'LEWIS AND CLARK' ROAMS OFF COURSE.Byline: Evan Henerson Theater Critic FACING THE BUSINESS end of a rifle brandished by a Spanish soldier somewhere in Cuba circa 1898, Capt. William Clark turns to his exploring mate Meriwether Lewis and proclaims, ``My God, did we take a wrong turn.'' The play is ``Lewis and Clark Reach the Euphrates,'' by Robert Schenkkan, in its world premiere Noun 1. world premiere - (music) the first public performance (as of a dramatic or musical work) anywhere in the world performance, public presentation - a dramatic or musical entertainment; "they listened to ten different performances"; "the play ran for 100 at the Mark Taper Forum The Mark Taper Forum is a small thrust stage with 745 seats at the Los Angeles Music Center built by Welton Beckett and Associates. It has presented innovative plays since 1967. The world premiere of Angels In America was produced here. . Yes, it really is that Lewis and Clark who have come unstuck in time and location to end up passing through various American campaigns. And wrong turns? Schenkkan's play is positively lousy with them. ``Lewis and Clark'' wants to be a couple of different plays simultaneously, but the pieces don't easily fit together. The playwright is at once honoring and sending up the famed Corps of Discovery explorers sent west to explore Thomas Jefferson's newly purchased Louisiana Territory Louisiana Territory was a historic, organized territory of the United States from July 4, 1805 until December 11, 1812. It consisted of the portion of the Louisiana Purchase that was not partitioned off into Orleans Territory, which later became the state of Louisiana. . Well and good. The two men are nothing if not dramatic, and their journeys could make for a rich retelling re·tell·ing n. A new account or an adaptation of a story: a retelling of a Roman myth. . Even a picaresque pic·a·resque adj. 1. Of or involving clever rogues or adventurers. 2. Of or relating to a genre of usually satiric prose fiction originating in Spain and depicting in realistic, often humorous detail the adventures of a roguish one. The Corps of Discovery's water vessel - as crafted by scenic director Jeff Cowie - is a pair of tabletop platforms on wheels, piled not too high with bric-a-brac and a sail, that glides easily across the stage. A burlap backdrop, vaguely in the shape of a crescent, handles Marc I. Rosenthal's projections, and Howard Binkley's lighting smoothly denotes daylight and seasonal changes. When Lewis and Clark are following their own history (and not America's), director Gregory Boyd's production feels largely on course. By the second act, however, when the boys stubbornly try to bring principles of Jeffersonian diplomacy to Cuba, the Philippines, Vietnam and ultimately Iraq, it feels as though Schenkkan is trying hard to reach his political theories rather than allowing the men themselves to remain in focus. Schenkkan will get back to the explorers' tale eventually, although by then the journey's end For other uses see Journey's End (disambiguation) Journey's End is the seventh and most famous play by R. C. Sherriff.[1] First performed in 1928, it is set in the trenches at Saint-Quentin, France, in 1918, and gives a brief glimpse into the experiences of seems obligatory. Meanwhile, the moody, forward-leading Lewis (played by James Barbour) and cerebral, more tentative Clark (Jeffrey Nordling Jeffrey Nordling (born March 11, 1962 in Ridgewood, New Jersey) is an American actor. Nordling was born in Ridgewood, New Jersey, and grew up in Washington Township. After moving to Saddle River, New Jersey, Nordling attended Ramapo High School. ) are transformed into a couple of innocents who don't realize what's happening or really how to deal with it. Their fallback position fallback position n → posición f de repliegue - over which they occasionally fall out - is a simple one: ``Keep the peace. Complete the mission.'' Working with a script that is laced front to back with irony, Boyd reserves much of his humor for the production's early parts, when Lewis and Clark are trying to broker peace with various American Indian American Indian or Native American or Amerindian or indigenous American Any member of the various aboriginal peoples of the Western Hemisphere, with the exception of the Eskimos (Inuit) and the Aleuts. nations. A bit bumbling at first, the boys will get better at dealing, by which time, of course, the picture has shifted. Clark employs a slave, York (Eugene Lee Eugene Lee may refer to:
Barbour and Nordling nicely finesse the push-pull rapport between Lewis and Clark, both of whom - apparently - would gladly have stepped into a leadership role. The two actors are well-chosen and engaging, and you can't help wishing they were in a play that didn't sacrifice their characters so clunkily to a thematic agenda. That said, when Barbour's still-idealistic Lewis goes into free-fall mode, you believe his travel comrade feels the pain. That's worth something. Lewis and Clark may indeed reach the Euphrates, and Schenkkan's play occasionally reaches our brains. Reaching the gut, however, is for another story to accomplish. Evan Henerson, (818) 713-3651 evan.henerson(at)dailynews.com LEWIS AND CLARK REACH THE EUPHRATES - Two and one half stars Where: Mark Taper Forum, 135 N. Grand Ave., Los Angeles Los Angeles (lôs ăn`jələs, lŏs, ăn`jəlēz'), city (1990 pop. 3,485,398), seat of Los Angeles co., S Calif.; inc. 1850. . When: 8 p.m. Tuesday through Friday, 2:30 and 8 p.m. Saturday, 2:30 and 7:30 p.m. Sunday; through Jan. 22. Tickets: $42 to $55. (213) 628-2772. In a nutshell: Satiric but jumbled. A message play with historical figures as pawns. CAPTION(S): photo Photo: William Clark (Jeffrey Nordling, left,) and Meriwether Lewis (James Barbour) head west to explore the newly acquired Louisiana territory in ``Lewis and Clark Reach the Euphrates.'' |
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