BWW Reviews: MY CIVIL WAR at Capital Fringe is Nice Idea, Poorly Executed

There's power in using authentic words from Civil War-era soldiers and their families to inform a theatrical piece that explores the physical and emotional turmoil that they endured for the sake of deeply held ideas. When this is combined with time period and/or context-appropriate poems, spirituals, other traditional 'Americana' songs, and dances, there's some potential for a stirring and moving production. While Michael Vitaly Sazonov's Capital Fringe production My Civil War incorporates all of these elements, its potential is never fully realized both in terms of construction and actual execution.

Through a variety of scenes and stories, we get a glimpse at life during that troubled time in American history. The vignette style had the potential to serve the piece well by applying different lenses to a singular war experience, but Sazonov's decision to include a letter from a young and eager soldier who passed during the Iraq War in one of the final scenes is extraordinarily out of place and comes off as pandering to the modern audience. Yes, at some general level the experience of war transcends nation-state boundaries, time, and other contexts, but someone who - per his program biography - received academic training in international affairs at one of DC's most reputable schools, should know better than to oversimplify the parallels between the experiences of soldiers in these far removed socio-political contexts. If he sought to draw parallels throughout the entire piece - so as to demonstrate one cohesive thought about war writ large - it might have worked somewhat better, but every other scene is set during the Civil War.

This doesn't even get to the problems of execution. During the performance I witnessed, the no doubt multi-talented musicians (Stefan Alexander, Genna Davidson, Agustin Faundez Rojas, Aaron Myers, and Michael Vitaly Sazonov) weren't always together as they lent their keyboard, violin, and guitar playing skills to the proceedings. They could have likely benefited from a music director to ensure they successfully played the numerous musical numbers as one cohesive group and successfully played the right notes at every moment (Davidson, in particular, played a few too many clunkers on her violin).

Some of the performers fared better while singing. Sazonov's polished voice proved particularly well-suited to familiar songs like "When Johnny Comes Marching Home" and he resisted most temptations to make the performances too overwrought with campy emotion. Myers lent his undeniably strong, textured voice to a variety of spirituals; his performance of the compelling "Were You There?" was a definite highlight among the lowlights. Unfortunately, Davidson did not rise to the occasion like her male castmates. Though she visibly connected to the lyrics about loss and love, she was rarely if ever singing in tune. It was unfortunate to say the least.

Dancer Megan Harrold fared quite well in using movement to express loss and love in wartime, but overall it was hard to figure out why Sazonov had her involved in some scenes and not others and how and why exactly he decided when to incorporate dance into the scenes from a strategic perspectives.

Technical issues - namely numerous flubbed lighting cues, unfocused and oddly sporadic projections - also plagued the performance. While some of this could be forgiven in a Fringe setting, it's difficult to do so in this case because the whole event seemed under-rehearsed and ready to fall apart at the seams. Perhaps with more work - and some potential cast/creative team changes - I'd feel differently about this piece. However, right now it is in no way ready for a paying audience even in a Fringe Festival setting.

Running Time: 70 minutes.

My Civil War has two more performances in this year's Fringe festival. For tickets and show information, visit the Capital Fringe Festival website.

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