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Floyd Collins Plano Repertory Theatre is the only theatre in the metroplex that continues to produce and mount new musicals. While other theatres will not take the financial and artistic risk of bringing new works to audiences, PRT will. They have mounted such new musicals as My Favorite Year, Passion and Sunday In The Park With George. Each of these productions had both good and bad points. The same goes for Floyd Collins. While the musical does have its riches, it also has its share of problems. The plot, based on real events, is simple; a man named Floyd Collins (Stan Graner) goes exploring in a dark cave in 1925 Kentucky. His foot becomes crushed and broken, and he is caught in a tight hole he had tried to squirm through, resulting in him being encased in a coffin of stone and rock. Above ground, Floyd's family and the local men folk try in vain to rescue him. His family is headed by a strict father, Lee (Jim Green), and includes a sister who seems simple and lost, Nellie (Dara Whitehead), and a brother, Homer (Donald R. Fowler), who wants more out of life than what has been given to him. Also in this family of poor Kentucky stock is Miss Jane (Amy Stevenson), a caring and loving woman. News of Floyd's predicament spreads, bringing the arrival of a reporter, Skeets (Doug Miller) who tries to get the story and becomes personally involved in the man's plight to get out of that dark cave. With media attention, Floyd becomes a carnival-like attraction, but try as they may, they cannot dig the man out of his dark and cold rock prison. The book and the score are major problems for this show. While the basic plot is interesting, the book and lyrics don't give enough real insight into most of the characters to make you care and truly understand their plight and inner workings. The book is very uneven and goes into sporadic episodic commentary that leaves major gaps and holes in the movement of the piece. Also, why were there no other females in the cast besides the two I mentioned above? Homer and Skeets are really the only two characters that have any true arc written for them. Floyd, oddly enough, becomes more of a one tone character. He's stuck in cave, but why? What lies in his life prior to that accident? Lyrics can provide more information, move the character's arc, and provide a look into a character's heart, mind, and soul. The lyrics in the songs in Floyd Collins are too simplistic and paint by number - they don't allow the characters to peel the layers away and offer more emotional insight. In this score, composer Adam Guettel pays homage to such musical theatre composers as Stephen Sondheim and Kurt Weill. There are overtones of Sondheim's earlier work, particularly Merrily We Roll Along. The score is a mixture of bluegrass and yodeling. The yodeling is used to brilliant success at the beginning of the piece. Graner yodels various notes into and from the cave, and from various areas of the actual theatre you hear a singer repeat them. But the yodeling gets to be bothersome when it keeps popping up in the score throughout the evening, a fresh idea stretched past its limit. The score tends to go into avant-garde mode and becomes distorted and slightly off kilter. A soloist may be singing one note, but the orchestra is playing a different chord or chord structure, thus leaving the singer slightly off pitch or half a step off the note. A couple of the songs do hit pay dirt, melodically, and are pleasurable to the ear, but the bulk of the score sounds as if the composer Guettel was trying too hard to be original and unique. Even with an uninteresting score and tedious book, director Dr. John Warriner brings a remarkable cast and production staff to challenge themselves and to create new levels of artistic freedom that should be applauded. Warriner's blocking is first rate. The purposeful use of the entire set adds texture to the piece. Warriner keeps action going on top of the cave while Floyd lies motionless below, and creates wonderful "picture windows" with his blocking. Stan Graner as Floyd Collins has a hell of a challenge for any actor, especially for a tenor! Graner has to sing for most of the evening in the constraining position of lying on his side or back. He performs the score bravely. There are times when the score does overpower Graner's vocal instrument, but this happens only occasionally. His best vocal moments come in the solo, "Blue Eyes," and the duets with his brother, "The Riddle Song" and "Daybreak". His diction is crisp and he shines in his acting. He shows deep love for his siblings and gives off southern kindness to the stranger who is writing a story about him. Dara Whitehead portrays Nellie Collins with poignant