Theatre in New York City

Despite the fact that our section of First Year Seminar is entitled “Exploring the Great Museums of New York”—not “Broadway and Beyond,” our class has had the pleasure of seeing a few Broadway productions nonetheless. Back in September we saw the musical Hair on its closing night, and on Saturday, October 29th, we attended a matinee of the play Warhorse and an evening performance of the musical Spiderman: Turn off the Dark. Although “museums” more or less is the technical topic of our art-related class, it is clear that theatrical productions are each unto themselves individual works of art. It would seem that just as there is great variety among works of visual art, so too is there great variety among theatrical productions—variety in style and perceived quality.

Warhorse was phenomenal. It is very easy to see why it won several Tony Awards, particularly that for “Best Play.” It depicted the dramas of World War I through the eyes of a horse “Joey” and through the relationships of its characters. The idea to use a “puppet” horse instead of a real horse was a fabulous one, and the puppeteers pulled off the feat really well. I was a bit distracted and confused by the puppeteers in the beginning of the play when the horse was first introduced, but eventually, the realistic mannerisms of the horse overshadowed the humans helping it achieve those mannerisms. The horse breathed, flicked its tail, and twitched his ears. And though physically the horse did not appear incredibly realistic, the realism of the movements more than made up for it. The strong bond between Albert (the boy who was a main character) and Joey, the horse, was a moving one. When it appeared that they could be separated forever, I must confess that I did shed a few tears. In short, the production—in my own inexpert opinion—was absolutely wonderful in every respect. From the acting to the set to the puppets to the music, Warhorse is an exquisite work of art.

Spiderman, on the other hand, is like a piece of artwork that is aesthetically pleasing but technically lacking. It is somewhat like a pretty watercolor painting of flowers done by a child—nice to look at, but from a professional standpoint, there is much room for improvement. Before I go any farther, however, I would like to make two things perfectly clear: I am not trying to say that Spiderman is truly comparable to the work of a child, and unlike many others in our party, I did not hate the musical. I do think that it lacked finesse, though, and that the music left much to be desired. Parts of the song lyrics and parts of the script were corny at times, sometimes uncomfortably so. Perhaps the vocalists could have been better—indeed, perhaps much better. Yes, the plot could have been more fluid. In spite of all this, you may be wondering, can Spiderman have any redeeming qualities at all? My answer is yes. Its redeeming quality, for me, was simply that I enjoyed it. I enjoyed Spiderman’s high-flying acrobatics and the little romantic plot line. I enjoyed simply learning about Spiderman, as this musical was my first exposure to it. I enjoyed the light-hearted nature of it. Also, the cartoonlike props and stage sets didn’t bother me, because Spiderman is generally first and foremost known as a comic. I thought it was neat how that “comic” quality was incorporated into the show. I wish that more people had caught sight of that. All in all, I found it entertaining. I was glad that I went, and that my arachnophobia did not act up too much. :)

While they may have differed in levels of quality, Warhorse and Spiderman, both pieces of art in some way or another, were very enjoyable. The bottom line? I am very glad that I had tickets for both of these shows.