Review - Venice

The argument for using the pop music method of "slant rhyming" (frowned on by musical theatre lyricists as "false rhyming" or using "sound-a-likes") is that by not limiting lyricists to using perfect rhymes it greatly expands the number of ideas that can be expressed. If that's so, the number of slant rhymes used in Venice, the new hip-hop/rock musical riff on Shakespeare's Othello, could potentially contain enough ideas to fill up a First Folio.

Instead, the text of Eric Rosen (lyricist/bookwriter/director) and Matt Sax's (lyricist/composer/leading player) new musical drama, now benefiting from an attractive, well-performed and energetic production via The Public Theater's Public LAB series, is a leaden mess of banality that brings down what could be a fun evening. If the multitude of false rhymes and misplaced accents in the score are consistent with the dance club and rock show style of the music, that's fine. But even the overamplification of Venice's ensemble numbers doesn't assault the ears as mercilessly as two and a half hours of stagnated rapped and sung narrative such as, "I have waited all these years / For your face to reappear / Right before my eyes / I feel your presence near / And I know that you are here," and "I am death personified / You must be terrified / Now you are verified / Whoa, let me clarify." One song manages to include two classic cliché rhymes, "changing/rearranging" and "schemes/dreams."

The show does look promising during the prologue, led by Sax as the rapping narrator Clown MC, who tells us how 20 years ago the futuristic city of Venice was torn apart by a terrorist attack that killed 20,000 people, leaving the poor to fend for themselves as an evil corporation took control while those with the means fled to the outskirts and created a guarded community known as the Safe Zone. The four main characters were children growing up together when the attack occurred and are reunited as twentysomething romantic and political rivals.

The ineffectual corporate leader, Theo (Jonathan-David), who inherited the position from his brutal father, maintains his childhood crush on a girl named Willow (As in "Willow, Willow, Willow / Get your head up off the pillow, pillow, pillow," repeated over and over.), the daughter of the president who was killed by the terrorists. Willow (Jennifer Damiano, who actually found a blander leading lady role than her one in Spider-Man: Turn Off The Dark) has been living in the Safe Zone, but has been carrying on a romance-by-mail with a fellow named Venice (Haaz Sleiman), who was conceived from the rape of a peace movement leader. She named him after the city after Willow's father took her in.

Theo asks for assistance from his general, Markos (Leslie Odom, Jr.), who just happens to be Venice's half-brother (Guess which one mom liked best.), to somehow separate the lovers and have Willow marry him. Markos complies, but secretly plots to turn the people's sympathies against the two and take control himself. His plan includes utilizing the seductive powers of hip-hop superstar Hailey Daisy (Angela Polk), who lap dances on Venice's right hand man and entices him to leave his post unguarded at the wrong moment.

By the end, the body count is high, romance is tragic and the epilogue inexplicably comes out of A Midsummer Night's Dream.

With a less wordy, more maturely expressed text, Venice on paper could live up to the standards of the production, where Rosen shows himself to be more effective at visual pictures than written ones. Though the Public LAB's stated mission is to present works in development in scaled-down productions, there are occasions, such as this one, where the mountings look ready for an Off-Broadway run.

Beowulf Boritt's spare, gritty set gives the space the appearance of an underground music club, a spirit enhanced by Jason Lyons' lighting and Jason H. Thompson's projections. Chase Brock's souped-up choreography is highlighted by a lot of kicking and stomping by the rebellious masses and one case where tap-less tap dancing in combat boots actually looks pretty cool.

Photos by Joan Marcus: Top: Matt Sax and Company; Bottom: Jennifer Damiano and Haaz Sleiman.

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