Thursday, August 6, 2020

265. IONESCOPADE. From my (unpublished) ENCYCLOPEDIA OF THE NEW YORK STAGE, 1970-1975

Joseph Abaldo, Jerry Beal, Marion McCorry.

IONESCOPADE [Musical Revue] CN/D: Robert Allan Ackerman; M/LY: Mildred Kayden; SC: the writings of Eugene Ionesco; CH: Merry Lynn Katis; S/L: David Sackeroff; C: Patricia Adshead; P: Kermit Bloomgarden and Roger Ailes; T: Theatre Four (OB); 4/25/74-5/5/74 (13)

This show was first done Off-Off Broadway in January 1973 by the New Repertory Company. It moved to Off Broadway’s Cherry Lane Theatre in July, and continued to run there under an Off-Off arrangement. Finally, it achieved full Off-Broadway status in an expanded, partly recast version at Theatre Four, where it closed in less than two weeks.

Ionescopade, as its name suggests, was based on material by Romanian playwright Eugene Ionesco, famous for his Absurdist comedies. It was put together as a fast-paced vaudeville program of sketches, songs, and dances, performed with tremendous verve and charm, and inventively staged by David Allan Ackerman, who was also conceived the show. He selected his scenes from Ionesco’s plays, skits, and journals, which he set to a bouncy score by Mildred Kayden, who also wrote the lyrics. Several short pieces were played in full, while only excerpts from the longer works were offered. The 10 actors wore mime-like white makeup, one of them (Jerry Beal) acting as introducer for each of the 16 numbers.

Although they found much of it enjoyable, the critics thought the company pushed too hard and played too broadly, thus deflating possible laugh material. “The show is intended to be a romp. It is more like a grab,” grumbled Mel Gussow.