Eva’s Choice

34 years ago this week, the rock-opera Evita had its world premier at London’s Prince Edward Theater.  Elaine Paige became a star for her portrayal of former Argentine First Lady Eva Peron, and Patti LuPone arguably gave one of the American theater’s definitive performances as Evita when the Broadway production opened the following year.  The lingering question from Evita was whether this woman was a, “Sinner or saint? A bitch or a bold new leader?”

What’s most ironic about these questions is that they not only haunt the role of Eva, but that of every major female leader to grace the world stage.  And yet 34 years later, society still seems to classify females into these two archetypal categories.  The question remains, how do we break this cycle?

A year after Evita opened in London; Margaret Thatcher became Britain’s first female Prime Minister.  Her 11-year tenure was dramatic, and her legacy is divided into two-camps, England’s savior vs. England’s Satan.  Similarly in the United States, Hillary Clinton has wrestled mercilessly with what type of public image to present.  She too has her champions and critics.

Both LuPone and Paige have not asked for this debate, indeed neither have Clinton and Thatcher, along with countless other female politicians, but it rages on anyway.  The struggle is that women can’t be seen as too weak, because that will play into a stereotype.  However, being portrayed as too strong will scare others off.  While Evita may have highlighted these questions, it has also provided us with the answer.

This April, the first ever Broadway-revival of Evita opened at the Marquis Theatre.  It starred Argentine actress Elena Roger as Eva.  Prior to the show’s opening, the theater-world buzzed about how she would portray the power-hungry first lady of Argentine.  Would this production see a sinner or a saint?  The result was neither.

Roger gave a nuanced and thrilling performance as Eva.  She disregarded conventional wisdom and played the role using a wide variety of emotions. In one scene she was cold, commanding and sterile, and in the next warm, inviting and humble.  Having lived and worked in Washington, DC for eight years, I can attest that it was the most honest and realistic character portrayals of how politicians act.  Both multidimensional and mysterious, Roger’s Eva defined political effectiveness with personal ambiguity.

The lesson is that female leaders don’t have to face a choice about how they are viewed, and their staffs shouldn’t box them into a certain persona.  Too often we see them fail in their attempt to convey emotions as both mommy and CEO.  Rather, they should embrace the diversity of their role, and excel by using their adaptability.

At the end of Evita Eva sings a song simply titled ‘Lament,’ where she explains her life choices.  In it say declares:

The choice was mine, and mine completely

I could have any prize that I desired

It is this bloggers hope that all female leaders, candidates, and those pondering public service never forget these words.

To watch a montage of scenes from the Broadway revival of Evita please visit: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=KJQ9OXP88Js

To buy tickets for the Broadway revival of Evita please visit: http://evitaonbroadway.com/

Review: Xanadu

This summer in a hot/humid DC, where an impotent federal government will once again fail its citizenry on a plethora of issues, and where campaign slogans will fill the airwaves, there is once place to go, where ‘the dream came through a million years’ and audiences can sing along to exceptional pop tunes – Xanadu, now playing in an enjoyable production at Arlington’s Signature Theatre.

Now you’re probably saying, “Xanadu?  Wasn’t that a campy-roller-disco-derby-movie-musical starring Olivia Newton-John which flopped?”  Yes, you would be correct.  However, don’t let the past fool you.  While Xanadu may have bombed at the box office, the stage show is a glittering reincarnation.

The plot of the stage version of Xanadu doesn’t differ much from that of the movie.  Sonny, a young, handsome, struggling artist meets a Greek muse named Kira, who enchants and inspires him.  Together they fall in love and struggle to bring art, and their two worlds closer together in 1980’s Venice Beach.  All of this occurs to the music and lyrics of the Electric Light Orchestra, whose score for Xanadu is one of the greatest movie-musical soundtracks of all-time.

And it’s ELO’s songs which give Xanadu  it’s heart and soul.  All of the movie’s songs have been retained for the stage production, although their order has been changed.  Kudos must be given to Signature Theatre, for retaining ELO’s sound, to the best of their ability.  I say that because movie orchestras are astronomically larger than those of Broadway shows.  So while the ELO sound is not totally replicated, the feeling is still there.

Where the stage show differs is in its book (the spoken, not-sung portion of a musical).   Recognizing the campiness of the movie’s plot this production takes a more humorous and lighthearted turn.  Further recognition must also be given to Erin Weaver, the actress who plays Kira and performs the entire show on roller-skates.  Ms. Weaver is not only stunning, but a great singer, wonderful actress and terrific skater.  Olivia Newton-John would be proud.

In a DC summer which will be filled with political nonsense, Xanadu is the perfect escape.  For as the song goes: A place where nobody dared to go, the love that we came to know, they call it Xanadu.

Xanadu runs through July 1^st.

