THE CIVIL WAR, Hale Centre
Theatre, through April 5 (984-9000 or
www.halecentretheatre.org), running
time:
2 hours (one intermission)
If you come to the Hale Centre Theatre because you
want to hear Merrill Osmond in "The Civil War," you may find
yourself surprised. You might focus on his voice — rough and nuanced —
for the first couple of songs and then, if you are like we were, my
husband and I, you'll find your attention captured by other aspects of
the production.
First, there's the staging. The empty circular
stage looks too small to hold two armies in conflict. But it's not.
The stage drops and rises in pieces. Stairs spiral
up and down, and you don't tire of watching the actors turn and lift and
fall.
Director Andrew Barrus and choreographer Marilyn
May Montgomery make the most of the space, as in one of the early songs,
"By the Sword/Sons of Dixie," where soldiers from each side pair up for
a back-to-back duet. It is such a perfect metaphor. Each man looks away,
singing his own song, paying no heed to the words of his brother.
Then there are the other voices, a variety of
lovely voices. The opening-night cast featured David Weekes, who is
Osmond's understudy, as the Southern captain. We loved his voice. And we
loved Kandyce Garbielsen's voice; she plays a slave named Bessie. And we
loved Tierra Jeane's voice. And on and on. This is such a talented cast.
Last summer, Barrus toured and took photos
of Civil War battlefields, and those may be his photos
projected high on stage walls and on screens above the fray.
At any rate, they become as important as Frank Wildhorn's
script in drawing the audience into that long ago time and
place.
In the end, if there is anything lacking
in the production, most of it comes down to Wildhorn's script.
He doesn't turn the knife in our hearts as he could. We feel
sad for the young wife as she describes the man in black who
comes to tell her that her husband is dead, but certain that
visit could have been more wrenching, more dramatic.
The most memorable song in the play is
"This Old Gray Coat." It actually glorifies the fighting
spirit. Meanwhile, ironically, the pastoral photos of the long
silent battlefields help us to reflect on the horror of war.