Mon. February 20, 2006
By John Olson
The writer Gertrude Stein may be remembered more for her place in artistic and literary history than for her work itself. Though her quotes “Rose is a rose is a rose is a rose” and her one-line description of Oakland, California (“There is no there there”) are widely recognized, the number of people who know her as a member of the circle of expatriate artists living in 1920s Paris that included the likes of Picasso and Hemingway certainly must outnumber those who have actually read her work. Further, if you don’t count her most popular and accessible work The Autobiography of Alice B. Toklas, the number of her readers will be even lower.
This is especially so because there’s so much else to pay attention to, starting with Stephen Flaherty’s rich and varied score that covers genres from popular music of the 1910s and ‘20s, Scottish/Irish folk music and Calypso. With lyrics taken entirely from Stein’s words, relatively little of it includes traditional songs. Much of it sets Stein’s poetic prose and opera librettos to music, and there’s a good amount of underscoring. As sung by a top-shelf cast of eight accompanied by music director Tom Murray’s five-piece orchestra (that sounds much bigger, thanks to the orchestrations by Flaherty and Brad Haak), it’s enough just to listen to Flaherty’s score for the seventy-five minutes of the piece. If Stein’s writing may be as important for its sound and rhythm as its meaning, it’s perfectly appropriate to expand it through music.
Galati has gone far beyond an aural presentation of Stein’s writing, though, and has given us a lot to look at as well. Jack Magaw’s colorful two-dimensional set painted by Christine Bolles and the flat props designed by Nate Doud were inspired by works of Picasso. Galati and choreographer Liza Gennaro keep the five-member ensemble moving in impressionistic comment and counterpoint to the words and actions of the principals, with the action highlighted effectively by the lighting design of Chris Binder. Costumes designed by Michelle Tesdall place the older Gertrude in a characteristic gray sweater and the younger Gertrude, Alice and the ensemble – all essentially memory characters – in white early 20th century apparel.
Loving Repeating: A Musical of Gertrude Stein will be performed at the Museum of Contemporary Art, 220 East Chicago Avenue, Chicago; Wednesdays through Saturdays at 7:30 p.m. and Saturdays and Sundays at 3 p.m., through March 12, 2006. Tickets can be purchased at the MCA Box Office, 312-397-3868, or online at www.mcachicago.org.
Photo: Michael Brosilow
For the complete article (non-reader view with multimedia and original links),
Tap here.
Head to the local LGBTQ news, events, directory and people network at ChicagoPride.com