Review: MOBY DICK

MTH’s World Premiere production of “Moby Dick a sea shanty” should not be missed. This “Moby Dick” is a remarkable, boiled-down, reinterpretation of Herman Melville’s massive dark 1851 tome. MTH manages to somehow transform this nineteenth century novel into an engaging and engrossing musical entertainment. 

Music Theater Heritage C.E.O. and Artistic Director Tim Scott and Musical Director Fritz Hutchison have conceived this “whale of a tale” through a very fresh and original creative lens. Scott and Hutchison are blessed with an exceptional company of actors and musicians. I shall get to them in a bit.

This new musical conflation has much to recommend it. So, I shall begin (from the audience’s point of view) at the sneaky beginning. 

Except for incidental music by Hutchison, “Moby Dick a sea shanty” borrows its score from traditional and folk songs that we might imagine have been heard in an early nineteenth century whaling community inn or aboard ship.

As the audience enters and takes their seats, a four-piece folk band in nineteenth century whaling costume begins to play.  It features a guitarist/singer, string bassist, violinist, and an accordionist.  Each song as performed is rewarded with delighted applause.

I was put in mind of the opening to “Once,” a musical play set in an Irish public house.  The music might be a pleasant mood setter or even an overture for what is to come.

The setting is a multilevel platform arrangement with a brick wall backing the stage. Set pieces are strategically stored around and under the platforms. A number of industrial, factory style lights hang from the light grid.

As is the custom at MTH, the performance is introduced to the audience (in this case our playwright and director Tim Scott).  But we are cleverly deceived.  The play has already begun.

The leader of our folk band is Fritz Hutchison, now a character, the landlord in our drama. He stands stage-center atop the dominant platform.  We can imagine the setting has become a public house in perhaps New Bedford MA around 1840.  Downstage center, seated on a chair, facing upstage is a man.  He appears asleep or passed out from strong drink.

The Landlord attempts to rouse the man. The man wakes up and after some discussion identifies himself.

“Call me Ishmael,” he says.

And the tale rolls out.  The band has dissolved into the cast.  They reassemble throughout the run of the performance only to dissolve again.

We meet the crew of the Pequod dramatically silhouetted against the upstage wall.  The one missing character is Captain Ahab.  We will meet him shortly.  There is a cast of ten.

The genius of this set of small platforms is the three-dimensionality of it all. We never get bored with the staging. Once aboard the Pequod, a sail replaces the brick wall.  The hanging industrial lighting fixtures take the place of oil lamps that would have lit the about one-hundred-foot long ship.  The movement of the hanging fixtures simulates the rolling of the whaler in rough seas. The ship’s masts are simulated by two tall step ladders.

Carried by the actors horizontally, the ladders become longboats after the call “There she blows.” Four-foot dowels become oars and/or harpoons. With costuming, the audience buys into the setting.

The playscript is necessarily truncated.  The two-act play runs just short of two hours.  The original book was published at  London England in 1851 because of copyright reasons at the time.  It challenged readers to get through 218,000 words in 135 chapters.

Herman Melville served on whaling ships and in the U.S. Navy.  It turns out that sperm whales in the nineteenth century learned that they were in danger and sometimes turned on the men who hunted them. 

Most famously, a huge sperm whale sank the whaler Essex in 1821 in a remote area of the central Pacific by ramming his head through the side of the ship multiple times. 

Some of the crew survived only by resorting to cannibalizing dead shipmates.  The Essex survivors floated on the sea for 95 days. The First Mate, a man named Owen Chase, memorialized his ordeal in a book which became a best seller at the time.

Twenty years later, Melville met Chase’s son on another whaler. Melville was gifted a copy of the elder Chase’s book. Owen Chase became the model for First Mate Starbuck of the Pequod. Captain Ahab may be based loosely in part on the Essex’s skipper George Pollard Jr.     

Melville worked the last years of his life as a District Customs Inspector. He died in 1891.

Reviews and book sales in 1851 were less than optimal. Moby Dick wasn’t rediscovered as a classic until the 1920s long after the author had passed away.

Tim Scott has excised the essential speeches (I believe) directly from the original “Moby Dick” text. I once spent a semester on “Moby Dick” and think I recognized many most iconic passages.

Fritz Hutchison has interwoven the sea chanties to the appropriate places in the text. The harmonies Hutchison has written are reminiscent of commercial folk music from the 1960s and 1970s.  They work very well for this application.    

Hutchison has also written musical continuity that allows the compilation between script to score to never drag. Scott has filled in the text blank spots to create something special.

Choreography is by Elaine Kimble.  Movement in this rendering of the classic story is essential. Dramatic lighting effects are by Shelbi Arndt. Jack Magaw designed this set. Absolutely iconic costuming is by Daniella Toscano. Emily Shackelford is Associate Director. Stage Manager is Lacey Willis.

The cast of Moby Dick is excellent. These folks are triple threats.  They act. They sing. They dance. T. Eric Morris is Ishmael.  We suspect Ishmael is the stand-in for Herman Melville himself.  Cody Proctor is Pequod First Mate Starbuck. We think that Starbuck is the stand-in for the pragmatic and upright real life Owen Chase.

The terrifying Captain Ahab is Manon Halliburton. Katie Karel is Second Mate Stubbs. Bob Linebarger is Third Mate Flask.  Bradley J Thomas is crewman Flint. Morgan Walker is Ash. Connor Kelly Wright is Doughboy. Angel Z. Duong is Q/Dance Captain.

Fritz Huchison is the landlord/ proprietor of the assumed pub and singer. Hutchison has a remarkable folk singing voice in addition to his showed expertise on guitar and banjo. Other musicians are Betse Ellis (violin), Brian Padavic (bass), and Andrew Wilson (accordion).    

“Moby Dick a sea shanty” is an extremely complex confection that works exceedingly well together.   I believe the rest of the audience was as impressed with what was performed as I was. Singling out one cast member over the others risks diminishing an excellent entertaining whole.

“Moby Dick a sea chanty” continues its premiere engagement at Music Theater Heritage in Crown Center through April 19.  This is an opportunity to see an original show with its excellent original cast. Tickets are available at www.musictheaterheritage.com or by telephone at 816.221.6987. 

It will be interesting to see what the future holds for this version of “Moby Dick” after its World Premiere” engagement. It deserves to be produced again.

Photos by Cory Weaver