“We’ll Take a Cup of
Kindness Yet”
One of a reviewer’s perks is getting not one but two comps
to perhaps 90 percent of the shows he or she covers. Seeing a show with a
companion and then being able to share reactions to it is a major bonus, even
when you and your plus-one disagree. But, as in my case, offering five or six shows
a week to a small group of friends can sometimes create scheduling problems and
mistakes, on both sides.
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| Mike McGowan, David Darrow, Sasha Andreev, James Ramlet, Evan Tyler Wilson, Benjamin Dutcher, Tom McNichols, Rodolfo Nieto, and Riley McNutt. Photo: Dan Norman. |
This is less significant when shows are second- or third-rate
(no one hates missing a turkey) but you never want to screw up when something
is as memorable as All Is Calm: The Christmas
Truce of 1914, a choral musical cum history lesson at the Sheen Center’s
Loreto Theater.
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| Rodolfo Nieto. Photo: Dan Norman. |
Without going into the logistical details—more complex than
you might imagine—screw up there was with the result that the seat next to me
remained empty for what I was surprised to discover was, of its type, one of
the most special of the well over 200 shows I’ve covered this year.
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| Sasha Andreev and company. Photo: Dan Norman. |
All Is Calm is a
sort of jukebox musical, if you will, combining well over 30 songs, unfamiliar
and familiar, classic and (at one time) popular, with snatches from letters,
documents, and poetry to commemorate an event symbolizing a rare moment of
shared humanity under the dire circumstances of war. That was when, in December
1914, British and German soldiers fighting in the trenches of France’s No Man’s
Land temporarily put down their arms to join arms for a Christmas celebration,
including the singing of Christmas songs.
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| Tom McNichols and company. Photo: Dan Norman. |
Historians,
as
clearly explained on this site, question the accuracy of the legends that
have sprung up about this remarkable fraternization between what were then mortal
enemies.
All Is Calm itself serves
more to romanticize the story of the truce than to question its veracity. Nonetheless, many similar events actually occurred, providing the basis for this exceptionally well-done presentation.
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| David Darrow. Photo: Dan Norman. |
As this
Wikipedia article demonstrates,
there have been numerous references to the Christmas truce in popular culture, one
being to a 2005 French film called
Joyeux
Noël I saw not long ago as a Netflix rental. The Wikipedia piece, however, somehow
neglects a British, one-man play of 2013 called
Our
Friends, the Enemy that I reviewed when it played here in 2015. Both
pale before the emotional and aesthetic power of
All Is Calm.
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Company of All Is Calm. Photo: Dan Norman.
|
I’ll let the links I’ve provided inform those who are
interested in learning about the fascinating historical details. Here let me
note simply that
All Is Calm was created
by Peter Rothstein in 2007 and premiered under his direction at Minneapolis’s
Pantages Theater, where it
subsequently was produced each December as a Theater Latté Da Production.
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| Benjamin Dutcher and company. Photo: Dan Norman. |
It’s divided into seven sections called “Prologue,” “The
Optimistic Departure,” “The Grim Reality,” “Christmas,” “The Truce,” “The Return
to Battle,” and “Epilogue.” Ten first-rate actor-singers, dressed in an assortment
of uniforms (designed by Trevor Bowen) representing different British branches are involved. These uniforms, when worn with those
pointy Bosch helmets, also serve for the Germans. The company gives remarkably harmonious
voice to song after song, with Erick Lichte and Timothy C. Takach’s exquisite
arrangements performed under Lichte’s musical direction. They also deliver
their spoken lines with truth and theatrical force.
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| Company of All Is Calm. Photo: Dan Norman. |
Until you hear several actors speaking in American accents
at the end, you’d be hard pressed not to believe this is a British company,
each performer using one or another authentic-sounding accent, including
Scottish, with German thrown in when needed. The narrative is mainly in the
form of quotes recited as such from contemporary writings, most of them concluded
by the speaker announcing his rank, company, and name. Now and then a familiar
name associated with World War I is heard, like
Siegfried Sassoon or
Wilfred Owen, not to
mention Winston Churchill.
 |
| Evan Tyler Wilson and company. Photo: Dan Norman, |
There are no continuing “characters,” only individuals who
fade in and out to say their lines and then join the chorus before appearing as
someone else. Music is almost continuous, with choral background singing or
humming behind the speeches. The set is merely an arrangement of wooden boxes,
allowing Rothstein to move his ensemble about in gorgeously arranged tableaux, given
exceptionally beautiful chiaroscuro lighting by Marcus Dillard.
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| Company of All Is Calm. Photo: Dan Norman. |
You can, of course, expect to hear old-time ditties like “It’s
a Long Way to Tipperary” and “Pack Up Your Troubles” along with seasonal
favorites like “Silent Night” (also sung in German) and “Auld Lang Syne” on the
English side and “O Tannenbaum” on the German. There are many songs not as well
known but all make wonderful, often beautiful, listening, especially as warbled by this gorgeously
rich blend of voices, each of which gets solo opportunities. Those that stand
out in particular are the fulsome basses of Tom McNichols and James Ramlet and the soaring tenor of Evan Tyler Wilson.
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| Company of All Is Calm. Photo: Dan Norman. |
All Is Calm may
not be an accurate work of historical drama but, in around 70 minutes, it expresses
how extraordinary it was for anything like such truces to have occurred. It
does so in such a theatrically exquisite way that I hope to see it again if it
should ever return to New York. And, hopefully, with a plus-one!
OTHER VIEWPOINTS:
Sheen Center/Loreto Theater
18 Bleecker St., NYC
Through December 30
One of a reviewer’s perks is getting not one but two comps
to perhaps 90 percent of the shows he or she covers. Seeing a show with a
companion and then being able to share reactions to it is a major bonus, even
when you and your plus-one disagree. But, as in my case, offering five or six shows
a week to a small group of friends can sometimes create scheduling problems and
mistakes, on both sides.
