"Baubles, Bangles, and Bombs"
The Prospect Theater Company, whose annual productions of
new musicals often push the envelope, has done so again with One Thousand Nights and One, a hour and
a half adaptation by Jason Grote of his 2011 play 1001, with music by Marisa Michelson. |
| Sepideh Moafi, Ben Steinfeld. Photo: Richard Termine. |
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| Sepideh Moafi, Ben Steinfeld. Photo: Richard Termine. |
To be fair, Grote’s “postmodern musical fantasia” is not
intended as a traditional dramatization of the original, which first appeared
in English in 1708; the program notes declare, it’s “a deconstruction of the Arabian Nights through the lens of scholar
Edward Said’s concept of Orientalism.” In other words, it intends to convey a
subtextual message about “the long traditions of false cultural representations
and romanticized images of Asia and the Middle East.” Assuming that’s the case,
I’m not convinced it actually achieves that goal, nor that the result somehow
makes better theatre.
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| Ben Steinfeld, Ashkon Davaran. |
Staged by Erin Ortman in minimalist fashion, the scenery is confined
mainly to Jason Ardizzone-West’s rather funereal arrangement of dark, lace-like
curtains, hung like those in hospitals and moved around by the actors to change locations. Carolyn Wong’s expert
lighting goes a long way to enliven this dull environment. A “One-Eyed Arab” (Graham
Stevens), whose two eyes are perfectly visible, serves as a comical emcee-narrator,
dressed in an Arab robe and poking fun at his own stereotypical character, making what are perhaps the show's most salient cultural points.
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| Ben Steinfeld, Sepideh Moafi. Photo: Richard Termine. |
He proceeds to narrate the story of Persian King Shahriyer
(Ben Steinfeld), who, having discovered his wife in flagrante delicto, seeks to
end adultery by marrying a virgin a day, having sex with them, and then
beheading them with his scimitar. Only his Wazir’s (Ashkon Davaron) beautiful
daughter, Scheherazade (Sepideh Moafi), is able to stop him by getting him so
interested in a story she tells that she’s able prevent her own demise by
stringing it out over 1,001 nights.
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| Sepideh Moafi. Photo: Richard Termine. |
Shahriyar, something of a confused schlemiel, struggles
to find the right words and uses contemporary colloquialisms and profanity.
That’s because (SPOILER) he’s actually a 21st century Jew named Alan, in a coma
after a massive bombing (or so it seems) of Man Hat, as it’s called in Scheherazade’s story. His trauma, you see, is causing him to imagine himself the king in the story
being read at his hospital bedside by his Palestinian girlfriend, Dhana, played
by the same actress who portrays Scheherazade. It takes a long time for the connection between the parallel situations to come into focus and it’s easy to get lost and lose interest along the way.
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| Ben Steinfeld, Graham Stevens. Photo: Richard Termine. |
Our Alan, a Palestinian sympathizer, becomes Dhana’s lover,
visits Gaza with her, is responsible—he thinks he’s acting like a heroic martyr—for
their guide being shot in the eye (guess who plays the guide), and plays second
fiddle when Dhana becomes attracted to a handsome, wealthy Arab guy (Chad Goodridge) on social
media. It’s nice to see Alan and Dhana’s Jew-Arab cross-cultural affair blossom
but the socio-political vibes it seeks to produce are little more than clichéd
window dressing on a universal romantic situation.
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| Ashkon Davaran, Ben Steinfeld, Sepideh Moafi, Yassi Noubahar. Photo: Richard Termine. |
Much as Michelson’s music—which often sounds like bland dialogue
sung in operatic tones when it’s not displaying melismatic overkill to suggest Arabic
melodies—comes in the Arabian nights material that begins the show. When the
Dhana-Alan situations arrive, singing becomes minimal and dialogue dominates;
given the songs’ bland similarities this isn’t such a bad thing. None of this
is the fault of the fine five-piece band in an upstage nook,
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| Ben Steinfeld, Chad Goodridge, Gabriella Perez. Photo: Richard Termine. |
Karla Puno Garcia has provided a lot of choreographic
movement to accompany the Middle Eastern-inflected music; arms wave sinuously,
bodies twist and turn, and robotic gestures abound. Much of this resembles an
elaborate martial arts routine. The players wear designer Becky Bodurtha’s
eclectic blend of simplified Arabian nights’ costumes, modern dress (hajibs
included), and neutral black for when they serve as a chorus.
Moafi, a dark-haired beauty, sings with a lovely soprano and
acts with simple honesty and a wry sense of humor, Steinfeld has a firm baritone and moves well enough, and Stevens brings enthusiastic energy to his Arab caricature. Everyone
else is generally sincere and focused.
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| Ben Steinfeld, Ashkon Davaran. Photo: Richard Termine. |
This is the kind of show in which anything can happen, even
an appearance by Jorge Luis Borges (Davaran) to talk about storytelling, or a
djinn (also Davaran) who materializes when Alan rubs a magic lamp. Alan asks the djinn to get
his lover back. I suggest he ask for a better show.
OTHER VIEWPOINTS:
A.R.T./New York Theatres
502 W. 52nd St., NYC
Through April 29
