece is subtitled Il cazzo non vuol pensieri, which translates to The penis does not want to think. The three tented rooms which make up Renate Martin and Andreas Donhauser's set design appear, shall we say, designed to tour easily.

John Malkovich, whose softly menacing voice is loudly amplified into the City Center auditorium, plays an aging Casanova well aware of his fast approaching demise. After a near-death incident, he entertains his hostess, Countess Isabella (an elegant Ingeborga Dapkunaite), with stories of past conquests while trying to make time with the ladies of her household staff.

The vocals are primarily handled by soprano Sophie Klußmann and baritone Daniel Schmutzhard who appear as various characters, including Casanova and the Countess, in the frequently sloggy two-and-a-half hour novelty pastiche. Scenes include what is perhaps the most dreary pistol duel ever professionally staged, an ugly rape scene and an episode that educates the uninformed on how an 18th Century condom is made.

When Malkovich is called upon to sing, he does so nicely in soft, wispy tones, but the evening's most engaging moments come when he addresses the audience directly with monologues taken from Casanova's own writings. It's not a good sign when the music in an opera is upstaged by the spoken acting.

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Director Brian Kulick sets Classic Stage Company's interesting and spirited new production of Bertolt Brecht's The Caucasian Chalk Circle during the fall of the Soviet Union, "when the hammer and sickle were replaced by the Coca-Cola bottle." The production's Playbill cover depicts a satisfied looking Christopher Lloyd scribbling over that iconic communist emblem with a piece of chalk. This is certainly an unusual take for a play that, when it premiered in 1948, was intended to depict the fairness to be found in Soviet leadership.

James and Tania Stern's translation cuts the prologue where two Soviet communes dispute over land left abandoned by the Nazis, prompting the telling of a parable that leads to a resolution. Instead, the folk tale is told by a seven-member troupe of players, led by "The Singer" (Lloyd, who is the only one not singing as they perform their opening song), who climax their introduction by pulling down a statue of Lenin.

That statue is meant to represent deposed Governor Georgi Abashvili, whose wife (hilariously self-involved Mary Testa) flees so quickly from her home that she neglects to bring along her infant son, Michael. The boy is taken by Abashvili's maid, Grusha (a nobly endearing Elizabeth A. Davis) who protects him from revolutionaries who would want him dead and raises him as her own.

Lloyd's eccentric charm is put to good use in the second act, where he portrays Azdak, a crafty wanderer of questionable morals who, in the post-overthrow days of confusion, becomes the judge presiding over the case when the former governor's wife wishes to reclaim her son. The play gets its title from the Solomon-like way Azdak determines who is the rightful mother.

Since Brecht was a firm believer in calling the audience's attention to the fact that they are in a theatre watching a play, there are scripted power outages to deal with, references to specific customers and a moment where volunteers are asked for to help populate a scene.

Duncan Sheik has written new melodies of the folk-protest variety to the translation's lyrics by W.H. Auden. Testa's powerful belting supplies traditional patriotic dramatics while Davis' more contemporary stylings reflect western pop culture influence. More western influence is depicted as the propaganda slogans posted on Tony Straiges' set give way to soda and cigarette advertising.

Photos by Joan Marcus: Top: Alex Hurt, Christopher Lloyd and Deb Radloff; Bottom: Elizabeth A. Davis, Mary Testa and Deb Radloff

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"It is best to act with confidence, no matter how little right you have to it."
-- Lillian Hellman

The grosses are out for the week ending 6/2/2013 and we've got them all right here in BroadwayWorld.com's grosses section.

Up for the week was: THE BIG KNIFE(6.2%),

Down for the week was: ANNIE (-17.7%), CHICAGO (-17.1%), CINDERELLA (-17.1%), NICE WORK IF YOU CAN GET IT (-14.3%), ROCK OF AGES (-11.0%), ONCE (-10.0%), THE TRIP TO BOUNTIFUL (-9.3%), SPIDER-MAN TURN OFF THE DARK (-9.1%), THE NANCE (-9.1%), JERSEY BOYS (-9.0%), MAMMA MIA! (-8.7%), MACBETH (-8.6%), ANN (-7.9%), THE ASSEMBLED PARTIES (-7.8%), VANYA AND SONIA AND MASHA AND SPIKE (-7.7%), I'LL EAT YOU LAST: A CHAT WITH SUE MENGERS (-6.8%), PIPPIN (-4.6%), WICKED (-3.3%), THE PHANTOM OF THE OPERA (-2.7%), NEWSIES (-2.2%), LUCKY GUY (-0.7%), KINKY BOOTS (-0.4%), THE LION KING (-0.4%), MOTOWN: THE MUSICAL (-0.1%),

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