By Grant Golden:
THE BASICS: This campy biographical punk rock musical is receiving its WNY premiere with ART of WNY (Facebook). Jeffrey Coyle directs an exuberant cast of 18(!). A band of four, lead by Billy Horn, keeps things bouncy and noisy. The show plays weekends in the basement of the Church of the Ascension through October 12th. It is performed without intermission, and runs a little shy of two hours.
THUMBNAIL SKETCH: This is the story of Andrew Jackson, our seventh (and nearly sixth) president, as told by modern punks and rockers in deliberately non-period style. Parallels to modern day America are striking, as nobody in the cast is the least bit shy in reminding us.
THE PLAY, THE PLAYERS AND THE PRODUCTION: In its basic set-up, BBAJ bears a debt to MARAT/SADE, although the music, of course, is a horse of a different color. The Michael Friedman score has a strong beat to it, and is delivered with such pizzazz by the young cast that you almost don’t notice how weak the music and lyrics are! A couple of decent melodies would have helped things out tremendously. The book, by Alex Timbers, does hit the highlights of Jackson’s stellar but problematic career, putting special emphasis upon the stubborn “Indian Question”. Songwriter Friedman chips in here with one of his better efforts, “Ten Little Indians”, sung nicely by Sara Kow Falcone. The cleverest piece of songwriting is “The Corrupt Bargain”, in which the stolen election of 1824 is sung by the actors portraying Henry Clay, John Calhoun and John Quincy Adams in a merry round-robin.
Steven Copps’ Andrew Jackson seemed very wrong to me at first, but he grows on you, especially as his character gains stature. Poor Rachel, Mrs. AJ, is punked up almost beyond recognition. We are left with little more than “slutty and temperamental”. The large cast is clearly having a ball playing a variety of characters, from snobbish Founding Fathers to vicious Redcoats and Indians, paper thin caricatures all. Delight of the evening: Priscilla Young-Anker as the Storyteller—a crippled schoolmarm with an ear-piercing whistle in a motorized wheelchair. With her sweety-pie delivery and hyperexpressive face, she steals every single scene she’s in. Keep an eye on her even when she is not speaking; her reactions are an absolute howl!
The atmosphere is nice and cozy in the basement of this church, giving the production a palpable intimacy. The band is loud, and the lyrics tend to get lost sometime, but that is no real hardship in this case. Heck, BBAJ is even a half-decent history lesson, in its own cockeyed way. You’ll go out thinking about American populism—the good, the bad and the ugly of it—at least I did. Don’t be surprised if you find yourself Googling a few things when you get back home to your computer! Joyfully rendered and a pleasant surprise, I will round up a bit and give this one…
ONE BUFFALO: This means trouble. A dreadful play, a highly flawed production, or both. Unless there is some really compelling reason for you to attend (i.e. you are the parent of someone who is in it), give this show a wide berth.
TWO BUFFALOS: Passable, but no great shakes. Either the production is pretty far off base, or the play itself is problematic. Unless you are the sort of person who’s happy just going to the theater, you might look around for something else.
THREE BUFFALOS: I still have my issues, but this is a pretty darn good night at the theater. If you don’t go in with huge expectations, you will probably be pleased.
FOUR BUFFALOS: Both the production and the play are of high caliber. If the genre/content are up your alley, I would make a real effort to attend.
FIVE BUFFALOS: Truly superb–a rare rating. Comedies that leave you weak with laughter, dramas that really touch the heart. Provided that this is the kind of show you like, you’d be a fool to miss it!