We’re already enchanted by playwright Sarah Ruhl’s playful re-imagining of the tragic Greek tale of Eurydice, when the black light enhanced makeup on the faces and hands of the three Stones seals our mirth. The three Stones – Large, Loud and Small—wear costumes that would win first place in any Halloween competition. They are the rule keepers of sorts in the underworld that our heroine stumbles into on her wedding day, right after a good dousing in the River Styx washed away her memories. Through this ghoul Greek Chorus, we and the title character and her long dead father learn the rules: There’s no music in this underworld and dead people can’t sing.
A world without music is about as opposite as one can get from Eurydice’s prior life. Orpheus, her love and husband of one-day, is a man driven by music. When she died, his compositions of joyful wedding music turned into dirge after dirge. It’s his way of reaching out to her, and the prelude to his fateful journey to retrieve her from death.
In Ruhl’s re-telling Eurydice gets to explain why this mission was botched. That one twist will likely appeal to many. There is much more-- nearly every line and gesture in this script probes into the meaning of relationships, shared memories, and what it is to be a thing called human with a time stamped ending. In another era, this production could be bookended by Bob Hope singing Thanks for the Memories.
The Artistic Home Gives Playwright Ruhl’s Script Its Due
We can see and hear this script’s multi-layers in no small way due to the beyond perfect performances by the entire cast, the spot on direction and creative team work, in this writer’s view. Javier Carmona came from heaven’s central casting to transfix us with both his monologues of memories and his wordless dance to give away his daughter at her wedding. Karla Corona in the title role, with Stephen Cooper as Orpheus, delight as the offbeat yet fresh-faced and fresh-bodied young lovers. Armed with Ruhl’s quirky dialogue, they seem to render Romeo & Juliet so yesterday! With over-the-top camp, Todd Wojcik as the creepy guy and then Lord of the Underworld is the poster boy of dirty-old-man-at-any-age potential. To detail it would be a spoiler; suffice it to say it’s a non-stop crack up performance. Similarly, give the Stones but a passing glance as they move from background to fore, and you will be smiling.
Eurydice is a good match for avid theater goers who seek the rare production that entertains as equally as it probes into deeper meanings.
