An auditory landscape for Delacroix’s Liberty Leading the People.

Playwriting

1834 New York City Riots Narrative

    Before the riots began on July 7th, there were many race issues sprouting in the city of New York. According to July 7th’s edition of the Commercial Advertiser there was a march by “colored brethren” after having a mixed worship with whites on the 4th. In the Chatham Street Chapel, whites and blacks sat in alternate rows but no whites joined them on their march. The blacks were also selling spirits in plain sight of the public in the vicinity of a church on Laight-street. These events raised race conflicts in the city, helping lead to the riots that followed several days later.

  At the former theatre turned church, Chatham-Street Chapel, the Sacred Music Society met on their usual Thursday but were unaware that the chapel had been leased to a black congregation which the society became upset about. The members of the black congregation refused to leave which resulted in a fight between the two groups. The Commercial Advertiser reported that “chairs and benches were broken into clubs” and also admits that blacks “are far less guilty than the reckless fanatics who urge them on. The Evening Post of that same day writes that the morning papers used “very inflammatory language” when “there was fault on both side, and more especially on that of the whites.” The paper reports that the blacks reserved the chapel and the people to first arrive for the Sacred Music Society agreed to let them have the space, but as more arrived they reversed their decision and “took forcible possession of the pulpit” It was then that a battle took place between the two groups.

  The July 9th edition of the Commercial Advertiser stated that the report from the day prior was not entirely correct because the space was reserved through the secretary of the Sacred Music Society and not the president, Justice Lowndes. This edition of the paper also writes of a riot at Clinton Hall. White men met to discuss “moral and political subjects,” the question posed for this meeting was “whether immediate abolition of slavery was expedient or feasible.” The blacks heard of the meeting and thought it was an abolitionist meeting and took possession of the meeting. A fight broke out between the two groups similar to what happened at the Chatham-Street Chapel.

  The July 10th Commercial Advertiser reports three more riots that occurred the night before. One occurred at the Chatham-Street Chapel during an abolitionist meeting, one at the Bowery Theatre, and the third at the house of Lewis Tappan. At the chapel was an abolitionist meeting which resulted in an uprising, the paper also claims that the abolitionists are the worst enemy of the blacks in the city because they give them the belief that they are equal to whites. At the Bowery theatre, the English stage manager used “language disrespectful to the Americans” by talking out against slavery. The riots demanded that they stop the production of Metamora which they were able to achieve with the authorities arriving and clearing the building. After the events at the theatre, the crowd moved on to the house of Lewis Tappan where they “broke open the door, smashed the windows, and threw furniture into the street.” They then lit the bedsheets on fire and order was not restored until two in the morning.

Performance Review

A Funny Thing Happened on the Way to the Forum. Book by Burt Shevelove and Larry Gelbart, Music and Lyrics by Stephen Sondheim. Directed by Joey Banks. Alma Thomas Theatre, Sarofim School of Fine Arts, Southwestern University, Georgetown, TX. 1 March 2018.

            This farcical musical, inspired by the plays of Plautus, follows the slave Pseudolus (Christian Aderholt) as he attempts to help his owner escape with a slave from the brothel next door in exchange for his freedom. It has seen success on Broadway in 1962 and 1972 as well as a feature film in 1966. Southwestern produced a different spin on the golden-age musical with a stylized show utilizing a very cartoonish set, costumes with elaborate wigs, and Vegas-style lighting. The show had many comedic moments with short bits and jokes that the audience reacted with many laughs and cheers.

            The plot focuses on Pseudolus trying to earn his freedom from his owner, Hero (Clayton Brooks), who promises to free him if he is able to get Phila (Abigail Luna) with him. Seeing his struggle to become a free man shows the strong lines dividing the social classes of free citizens and slaves. As he attempts to get Philia and Hero together, he must further complicate his lie to many of the other characters including his neighbors, Lycus (Daniel Winkler) and Eronius (Ed Hillis), his owners, Domina (Cassidy Mayfield) and Senex (Chris Szeto-Joe), and Philia’s owner, Miles Gloriosus (Brendan Bowyer). All of the lies he told to become free drive the plot and create the many farcical moments. The text also sexualizes women and offers them as commodities to be traded rather than human beings with the ability to make their own decisions. This patriarchal aspect is very outdated and does not fit in with the current culture but was combated with clever choices from the director.

            The director made some excellent choices to make the show very comical and to take away from the sexist nature of the script. For example, in the number Everybody Ought to Have a Maid, which is very explicit to the ownership of women, the production poked fun at it by having the characters joke about how they were singing the sexist song. The “slave in chief” to Senex, Hysterium (Tristin Evans), was a male character played by a woman who later in the script had to pretend to be a woman, was a very funny comedic bit and a great design choice.

            The musical was in a proscenium theatre with a live orchestra located in a pit at the apron of the stage. It was a very good venue for the production with enough space to comfortably fit the three houses needed for the script and included enough playing space for the actors in front of the houses where all of the action took place. The production was very engaging with performers crossing all parts of the stage and filling the space with many of the musical numbers.

            The stylized nature of the show carried through to the actors. Many of the characters, most notably Senex, had stylized walks in the fashion of a typical farce. However, this did not seem to be fully carried out, many characters did not have any sort of specialized walk that is expected with this kind of direction. Many of the comedic bits relied on short physical movements or simple one-line jokes. The choreography of the show was relatively simple, with a higher focus on the vocals of each piece rather than with intensive choreography. Pseudelous was a very strong actor carried the show with many subplots together, it was a very large role that he handled incredibly well. Hysterium was also portrayed very well and was very exciting to watch her scramble around as the lies caught up to Pseudelous and made her life more challenging.

            The design of the show was done very cleverly with the set, designed by Desiderio Roybal, as three colorful and curvy houses painted with very bright colors. The lights, designed by Rachel Burke, were very flashy utilizing LED strips across the houses, Vegas-style light bulbs, and bright color washes across the stage. The costumes, designed by Kerry Bechtel, were very stylized, like the other elements of the show, and used large wigs of foam and bright costume pieces. All of the design elements came together for this show which created a very pleasing show to watch.

            It was a very entertaining musical with great directing moments, design choices, and line delivery. From a fantastic and comedic start in Comedy Tonightto the Finale, the show was very entertaining and had many terrific moments. The farcical nature of the show combined with terrific actors made it a great comedy.