Nightclub Cantata
Nightclub Cantata originated at the Lenox Arts Center, winning a 1977 Obie Award at New York’s Village Gate. The groundbreaking piece features 21 selections by a wide assortment of 20th century writers. Musical accompaniment ranges from calypso to doo-wop, from Arabic to waltz, to boogie, bird calls, and animal cries. A variety of striking, often synchronized movement is manifest by six very hard working, multi-talented actor/singers who in this case are terrific. Some of these ‘vignettes’ will pass over you like water, others rivet or elicit grins, one near the end is horrifying.
“I know we live slightly longer than a horse and not as long as a crow.” (Nazim Hikmet) A man and woman sit on stools “…I didn’t know I loved the sun, the sea rain…till I was 60…” “I want to converse with a spider/I want him to weave me a star…” (Pablo Neruda) Six actors in syncopated movement; drums and piano insinuate rhythm…
Noah Ruebeck, Sarah Nandola
The company spreads all over the theater. We hear what appears to be exaggerated Japanese- it’s communicating crows. Clearly a language. The drum thumps time. Torsos bounce, heads sharply swivel. One woman warbles, then huuussshhh, then ahah…hahhahhaaahhh…” Amazing vocal control “The only thing you need to know about this bird woman is that half of her is on the ground and half of her is in the sky and that’s the problem.” (Elizabeth Swados)
Two female actors perch on the laps of two male ventriloquists both named Martin Buber. The dummies want top billing. “You make empty promises…I sleep in the bed. You sleep in the box…” Everything is anxiously assured. A rat-tat-rat of language: “How about this suit/Black and stiff/But will you marry it? (Sylvia Plath) “I wanted to be sure my ship was on the way…to you I offer all the tattered cordage of my will…(Frank O’Hara)
“I was the tenth child of 12…” Synchronized gestures. “In fact I didn’t receive that much attention…mostly I was a loner…This was when I pulled my first deliberate robbery…”(Eve Merriam) Swados’ doo-wop “Indecision” is about crises is people’s lives. This one comes close to a real song. Cast turns left, then right, shrugs, rolls its arms, bends elbows, hands on either side of a worried head.
Dibarti by David Avidan is partly in Hebrew. “I spoke to you of money and you spoke to me of trust…you spoke to me of trust and I spoke to you of sex…” Performers sit on low stools, hands on knees keening forward. “I feel as if I was in a silent motion picture…” begins a Delmore Schwartz story of parents’ first meeting. “Taft has just become president…Grandfather watches us…” A Coney Island proposal. Someone steps between, “Don’t do it, nothing will come of it!”
“I simply want to know when we’re half way in will you still be there…” Three foot sticks are laid on the floor. There’s a raga. “I want to make my touch poems:/to find my morning…” (Muriel Rukeyeser) Brian Patten’s albatross ramble is a highlight. The bird simply won’t leave. “If I go out it would only follow. If I took it out it would bother the ducks.” Bird sounds are great. “There are no albatross exterminators.” Imagine illustrations by Edward Gorey.
Isabella Leitner’s Isabella observes Auschwicz. “You are looking for your sister but she’s already up in smoke…Suffering is nothing, it doesn’t kill you-only death…” Three men and a woman recite- waiting as fast as auctioneers. The dance features a gypsy girl. “If the choice is to sit in the sand or dance, why not dance?!” Others clap. “Living is no laughing matter, you must take it seriously…” (Nazim Hikmet) arrives staccato. “We must all live as if one never dies.”
The production is hypnotic.
Cast: Almeria Campbell, Matthew Liu, Sarah Nandola, Pearl Rhein, Noah Ruebeck, Hansel Tan,
Miles Whittaker
Matt Lazarus’ Lighting Design is organic.
Dialect coach Charlotte Cohn does a Herculean job.
Direction could NOT be better. Long associated with Swados, Bill Castellino told me much of it was literally remembered. The rest symbiotically represents her approach. It’s precise, imaginative, and evocative. Castellino has shepherded his cast to focused performance (not stiff), spotlighting expressive, pristine enunciation I haven’t heard at theater in years. (The piece is demanding.)
Photos by Carol Rosegg
Nightclub Cantata
Conceived, Composed and Written by Elizabeth Swados (1951-2016)
Music by Elizabeth Swados
Directed by Bill Castellino
Music Director Miles Plant
Cell theatre
338 West 23rd Street
Through May 22, 2022
