Sunday, August 16, 2020

286. KID CHAMPION. From my (unpublished) ENCYCLOPEDIA OF THE NEW YORK STAGE, 1970-1975

 

David Margulies, Christopher Walken.

KID CHAMPION [Drama/Drugs/Music/Show Business] A: Thomas Babe; D: John Pasquin; S: Douglas W. Schmidt; C: Theoni V. Aldredge; L: William Mintzer; M: Jim Steinman; LY: Thomas Babe, Jim Steinman; P: New York Shakespeare Festival; T: Public Theater/Florence S. Anspacher Theater (OB); 1/28/75-3/9/75 (48)

Christopher Walken, Anna Levine, Matthew Cowles.

This was the first play by Thomas Babe, who soon became one of New York’s most promising young playwrights before his output fizzled. It was an “honorable failure,” thought John Simon, which “presented in melodrama, comedy, drama, soliloquy, ;projected slides, movie clips, and blaring rock music the anatomy of a present-day rock singer,” as Edith Oliver described it.

Kid Champion (Christopher Walken) represents the quintessential rock star. He moves in a frantic world of groupies, drugs, booze, reporters, and musicians, all of which was precisely captured by the writing, acting, and direction. The play chronicles the Kid’s decline from the top of the charts to the bottom of his personal hell; every opportunity is given to display his manic, ever-changing behavior—his anguish and his fun, his selfishness and his cruelty.

The major weakness arose from the play’s lack of proper motivation for the Kid’s actions. His frequent shifts of personality needed explanation, but Babe was content merely to depict them, thus leading Walter Kerr to describe the effect as “a long haul to nowhere.” Kerr admitted that Babe had “a marvelous ear and a far from unobservant eye.” To Clive Barnes, the events were too “predictable and fundamentally uninteresting.” Although the writing was rarely banal, he noted, there were “maudlin moments.” John Simon observed that the staging displayed an “uncanny skill,” being “extraordinary in its minute attention to detail without the slightest sacrifice in panoramic sweep.”

The supporting company received excellent notices. Kenneth McMillan was very fine as a sociology professor who interviews the Kid for a book, only to be jeered at by the rocker’s entourage of hangers-on. Anna Levine showed great promise as a disillusioned groupie. Future Broadway director Jerry Zaks was excellent as a hack writer, and Sasha von Scherler did well in her small role as the singer’s mother. Other significant cast names included David Margulies and Don Scardino.

As Kid Champion, Christopher Walken gave an admirable demonstration of the talents that would lead him to stardom, though Simon claimed it was too much like the acting he’d done in other roles. Barnes, however, called him “brilliant.” “With a scorpion whim, petulant good looks, and lazily arrogant manner, Mr. Walken comes as close as the play will permit to the pop star who is all hollow inside and all bluster outside.” Walken received an OBIE for Distinguished Performance.