SL+Play+Review+New+York+Times

Jameson Lindsey Dr. Richmond Theatre 2000 New York Time Play Review Critique Alexis Soloski published a play review titled “Review: A Hairy Visionary Who Has the Ruler’s Ear” on February 12, 2017 in the New York Times. Soloski is a Literature Humanities professor at Columbia University. She also contributes articles to the New Yorker. Her profession and multitude of published reviews within the New York Times and New Yorker effectively established her credibility as a writer. This allowed me to trust her review as a liable source of information about the play from the beginning. She begins by giving some background details about the musical titled “Beardo”. David Malloy and Jason Craig’s musical “Beardo” was first performed in California in 2011 and is now making its debut in an off-Broadway venue: St. John’s Lutheran Church in Greenpoint, Brooklyn. Soloski summarized the play as a “louche, lewd, and assertively weird fantasia on the life of Rasputin”. For readers who don’t know the story of Rasputin, Soloski adds that Rasputin was “a mystical advisor to Czar Nicholas II” who was assassinated 100 years ago. From here, she makes a remark on how recent social media has compared Rasputin to President Trump’s chief strategist, Stephen K. Bannon and adds the quirky interjection of “It’s a comparison neither Bannon nor Rasputin would probably find flattering”. This political comment indicates that Soloski knows her audience very well considering most people who read the New York Times tend to dislike the current political leaders. Soloski chronologically writes about how each character is introduced and their overall behaviors/appearances. She begins with describing the main character, who is based on Rasputin, Beardo (played by Damon Daunno) as a “mesmerist and minor musician” who uses his special talents to woe women. After this, Soloski quickly interjects to add that the play is not “narrative driven” and those who do not have a lot of knowledge on Russian history prior to the show might become confused. This is good message to write in the beginning of the article to warn patrons that they should become moderately informed of the story of Rasputin before attending the musical. Soloski quickly explains the planned demise of Beardo by “tutu-wearing conspirators” and adds that she agrees Beardo should be drowned because “it’s about time Beardo had a bath.” Her humor towards the planned death of a main character gives another indication of the humorous content of the musical; nothing it taken too seriously. Death should be taken lightly by the audience as grown men in tutu’s plan the murder. She also goes on to praise the score of the musical, composed by Malloy. She writes that the score is “enjoyably eclectic” as the different genera consist of “disco, jazz, rock and folk”. This bit of information is important to some viewers (including myself) because some people have singular tastes and could potentially be distracted by the shifting of styles throughout the play. Soloski also discusses Craig’s script as “chewy and repetitive.” Her description of the script doesn’t seem flattering but she does leave an interesting fact about the history of Rasputin’s death. The fact intrigued me and I went online to research it to discover to my delight that it was in fact a true detail. Soloski concludes by complimenting the overall play as the “dark, ribald, rambling entertainment” that she believes the writers intended to create. However, she tells the reader that the relevance of the play is diminished as time goes on. Soloski argues that as time alters art, this show becomes “less bouncy, more hollow, and more queasy than intended”. I enjoyed the title of the review because it has a fun, simple twist on the historical relevance of Rasputin trying to have an affair with the Czar’s wife. Soloski’s sense of humor was well-executed and was interjected an appropriate amount of times. It is clear the she believes the play is light and an excellent contrast to the dark history of Rasputin’s demise. She does an excellent job explaining the key parts of the musical that give the reader a decent understanding of what to expect when watching the show. Her warnings are appropriate and concise, not beating around the bush of some of the issues she noticed in the musical. I wished Soloski had talked more about different elements in the play such as the appropriateness of the venue selection, the set, or the costumes. She mainly focused on musicality and the script of the play, which are both very important in musicals. As a Literature professor, it makes sense her focus would be the flow of words and lines throughout the play and their significance to the overall theme. She also made various references and analogies to outside sources such as the movie “Teorema”. It could be difficult for some readers to understand the comparison Soloski is trying to make if they do not know the subject she if referring to. I appreciated the brevity of her review. It was pleasant, interesting, and contained just enough information for the reader to gain a broad picture of the musical’s concept. The review needed a few more details about other elements of the play (set, lighting, costumes). Based on this review, I would go see this musical for the humorous aspect as well as the historical context, as I found the story of Rasputin to be quite interesting. Soloski did a fine job keeping her readers entertained and informed.