ANDY WARHOL MUSICAL: IN REHEARSAL by Vinetta Strombergs, music by Robert Swerdlow (Josies Pussy Cats). At Theatre Passe Muraille Mainspace. July 7 at 5:45 pm, July 8 at noon, July 10 at 6:15 pm, July 11 at 11:30 pm, July 12 at 1:45 pm, July 14 at 9:15 pm. See listing. Rating: NN
This ambitious but overcrowded musical trip through the pop-art icons 60s Silver Factory scene is very much a work in progress.
The show might end up as a site-specific interactive piece or something more traditional, and if producers plan on maintaining a large cast (12 actors playing upwards of 17 characters), the former would provide much-needed room to breathe.
An obviously device-y MC (Christopher Wilson) guides us through several vignettes about the superstars, drag queens and bored rich kids in Warhols orbit. The cast is dressed in all-black and the odd wig, while Warhol is present only in projected images and quotes. He is portrayed as a calculating puppetmaster indifferent to the deaths of three characters (Candy Darling, Edie Sedgwick and Freddie Herko), each the subject of tragic musical numbers.
The gist is many of these people were misfits unable to conform to 9-to-5 heteronormativity, but the earnest music (taken from the 70s musical Justine) has a flattening effect on the scenes excesses, irony and cruelty, overemphasizing kookiness at the expense of complexity.
Only Duff MacDonald as Billy Name and Jackie Curtis comes close to suggesting the Factorys ruthless, seen-it-all New Yawkness. Others fall victim to caricature or are glossed over in the desire to be comprehensive and attain maximal impact in all-hands-on-deck musical numbers.
If you’re a Factory fan, it might be worth going to give requested audience feedback and tell producers which characters are your favs (Mary Woronov!).
