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The Kingfishat The Joy Theater

John McConnell has been inhabit-ing the part of Huey P. Long in the one-man show The Kingfish for 27 years.After all that time, he wears the role likea custom-tailored seersucker suit.

The Kingfish: The Life & Timesof Huey P. Long recently returned toNew Orleans for a brief run at The JoyTheater where its streamlined singleset fit perfectly. Larry L. King & Ben Z.Grant’s script has Long looking downfrom Heaven after his assassination torelate the highlights of his life and sharehis philosophy. Though a somewhatstagy framing device, it efficiently givesLong/McConnell a free rein to show off

a style and an approach to politics thattook him from small town Louisiana tothe national stage, a fascinating storythat never grows old.

Long brought a populist streak togovernment as he built roads, hospi-tals, mental asylums and “156 bridges”throughout the state, claiming that, withthese results, he was “proud to haveraised taxes.” Can you imagine anypolitician saying that today? For thatmatter, Long fought hard against the

interests of Big Oil. Just like Jindal,right?

Huey P. was larger than life andhad an ego to match, and McConnell,who bears an amazing resemblance toLong, follows up a detailing of theKingfish’s accomplishments with a winkto the audience saying that he’s “beingas modest about them as circumstancespermit.”

As King & Grant portray him, Longwas quite the wit, getting a laugh byobserving how there were “So manypeople who knew me who’d loved to killme and a stranger did.” What theirscript could’ve used more of, however,was Long’s ruthlessness which led toFranklin Delano Roosevelt once sayingof Long that, along with General Dou-

glas MacArthur, “he was one of the twomost dangerous men in America.”

In McConnell’s assured perfor-mance, Long comes off as both a verypolished and engaging rascal (“a TomSawyer in a toga”), and a compellingand rousing speaker who bent the rules“a little bit.” A man of the people whoquoted Shalespeare, it’s clear that Longwas no fool, an epithet that he tossesin the direction of his brother Earl.

trodding the boards

by Brian Sands Email: bsnola2@hotmail.com

[continued on 42]

John McConnell in The Kingfish: The Life & Times of Huey P. Long

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Though there was a technical glitchat the start of Act Two the night I sawit (vintage photos and Randy Newmansongs covered well), the rest of theshow ran like a well-oiled machine withsmooth transitions between its varioussections, a tribute to Perry Martin’s stilleffective direction.

The Kingfish does become a bitredundant in its second act as Longcontinues to pontificate; by then, anaudience knows how he feels. Thoughwe get some examples of how tough hewas with his colleagues and adversar-ies, it comes off as a little simplistichere. For a more nuanced overview ofhow Long came to power and how heused it, another viewing of All theKing’s Men might be in order.

Or for a more recent variation,check out New Jersey Gov. ChrisChristie and the Fort Lee bridge scan-dal. When it comes to how politicalrewards and punishments are metedout, some things never change.

New Orleans BalletAssociation at MahaliaJackson Theaterthrough May 10

In his pre-performance comments,Artistic Director Jacques Heim por-trayed his company, Diavolo, as acombination of ballet, modern dance,acrobatics, gymnastics and everydaymovement that have been tossed to-gether “like a salad.” If I wasn’t surewhat exactly that meant, by the end ofthe evening I had discovered what anapt description it was.

The program was divided into twosections. The first featured four shortpieces. The second was given over toFluid Infinities which was commis-sioned by the Los Angeles Philhar-monic Association and had its worldpremiere six months ago in the Holly-wood Bowl. New Orleans is fortunateto have been one of the first cities toexperience this magnificent dance work.

The curtain rises on what looks likethe expanded foil on one of those oldJiffy Pop popcorn pans. But the “foil” issoon drawn away to reveal a large,curved metallic skin with holes through-out its surface. This dome evokes thecraters of the moon, a honeycomb ofbees, a skull, a starship or even arotting melon rind. Whatever it is, and itmight be all of these, it is visuallydazzling as it moves and rotates withperfect coordination.

To the pulsing rhythms of PhilipGlass’ Symphony No. 3, the Diavolodancers ascend the dome, disappearthrough its holes and return on its un-derside in this demanding work con-ceived by Heim and choreographedwith precision by the eleven membercompany.

There is a sense of conquest, of

awe, of discovering the unknown, andof struggle as dancers, singly and jointly,explore this brave new world. Shad-ows and reflections, courtesy of JohnE.D. Bass’ ingenious lighting, add extradimensions to this already many-lay-ered opus.

I found it all elegant and stylish,moving and deeply involving. Fluid In-finities is mysterious and ambiguous,not in a confusing manner but, rather, inan astutely artful way which allowsdifferent associations to be evoked inthe mind of each viewer. And the liveperformance of Glass’ music by theLouisiana Philharmonic Orchestra(LPO) brought an added immediacy tothe evening. Conductor Glenn Langdonpropelled the score forward bringingout its rumbling basses to marvelouseffect.

By contrast, I felt that the works inthe program’s first half were neither asintellectually challenging nor as emo-tionally engaging, fun to watch but a bitrepetitious after a while, their underly-ing ideas beaten to death.

D2R, which used dancers in a hu-man pachinko machine, had a grippingintensity and a powerful ending thoughthere was a certain redundancy to itsvariations. Knockturne’s very French,lyrical tenderness could not preventthis love duet involving two dancers anda door from becoming visually staticbefore its six minutes were up.

Bench, all silly fun as dancerscompeted for its namesake object, waswell done but, like D2R, its variationswere all too similar. And if Humachinaprovided one of the evening’s moststunning images, with three dancersstanding astride the curved edge ofupright quarter circles suddenly ap-pearing as though out of nowhere, therest of it could’ve used more such“Wow!” moments.

