Review
Bernarda Alba
Lincoln Center's Mitzi E. Newhouse Theatre
March 10, 2006
Morgan Wycks
mwycks@nyconstage.org
Having read Frederico Garcia Lorca's "The House of Bernarda Alba" and subsequently seen productions, the work has always struck me as one of those Spanish television soap operas with the theme of fascistic domination thrown in for impact. The story of a frustrated widow and her determination to incarcerate her household to keep her five virginal daughters pure is a story that no doubt still has a hold on parents. And despite what pundits might currently express, the idea of marriage for money and/or sex is not only rampant in reality t.v. but in reality itself. Lorca, of course, raised the bar on issues of sex, money, and politics with poetry and symbolism, but I've always felt that "Alba" needed to escape the soaps and become an actual opera. So in steps John LaChuisa, the composer lyricist who has a devoted following as well as dismissive detractors. Personally, Mr. LaChuisa's work gets under my skin and into my organs, and I think he is a true original. In his Bernarda Alba, a perfect chamber musical, Mr. LaChuisa takes the sounds of Latin rhythms and cadences and infuses them with his own unique sense of music and with the delectable orchestrations of Michael Starobin, the results are breathtaking.
Although there are some weak spots in the cast, the actresses all work together to create a cohesive and exciting 90 minutes. In the production's "Act II", the five daughters played by Saundra Santiago, Judith Blazer, Sally Murphy, Daphne Rubin-Vega and Nikki M. James, each get their revealing solos that create a theatrical crescendo when conjoined for an emotional rollercoaster. Phyllicia Rashad is a bit too aware of herself in the title role but has several moments of power that transcend that awareness. Alone on stage she sings while washing herself clean of the day's ordeals and as the solo progresses exposing a woman's desires and disappointment so thoroughly, one realizes that no amount of water will absolve her. There is also a scene where she orders her housekeeper, played by the white actress Candy Buckley with down-to-earth sagacity, to mind her place reversing the age-old slave/master dynamic. The sweetest and saddest performance comes from Yolande Bavan as the addled grandmother, the character encapsulating all that is ridiculous and fundamental in the sexes.
Graciela Daniele's staging is exquisite. With the simple use of ladderback chairs, she creates a world of riches and imprisonments subsuming the obvious symbols in the script and heightening the internal emotions of the yearning daughters with flamenco and tango. When the "running of the bulls" outside the walls encroach upon the household's stability, the stamping and strutting on the inside escalates to anarchic conclusions. One gets the sense of being in a toreador's arena where the matador is Bernarda herself. Or is she ? Mr. LaChuisa's difficult, but absorbing passages and Ms. Daniele's exactitude of placement keep one guessing who, if anyone, wins.
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