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Review
Adding Machine
Minetta Lane Theatre
March 6, 2008
Morgan Wycks
mwycks@nyconstage.org
Taking Elmer Rice’s The Adding Machine, composer Joshua Schmidt and co-librettist Jason Loewith have created an avant-garde operetta entitled simply Adding Machine. In doing so they successfully re-evaluate the play giving it a depth it lost over time and in essence became a period piece. The story concerns a man who spent 25 years of life in slavery to said title, who then gets laid off right before retirement, kills his wife in a rage of frustration, falls for his assistant who has carried a torch for him for years and ends up on death row. Rice’s bleak Kafka-esque play using archetypes to decry the demoralization of the common man was of its time but this new rendition gives it emotional weight with its music and substantive performances.
Incredibly realized by director David Cromer, every element of the production comes close to being flawless. The simple sets of Takeshi Kata possess grim and nightmarish qualities especially when darkly lighted by Keith Parham. In fact, Mr. Parham should be commended for how he uses the absence of light to portray repression and anger. Then on the flip side when the characters end up in “a pleasant place”, Messrs. Kata and Parham create a picture post card - a valentine circa 1919. The contrast is almost magical. The costumes of Kristine Knanishu and the sound design of Tony Smolenski IV perfectly compliment the look and sound of the era as well.
The three principal performers bring flesh and blood to the characters that could have easily been cartoons. Messrs. Schmidt and Loewith give Mrs. Zero an atonal staccato sound that pierces, nags and pesters and in the role Cyrilla Baer tempers this harpy with humor and pitiful incomprehension. As the love interest, Daisy, who almost escapes Mr. Zero’s attention, Amy Warren fills each moment in her acting and each phrase in her singing with heartache and yearning. Her vocal control is a marvel to hear. And as Mr. Zero, the towering Joel Hatch brings such a hard edge to the performance that when his vulnerability cracks through, one almost must look away. If anything in the production doesn’t work it‘s the character of Schrdlu, a character bizarre and difficult and placed here by Mr. Rice for a reason that is almost moot. Unfortunately, he is played without insight by Joe Farrell and he comes off as merely weird
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Despite the ingenuity of everyone involved and the appreciation one has for the results, the odd thing about Adding Machine is this – it’s not particularly enjoyable. It’s like sitting through therapy – something that, though painful, is ultimately beneficial and good for you, and in the end you can’t wait to get out of there.
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MORGAN WYCKS REVIEW ARCHIVES