TORCH SONG TRILOGY
TORCH SONG TRILOGY, Gaiety Theatre in association with Sydney Mardi Gras at Theatre 19 Darlinghurst. February 1-March 3, 2013. Photos by Greg Doyle; main: Simon Corfield; right: Corfield and Amanda Muggleton.
In 1982, when Harvey Fierstein's trilogy of one-act plays about New York drag artist Arnold Beckoff was first staged there, the subject matter was shocking for a general and gay public for whom the idea of a dizzy queen wanting kids and a family was unheard of. At that point, gays and the family unit were not on the same planet at a time when Fierstein - still in his early 20s - was way ahead of his time - the global success of La Cage aux Folles (lyrics and music by Jerry Herman) was just over the horizon, opening on Broadway in 1983.
Unlike the more overtly farcical La Cage aux Folles, the Trilogy's characters and stories are down-to-earth and credibly ordinary and derive from three separate playlets. International Stud (1978), Fugue in a Nursery (1979) and finally, Widows and Children First!, added and the three put together for an off-off-Broadway season with Fierstein, Matthew Broderick and Estelle Getty in the lead roles. Success was instant and Fierstein won the year's Tony and Drama Desk awards for best new play.
Thirty years on and Torch Song Trilogy is still as funny, relevant, touching and shocking - by turns - as it ever was and in this spunky production, directed by Stephen Colyer, it's a reminder of how good nearly four hours in the theatre can be - in the right company. Led by a remarkable performance from Simon Corfield as Arnold Beckoff, the plays get off to an electrifying start with Belinda Wollaston's solo torch song before she morphs into Laurel, girlfriend of determinedly bisexual Ed (excellent Christian Willis). He breaks Arnold's heart in the first play and affords much acid amusement in the second when Arnold visits Ed and now wife Laurel in their play-farm in upstate New York. Arnold now has his delicious boyfriend Alan (subtle reading from Thom Jordan) in tow and the subtext - family and children - has an added poignancy and meaning, while the surface confection of jealousy and revenge is sharp and true.
The final visit to Arnold-land is five years later when he is in an even bigger tizzy than ever before. Even though he is now alone his dream of family is coming to fragile fruition with David, a fostered 15-year-old street kid, (cute and intelligent Mathew Verevis). A visit from the social worker - who will decide on the proposed adoption - is making him jittery enough, but what's really set his nerves jangling is the imminent arrival from Florida of his mother (Amanda Muggleton). And have I mentioned that Ed is sleeping on the couch because Laurel threw him out while they get divorced?
Torch Song Trilogy is a feast of old-fashioned story-telling - as above - and rich characters. Stephen Colyer's direction is full of confidence and verve: his actors know where they're going, who they are and why and when (not as simple to achieve as it might sound). The players are choreographed with insight and purpose and the set design (Andrea Espinoza and lighting by Nick Rayment) is a triumph of imagination over the unforgiving Darlo space. In their spare moments members of the cast form a loose on-stage band with Wollaston on vocals and clarinet, Ververis on keyboard and Jordan on bass guitar. It works well in involving the actors with the progress of each piece and integrating the music in an unusually effective way (musical director Phil Scott, sound design Nate Edmonson).
Simon Corfield sustains his portrayal of Harvey-Arnold with conviction and understanding in a marathon of contrasting energy and ennui that is by turns comical and touching. While Amanda Muggleton gives her best performance in a while as Mrs Beckoff, the New York Jewish mother from hell. This is a woman who could easily be reduced to the whip-tongued, wise-cracking harpy so familiar from any number of New York Jewish comedies. In this instance the volume and the bile - though instantly humorous - are toned down so that when her true colours are finally revealed the shock and sadness are tangible. Fierstein did not write a simple caricature and Muggleton takes every advantage of that to deliver a finely nuanced characterisation.
In the repertoire of entertainments often trotted out around Mardi GrasTorch Song Trilogy has more in common with Armistead Maupin's residents of Barbary Lane than simply a "gay play" or New York comedy soapie. These people live and breathe - thanks to the fine cast and direction - and give a glimpse of life on the ground in that city. It was a time when phones were attached to walls and had over-long curly cords and AIDS, 9/11, Iraq, the Tea Party and fiscal cliffs had yet to be invented; but when a gay man could dream of having a son and a husband and his mother could not dream at all. Treat yourself - it's lovely, it's funny and you also need tissues.
