Playwright: Tyler Beattie At: Filament Ensemble at The Viaduct, 3111 N. Western. Tickets: 773-296-6024; www.filamenttheatre.org; $16.50. Runs through: Nov. 9
This show joins a long line of stage adaptations—many of them musicals—of Washington Irving's 1820 short story. Irving—remember high school lit class—was the Federalist-era U.S. writer who created Rip Van Winkle and Ichabod Crane, the central figure of The Legend of Sleepy Hollow. Many stage versions are for kids, but this one—boasting technically sophisticated music—will hold adult interest. Director Scott Ferguson's admirable production and charming cast make for a perfectly pleasant 90 minutes, but also reveal some unfulfilled possibilities in this relatively new work.
Sleepy Hollow is set in Upstate New York about 1790, just after American independence. A gawky geeky schoolmaster falls in love with a pretty, rich girl only to encounter a testosterone-fueled rival who plays on the schoolmaster's superstitious streak. Appropriately for Halloween, Irving wove various ghost stories into his narrative and this production does, too.
This adaptation's greatest strength definitely is the score. Tyler Beattie's words and music are varied in style, mood and tempi although deciphering lyrics is challenging in the Viaduct space. Folkloric in style, the music frequently uses waltz and cut-time rhythms ( with an anachronistic tango thrown in ) played by the cast on blessedly unamplified instruments including mandolin, fiddle, washtub bass, harmonica, tin-plate percussion, piano, guitar and accordion. The vocal score makes heavy use of ensemble singing with interesting counterpoint parts and dissonant harmonies. It boasts two drop-dead gorgeous ballads, "Katrina" and especially "A Woman's Heart." Still as a work of dramatic literature there is room for this adaptation to be both funnier in places and spookier. The hints of the supernatural should feel dangerous or at least genuinely creepy.
Ferguson has cast the show from strength. As the birdlike Crane, Don Denton excels with a strong tenor singing range and excellent, graceful mime abilities. Crane is a physical and emotional oddball, whom Denton keeps sympathetic by emphasizing Ichabod's sweet and upright nature ... not that either quality does Crane any good. Mary Spearen is picture-pretty as love interest Katrina, and Nick Freed is manly but not overly threatening as the rival. Other roles are secondary in the smoothly functioning eight-person ensemble.
Ferguson's staging is clever as ever as the ensemble assembles Early American-looking barrels and boxes into a variety of props and ( even ) animals. The big missing element is dance ( no choreographer is credited ) . "Looks Good," a catchy tune for Ichabod, musically is a song-and-dance and cries out for some steps as do several other numbers.
Mieka van der Ploeg's costumes suggest old times—although not 1790—through coarse textures, britches, high boots, tail coats and blousy sleeves. Omen Sade's rough-hewn set/props look like a rural tavern. Both elements add appeal to a sprightly show ( and a bargain at $16.50 ) that needs only some dance and a touch more darkness.