In all fairness, a few people I spoketo afterward preferred the first part ofthe evening to the second. I, however,could see Fluid Infinities an infiniteamount of times without ever tiring of it.

NOBA continues its season withThe Joffrey Ballet (March 29) andParsons Dance (May 10) which willfeature a world premiere with music byNew Orleans’ own Allen Toussaint. Can’twait!

New Orleans OperaAssociation at MahaliaJackson Theaterthrough April 6

New Orleans Opera Associationcontinued its season of rarities withMassenet’s Cinderella (Cendrillon)which was given its American premierein New Orleans in 1902 and deservesto be better known for its lusciousscore.

G. Alan Rusnak’s simple but effec-tive sets allowed the focus to stay onthe music and performers where itbelonged. Hypnotic and beguiling, full

of long phrases, Massenet’s composi-tion was sung superbly by an impres-sive cast.

Judith Gauthier was most affectingas the poor girl who winds up a prin-cess. Her crystal clear voice aptly con-veyed longing, joy and innocent love aswell as the score’s more somber mo-ments when, in this version of the tale,she decides to run away and die allalone.

Marie Lenormand cut such a con-vincing figure as Prince Charming thatI thought she was a man...until shebegan to sing. Lenormand touchinglybrought out the Prince’s melancholywhich transformed into joy immediatelyupon seeing Cinderella. Lenormand andGauthier’s passionate duets were someof the performance’s highlights.

Properly following the libretto,Luretta Bybee never allowed Mme. dela Haltiere, the classic nasty stepmother,to become a complete gorgon. Rather,without overdoing it, she came off as animperious, social climbing, haute bour-geoise who happens to sing with asubtle comic edge.

Veteran baritone François LeRoux’s sensitive voice was well-suitedto the hen-pecked husband yet lovingfather of Cinderella who finally showssome backbone.

As the Fairy Godmother, KathrynLewek sang gorgeously, each of hernotes falling like perfectly formed dropsof rain.

As always, conductor Robert Lyallled the LPO commandingly, bringingout the delicacy of Massenet’s musicand getting its essential “French-ness”just right. For this outing, the flute andpiccolo section was especially outstand-ing.

Lyall, along with director Jose MariaCondemi, wisely kept a brisk pace yetallowed the more contemplative mo-ments room to breath. Condemi’sstaged the opera straightforwardlywhich was fine, though the slapstickroutines Condemi devised for the step-sisters, while not inappropriate, could’vebeen sharper and more imaginativelydone.

Taken from the same fairy tale thatinspired the Disney movie, it was nowonder that the matinee audience wasfilled with little girls, one who wonderedout loud in the first act “When’sCinderella going to come on?” For thatmatter, despite Massenet’s beautifulmusic, I half-expected to hear one ofRodgers and Hammerstein’s songs popup from their version of the tale. Sillyme.

For those who want to know whatRent sounded like before it was trans-planted to the East Village, NOOAreturns on April 4 and 6 to conclude theseason with Puccini’s classic LaBohème.

Sutton FosterBroadway@NOCCA

Sutton Foster returned to New Or-

leans in January for her second go-round of Broadway@NOCCA and shewas again delightful. Even more impor-tantly, Seth Rudetsky returned to hostthis series returning it from the purecabaret of Charles Busch’s and AliceRipley’s visits to the more fun andfrothy cabaret/interview format.

As before, Rudetsky led Fosterthrough interesting career moments toget her take on how she got to whereshe is today. Apparently she learnedhow to yodel for Young Frankensteinonly after she told the producers sheknew how. She then gave a demon-stration of her yodeling technique thatshowed how well her chutzpah paid off.

Chutzpah, though, is not the wordyou typically associate with Foster.She’s less “diva” and more “girl nextdoor” which made her so perfect as thelead in Thoroughly Modern Millie forwhich she got her first Tony Award. Andif she’s not a natural Reno Sweeneyshe sounded great singing I Get a KickOut of You and, hey, she did win hersecond Tony for that role in AnythingGoes.

In the course of the evening, wefound out how she was able to playÉponine on Broadway in LesMisérables, a role that typically wentto a shorter woman (after ten years,they were more open to diversity in thecast) and what it was like performing atthe Kennedy Center Honors for ShirleyMacLaine (Fun!).

We also learned that she’s palswith Lea Salonga, a Tony winner forMiss Saigon, who regularly beats herat Words With Friends. And that Fosterauditioned for the movie version of LesMiz but didn’t get it.

Which is a shame because herversion of I Dreamed a Dream wasabsolutely wonderful. What a pleasureto see a pro dig into a song like that andmake it seem so effortless.

When asked by a NOCCA studentfor advice, Foster said to avoid unfamil-iar songs when auditioning but to blurgender lines with songs written for theopposite sex. Her fantastic versions ofHey There, Oklahoma! and Being Alivemade a strong case for this.

I left with just one tinge of regret.Singing songs from some of the manyroles she could play (Nellie Forbush’s ACockeyed Optimist (“I am a cockeyedoptimist,” she declared.); Charity HopeValentine’s If My Friends Could SeeMe Now; Fanny Brice’s Don’t Rain OnMy Parade—a WOW-zer even withoutany rehearsal!), it seems unlikely thatFoster will soon have a crack at creat-ing a new role of her own as such iconsas Mary Martin, Ethel Merman andCarol Channing regularly did. Even herforthcoming return to Broadway will bein a revival (Violet).

So would someone please write SuttonFoster a musical she can call her own?!

Stay tuned for announcements of fu-ture events in the Broadway@ series whichin just over a year has become an invalu-able part of the New Orleans theater scene.

trodding the boards...from 41

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