Cabaret Scenes Theatre Review

“I have a story to tell, a story to tell about a family and a country trying to find its way” opens Sycamore Trees. Ricky Ian Gordon and Nina Mankin’s play is both a personal reminiscence of a family’s journey as well as a chronicle of the tumultuous second half of the twentieth century. We watch as Sydney Sylvan, a WWII vet, moves his family to the suburbs and he, his wife, and four children deal with social unrest, drugs, relationships, coming out, AIDS, self-help and recovery.

Director Tina Landau stages the story with cinematic theatricality. In fact, the directness and immediacy of the musical material, the script, and the staging make the show feel like the family’s cabaret act. Gordon has contributed fascinating songs dealing with topics as disparate as suburban promise, drug addiction, same-sex relationships, watercolors and self-help.

I anticipate seeing a number of these songs in future cabaret presentations. And I hope to have a chance to hear this music again because, like much contemporary theatrical writing, a Jerry Herman-esque immediacy has been sacrificed for an attempt at a Stephen Sondheim-esque complexity. (Although these days, the work of writers like Gordon, Adam Guettel and Michael John LaChiusa is making Sondheim sound as simple and straightforward as Herman.)

The show is performed by a whiz-bang cast, including several cabaret veterans. Jessica Molaskey is fabulously prickly as the oldest daughter and scores movingly in the number about addiction. Marc Kudisch brings sympathy and insight to the role of the family patriarch, and Tony Yazbeck manages the balancing act of being inredibly sweet as the son/narrator of the piece without being at all cloying. And there is the special thrill of watching Judy Kuhn rap in her featured song about self-help.

The show covers material that baby boomers have now been mining for a while. And the untidiness of the topic is reflected in a somewhat scatter-shot theatrical effect. But Sycamore Trees final statement, “I am them and they are me,” also seems to say that this unrest has been necessary in order to achieve growth as people and as a nation.

(Pictured: Marc Kudisch, Tony Yazbeck, and Judy Kuhn. Photo: Scott Suchman)

Michael Miyazaki
Cabaret Scenes
May 30, 2010
www.cabaretscenes.org



	Sycamore Trees Signature Theatre Arlington, VA
“I have a story to tell, a story to tell about a family and a country trying to find its way” opens Sycamore Trees. Ricky Ian Gordon and Nina Mankin’s play is both a personal reminiscence of a family’s journey as well as a chronicle of the tumultuous second half of the twentieth century. We watch as Sydney Sylvan, a WWII vet, moves his family to the suburbs and he, his wife, and four children deal with social unrest, drugs, relationships, coming out, AIDS, self-help and recovery. Director Tina Landau stages the story with cinematic theatricality. In fact, the directness and immediacy of the musical material, the script, and the staging make the show feel like the family’s cabaret act. Gordon has contributed fascinating songs dealing with topics as disparate as suburban promise, drug addiction, same-sex relationships, watercolors and self-help. I anticipate seeing a number of these songs in future cabaret presentations. And I hope to have a chance to hear this music again because, like much contemporary theatrical writing, a Jerry Herman-esque immediacy has been sacrificed for an attempt at a Stephen Sondheim-esque complexity. (Although these days, the work of writers like Gordon, Adam Guettel and Michael John LaChiusa is making Sondheim sound as simple and straightforward as Herman.) The show is performed by a whiz-bang cast, including several cabaret veterans. Jessica Molaskey is fabulously prickly as the oldest daughter and scores movingly in the number about addiction. Marc Kudisch brings sympathy and insight to the role of the family patriarch, and Tony Yazbeck manages the balancing act of being inredibly sweet as the son/narrator of the piece without being at all cloying. And there is the special thrill of watching Judy Kuhn rap in her featured song about self-help. The show covers material that baby boomers have now been mining for a while. And the untidiness of the topic is reflected in a somewhat scatter-shot theatrical effect. But Sycamore Trees final statement, “I am them and they are me,” also seems to say that this unrest has been necessary in order to achieve growth as people and as a nation. (Pictured: Marc Kudisch, Tony Yazbeck, and Judy Kuhn. Photo: Scott Suchman) Michael Miyazaki Cabaret Scenes May 30, 2010 www.cabaretscenes.org

Sycamore Trees

Signature TheatreArlington, VA

Signature Theatre
Arlington, VA