No Angels Here

In the early 1990s, Tony Kushner’s Angels in America was hailed as a breakthrough theater piece, which certainly ups the curiosity factor regarding A Bright Room Called Day, a 1985 Kushner work receiving its local premiere at Actors Bridge Ensemble. This older play finds Kushner wrestling with some of the themes—society and politics, among them—that he would continue to develop in his more mature work.

It’s Berlin 1932, and the apartment of actress Agnes Eggling is the central meeting place for her theatrical and otherwise leftist friends, all of whom fear the growing Nazi tide. As rear-screen video keeps us abreast of German current events—over a roughly two-year period during which Hitler consolidates his power—Agnes and her coterie see their lives changing, and each, in turn, strives to find a way to adjust to the new order, while “waiting for fascism to run its course.”

What had been for Agnes “the most exciting days of my life” morphs into the nightmarish destruction of her social world, her friends delivering one pained exegesis after another in which they affirm their abhorrence of the coming Third Reich and their realization that they must flee Germany before it’s too late. Once Agnes views the flames of the February 1933 Reichstag fire from her parlor window, her essential optimism suffers a fatal blow.

Kushner’s episodic structure—lights up/lights down on many, many scenes—surrounds a cast of self-absorbed folks who take themselves seriously, drink a fair amount of booze, and deliver his often self-indulgent dialogue in only varying shades of maudlin. This darkness is rarely leavened by Don Griffiths’ direction, in which players too often stand (or sit) like statues and make their pregnant pronouncements. More imaginative blocking might’ve lent this production the stronger sense of movement that it sorely needs.

Nettie Kraft manages a game performance as Agnes, the figure of hope in a world of despair. As Paulinka, an actress who resignedly throws in her lot with the Führer’s film program, Cynthia Tucker offers the most consistent and gratifying portrayal. Marc Mazzone, as Agnes’ Hungarian boyfriend Husz, mostly stays on one dour note (albeit a competent one). Timothy Orr Fudge as the homosexual Baz disappoints, possibly due to questionable casting, and his character’s declaration that Hitler “will build an army and start looking for war” seems to benefit mostly from convenient 20/20 historical hindsight.

Leah Jensen-Rader provides one of the evening’s more interesting efforts, taking on two symbolic yet elusive roles, including that of the devil emerging from a sudden cloud of vapors. Her fairly exotic, catlike presence brings a welcome contrast to the more static patches of staging.

Kushner’s original script included a series of scenes in which a modern-day character decries fascism and draws analogies between Hitler and Ronald Reagan. Over time, theater companies have seen fit to dispense with these contentious (and now dated) sidebars, and director Griffiths has followed suit. It makes for a mercifully shorter evening at any rate.

Am I blue?Casting executives from the world-renowned Blue Man Group will be in Nashville on June 12, holding auditions from 11 a.m.to 4 p.m. at The Arts Company (215 Fifth Ave. N.). While BMG holds regular monthly auditions in New York and somewhat less often in Los Angeles, they also target other cities, and Nashville is receiving its first-ever slot in the casting process.

The typical Blue Man must be between 5-foot-10 and 6-foot-1 with an athletic build, possess solid drumming skills, be an excellent actor, and be willing to relocate, given BMG’s nine ongoing international and domestic productions plus its occasional world tours.

“This is a process that never stops,” says Deb Burton, BMG casting director for 10 years. “Blue Men don’t necessarily come from acting backgrounds. They just as easily come from music backgrounds.” Auditions were conducted in Austin during the most recent SXSW, and five potential performers were brought to New York for further consideration.

“The callbacks are more in-depth,” Burton says. “That’s a real sink-or-swim process. These initial auditions are for getting a basic feel for the person’s understanding of the character—how he thinks, acts, moves. We only hire 1 to 2 percent of the people we see in an entire year. For example, 17 Blue Men were hired in 2007 out of 2,000 to 3,000 candidates.”

According to Burton, only one female has ever been hired. “It’s tough to find a female who fits the physical requirements and can also drum,” she says.

Those who survive both the audition and the callback then embark on an eight-week training program—what Burton calls “Blue Man boot camp”—from which about 40 percent eventually get cut. Blue Man Group is not affiliated with any union, and weekly salaries are comparable to a typical Broadway show contract.