Glee Club Blues

There's no shortage of artists proclaiming the death of their art form. Only a few weeks ago, a friend of mine who works in the theater bemoaned its current state: "It's not relevant anymore," he said. "The only reason people go to theater these days is so they have someplace they can take a date and get laid." He was being facetious, of course, but the statement reveals the anxiety many people in the theater have about the relevance of the work they do, especially in this increasingly digital/video driven age. The irony is that critics are declaring 2009 as the most vital year for theater in years. Of course this is in reference to the big Broadway and Off-Broadway productions, like Beckett's "Waiting For Godot" starring Nathan Lane and Bill Irwin and "Twelfth Night" at the Delacorte.

Where are the vital, engaging, new and edgy Off-Off Broadway productions, and what place do they play in our society today?

This weekend I saw the final performance of Blue Coyote Group's "Glee Club." (Written by Matthew Freeman,and Directed by Kyle Ancowitz) It was the first theater production I've seen this year -unusual for me, because in the past three years not only have I seen a lot of theater, but I worked in the theater, and reviewed theater productions as well. The play was a part of The Anti-Depressant Festival at the Brick Theater in Williamsburg, Brooklyn. In the interests of full disclosure, I should say that I have worked with Blue Coyote before, and the director of "Glee Club," is an old friend of mine. That said, I found this production to be a vital, fun, interesting and even important play, and beneath its fun, it underscores the anxiety and ambivalence a lot of artists feel about the work they're doing today.

The play is about a group of singers - the Romeo, Vermont Glee Club - practicing for a performance coming up that Saturday at an old folks home. The play casts a colorful cast of oddballs and ne'er-do-wells: Greg, whose cancer has been in remission for fifteen years, and who insists all the same he's liable to die from it any day; Paul, a psychopath who occasionally quips in with creepy non-sequitors; Stan, the moralist of the play - an alcoholic who is awaiting his rock-bottom moment; and the star of the Glee Club, their best singer Hank, an alcoholic who actually has hit rock bottom and managed to get off the sauce and get himself to AA meetings. The group is run by Ben, a petulant perfectionist who eerily reminded me of the group leader of the Chevy Chase children's choir, when I used to sing for them in performances with the Paul Hill Chorale. Every single one of the actors does a stellar and completely convincing job; moreover they keep us delighted and entertained throughout, even as we shake our heads at their moral fiber - or lack thereof.

The great dilemma of the play centers around Hank's recovery. Ever since he stopped drinking, his voice hasn't been the same. Most of the members of the Glee Club either state outright they want him to start drinking again, or skirt around the suggestion, in hopes that he eventually will; it's a tension that translates to the audience: the song they are to perform(music and lyrics written by Stephen Speights) is constantly interrupted throughout the performance by Ben's impatience with the singers, leaving the audience anxious to hear the entirety of it - an impossibility, we soon realize, if Hank does not start drinking again.

For these singers, everything is at stake, and nothing is at stake. What matter if a completely unknown Glee Club in Romeo, Vermont gives a mediocre performance? Then again, the very existence of the Glee Club may depend upon a successful performance. (their sole sponsor will be part of the audience Saturday)The relationship between the singers is caustic at its worst, and superficial at its best - and yet it's all any of them have. Is this performance really worth the life of one of its members? Is successful art and questionable camaraderie really worth the levels of moral degradation these singers subject themselves to?

The answer, of course, is no; and yet it's not a question the audience is really at liberty to ask. The play is a play of relationships and decisions - and each of the singers must make his own decision about what the work, the team and their relationships to each other mean, and what worth they have, if any. Suffice it to say, when the ensemble finally finished performing the song at the end of the show, the audience greeted it with ecstatic applause.