"Row After Row" Is Billed as Dark Comedy

By Sallicio (Own work) [Public domain], via Wikimedia Commons

The Civil War was about a lot of things.

It was not primarily about equaility as Jessica Dickey seems to suggest in "Row After Row," a Women's Project Theatre production at City Center's Stage II through February 16th. Mostly the war between the states was a horrific slaughter, made more awful because it pitted a once united people against each other.

It's hard to say what motivates anyone to want to re-enact these battles. In "Row After Row," the motives vary. Tom (Erik Lochtefeld) is a history teacher/nerd/buff. He and Cal (PJ Sosko) are both Gettysburg natives. Leah (Rosie Benton) is new in town and thought this might be a way to get to meet.

Clearly, it's an intense experience for all three of the protagonists.

As directed by Daniella Topol, "Row After Row," transitions smoothly but jarringly from the present day back to the scene of the battle in 1863. Clint Ramos' costumes and sets -- the scenery is strictly minimalist-- with a mostly bare stage edged all around by fallen timbers-- are arresting. The stage design plays more towards the tragic, however, while the text is a sloppy mix of romance, comedy and pagentry.

Rosie benton has exhibited charm in roles at the Mint Theatre and Broadway's "Stick Fly" in the past several years. Here she can't help but be affable even when she's cornered into gratuitous silliness about "history" being "his story." That is not to say she doesn't embody called for fiereceness as Leah. Erik Lochtefeld is a wimpy and harrowed intellectual. His Tom dithers and vacilates, telling a truth about the uneven sweep of history. PJ Sosko's Cal, on the other hand, is a doer. His sensitive good old boy with a platinum heart is compelling. "I did not see that coming," Leah says when he waxes sophisticate.

Unfortunately, despite the best efforts of the talent in "Row After Row," the play is an unsatisfying work. It's neither fish nor fowl, as drama and tragedy lurk in the Civil War flashbacks, while touches of "meet cute" infect the post reenactment drinks at the tavern.

The distraction of having "trauma dogs" in the first row, practically participating in the play's proceedings, is unhelpful to the play's cause.

A Holiday At War In "A Civil War Christmas"

War makes a mockery of the holiday spirit.

This is exactly what comes to mind as "A Civil War Christmas," at the New York Theatre Workshop through December 30th, begins to tell its story of the last Christmas eve of the Civil War.

Playwright Paula Vogel may have intended it to be a history lesson, but "A Civil War Christmas," is  in fact a mixture of pageant-- in the tradition of the season,-- minstrel show and music hall folly.

A wartime Christmas is most often wistful and nostalgic. The Civil War with its outsized carnage was especially harrowing. The country divided as it was was ground down and in a very low place. Christmas 1864 was anything but festive.  Much of "A Civil War Christmas," seems to trivialize its subject.

Sean Allan Krill, Sumaya Bouhbal, Antwayn Hopper, Bob Stillman,  Rachel Spencer Hewitt, and Alice Ripley in Paula Vogel's "A Civil War Christmas." Photo by Carol Rosegg. 

President Abe Lincoln (Bob Stillman) is forgetful and neglectful of his own safety, cartoonishly evading his security detail (Sean Allan Krill as Mr. Lamon.) The conspirators, who history has shown eventually succeeded in their assassination-- John Wilkes Booth (Sean Allan Krill, again), John Surratt (Chris Henry), and Lewis Payne (Alice Ripley)-- are bumbling whiners.As the First Lady, Mary Todd Lincoln (Alice Ripley-- everyone does multiple duty in this cast), comes across as a kind, erratic and silly woman.

Alice Ripley, Jonathan-David, Sean Allan Krill in in Paula Vogel's "A Civil War Christmas." Photo by Carol Rosegg.

There are notable exceptions to this paint-by-numbers approach to characterization in "A Civil War Christmas," of course.

The well-developed and astutely portrayed Decatur Bronson (K. Todd Freeman), fuelled by his fury at the Confederates who nabbed his wife, Rose (Amber Iman) off their porch, is valiant. Freeman's performance is strong and moving. His Sgt. Bronson, a Black soldier in the Union Army, has a fierce oft-sung mantra, "Take No Prisoners" in keeping with his nature.  Amber Iman lends credence to her roles as Rose, and as a mother, Hannah, searching for her little girl, Jessa (Sumaya Boulbah.)

K. Todd Freeman as Sgt Decatur Bronon with Amber Iman as his wife Rose  in  Paula Vogel's  "A Civil War Christmas." Photo by Carol Rosegg.

Songs,  (musical direction by Andrew Resnick, with supervision & arrangements by Daryl Waters, and incidental music also by Waters,) some traditional like the Negro hymn to freedom, "Follow The Drinking Gourd," some original and others originally built on Yuletide standards, and dance move the narrative along.

Working on a bare, wood-planked stage, the actors pluck props, instruments, and costumes out of the open "closet" that runs along the side. Despite the wealth of talent on display, -- most of the cast not only act, sing and dance, but also play a fiddle or guitar or drum-- all admirably -- and assisted by director Tina Landau, "A Civil War Christmas" feels amateurish. It is a sincere effort but unfortunately, "A Civil War Christmas" never delivers on its promising and heartfelt concept.

For more information about "A Civil War Christmas," please visit http://www.nytw.org/.