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Johnny Guitar is not his real name. Surprised? I thought not. Still, it is one of the joys of this musical where so little is as it should be, or at least as we anticipate it being. The good guys, the moral code bunch, wear black - just like the classic villains in ancient westerns always did. The bad girl wears virginal white when she wears a dress at all. Otherwise she wears men’s clothing and looks better in them than most of the men. The bandit known as Dancin’ Kid actually dances. The man who wears no guns is a sharpshooter, and fast on the draw. There’s a character named Turkey.
If any of this sounds familiar you may know the 1954 movie of the same name which starred Joan Crawford as Vienna, the woman no decent woman can tolerate, and Sterling Hayden as Johnny, the man no man dares oppose. Based on a novel by Roy Chanslor, who also wrote "Cat Ballou" the story in the hands of playwright Philip Yordan (he wrote the controversial "Anna Lucasta") and director Nicholas Ray became a tortured attack on McCarthyism, socialism and other hot-button topics of the day. Mercedes McCambridge, who played the third lead, the "good girl" Emma, brought a rough and raw energy to the role which inspired many to believe the character was a thinly disguised Lesbian and others to claim that she was really just another version of Margaret Hamilton’s Wicked Witch of the West.
It would seem, in this musical version, that McCambridge’s Emma is the inspiration for a production style that can only be termed "tongue-in-cheek." On stage at the Theatre Barn in New Lebanon, a talented cast is acting up in a script and score that is tuned up for the fun of it. Mention Johnny’s name, actually just mention Johnny, and an off-stage guitar theme is heard often alarming those on stage who seem to hear it also. Enter Emma, every time, with a legs-splayed stance and an up-raised,. super-righteous arm. The only image from the film that is missing are Joan Crawford’s magnificent breasts. Played for humor, the production does justice to the product.
The story: Vienna runs an establishment for drinking and gambling. Her boyfriend is the Dancin’ Kid, a man desired by Emma. Vienna has just hired Johnny Guitar to entertain at her place. He and the Kid don’t get along, partially because Guitar was once Vienna’s lover. Emma’s brother has been killed in a stagecoach holdup and she wants Vienna arrested as the ringleader of the gang. Vienna maintains her innocence even when she is present at a bank robbery at Emma’s bank. Vienna is arrested and set to hang which excites Emma’s libidinous feelings. Things progress to a logical shootout between the protagonists, not the Kid and Johnny, no, but Emma and Vienna. It’s all a lot of fun, really, with the reversal of traditional gender-roles. And it still makes its veiled political statements, if you watch for them.
The cast in New Lebanon is delightful. Jerielle Morwitz is a terrific Vienna. She has beauty, a good voice and wears clothes well, a Joan Crawford clone in many ways. Megan Rozak is the enemy Emma. She resembles the Bride of Frankenstein as much as anything else in this show and she is very, very funny. Always on the brink of emotional suicide, she tortures and tantalizes with exquisite parody.
Scott Moreau, the Johnny, is a beautiful man. He has the looks and voice of a superstar confined to rural, non-pro theater and on the rare occasions when he smiles (this is all in character, by the way) it is with a wry sensibility. Matthew Daly imbues the Dancin’ Kid with talent and good looks, darker and more sinister than Moreau’s. The four principals so clearly and cleanly embody the types they play that they make the fun even funnier.
Michael F. Hayes is McIvers, Emma’s greatest ally. He does fine with his minimal role. Trey Compton plays Turkey, the young man who loves, betrays, then bests himself as an ally for, Vienna. He does is all with a set of facial expressions that may well have you convulsed with laughter. When he gets his rifle and Vienna shows him how it feels to use it, all subtlety flies out the window and the Nicholas Ray-style symbolism reaches new lows.
The rest of the company, playing both sides of the fence with aplomb, consist of Joseph Breen, Jim Nassef, and James Stover. They all do wonderfully in their various roles.
Michael McAssey and his three band members play extremely well and the score is nicely served by them. "What’s in it for Me?," "Branded a Tramp," "Bad Blood," and "Old Santa Fe" stand out as truly wonderful numbers. Of course, there is that "Johnny Guitar theme" which is almost ever-present as well.
Jonathan Knipscher’s costumes are terrific and Abe Phelps set, as used by this company of clowns, gets laughs when it should. Bert Bernardi, directing this delicate musical send-up, has established the style of the piece and maintained it perfectly right to the final moments. Without that sort of control the piece could easily have been banal and just odd, but under his fine direction it turns into a stylized, comedic masterpiece. Bernardi has a way of making the peculiar palatable and he was clearly the best choice for this company’s first musical of the season.
See the show, then watch the movie. As wonderfully odd a piece as the Nicholas Ray film is I bet you a dollar you’ll miss the score and some of these lovely players.
◊07/28/2007◊
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