Dance Review
by Henry Baumgartner
Mom Goes Mad at La MaMa
Valerie Striar's "Il Barone Rampante (The Baron in the Trees)"
La MaMa E.T.C.
November 19 - 22, 1998
Reviewed 11/22 by Henry F. Baumgartner
Comic dance is notoriously different to pull off, and in fact not many on the downtown scene make the effort. But Valerie Striar revealed remarkable abilities in this line in her recent Il Barone Rampante at La MaMa. This dance-theater piece, inspired by Italo Calvino's The Baron in the Trees and conceived, directed, and choreographed by Striar, was staged at La MaMa's First Street branch after a lengthy period of gestation (bits and pieces of it had been showing up as works-in-progress for some time). The story concerns a young Baron named Cosimo who, fleeing his whimsical and overbearing mother and the demands of society, takes up residence in the treetops, where he communes with the local wildlife and produces a Constitution for an Ideal State in the Trees. The narrative, however, was not the main point of the exercise, and it often seemed to be given only glancing treatment; this was, after all, basically a dance piece, and Striar, as La Generalessa, Cosimo's mother, went full out¯tottering crazily about or popping her eyes out at some bizarre provocation, she was a sight not to be missed.
The rest of the cast was fine, too, notably Patti Bradshaw, a dancer I'm always pleased to see, and Frank Schneider, who also shows considerable comic talent. Britt Whitton, though clearly no child, was engaging as the arboreal Baron. The simple but clever set design was by Walter Martinelli; costumes were by Leslie Chilton and Striar. The lighting design, at a theater where "across the footlights" is no mere figure of speech, was by Kay Albright.
As the show begins, we see Bradshaw and Schneider framing themselves, holding a pair of ornate picture frames. These are the distinguished Ancestors whose portraits adorn the palace, but they are hardly content to hang mutely on the walls. "Stop snoring!" "Who are you?" "He's senile." "Who is she?" and so forth escape their presumably painted lips. This is fun if a bit confusing, since the Ancestors don't have much to do with the story, existing only to be torn from their frames and smashed in one of Cosimo's fits of vandalism. This bad behavior has been provoked, it seems, by La Generalessa, who comes fluttering in, her uniform bedecked with medals, swaying feverishly back and forth somewhat like a child's top--a large and seriously demented one, to be sure. As she oscillates wildly around the floor or takes the delinquent Cosimo over her knee, her eyes seem about to pop right out of her head. I've never seen anything quite like this delightful cartoon of a character; one might be reminded of the mad queens and duchesses of Lewis Carroll.
Another chance to shine comes in a zany duet for Striar and Bradshaw that apparently depicts Cosimo's dream picture of adults, danced to what sounds like Indonesian music. Striar twitters and mugs as they slap each other and crawl about, squeaking. Given this view of the adult state, it's no wonder Cosimo heads for the trees, despite mother's attempt to entice him down with a nice, heaping plate of snails. "How can you be a Baron if you don't eat snails?" she asks, sensibly enough.
The plot plays out to the story's end, including a particularly fetching bit by Bradshaw as the love of Cosimo's life, but after La Generalessa's demise the piece begins to hang a bit limply. It is in its comic dances that the piece finds its real life. I am told that the piece may have yet more evolution in store for it. Let us hope that a new incarnation will treat at even greater length of the joys of dysfunctional motherhood. [Baumgartner]
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