From: rs54@cunixf.cc.columbia.edu (Richard Sucgang)
Subject: REVIEW: METRO (a little long)
Organization: Columbia University
Date: Mon, 13 Apr 1992 23:28:02 GMT


Metro

Review by Richard Sucgang
rs54@cunixf.cc.columbia.edu
sucgang@cuhhca.hhmi.columbia.edu

watched : April 11, 1992
opening date : April 16, 1992
location : Minskoff Theatre
music by : Janusz Stoklosa
Original book and lyrics : Agata Miklaszweka and Mary Miklaszweka
English version : Mary Bracken Philips and Janusz Jozefowicz
Directed and choreographed by : Janusz Jozefowicz

The cast is 50 strong, with only 2 Americans, most of whom play
themselves. Characters specific to the production who received
billing include:

Anka - Katarzyna Groniec
Jan - Robert Janowski
Philip - Olek Krupa
Max - Marius Czajka

During the intermission of Metro, I asked the couple sitting next
to me how the liked the musical so far. The woman replied, "It
reminds me of Les Mis, but there seems to be something missing."
Her partner concurred. What was missing, in my opinion, was a sense
of continuity. During the course of Metro, the cast transforms the
stage, and themselves, from waifs auditioning for a show, to a near
heavy metal rock concert, to some of the most innovative ballet
sequences I have ever witnessed. In addition, the show is replete
with laser light displays fancy enough to make planetaria green
with envy. All the while, under this dazzling display of attitude
is (supposedly) a poignant tale of lovers, dreamers, and freedom.

Metro starts out with a reminder of how artists were treated behind
the Iron Curtain: two brothers, Philip and Jan (pronounced "Yan",
BTW) are seen arguing as Jan prepares a daring new show with the
company, and Philip argues against it, reminding Jan that the state
watches them. Jan leaves the theatre in a huff, as Philip calls out
"You can ruin your life if you wish, but don't take me with you!"
Jan heads to the metro (european for subway), where he takes up
residence as a street performer -- and the lasers announce the
overture. (In the performance I attended, Stoklosa, the composer,
was conducting. I suppose the music was at its best). Eventually,
Communism falls, and the theatre reverts to private ownership.
Philip organizes auditions, and the show becomes a kind of "Chorus
Line for the MTV generation"; where members of the company relate
their backgrounds (and the PlayBill testifies that it is the
truth), complete with songs and dance and rock music. One of the
applicants is Anka, a provincial lass who continuously carries her
bag (even during dance auditions), and stubbornly sings a hymn
despite being informed that song auditions were over. She misses
her train in the metro, where she meets, strikes up a friendship,
and, eventually, a romance with Jan. Following auditions, all
members of the company were rejected from the production
(supposedly, some snotty people unseen take all the positions),
and, in the ensuing despair, were organized by Jan into a band of
street performers singing and dancing about their dreams in the
subway. The show Philip produces bombed, and he sends Max (chief
choreographer and flunky) to bribe the street performers after
unsuccessfully negotiating with Jan to return to the theatre. More
than that, and I spoil the surprise ending.

As I mentioned, interspersed between episodes of this story are
amazing dance routines (one using black light and selectively
reflecting pieces of clothing), songs that range from ballads to
rock to (get this) Christmas carols, and scenery changes that
include flashes of light sculpture and fog generation. The show was
a little slow at the start, but it promised energy, and delivered
it with a vengeance. The dancing combined ballet, jazz, and
acrobatics to a breathtaking degree, while most of the songs tried
to use as much of the cast as possible, resulting in choruses that
tug strongly at your emotions. The ballads were well executed,
making the Polish accent romantic rather than clumsy, and Ms.
Groniec's Anka was a role that Liza Minelli would have killed to
get.

On the down side, the show already has one thing working against
it: its basic premise relies on eliciting sympathy for the
suffering of artists in pre and post cold war Warsaw, and the
script fails to illustrate this point. Without it, the numbers
become blinding displays of youthful energy - well appreciated by
the younger set, but lacking the intellectual message that prevents
the more mature from dismissing them as simple frivolity - and the
story becomes a very shallow version of "Beauty and the Beast". As
Jan, Mr. Janowski sings marvelously, but is unable to convey the
deep turmoil of a man in love with his work and his crumbling
dream. Mr. Czajka's Max provides the proper comic relief; too bad
he only appears infrequently. The very disjointed nature of the
production is particularly confusing, so much so that the audience
tends to forget what happened last. Numbers done just after the
intermission received lukewarm applause at best, although the
energy had time to build up again to generate a thunderous finale.
The production was replete with gimmicks, many of which do not
really provide anything to the story or the songs, but certainly
made the audiences oooh and aahh. At the beginning, laser light
animation was used to introduce the play, and somewhere long the
way used to construct cones around soloists. In the second act, a
huge circle with mounted lasers capable of generating a woven
network of light was lowered and displayed, and removed. It seemed
to provide nothing else to the story. All in all, it looks like
someone was having a ball in hi tech special effects playpen.

There is a lot to like in Metro, the dancing, the energy, the beat,
and, to an extent, the underlying story. However, the manner by
which they were all pieced together was rather haphazard, as though
trying to pass by virtue of sheer dazzle. In a way, I fear that
Metro may go the way of Chess - good show for all intents, but
clumsily handled. My guess is Frank Rich will have a heyday ripping
into Metro, although I still think it is a show worth watching. I
certainly am looking forward to a cast recording, and give the show
a thumbs up. Just expect something more like Cirque du Soliel
instead of Les Miserables.

-rich
Richard Sucgang : Dept. of Anatomy and Cell Biology
Columbia University (sucgang@cuhhca.hhmi.columbia.edu; 
de slime god         rs54@cunixf.cc.columbia.edu)