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Lawson Taitte: Lawson Taitte is the theater critic for The Dallas Morning News. September 2009
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Children's auditions for Dallas Theater Center "A Christmas Carol" Bruce Wood plans new troupe next year We were there: 'A Sordid Comedy Affair' Cast announced for DTC Midsummer We Were There: Charles Rohlfs exhibition at the Dallas Museum of Art Repertorio Espanol back at Latino Cultural Center More on Lyric Stage's 'Funny Girl' Recent Comments
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At the opening of the Dallas stop of the show's final tour last night, though, my appreciation ran even deeper. (Did I mention I was on the verge of tears during the whole first act and much of the second? This is powerful stuff.) This time I recognized more of Larson's achievement in putting his songs and even smaller units into larger forms. What came to mind, strangely, were the Act II finale of Mozart's Le nozze di Figaro and the Beatles' Abbey Road (especially that highly unified second side of the original LP). Like Wolferl and the Merseysiders, Larson cuts and layers his snippets of tunes together, occasionally breaking for a big song, but more often letting the thing flow. I even heard things that reminded me of symphonic development -- which made me take another listen to the way the composer uses that old musical comedy technique of the reprise in Act II. He doesn't just bring back the melody for another go-round to send the folks out humming. He uses it to make something fresh. I'm not saying that Rent is as great as Le nozze, maybe not even as important as Abbey Road. But it's a masterpiece of its own kind. I even found myself adjusting to Mimi's revival in the last scene. After all, in this libretto, Angel becomes a kind of double for Mimi -- and we've already had to face that death. I think it was one of the show's producers who made that argument to me in an interview some years ago. This time, though, I bought it. Get yourself to the Music Hall. No day but today! (or at least today through Sunday!) (Joan Marcus photo of Adam Pascal as Roger and Lexi Lawson as Mimi) E-mail entry: |
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