THE VIRGINIAN-PILOT
Copyright (c) 1996, Landmark Communications, Inc.
DATE: Sunday, November 3, 1996 TAG: 9611030072
SECTION: LOCAL PAGE: B8 EDITION: FINAL
TYPE: Theater Review
SOURCE: BY MAL VINCENT, THEATER CRITIC
DATELINE: NORFOLK LENGTH: 124 lines
The world premiere of any new show with music and lyrics by Stephen Schwartz is major news in the theatrical world.
National eyes are turned toward the Virginia Stage Company, where ``Snapshots,'' a curiously hybrid show made up of Schwartz songs, both old and new, is receiving its first public performances.
The show opened for the first time Friday night.
The choice emphasizes that this is a company willing to take a risk with newness - a rare commodity indeed in a theatrical world that, even on Broadway, is dominated by revivals. This, after all, is the company that premiered ``The Secret Garden,'' which, after extensive reworkings, went on to a successful Broadway run and several Tony Awards.
``Snapshots,'' which chronicles a 30-year love affair and marriage between a relentlessly ordinary man and woman, will not have as easy a path to New York. But, then, perhaps it doesn't even covet such a trip.
Musicals about ``real'' people are not destined to have an easy time. ``Snapshots'' has enough delightful songs for two hit musicals, but it has problems when it comes to telling its nonstory.
Its greatest fault is that it allows the songs to drive the narrative, rather than the other way around.
This, however, is very much a work in progress. No local theater enthusiast should, under any circumstances, miss this rare chance to see a highly inventive and wonderfully cajoling musical. The songs are grand, and the cast is better.
Schwartz has been a force in the theatrical world since, while still in his early 20s, he composed the phenomenally successful ``Godspell'' in 1971. Since then, he's had Broadway hits like ``Pippin'' and ``The Magic Show,'' as well as flops, like ``Rags'' and ``The Baker's Wife,'' all of which are represented by songs in ``Snapshots.''
On a current roll, Schwartz is the latest Oscar winner for both ``best song'' and ``best music'' for the Disney film ``Pocahontas,'' for which he did research in nearby Jamestown.
He'll be in the running again at Oscar time in March for the lyrics he wrote for ``The Hunchback of Notre Dame.'' The composer was in Norfolk last week to contribute to the rehearsals but was called away by producer Steven Spielberg for unscheduled work on ``The Prince of Egypt,'' the first animated musical to be released by Dreamworks - not due in theaters for two years.
Although he missed the opening-night festivities, the composer-lyricist would have been happy with the production. A first-rate cast has been assembled, following extensive auditions in New York, and they work their hearts out to sell what nonetheless evolves as a rather tame evening.
Sue and Dan, the couple who spend the evening looking back upon their lives, are played (at least in their present status) by Cass Morgan, Tony-nominated for her role in ``Pump Boys and Dinettes,'' which she also co-wrote, and Michael DeVries, who appeared on Broadway with Carol Channing in the last incarnation of ``Hello Dolly.''
They bring pathos and vulnerability to their roles, but the audience may well wonder what is wrong with this marriage, anyway.
The setting, admirably created with a stylized vastness by set designer James Youmans, is the attic of a suburban home where the wife looks through snapshots of years gone by - snapshots that the audience sees projected in the background.
Initially, a character asks, in song, ``How did I get to where I am from where I was?'' Indeed, we might wonder. A great deal is shown to us about the past of this couple, but little about their present status, which, it is suggested, is in a point of near breakdown. The wife has her bag packed.
From what we see and hear, through almost 30 entertaining songs, most of the past has been rosy. The couple meet at age 11. Through the years, she adores him but he plays around. She dreams of someday taming men as if she were a ``Lion Tamer.'' In college, he thinks he's in love with an older woman, the registrar's wife.
Surely the most famous of the songs Schwartz has borrowed from himself is ``Corner of the Sky'' from ``Pippin.'' The lyrics remind us that ``Rivers belong where they can ramble; Eagles belong where they can fly.'' This, however, is more rambling than flying.
It is not until Act II that Dan and Sue decide to move in together. In rapid succession, they marry, have children, have doubts.
With the emphasis markedly on young love, the couple's middle years seem to be skipped - possibly because few composers write songs, whether old or new, about those years.
The couple is actually played by a total of six fine performers. The young Sue and Dan are played by James Bohanek and Erin Leigh Peck, while the middle period is represented by Don Goodspeed and Julia K. Murney. These are fine singers. They perform full out, and what a joy it is to be in a musical theater where the old-fashioned art of projection is used rather than mechanical crutches.
The musical direction, by Andrew Lippa, is first rate. Michael Scheman, who co-conceived the show with David Stern (who wrote the book), works hard to vary the mood, but a relentless aura of hope and cheerfulness persists, leaving us with little conflict upon which to focus.
Howard Tsvi Kaplan's costumes are pastel sparkles, never glitter, in keeping with the soft-sell approach of the show itself.
More humor is needed. The only real break in the milestone-touching comes early in the second act.
Of the vintage songs, the most notable are two ravishing songs from ``The Baker's Wife,'' a much-lamented 1985 Broadway failure that deserves another chance. ``Meadowlark'' and ``Chanson'' are songs that have kept the memory of that show alive on recordings.
There are a few rhyming embarrassments such as people who want to go to the ``Louvre'' to see all the ``oeuvre,'' but perhaps a bit of stretching was necessary.
``Snapshots'' is about universality, but is this universal or is it just a dream-wish universality? If we're going to tie these songs together into a narrative, we need more conflict, and drama, than we have here.
Add this spark, and the songs will soar to deliver the rest. No, ``Snapshots'' is not yet ready for a transference to a wider world, but the ingredients are nonetheless there. By all means, these songs deserve to be heard, again and again. It's just that there are almost too many highlights - all mountaintops, with no valleys.
But, yes, perhaps this will, someday, become an eagle who will fly. In any case, Virginia Stage Company serves a daring notice that it seeks to be creative in the theater world - not just re-creative. ILLUSTRATION: Graphic
THEATER REVIEW
What: ``Snapshots,'' world premiere of a new musical with music
and lyrics by Stephen Schwartz
Where: Wells Theatre in downtown Norfolk, presented by the
Virginia Stage Company
Who: Directed by Michael Scheman, musical direction by Andrew
Lippa
When: Today at 2 p.m., Tuesdays through Fridays at 8 p.m.,
Saturdays at 4 and 8 p.m., through Nov. 17
How much: From $17 to $32. Student, senior and military discounts
available by CNB