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"One of those years..."
This is not a review, not really. When you go to a two-act, one-man musical and the show ends abruptly 38 minutes into the first act you cannot review the show. What you can review is the man at the center of the performance. B.D. Wong is the star here. Wong is the victim of an unfortunate accident. He is also the hero of the evening.
During the fourth number in the play, "God Said" he was executing a difficult piece of Darren Lee’s choreography when an unsecured stage unit shifted its position. Instead of sliding effortlessly along an elongated piano bench, Wong hit the corner of the bench with his right leg and and punctured his skin and muscle. He continued with the number, finishing it brilliantly, then called for a moment to check his wound, asked for the audience to wait and limped offstage. Ten minutes later Roger Rees, the director at Williamstown and the director of this play, announced that Wong’s wound was serious and that he was being taken to the hospital for treatment, stitches and whatever was needed.
It was Wong himself who came out to thank the audience and to apologize for the accident, one not of his own making. He joked about the injury and left quickly accompanied by Williamstown Theatre Festival staff.
While we can mourn the incident and praise the actor for his pluck, it would seem that there was something in the air on this auspicious opening night for the Festival. The show is one about a man cursed with possession by the spirit of a dead midget tap-dancer. The play began with a light cue miscalled, plunging the stage and the actor into darkness. This came during the opening number, "One Of Those Years," about life during the dark days of the depression. Wong later missed two lines and had to be cued by his accompanist, conductor/pianist Dan Lipton. There was something in the air, obviously, perhaps cued by the odd play being performed.
This is a season of risk-taking for Williamstown. Both mainstage and Nikos Stage productions are looking broader and bolder than past seasons have been. Wong is slated to return ande finish out the run of the remarkable play, Herringbone, but it may not be as Rees originally staged it, and not as Lee has choreographed it. Will that change the tenor of the show? Will it affect the effect of the piece? Wong’s performance, switching brilliantly between characters, was thrilling in those thirty-eight minutes. Hopefully it will continue to enthrall audiences.
This was a great evening in the making. It should not be missed or it will be exactly that - much missed.
◊06/16/2007◊
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