Personal Theatrical Musings on Performances

Sunday, March 16, 2008

"The Addding Machine" at the Minetta Lane Theater on Feb. 25. NY, NY.


"The Adding Machine" is a musical for people who love theater that pushes the boundaries of its form and that examine life seriously. It's a wonderful musical but not for folks who think "Rent" or "Wicked" are great, which is to say it's serious, both in its form and theme. It strives to examine life rather than simply entertain but if you like to smart theater, it's terribly entertaining. After I finished seeing it I wanted to buy a ticket to see it again in 15 minutes.

"The Adding Machine" received its world premier in Chicago at the Next Theatre. It's a musical adaptation of the 1920's play by Elmer Rice. It about a man, Mr. Zero, who gets fired from his job adding numbers on his 25th anniversary with the company. Thinking he's going to get a raise, he's let go and replaced by an adding machine. Worried about his ability to make ends meet and angry for this betrayal, he kills his boss. He's put to death and once dead he finds himself not in hell but in the Elysian Fields, an afterlife where you can still live in passion. Mr. Zero is offended that the wicked, as he sees them, are not punished in hell and he hides flees beauty and pleasure, working on an adding machine for the rest of his time in the afterworld. In a way, this is a play about how capitalism's obsession with productivity dehumanizes us but even more, I think, it's about our personal impulse to be used as machines rather than seeking out beauty and pleasure. The tragedy of the play is not just that he's replaced by the adding machine but that he becomes one willingly.

This show is pretty darn close to perfect. The music reflects the 1920's but it's also fresh and new. The story is interesting. And the performances are superb. There's a moment in the play when Mr. Zero and a woman he works with remember a moment when they might have touched each other and chosen to be together, and thus be happy. The script, singing, and acting are superb, a combination than one sees too rarely in theater. I can't recommend this enough.

2 comments:

Esther said...

Well, I love "Wicked" and "Rent" and while I haven't seen "The Adding Machine," it certainly sounds like a musical I might like. I like to think my tastes are pretty varied. I'll try anything and everything. I can appreciate and enjoy more than one style of musical. So I don't think the two are mutually exclusive.

david said...

yes, yes and yes. and though I thought differently during the first half, i fear that people who like "rent" and "wicked" will not like this play. the woman next to me found it "way too confusing" and "would have left if they let us take an intermission!" (please, no more intermissions!)

you didn't give enough attention to the acting, which i thought was raw and guttural and real and superb. every word was perfect ("accidental, on purpose"??? that's like instantaneous i've-wet-myself material). the two lead women were particularly a joy to watch.

thoughts on the religious components? also interesting, though i think the general commentary on how we enslave ourselves to societal expectations is much more universal and meaningful. i could have done with out some of the religious references.