Madame X

By Paul Bruce and Stephanie Masse

AlleyCat Productions   

http://www.SeeMadameX.com/

 

Madame X, written in 1906 by French playwright Alexandre Bisson, was first performed on Broadway in 1910, starring Sarah Bernhardt.  Since then, this play has seen three Broadway revivals, as well as being adapted for the cinematic screen a total of six times, from its earliest version as a silent film in 1916 to the latest reincarnation as a Filipino erotic thriller in the year 2000.  Here in Chicago, we are lucky to be presented with a fine world-premier adaptation of this play as a musical drama.

 

All of the adaptations possess the same expositional framework: a talented young lawyer, catching his neglected wife with another man, throws her out of the house, banning her from seeing her young son, telling the lad that his mother has died.  The wife, having no money, falls into prostitution and drug-abuse, and twenty years later finds herself facing murder charges, her appointed lawyer being none other than her unknowing son.  The name “Madame X” comes from the fact that, when charged for the murder, she refuses to speak or tell them her name.  The press dubs her moniker “Madame X”.

 

This play has a lot of things going for it.  The voices are simply magnificent.  All of them shine - the cast’s large numbers perfectly balanced; the solos strong and effective.  Although all are exemplary, the best voice is bestowed on a member of the supporting cast, Samantha Scanlan, playing the hotel maid.  She sings her song, “The First Time You Fall In Love” (which, paired with the scene’s other song “The Deal Of The Cards”, hold the most perfect blending of music and lyrics in the production) with great tenderness and clarity.  Her angelic voice left me wanting more. 

 

The two leads are remarkably strong - Stèphanie Hammonds playing wife Jacqueline, and Kenneth Kendall portraying the lawyer husband, Louis.  Adding to the cast are the talented Stanton Nash as the energetic son and Breon Bliss playing the son’s godfather.

 

A few bumps aside, the music and lyrics greatly enhance the show, and can match much of the fare offered on Broadway and large regional theaters.  The composer and lyricist, Paul Bruce (who also co-wrote the book), is at his best in such pieces as “Make Me the Shadow of your Soul”, “The Whisperer’s Waltz” (which masterfully uses the ensemble to its full effect) and “I Need You”.  These pieces, among others, are very hummable - Bruce definitely has a melodic gift that he enviably melds with his skill of masterfully moving the story forward through his lyrics.  The show possesses a 10-piece orchestra, which is large for today’s non-touring shows, and, along with the choral triumphs, sounds superb - all thanks to the commendable music direction from Harry Campagna and Mike Descoteaux. (note to orchestrator: please re-program synth string sounds.  They’re cheesy).

 

The show, for the most part, looks good.  Big kudos must be thrown out to the costume and hair/make-up designers, Janice Pytel and Christina Carlson.  These are some of the best costumes I’ve seen this theatrical season, and the transformation that these two designers produce when bringing the wife Jacqueline from illustrious newly-wed to drug-addicted wench are stunning.  The set is a mixed bag - though the props and set-pieces work well, the actual backdrop, a sort 19-century street villa view, is stoic and has a more of a feeling of a sanitarium rather than a Paris street.

 

There are a few glaring problems with this show, most notably the show’s ending (or rather, lack of ending).  Taking into account the set-up of the show - a murder court case involving a mother and unsuspecting son, one is eagerly led to the assumption that this legal spectacle, along with the fact that the son has been lied to by his father for twenty years, is going to be a dramatic uprising to match any seen on the stage.  But this does not happen.  Suffice it to say that all conflict is supposedly patched up in the final 10-seconds of the final chorus of the final plot-driven song.  This cop-out is unfortunate, leaving me to think, paraphrasing the recent ad-nauseum Illinois political ad “What were they thinking?”.

 

This version of Madame X has been a long time in the coming, the first music being penned in 1989.  I’m assuming that this challenge of a proper finale is quite possibly the most vexing thing that the creative team has been dealing with.  I wish them luck with a successful solution, for with a proper ending, Madame X will most certainly be a successful piece of theatre.  Even so, this present version of Madame X is a powerful piece of drama embedded within a masterful score.  For musical-theatre lovers, this work is a must-see.

 

Rating: Recommended (3-stars)