For more information on Xanadu, or to purchase tickets, please visit: http://www.signature-theatre.org/shows/xanadu

Mission Failure

On the outside terrace of the John F. Kennedy Center for the Performing Arts is a quote by President Kennedy which states:

I look forward to an America which will reward achievement in the arts as we reward achievement in business or statecraft.  I look forward to an America which will steadily raise the standards of artistic accomplishments…

Watching last week’s Tony Award ceremony, I could only shutter at how we’ve lost sight of President Kennedy’s vision.  So rather than rant about the poor quality of last season’s musicals and plays, I’ve decided to propose some solutions.  Ways in which I would change how the Broadway community recognizes excellence to improve the standards of artistic accomplishments:

Make the Tonys a Broadway Info-mercial

Growing up, the Tony Awards were the one program where I could see performances from Broadway shows.  Yet, each year those performances have been getting shorter so producers can include more commercials.  The Tonys are the one night to sell Broadway to the world.  So cut the commercials and restore performances, from both plays and musical, which last longer than 4 minutes.  Performances should highlight the actors, singers, dancers and creative team.  Not a message that this performance was sponsored by Visa.

And the winners are…

Get rid of the one winner system, and recognize multiple performers when necessary.  Last Sunday’s Tony Award for Best Actress in a Play, featured five deserving and brilliant nominees.  All of them should have won an award, so why not recognize them all? 

 No winners in this category…

 In 1985, the American Theater Wing chose not to give an award in the category of Best Actor in a Musical.  Their reason was simple, no one deserved it.  I wish the American Theater Wing would return to this policy.  They need to stop recognizing artists/productions, simply to give awards and so producers can brag in marketing materials to see tickets.  Awards should be a recognition of excellence, and not a   consolation prize. 

Also, by not always awarding a Tony Award, the American Theater Wing sets the expectation that only excellence will be rewarded.  Shows/performances will not be nominated just because they opened within the season.  They will be rewarded because they are truly deserving. 

Reform the voting system

My biggest Tony Award pet peeve is this; producers with a financial stake in a nominated production can also be a Tony voter.  The result is that the best “insert category” doesn’t always win.  What does win is the nominated show/actor which will make the producer money.  Producers vote for their show, because Tony wins make it easier for them to sell tickets.  It’s time to reform this corrupt system, and replace it with unbiased judges.

I used to love the Tony Awards growing up.  In several cases, I would skip studying for finals, just so I could watch.  The last few years though have been different and I know I’m not alone.  The Tony Awards saw their ratings ink to the lowest level in 21 years.   This wasn’t because audiences lost interest; they lost faith in the American Theater Wing’s mission to live up to President Kennedy’s vision.  It’s time to reclaim his vision and for our arts endowed mission to be a success.

A Protagonist Short

Haven’t you noticed, we are a protagonist short.

In this idyllic well-produced scene? 

This line from the musical Chess must have been running through Tom Barrett’s head as he conceded the Wisconsin recall election to Governor Scott Walker last night.  After all a year of protests, shouting matches, marching on the capital in Madison, Wisconsites returned back to where they started, with a governor they first elected.  And the biggest question remaining: where was the protagonist and who was expected to fill that role in the anti-Walker movement.

When the recall movement first started,  it appeared that unions and other pro-labor forces would be the lead actors in challenging Walker.  It was his collective bargaining bill that first stoked outrage with the labor movement, and it was they who also sent the first activists to Madison.  There was a problem though, and that was the election was appearing to be a union vendetta, and many Wisconsites at least partially agreed with what Walker was trying to accomplish.

The good news for the anti-Walker movement was that the role of protagonist was shifting, to that of the Democratic party.  This race was a chance to establish a pre-2012 general election victory in a swing state.  A chance to build the “big-mo,” as they say in politics.  Money flowed in, and Obama’s group Organizing from America mobilized, but no one was there to lead.  President Obama was conspicuously absent, as were leaders from the Democratic National Committee.

By the time Tom Barrett arrived on the scene as Walker’s challenger, the Republican seeds for victory had been sewn.  So how did an environment, supposedly ripe for recall – an idyllic scene turnout disastrously for the labor movement and the Democratic party?  Simple, they practiced reactionary politics, and led with their heart rather than their head. 

American politics has always tended to be reactionary, but in the last 30 years it has gotten extreme.  With Walker, the left saw an easy chance to score points without seriously thinking whether this was the right thing to do.   Imagine if they had channelled this energy into debating Walker on policy, rather then by simply storming the capital in Madison. 

 

Walker entered the governor’s office with the state facing financial difficulty and he made tough decisions.  And while Americans may say that’s what they want from their elected leaders, the demonstrations in Wisconsin sure indicated otherwise.  In 2012, we face too many challenges to be distracted by screaming and shouting.  It is time we return to a politics governed by our knowledge and not by our emotions.  As for the recall, the lesson learned is clear – movements need a leader and the anti-Walker folks were, “A protagonist short.”