Weekend reviews

Willie Nelson and Freedom Fest; Rufus Wainwright and Neko Case; 'Mr. Marmalade'; 'The Orpheus Project'

By Ed Crowell
AMERICAN-STATESMAN STAFF
Monday, August 13, 2007

Music: Freedom Fest with Willie Nelson

Move on over, Lindsay, Paris and Amy, the supermarket tabloids added a new name recently: Willie. As in "Willie Dying, Friends Fear." With his manager citing exhaustion, Nelson canceled a few gigs until Friday's commitment to play a benefit for three pro-marijuana organizations at the Backyard.

So we'll dutifully report here that Texas' hardest-working troubadour seemed a bit tired, as tired as any golf-obsessed, weed-worshipping road warrior who picks up a guitar for nearly two hours of songs on a hot summer night. At 74 years of age.

Other than that observation, what can we tell an Austin audience about a Willie show? The crowd was all ages, puffing no more joints than the usual fare at Willie's second century of Fourth of July Picnics.

People cheered the oldies Willie penned or made his own as his index finger pointed skyward, listened respectively to newer numbers, and smiled as he answered applause with "Thank you very good."

So it was standard Willie all the way. And what a shame if we ever take for granted this legend who can tell more about life in some 25 songs than a hundred poets, philosophers or polemists:

"Yesterday is dead and gone and tomorrow's out of sight ... . Bathing my memoried mind in the wetness of its soul ... . I can be moving or I can be still but still is still moving to me ... ."

The words circled back to where we shoved off on "Whiskey River," of course, and Willie urged us on "one ... more ... time."

But the night finally ended because the bus was idling and there's the next show Friday in Oklahoma City and 11 more in August alone, all the way to Maine. If Willie is dying, no one's gonna get him to sit around waiting for it to happen.

—Ed Crowell

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Music: Rufus Wainwright and Neko Case

Rufus Wainwright charmed the pants off Austin on Saturday night. His blend of stage theatrics and solid pop opera songwriting made for an endearing and captivating stage show. The singer shook the stage at a sold-out Stubb's with triumphant, clamoring numbers full of horns, piano and commanding vocals as well as vulnerable songs, featuring just him and his grand piano under a spotlight. Every sustained note, playful anecdote and colorful wardrobe change throughout his set of mostly new songs off "Release the Stars" as well as a few old favorites and covers brought on applause.

Wainwright and band began the night in striped, spirited costumes adorned with glittery pieces of flair. But the loud outfits didn't confuse the intent of the tragically forlorn, solo piano love ballad "The Art Teacher" under the dimmed stage lights. Then, in a turn to the more upbeat, Wainwright brought a contest winner in drag on stage to provide an interpretive dance during the energetically baritone "Between My Legs," which was filled out with trumpet and french horn. During the encore and third costume change, Wainwright donned high heels and a tux for a choreographed, lip-synched performance with his band to their own rendition of "Get Happy," a tune popularized by Judy Garland.

Austin also had a warm welcome back for red-headed, alt-country heroine Neko Case. Her strong and distinct voice, acoustic guitar and waves of pedal steel on the crowd favorite "I Wish I Was the Moon" would have made a great soundtrack to cool desert stargazing with the occasional coyote howl, but instead everyone was packed in a close-quarters sweat-a-thon. Alison Sudol, another fiery-maned singer/songwriter, and the rest of A Fine Frenzy opened with a short set of voluptuous pop songs off her recent debut.

— William Mills

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Theater: 'Mr. Marmalade'

"Mr. Marmalade" is a one-joke play, but Capital T Theatre turns that gag into one of the funniest I've seen in a long time.

Four-year-old Lucy is left mostly to her own devices without any sort of adult supervision or affection, so she invents Mr. Marmalade, only to be ignored by him. While most imaginary friends ride rainbows or fly spaceships, Marmalade trades stocks and scrapes by on a Tony Montana-style cocaine habit. Lucy's only real friend is Larry, New Jersey's youngest suicide attempt. Sounds bleak.

Noah Haidle wrote "Marmalade" with all the precociousness of his characters. He sets it up as a satire, but it feels toothless. Fortunately, Mark Pickell's direction nods to a few disturbing elements of the text, but mostly revels in the distorted fantasy, including a food fight set piece between Larry's imaginary friends, an energetic Matt Hislope and Ash Bell dressed as a cactus and sunflower.

Tiny Robinson, as Lucy, is precociously endearing, with a superb sense of timing to match the role's acerbic wit. Chase Wooldridge makes a fitting companion out of Larry, moping about the loneliness of life, but with a less interesting one-notedness. David L. Bowers' Marmalade, though, is a mercurial blast. There's nothing appealing about the character, but he's always fun to watch.

The evening is a double-bill with Kawaisoo, directed by Ash Bell as a part of Capital T's New Directions Project. The admirable goal is to set first-time directors up with a stage and budget, but the heavy monologue about one woman's reaction to consumerism and Sept. 11, 2001, doesn't suit as an afterpiece to "Marmalade."

"Marmalade" might bother you if you hunt for too much meaning, but if you just want a sugary, though sometimes sour, comedy, you're in luck.

— Joey Seiler

("Mr. Marmalade" continues at 8 p.m. Thursdays-Saturdays through Aug. 25. Hyde Park Theatre, 511 W. 43rd St. $15-$25. capitalt.org)

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Theater: 'The Orpheus Project'

The "Rainbow Family of the Serendipitous Now, or, the Orpheus Project" is nothing if not a colorful sensory-fest.

The cooperatively conceived production by the St. Idiot Collective, now at Salvage Vanguard Theater, that follows a hippie communal family, is awash in vivid color and striking sound.

Lighting designer Natalie George fleshes the atmospheric, minimal staging with color-saturated, psychedelic lighting and rear-screen projections. And sound designer Jason Newman cleverly soaks moments in the dialogue in reverb.

But even with all the visual and aural interest of the 80-minute show, any narrative grab disappears under the strain of the less-than-imaginative plot.

At first, when the naïve Tex stumbles into the cult-like Rainbow Family of the Serendipitous Now, the story seems more a hippie dippy spoof of all things psychedelic and groovy (this is after all, the 40th anniversary of the "Summer of Love").

But then the humorous moments end and the action disintegrates into a jumble of absurdist antics that we're to understand is a reinterpretation of the myth of Orpheus' and Eurydice's journey through the underworld. Psychedelic mushrooms drop from the sky. An underworld ogre is re-imagined as a dead biker tough. And the ensemble cast spends considerable amount of time on energetic dance-like antics.

Huh?

What "Rainbow" really ends up as is a bad and predictable re-imagining of the Manson family murders that all the artfulness and cleverness of the production qualities just can't hide.

Sometimes, pop culture and Greek mythology just don't mix.

— Jeanne Claire van Ryzin

("Rainbow Family of the Serendipitous Now, or, The Orpheus Project" continues 8 p.m. today-Saturday. Salvage Vanguard Theater, 2803 Manor Road, $12-$15. 474-7886.)