Kaspar Hauser: a foundling's opera

The real-life story of Kaspar Hauser has understandably caught the imagination of many writers. In 1828, a mysterious teenage boy was found in Germany, carrying a letter addressed to a captain in the army. The boy could barely speak, and had apparently been kept hidden away from the world for most of his life, in a small darkened cell. He was taught by various people and grew and learned and became something of a celebrity.

Kaspar Hauser: a foundling's opera, a music-theater piece by Elizabeth Swados and Erin Courtney takes an unusual tack with the story, utilizing the discredited "lost prince" theory of Kaspar's life, and weaving it into a Dickensian fairy tale focusing on the political and social powers that used Kaspar for their own aims and intrigues.

Princess Stephanie (Eliza Poehlman) has a baby. Her wicked stepsister Louisa (Beth Griffith) has the baby abducted and replaced by a dead peasant's child, so that her child will be heir to the throne. The baby is given to a Man (Chad Lindsey), who keeps him in a dark cell with nothing but a toy horse to play with, feeds him bread and water, and gives him straw to sleep on. When Kaspar grows to his teens (Preston Martin), The Man teaches him his name, and teaches him to say phonetically "I want to be a rider like my father was before me", and kicks him out into the world. He is found, assumed to be feral, and studied by experts, till he is taken in by Professor Daumer (Nicolas Greco), who lives in a large country house with his mother (Amy Jackson). Under his tutelage, Kaspar learns about the brave new world he's now in, and becomes something of a media celebrity, rumors flying that he might have been a well-born child. Louisa, hearing of him and gleaning that Kaspar is the abandoned child, calls on Lord Stanhope (Marshall York) and blackmails him into having Kaspar taken care of. He tries to have Kaspar killed, but the thug only succeeds in cutting him, which only brings Kaspar more media attention, till he's hobnobbing at the home of Lady Fromme (Carly Zien), where he actually meets Lord Stanhope, who offers to adopt him and give him a fancy home- Kaspar greedily accepts and then is sent instead to a draconian Christian boarding school in Ansbach, run by Meyer (Michael Hopewell) and his wife (Adrienne Deekman), to have the fun and pretty beaten out of him. Kaspar is rescued by Daumer's mother, who tells him that Stanhope is not coming back for him. Kaspar goes back, but Luisa's plans are not through, and Stanhope finally has Kaspar killed late one night, getting him alone in a park by sending word that his mother had been found.

Swados' music veers from the eerily atonal to the gorgeously melodic. It's always effective in setting the mood of a scene, and perfectly complements the expressive and poetic libretto.
The piece is also directed by Swados (assisted by Jeremy Bloom) very effectively, with Brechtian lighting (Jeanette Oi-Suk Yew) and fantastically overdone costumes (Normandy Sherwood) and makeup. Some of the tableaux vivants in the work are meant to recall the paintings of Hogarth, in keeping with the societal themes of the work. There are wonderful performances from everyone, especially the incredibly detailed performance by Martin as Kaspar.  The ensemble (members of The Bats, the young resident acting company at the Flea) is always a focused part of the scene they're in.

The frenetic pace rarely falters, which, though exciting, is a slight flaw of the work- applause is discouraged within the play by segueing from scene to scene without a break (there is also no intermission), which leads to a bit of tense sensory overload.
The piece is hypnotic, disturbing, and fascinating. Well worth a look.

KASPAR HAUSER: a foundling's opera
Elizabeth Swados and Erin Courtney

The Flea Theater
41 White Street
(between Broadway & Church Streets -- accessible from the A,C,E,N,R,Q,W,6,J,M,Z to Canal or 1 to Franklin Street).

February 13 - March 28.
Performances are Wednesday - Saturday at 7pm, and Saturday matinees at 3pm.

Tickets are $25. For a complete performance calendar and tickets, visit www.theflea.org or call 212-352-3101.

Photo Credit: Ryan Jensen
1. Preston Martin and Nicolas Greco
2. Marshall York, Preston Martin, Carly Zien

 

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