Reimagining Adam Guettel’s beloved song cycle

Myths and Hymns is practically begging to be interpreted and reinterpreted on stage.

Written by composer-lyricist Adam Guettel (The Light in the Piazza, Floyd Collins), it’s a song cycle that uses mythology, religious allusions, and the lyrics to classic hymns to explore massive themes like ambition, love, and death. Yet for all their all grandeur, the songs are easily accessible, influenced not only by European art songs and show tunes, but also by gospel, R&B, and Latin music.

As of today, however, there have only been sixteen official performances of Myths and Hymns in New York City, and those were in 1998, when the show was called Saturn Returns and got a brief concert staging at the Public Theater. Since then, a celebrated recording featuring Kristen Chenoweth, Audra McDonald, and Billy Porter has carried on the music’s legacy, but that’s just not the same as a living, breathing production.

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Inside the acrobatic magic of the award-winning show

Even if it delivered nothing but acrobatics, Leo would be a striking piece of theatre. The show, which won the Best of Edinburgh Award at the Edinburgh Fringe and is now being presented at Theatre Row, exists to make our jaws drop, to make us question our own eyes.

The “tricks” are even more alluring because we see exactly how they’re done. On the right side of the stage, we find Leo (played by German acrobat Tobias Wegner) standing in a colorful room with nothing but a suitcase.  Lounging around, he lies on the floor and puts his feet on a bright red wall. Later, he balances on one leg and slowly bends down to touch the floor with one hand, letting his other arm and leg jut into the air. By the time the show’s over, he’s contorted himself into all sorts of exotic shapes.

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“Chimera” suggests many worlds on one stage

Chimera only needs a minute to make you question your grasp on reality. The multimedia show—which was developed by HERE, where it is now being presented in conjunction with the Under the Radar Festival—opens with a pleasant-looking woman in a sparkling white outfit and green sneakers. She’s got a cup of coffee and a cute Midwestern accent, and she’s awfully friendly as she takes a seat in the audience to tell us a story about the kitchen we see on stage.

Only the kitchen she describes doesn’t look like the kitchen in front of us. We see a completely white room with standard-issue equipment: a sink, countertops, a generic refrigerator. But our narrator, Coffee Lady, talks about lovely floors, a nice table, and a fancy fridge. It’s disorienting. Does this woman exist in a different world?

Yes. Kind of.

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The prominent theatre festival returns for another year

For a city that boasts hundreds of theatrical productions each year, it stands to reason that New York should also host multiple theatre festivals. From Fringe NYC to Midtown International Theatre Festival to Brits Off Broadway at 59E59, there are always opportunities to check out edgy, underground, or international shows that might never play here otherwise.

But even in this crowded field, the carefully curated Under the Radar festival—co-produced by The Public Theater, Mark Russell, and the Association of Performing Arts Presenters—stands out.

“We focus on independent theatre from around the world and the U.S.,” says Russell, who has been with the festival for all of its eight years. “This is theatre that is made to tour and to move around. It’s contemporary artists who are trying to make a statement about what theatre is now and connect with an audience.”

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Two services push the theatre into online publishing

And then suddenly, the theatre entered the world of online publishing.

Until this year, scripts were largely absent from the booming field of ebooks, stranding readers who wanted to add their favorite dramas to their Kindle or Nook. In recent months, however, two services have emerged to fill the void.

In November, prominent play publisher Samuel French launched its eBook program. Customers can visit Apple’s iBookstore to download plays and musical by writers like Charles Busch and Israel Horovitz, with new titles being added regularly. Most scripts retail for $8.99, and soon, Samuel French will make them available at all digital retailers

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