review: our leading lady...by gordin & christiano
Charles Busch has fashioned a gleeful love letter to
the theater with his seriocomic new play, Our Leading Lady, set backstage
at the Ford Theater in Washington D.C. on the days surrounding April
14, 1865, the day President Lincoln was assassinated by the actor John
Wilkes Booth while watching a performance of Our American Cousin. The
play, a blend of fact and fiction, focuses on a scheming actress, Laura
Keene, who was on stage that eventful night, becoming a footnote in
history. From his inspired idea, the talented Mr. Busch has crafted
a two-act smorgasbord of laughs that bog down the somewhat heavy-handed
second act. Director Lynne Meadow has mined his vision for all its comedy,
but the play, although vastly entertaining, feels stretched and not
always sure of its footing.
Chares Busch is a playwright, performer, and gay drag icon, who made
a career out of playing damsels in distress in campy projects he created
specifically for himself. Most notable is Vampire Lesbians of Sodom,
which was one of the longest-running off-Broadway plays ever, with a
run that spanned five years.
In Busch’s fictionalized account based on fact, Laura Keene (Kate
Mulgrew) is attempting to resurrect her career and overcome the failure
of her New York company, with a secret plan to take over the Ford Theatre.
She intends to replace the troupe’s “amateur actors”
with more seasoned professionals from New York. The President’s
visit to the theater could be just the ticket to lift her sagging popularity.
The first act is packed with campy fun and laughs galore as Keene provokes
a dramatic clash of egos while attempting to put the insecure Washington
actors through their paces in preparation for the big night. After Lincoln
has been shot, the second act turns decidedly serious with the actors
trying to make sense of things amidst the investigation into the shooting.
We also get a subplot about Keene’s dresser, Madame Wu-Chan (Ann
Duquesnay), who we learn is really an escaped slave from Georgia disguised
as an oriental. Mr. Busch is clearly making a point here about how the
two women cannot achieve what they want by being themselves, which may
be a comment on success in general, or life in the theater.
Kate Mulgrew turns in a haughty, over the top performance as Laura Keene,
a role that the playwright could have played himself. She plays the
part with precise intonations, rolling her r’s, sounding much
like Katherine Hepburn, and turning Laura into a theatrical grande dame
obscuring the fact she is actually a cockney barmaid with two illegitimate
daughters hidden away in a convent.
The Washington core of actors include the handsome leading man (Maxwell
Caufield), a tipsy ingénue (Amy Rutberg), a mature character
actor (Reed Birney), his untalented wife (Kristine Nielsen), the young
good looking understudy (Billy Wheelan), and the company veteran (a
delectable Barbara Bryne).
The design team has done an excellent job and the production elements
are top drawer. Santo Loquasto has done the sets, Jane Greenwood the
costumes and Brian MacDevitt the lighting.
Meadow and Busch teamed up in 2000 for another Manhattan Theatre Club
production, The Tale of the Allergist’s Wife, which moved to Broadway
for a successful run. The two have not been as fortunate this time around.
Ms. Meadow has put together an uneven cast encouraging them to play
broadly, which, unfortunately, emphasizes the play’s flaws.
Mr. Busch will be appearing in his hilarious comedy, The Lady in Question,
at Bay Street Theater in Sag Harbor this summer, from August 14-September
2. He will play Gertrude Garnet in a free-wheeling satire of 1940s thrillers.
Mr. Busch last appeared at Bay Street in 2004 in the leading role of
Auntie Mame.
Our Leading Lady opened on March 22 at the Manhattan Theatre Club, 131
West 55th Street, between Sixth and Seventh Avenues. Tickets are available
by calling 212-581-1212.
Gordin & Christiano are theater critics. Barry Gordin is an internationally
renowned photographer. They can be reached at bg6@verizon.net
 |
