Ever wonder how your dog feels when you leave him outside?
What a mouse is thinking before he grabs the cheese in a trap?
What you look like in the eyes of a groundhog?
Maybe you haven’t, but Brooklyn Heights playwright Clark Gesner
has, and he’s turned his speculations into a saucy, sophisticated
and at times sentimental musical revue – "Animal Fair."
Although "Animal Fair" was staged out West several
years ago, its author has been waiting to find the right venue
before bringing it East. And what better venue for this long-time
Brooklynite than the Gallery Players, right here in Park Slope?
Mark Harborth, who directed "Noises Off" earlier
this year, has the sense of rhythm, music, pace and humor that
are perfect for this set of loosely connected vignettes. Most
of all, he seems to understand our feathered and furry friends
as well as Gesner himself.
Neither playwright nor director attempt to portray the animals
physically. Rather, they focus on revealing the personality type
of each animal. The chipmunk is chipper. The cat is sly and sexy.
The bears are buffoons.
Misha Kuchta’s costumes visualize the animals’ personalities
with insight and humor. The elegant Spider Lady (Celia Gentry)
wears an evening gown as she sets the table for a romantic dinner
for two. The beer-drinking bears (Brian Ballantine, Kristoffer
Lowe, Matthew A. Wilson) wear shorts and T-shirts; one T-shirt
is so tight it reveals a bear beer belly. The lazy alligators
(Kristoffer Lowe, Wilson and Celia Gentry) wear sunglasses and
flowered shirts. The preening pigeon (Lowe) wears a flashing,
sequined outfit that would have made Liberace blush.
Gesner, who first achieved fame with "You’re a Good Man
Charlie Brown" in 1967, is one of those rare individuals
in the theater world – a fine composer, a quick-witted lyricist
and a playwright with a philosophical bent.
The Polar Bear (Ballantine) contemplating the possibilities
of an open cage door, and the Mouse (Lowe) reflecting on a baited
trap, both have monologues reminiscent of Shakespeare.
As a composer, Gesner has a breadth that’s truly breathtaking.
"Migration" is both epic and operatic. "Bird in
a Cage" has the beauty of a lyrical ballad. And "Alligators"
is a jazzy piece you may still be humming as you leave the theater.
The animals are portrayed by a cast of three women (Lisa Braverman,
Selena Cantor, Gentry), four men (Ballantine, Patrick T. Clayton,
Lowe, Wilson) and a boy, Jonas Barranca.
What makes the cast so superb is not the actors’ ability to
imitate the animals, but rather their total personification of
the animals. This gives the animals all-too-human traits, and
at the same time keeps them clearly in the domain of God’s less
reflective creatures.
There’s the loyal canine who adores his master even as he
is being dragged through the streets (Clayton), the dignified
Elephant (Ballantine) who can’t keep his son (Barranca) in line
during the elephants’ stately dance-walk, and the lone Wolf (Lowe)
on the run, who runs out of time.
Aside from enjoying the enormous entertainment value of "Animal
Fair," one cannot help but be struck by the breadth of human
experience in this play, which is ostensibly about the animal
world. Gesner’s animals are vain and foolish. They are also loving
and loyal. They fear, respect and criticize the strange ways
of human beings, and seek to understand them much the way the
Greeks sought to understand their pantheon.
The animals also live at a pace that is in close rhythm with
the cycles of the Earth. There is both an ethereal and earthly
quality to "Migration" and "Dawn Chorus."
Gesner says he believes animals are our closest kin in the
"natural" world. Their thoughts are unsophisticated
and immediately acted on. They never hide their feelings.
Like Aesop before him, Gesner manages to be entertaining and
instructive at the same time. Only in "Animal Fair,"
he adds music, dance and wonderful costumes. (Aesop might indeed
be jealous.)
"Animal Fair" is a great show for the whole family.
Just leave your pets at home.
"Animal Fair" plays through March 4, Friday and
Saturday at 8 pm, and Sunday at 3 pm. Tickets are$15, $10 children
under 10 and seniors. The Gallery Players’ theater is located
at 199 14th St. For reservations call (718) 595-0547.
