Floyd Collins, a Kentucky caver, got trapped
in Sand Cave on Jan. 30, 1925. He remained there until rescuers
recovered his body more than two weeks later. The incident became
a major media event and the inspiration for a movie and a musical.
In 1951, Billy Wilder directed "Ace in the Hole," starring
Kirk Douglas and Jan Sterling. The central figure in the film
is not the trapped caver, but the ambitious newspaper reporter
(Douglas) who shamelessly uses the tragedy to advance his career.
Forty-three years later the story was turned into a musical,
this time focused on the caver himself, with book by Tina Landau,
and music and lyrics by Adam Guettel, who is the grandson of
Richard Rodgers and the son of Mary Rodgers, a performer and
composer who wrote the score for "Once Upon a Mattress."
"Floyd Collins" was commissioned by the American Theater
Festival (now the Prince Music Theater) in Philadelphia and ran
at Plays & Players from April 9 through April 24, 1994. The
show was subsequently redeveloped at Playwrights Horizons in
1995, where it began a limited run on March 3, 1996. A mini-tour
production in 1999 visited the Old Globe in San Diego, Prince
Music Theater in Philadelphia and the Goodman in Chicago.
This year, "Floyd Collins" returns to New York – at
the Gallery Players in a masterful production directed by M.R.
Goodley.
Floyd Collins (Nicholas Wuehrmann) lives in an area of Kentucky
where for many years farmers and landowners had been fighting
a series of "cave wars," each competing to discover
and operate caves which they could decorate and open for a profitable
tourist business. Searching for a cave that would prove more
lucrative than his previously opened Crystal Cave, Floyd sets
out to explore Sand Cave.
With only a dim lantern to light his way and the echoes of his
voice to guide him, Floyd winds his way underground, hoping to
find a new cavern. But 150 feet below ground a rock falls on
his left foot, and Floyd is trapped in a tight passageway.
At first, Floyd’s family and a few locals attempt to free him.
But by nightfall, he is still trapped, and his brother, Homer
(Brian Charles Rooney), crawls into the passageway to spend the
night with him.
Floyd is also visited by "Skeets" Miller (Darron Cardosa),
a newspaperman who is able to slide down the narrow passageway
because he is no bigger than a "squito" – hence the
nickname. At first Skeets merely wants to get a scoop, but he
soon befriends Floyd and is determined to get him out. Eventually
the National Guard, the Red Cross and H.T. Carmichael, an engineer
from Kentucky Road and Asphalt Company, all become involved.
At the same time, the site takes on a carnival atmosphere as
film producers, newspaper reporters and souvenir hawkers flood
the area, while the Collins family begins to fall apart as suppressed
conflicts come to the surface and Floyd’s mentally unstable sister,
Nellie (Breanna Pine), becomes increasingly worse.
Since its first appearance, "Floyd Collins" has received
considerable critical acclaim. In 1996, the Playwrights Horizons
production received the Lucille Lortel Award for Best Off-Broadway
Musical. Critics called the play a deep musical about Floyd’s
spiritual journey during his underground imprisonment and praise
the original orchestration that uses harmonica, fiddle and bongos.
And a personality no less than playwright John Guare ("Sweet
Smell of Success") wrote, "Guettel’s music is filled
with the American bravura of optimism, the democracy of get up
and go, the taste of America there for each and every one of
us to revel in "
With all due respect to Mr. Guare, however, what does all this
have to do with musicality? And how does it explain the fact
that often the singers and the orchestra seem to be performing
parallel rather than the same music? Avant-garde? Experimental?
Maybe, but it would be nice if it was also somewhat pleasing
to the ear.
Part one begins with a long solo in which Wuehrmann delivers
a tour-de-force solo performance, singing about his love affair
with caves. The words are poetic, but seem in conflict with the
melody of the song, which seems in conflict with the instrumental
accompaniment. It goes on and on until, mercifully, the rock
falls on him. From then on, whether it’s Floyd singing, Miller
singing, or Homer singing with Floyd, it doesn’t get much better.
Except for the snappy "Is That Remarkable" sung by
the reporters and company, most of the music left this reviewer
with the uncomfortable feeling that something was missing or
out of sync – despite the fact that the cast includes many strong,
emotive voices.
Nor should anyone fault the direction or the acting. Goodley’s
blocking and presentation of the material is flawless. The cast,
together and separately, effectively capture the flavor of country
life in the 1920s. The play is just too problematic.
No doubt there will be those who will welcome this production
as a courageous undertaking, especially for local theater. And
indeed, it may be. But it left this reviewer cold.
The Gallery Players production of "Floyd
Collins" plays through May 19, Thursday, Friday and Saturday
at 8 pm, Sunday at 3 pm at 199 14th St. at Fourth Avenue in Park
Slope. Tickets are $15 adults, $12 seniors and children under
12. For reservations, call (718) 595-0547.