and tender emotion. She shows Nellie's deep compassion for her brother, an emotion which is clearly visible on her face and through her powerful acting. I have seen Ms. Whitehead in previous productions, but in this, her finest performance of the season, she is heartbreaking. Donald R. Fowler gives a wonderful performance as Homer, Floyd's brother. Homer is one of the few characters with a defined arc, and Fowler rides it with stirring emotion and conviction. His chemistry with Graner is the best of the production. Both Graner and Fowler really show compassion for each other; this is felt in their scene work and duets within the score. Fowler also has some of the best songs in the score, including the duets "The Riddle Song" and "Daybreak," with Graner and his affecting solo, "Git Comfortable." Doug Miller is both heartfelt and charming as the reporter who wants to do the right thing. Miller delivers a heartrending performance. His finest moments come when he first meets Collins in the cave, followed by his solo, "I Landed on Him". But you feel Miller's heart break when he has to leave Floyd in the dark cave as it starts to collapse. Amy Stevenson's singing is marvelous. Her beautiful soprano vocals add magic and beauty to her two duets, "Lucky" (gorgeous harmonies in that duet with Whitehead) and the sad song, "Heart an' Hand" with Jim Green. Alas, the book does not give Stevenson much to work with; the role is written weakly, but that still does not stop Stevenson from giving it her all. Jim Green gives Lee, the patriarch of the Collins family, the right combination of strong father figure and southern coldness. John Reba portrays H.T. Carmichael, a wealthy contractor who wants to dig into the earth and assist in rescuing Collins as long as the media watches. While Reba has no solo, he still gives the role authority and purpose. In minor roles, there are two trios: one of reporters, and the other of local townsmen. The reporters (Jacob Villarreal, Chad Hutchinson, & Regan Adair) have the best company number in the show, the vaudeville flavored "Is That Remarkable?" This number is greatly aided by Paula Morelan's terrific jazz choreography. Villarreal and Adair dance with commitment and precision, though Hutchinson at times is a beat behind his colleagues. The choreography has precise hand gestures, jazz squares, and precise use of hats and "puppet notepads", so if someone is a beat behind, it shows. I'm sure once Hutchinson gets more comfortable in the choreography he will match the other two. Regardless, it is my personal favorite company number of the evening. The harmonies of all three singers are crisp, clean, and bounce back with energy. Adair is also quite enjoyable as the holier than thou, chain smoking film director that comes to Barren County, Kentucky to create movie magic. The other trio consists of C. Todd Young (Bishop), Greg Allen (Doyle), and Logan Culwell (Estes). Young sings the bluegrass number "The Ballad of Floyd Collins (Reprise)" quite nicely with a touch of sadness. The unseen stars of the show would have to be Musical Director Mark Mullino and his superb orchestra. The rich musical sounds that come from the small seven piece orchestra bring tremendous life to the score. Mullino does not let the volume overpower the company, and his conducting of the underscoring adds a lot to the overall quality of the show. The score is peppered with odd and unique notes and sounds; Mullino (who also plays the piano in the pit) keeps these sounds alive, in tempo, and full of vitality. Bryan Wofford's set design is one of the most magnificent to grace a metroplex stage. The mammoth slanted rock set has entrances from several points. It also has wooden planks, ladders, ropes, and grass. It is one of the finest pieces of set design and would rival any Equity house in the metroplex. Wofford creates the lonely and empty life of the cave and of Kentucky. Lighting Designer Jeff Stover covers Wofford's set with exceptional taste and beauty. His use of fuchsia, blood red, and cornflower blue gels to create mood behind the company fits like a glove on Wofford's set. He uses effective small touches, such as the basic white bulb light effect for the tunnel, the oranges and yellows to create the mood of heat, and the light lavender that bathed Floyd in the tunnel. Floyd Collins could never survive on Broadway, eclectic musicals never do. The book needs so much work, and the score, for the most part, just sits there. It does not soar or create the true heartfelt emotion that the piece requires. Regardless, PRT will always have my deepest respect for presenting new works to explore, to view, and to discuss, and that's the kind of theatre I enjoy the most. Floyd Collins Book by Tina Landau CAST |
