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SUM OF PARTS DOESN’T EQUAL WHOLE IN HERRINGBONE
When an actor wins a Tony for Best Actor, its no accident. BD Wong
is just that actor. But there’s more. For his performance in the
Broadway production of M. Butterfly by David Henry Hwang (who
also garnered a Tony, among others), he won the coveted Tony, a
Drama Desk Award, an Outer Critics Circle Award, a Clarence
Derwent Award and a Theatre World Award all for his singular
performance as Song, a Chinese actor and opera singer imposing as a
woman who became the lover of a French Government diplomat (Rene
Gallimard) who, for years thought he was a woman.
So when it was announced by the La Jolla Playhouse that BD Wong
would be appearing in the one-man musical show Herringbone by
Tom Cone (book), Skip Kennon (music), Ellen Fitzhugh (lyrics) and
based on the play by Tom Cone, I raised my hand to be the first to
respond in the affirmative. On opening night, the SRO line was as long
as the steps leading to the top rows of the Sheila and Hughes Potiker
Theatre where Wong performs his magic (the Potikers also have a
theatre named for them at The JCC in La Jolla)
Wong IS the show. He plays eleven characters including the narrator, a
vaudeville song and dance man who recounts an eventful tale when he
was but eight years old. He blends into each distinct personality
effortlessly as he tells a story of a poverty stricken Southern family
during the great depression, a young boys entry into the adult world of
entertainment, the trials of show business, child abuse, family matters,
identity crisis, untapped talent and murder. If it all sounds a little like
pushing the envelope, you might call it that.
The play is set in 1929 Demopolis, Alabama and is directed by Roger
Reese, choreographed by Daren Lee with musical direction by Dan
Lipton. The revolving stage is bare save for a trunk, a chair, a
doorframe and door and the musicians. (Eugene Lee) It is illuminated
beautifully by Christopher Akerlind. We meet the eight year old
George, (dressed simply in pinstriped trousers and vest over a white
shirt and thin tie William Ivy Long), first as he is practicing a speech
to give in front of his class. He is shy, not very confident and soft
spoken.
From there we meet his refined, whisper soft and sweet mother Louise,
his not so gentle father Arthur, Nathan ‘Chicken’ Mosley one half of
the famous vaudeville team “The Chicken and The Frog”, Lou The
Frog whose spirit that inhabits the boy George (later to be known as
Herringbone) and Dot a desk clerk at a seedy motel used by George
(Herringbone) and Frog.
The tale he weaves traces his experiences from the time his ‘rich’
uncle who dies without leaving a single penny to the family and their
anguish over not getting any of his estate, to the young George
winning first place in his speech on patriotism to his father using his
first place prize money, twenty five dollars, to giving him tap dancing
lessons by a local old vaudevillian dancer who before he dies is able to
will the spirit of the twisted body of his partner Frog a 36 inch, 37 year
old ‘best midget hoofer in the business’ into the little boy, George.
Convinced and buoyed by the fact that George can now dance like a
pro, (Lou was a pro) they hit the road with Hollywood as their
destination and a singing and dancing act starring young George now
one of the best (“How To Build a Man”) little dancer around. (“Little
Mister Tippy Toes”)
Wong had seen the piece done when ‘he was barely out of high
school’. He became fascinated with the piece almost obsessed by it. He
performed it for the first time in at the Philadelphia Music Theatre
Festival in the early ‘90’s.
While the piece holds so much for the actor including how those we
come in contact with over the course of our lives influence and at
times embody us, (He talks about it in an interview with Shirley
Fishman, director of Play Development/Dramaturge in the program)
he sees this as an opportunity for an actor and as a theatrical event to
show the conflicts within all of us through this process.
No one can deny that if anyone can pull off an event or evening like
this and make it work Wong is the person to do it. He is simply
outstanding in every aspect of his performance using every trick of the
trade known to actors especially his subtle body movements as he
shifts from one character to the next up to and including his singing
and dancing which there should have been much more of (especially
the dancing)
There are about ten musical numbers in the show all accompanied by
Dan Lipton (piano), Benjamin Campbell (Bass) and Brad Briscoe
(drums and percussion). On opening night Wong’s voice seemed
strained as if he were pushing too hard. That the show goes on for two
hours might be a tell tale sign. It may be written that way, but 90
minutes without intermission might serve it well.
That said the show in its entirety doesn’t equal the sum of all its parts.
Tom Cone’s book just doesn’t cook until the second act when they all
head for Hollywood hoping to make to the big time. By now we’ve
gone through the tediousness of meeting all the characters and have a
pretty good idea of what’s to follow. Furthermore, the bizarre story
doesn’t measure up to the larger than life performance of a master like
Wong.
He’s better than all the parts put together and they just aren’t that
riveting, rather they are more rambling and disturbing especially when
Frog’s spirit (now in the boy) wants to have sex with the desk clerk
Dot. We’re talking about an eight-year-old boy here! There’s
something radically wrong with that and it puts the piece at odds with
itself. That it doesn’t happen because George finally frees himself
from Frog is anti climactic.
I’m sure I’m missing some deeper meaning to this whole event. I wish
I knew what it was that left me with a flat feeling because after the
show I felt disappointed and cheated. I wanted to love it. I pictured a
different kind off musical story, one with lots of dancing. (Every press
release shows Wong in a dance pose.)
I would urge you to see for yourself and draw your own conclusions
and take advantage of an unusual evening with BD Wong.
Herringbone continues through Aug. 30th at the Potiker Theatre at the
La Jolla Playhouse.
For more information see lajollaplayhouse.org
See you at the theatre.