THE PARIS GUARDIAN: ARTS AND LEISURE SECTION
FRESH BLOOD, RADICALISM, AND TRIUMPH
Tallahassee (the debut offering of Rosalie Sully, an American musician-cum-writer) is, by definition, a bad opera. It is also the best thing to hit the Palais Garnier's stage in years.
The low budget, off-night production is the first in the opera house's new "avant-garde" season. Management claims the season is to give a chance to new operas and composers. In this reviewer's opinion it is also a chance to make a buck selling seats to cheap productions.
Tallahassee stars four ballet/chorus members. Their voices are nice, but inexperienced, the set is non-existent, the costumes out of the actor's closets, and the dance a mish-mash of true ballet and everything from acrobatics to combat. It breaks every rule and I love every minute of it. The rough edges and the raw young performers bring the bare-bones music and uncomfortable script to life in a way a polished production never could.
The story follows the "alpha couple" as they move to a run down house in the eponymous town. Theatre is full of lovers and the obstacles they overcome. I have seen lovers overcoming harsh parents, feuding families, uncaring societies, unjust justice, and malevolent gods. Tallahassee offers two lovers overcoming each other for the sake of their love. A woman and a man (unnamed in the show and listed in the program as the "alpha female" and "alpha male" respectively) arrive in town to an unfurnished house/stage. They populate the emptiness with a sofa, chairs, mattress, and an ashtray, while singing about the end-of-their-rope circumstances that brought them there. They proceed to enact a train wreck; two people so desperately in love they ruin each other. The mood shifts from manic joy, to looming dread, to contented resignation, to raging hatred, to ecstatic mutual destruction, all accompanied by a few guitars, some drums, and a piano.
Josee Bonnet and Betrand Houtem deliver visceral performances as the leads. They brush up against the melodrama of the plot (and for all it's strong points it can be melodramatic as the players sing of drowning together "hand in unlovable hand") without losing the gut wrenching reality of their situation. Though swept under the rug by polite society, I am willing to bet that every person reading this article has either experienced or witnessed a relationship wherein, in the words of director Charles Cushman, "both parties have realized that the person [they] want to sing all [their] love songs to, is also the person [they] want to destroy."
Cushman is a fresh face from America. True to the stereotypes of his birthplace, the young man flouts all tradition. In our brief interview, Mr. Cushman detailed his vision of theatre: "the purpose of theatre is to exhilarate. However possible. Anything, any reaction—joy, disgust, awe, fear, laughter—that is the aim. Because big reactions means people are going to think about it." I certainly will be. And, love it or hate, Tallahassee will stick with you. Forget the prima donnas and prima ballerinas this director is the new rising star to watch out for.
Tallahassee runs 2 hours long. Evening performances Sunday through Wednesday. Tickets available from the Palais Garnier box-office. Limited seating on and around the stage (Cushman closed off much of the auditorium to achieve an intimate mood). Stars: Josee Bonnet, Bertrand Houtem, Thorsten Fournier, and Hennie Van Der Aart. Writer/composer: Rosalie Sully. Director: Charles Saunders Cushman.
Erik read the months old article again that night because of what happened at the masquerade. Surrounded by a terrified audience and sitting on the steps in Erik's shadow, Charles Cushman read the script of Don Juan Triumphant.
All profit and rights go to the estate of Gaston Leroux. Also to Andrew Lloyd Webber, whose musical introduced me to this story.
The story is named for the album that outlines its arc: "Heretic Pride" by the Mountain Goats. "Tallahassee" is also an album of theirs, so if you would like to listen to the story of "the alpha couple" (they are called so by the fandom) please do look it up on youtube and consider buying the album.