To begin with the "Nance" of the title is a reference to a specific member of a vaudeville comedic team. Gag folk well practiced in the art of the double entendre who would slip on and off the stage between strip tease acts. One character was the exaggerated effeminate man, the "Pansy," the "Nancy," the "NANCE." Chauncey is the person on and off stage and a time in the late 30's when New York City went through a prudish paradigm shift in mores and passed laws to outlaw men performing this role (unless they were in drag...?! No shit!) It's a role that many comedians we might know played like Milton Burl or Bob Hope.
Into this rising moral correctness, wrapped in his misplaced faith in Republican political cynicism, and a practiced habit of one night stands, comes Ned--a unhappily wed farm boy from up-state who's set off to find himself in the Big Apple and finds Chauncey instead. The cast is rounded out with Efram the Jimmy Durante-esque emcee at the Elgin Club and three of it's Strippers/Actresses named Joan, Sylvie and Carmen.
The cast is wonderful. Michael Innocenti is always amazing, and no less so here as the erasable emcee/manager of the burlesque house that is under pressure to close. He's funny as hell and when at last he lets his hard shell crack just a little, I swear, I was ready to cry. Of the women, Natalie Cutcher as Sylvie is the stand out as a liberal Communist sympathizer, she get to take on Chauncey at his most vulnerable, his political beliefs that Republicans will return things to the status quo after the up-coming election. But the real fun was had by Michael Russotto as Chauncey. One of the challenges in this role is the present the arc of the Chauncey the gay man character's journey off stage as he both fights for what is comfortable and toys with what he feels he does not deserve, while keeping his stage character ever ebullient and innocently campy--fiddle, so to speak, while Rome burns. Because no matter how bad life gets, the role of the "Nance" is his forever refuge. Michael's performance was simply wonderful. Back before the pandemic I had seen Russotto in a couple of things "Death of a Salesman," "The Book of Will," and "Twelve Angry Men" and enjoyed his acting very much. It's good to see him continue to work and grow and delight audiences with his talents.
The set was relatively simple with walls that would slide out or drop down to reconfigure, reveal or obscure the action. A musical ensemble performed that incidental music to the vaudeville routines which was a delight as well. The costume were beautiful, and many. At one point after the character of Ned went from homeless newbie in the Big City to live-in companion with the Nance, his costumes suddenly looked like they'd come straight of the rack from the bumbling farmhand Eb Dawson's closet in the TV comedy "Green Acres". To make such a random connection--it was more than derivative--just sayin'.
I didn't realize that this was the final performance and it was sold out, something else I had never experienced before at 1st Stage. I had a nice, if enigmatic conversation with the gentlemen sitting to my left. He was friendly enough, but I felt like he had some deeper connection to the play or someone associated with the play that he wasn't feeling the need to reveal. As I was leaving along the outer balcony, sliding glass doors were opened to the adjoining commercial space to expose a large room set up for a party. The man next to me left just before me and had bee-lined into that room. As I approached a young woman caught my attention as said, "Would you like to join the cast party? You're more than welcome to."
Unprepared and generally speaking very awkward in events like this where I would just love to go, but then would feel hard-pressed to meet strangers, and would want to speak to the actors, but then would feel weird about that, too... I dunno, it's complicated. Fate has put me in a similar place twice before, and now as then, I politely declined.
No comments:
Post a Comment