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Review
Asylum: the Strange Case of Mary Lincoln
York Theatre Company at St. Peter's Church
September 17, 2006
Morgan Wycks
mwycks@nyconstage.org
Where does one begin with a critique of the musical Asylum: the Strange Case of Mary Lincoln? One might begin by saying "what a bad idea" unless, hopefully, the production is going to approach the topic from a diverting or arresting angle, say from within Mrs. Lincoln's mind or from another character's point of view. But to take it head on at face value as the creators here have done, one simply says "what a bad idea". The question of Mary Todd Lincoln's sanity has been questioned since the day she came to the public's eye. If anyone had a right to be unhinged, it certainly was she. Having lost three of her four children, not to mention holding her husband's hand the moment an assassin's bullet hit the back of his head, could anyone wonder why she was depressed, paranoid, and prone to hysteria? And what about her husband's sexuality which has come under intense speculation of late? Did she walk in on him while he was coming on to Ulysses S. Grant or perhaps she found him in flagrante delicto with William Seward? Talk about folly! Now there's an interesting angle. But no, book writer June Bingham and song-writer Carmel Owen have decided to examine Mrs. Lincoln's plight from the moment she is incarcerated in Illinois' Bellevue Asylum after a quickly constructed and lop-sided sanity trial. Once inside, she meets with her doctor and they sing; she meets with her son, Robert, the villain of the piece, and they sing; she meets with her nurse, Delia and they sing; and she reminisces about her first meetings with Mr. Lincoln who appears to her and they sing … oh yes, and dance. If any of this is remotely interesting, it eluded me.
What Mss. Bingham and Owen have on their agenda is a paean to early women's lib and when this theme becomes resoundingly clear in the second act, it's all one can do to keep from groaning. When Mrs. Lincoln's friend, Myra Bradwell, the "first" female reporter, is smuggled into the asylum, she and Mrs. Lincoln naturally sing. The song here reminds one of "Bosom Buddies" from Mame minus the punch lines and I achingly wanted it to end with a lesbian tryst. But no, the feisty firebrand Bradwell and the stoic Mrs. Lincoln instead shake hands like a couple of cigar-chomping beer drinkers. Also on their team is Delia, who, if I understood her generational description correctly, is an octoroon whose mother and grandmother filled her with inspirational tenacity so that she could take her place in the world as an equal among equals. It ironically takes Mrs. Lincoln a while to come around to that one - free is one thing, but …. Yet after Delia sings a haunting lullaby (the only song in the show with any real power that demonstrates musical-writing talent), Mary of course is won over and promises to write Delia a letter of recommendation after the nurse is fired for smuggling in visitors. Fat lot of good it'll do her. Remember, she's an octoroon in the 1870's with a letter from a crazy lady. However, as presented, Mrs. Lincoln seems perfectly sane, except for her attachment to a crystal ball which she believes allows her entrance into the spirit world. Gee, over 100 years later, no one locked up Nancy Reagan for consulting and relying on astrologers, so why does Mary get the shaft? Ah yes, it's because son Robert found Mary to be a liability to his political aspirations and needed her out of the way. And oh yes, he wanted her money to boot. Men! And of course as everyone knows now, horoscopes are the real thing.
Horribly staged by director Fabrizio Melano on James Morgan's set which smartly uses life-size, fuzzy photographs of the Lincoln family only to be unfortunately framed by what could be the latest from the Pottery Barn (wheat-grass green), the actors manage to stay afloat, but just barely. As Robert, Edwin Cahill resembles Sam Waterston (an actor who once, maybe twice, played Lincoln) and his deadpan face only comes alive when he's given his one color to play - the anger about Mom and Dad never really loving him. As Myra Bradwell, Bertilla Baker gives women in the workforce a bad name and as Delia, Joy Lynn Matthews goes through her paces cleanly and without embarrassment. As Mary's doctor and as Mr. Lincoln in flashback (or is he really present from the spirit world?), John Jellison seems a bit pussy-whipped in both roles. For every good moment Carolann Page has as Mrs. Lincoln she has an equally bad one, not the least of which is biting her knuckle on the downbeat of an upsetting song. The often uncontrolled vibrato of her rich contralto now and then takes one back to the days of Mrs. Miller's attempts to rock and roll. Except for the lullaby, only one or two other songs ping and the other music the actors must sing is helped thankfully by the arrangements of Bob Goldstone. Coming off best in the show is Daniel Spiotta as an impartial reporter, but then this actor has the least amount of stage time.
So other than that, Mrs. Lincoln, what do you think of my review?
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