Theater News

Pickin’ Up the Pieces

Filichia makes a return trip to Abyssinia in support of the North Shore Music Theater.

Shannon Antalan in Abyssinia
(Photo © Paul Lyden)
Shannon Antalan in Abyssinia
(Photo © Paul Lyden)

I felt terrible when I heard that the North Shore Music Theatre in Beverly, Massachusetts had a serious fire last month. As a native Bostonian, this theater-in-the-round was an important component of my early theatergoing experience. I first set foot inside the tent in 1965 for A Funny Thing Happened on the Way to the Forum with Mickey Deems (who played multiple roles in Little Me). Later I saw Molly Picon do Dolly Levi, Joe Masiell in Cole Porter’s You Never Know, Jones and Schmidt’s Philemon, and New Faces of 1966. (That eventually became New Faces of 1968; producer Leonard Sillman needed two years to raise enough money to bring it to Broadway.)

Summer stock tents have come and gone over the decades, but North Shore has always managed to stay afloat — and, in fact, thrive. The canvas sides gave way to steel panels long ago, and air conditioning replaced people fanning themselves with their programs and simultaneously killing mosquitoes. This year, the theater celebrated its 50th anniversary; but that celebration that was cut short on July 14, when fire destroyed the stage and all 1,800 seats. Now artistic director/executive producer Jon Kimbell faced his biggest challenge in his 22 years on the job.

Rodgers and Hammerstein’s Cinderella had to be scrapped (it will be done in 2006), but Kimbell hoped the theater could be repaired in time for the August 23 opening of Abyssinia. Alas, late October was the best that the contruction people could promise. Would Abyssinia and Camelot, the September attraction, have to be postponed or even canceled? Not at all. Josiah A. Spaulding — president and CEO of the Wang Center, which manages the Shubert in downton Boston — called Kimbell and offered him the latter house and its 1,600 seats for both runs. “Rent free,” Kimbell told me in a most grateful voice.

So I drove up to Boston. The Shubert was important in my early theatergoing experience, too. It’s where I saw Barbra Streisand, Martin Sheen, Richard Burton, Sammy Davis, Robert Preston, and Chita Rivera — all in one year! (1964). True, I’d seen Abyssinia three times over the past 15 years, in all of its tries to reach Broadway — which it never has done. I understand why, and it’s not just because the title is terrible. (The title suggests a show about the African country, but it’s actually about a young black girl named Abyssinia coming of age in Oklahoma in the early 1900’s. I’ve always felt that the show’s logical home was not Broadway but church basements.)

Abyssinia (played by the excellent Shannon Antalan) is a true believer who thanks the Lord for her beautiful voice and uses is to praise Him each Sunday. Then her father unexpectedly dies — and on the same day, she is raped by three punks. As the first act ends, in front of the entire congregation, Abyssinia tells her pastor (Edward M. Barker) that she no longer believes in God, and storms out. As the second act begins, the parishioners sternly look to the pastor for answers. How could God do such a terrible thing to a nice girl like Abyssinia? Lord, does that preacher look worried that he’s going to lose his entire congregation. But that’s when he delivers one of musical theater’s greatest second-act openers, telling the assembled that when things get really tough, you must be “Pickin’ up the Pieces.” He makes every one of them a believer again.

Kimbell had no idea, when he chose Abyssinia for this slot, that the show would make so many inadvertent comments on the fire. Indeed, he and his troupe did have to pick up the pieces — the ones that Beowulf Borritt had designed for the more modest circular stage of North Shore. The vast Shubert stage showed a clearing in the woods and a few trees behind it, in front of which everything took place. There was no church. And when Abyssinia was told, “Why don’t you get yourself dressed and come on out of your room?”, she in fact was already out. That there was just a bed would have been easier to accept in the round; but it didn’t much matter when B.J. Crosby as Abyssinia’s grandmother sang the lovely “Honey and Lemon,” which centers on the fact that life has sweet things in it to ameliorate the sour ones.

Now, there’s another inadvertent message for North Shore. Abyssinia turned out to be full of them: “There has to be a reason why things happen the way they do.” “We’ve all been through some hard times around here.” “We can start over.” Director Stafford Arima had to do just that, changing his blocking from in-the-round to proscenium. For North Shore subscribers who have a tough time commuting — they tend to live near Beverly, about 30 miles away from the Shubert — the theater is offering free bus service.

I was there mainly to offer my support, but I also enjoyed hearing Ted Kociolek’s music again. Abyssinia has had plenty of regional productions — it will be at Goodspeed (again) after this run. Yet in an age when a lot of junk gets cast albums, this show’s soaring music has yet to be preserved on disc. Abyssinia’s opening song, “Lift up Your Voice (to Heaven)” is glorious. “Sweet, Sweet Music” is most aptly named. “Get Thee Behind Me, Satan” — sung by some townies — is a rousing trio. There isn’t a mediocre tune in the bunch, although James Racheff’s lyrics are no more than serviceable. Granted, the songs don’t always enhance the plot or move the action forward; more often than not, they simply re-state what’s just been said in Kociolek and Racheff’s book. Still, Abyssinia offers such terrific music that I’m always glad when someone in the show starts singing. If this score isn’t recorded soon, I may begin to lose faith.

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[To contact Peter Filichia directly, e-mail him at pfilichia@theatermania.com]