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What if you could write a new theatre work that was an instant classic? Modern-day relevant and timeless? What if such a work had the potential to make Broadway (if it is smart, and paying attention) sniff the air with Pavlovian anticipation? Well - first, if that were possible I wouldn't be telling you any of this, because I would write it myself and become rich and famous. Second, and more importantly, I would tell you not to bother - because Eric Rosen and Matt Sax have already done it; and it is called Venice - the Kansas City Repertory Theatre's final production of the season.

In Venice, Matt Sax is cast as the Clown MC - a gaunt, macabre rap-narrator who guides the story along its developmental milestones. He introduces characters and provides context. Far more MC than clown (there is, in fact, nothing comically amusing about Venice), he engages directly with the audience, challenging them to consider what unfolds before them.

Casting for the four main characters was superb. Javier Muñoz as Venice Monroe delivers a sympathetic figure working to reunite his war-fractured city, projecting, in the process, a duality of confidence and vulnerability. Part of his reunification strategy includes marrying one of "the disappeared" (Andrea Goss as Willow Turner). Reference to "the disappeared" carries strong undertones to "los desaparecidos" during the Pinochet dictatorship in Argentina, one of many such artistic and historic touch-points used so well throughout the play. Nevertheless, to whatever degree politically-motivated, this is no marriage of convenience. The intended union has a uniquely non-political spin:  they deeply love each other. Coming from disparate family circumstances there is a "Romeo & Juliet" quality to the romance - unfortunately with a nearly-similar tragic outcome. The wide-eyed innocence and vulnerability of Willow Turner is perfectly embodied in the waifish Goss, who quickly endears her character to the audience; at her tragic demise, there wasn't a dry eye in the house.

Evil incarnate arrives in the form of Clifton Duncan's malevolent Markos Monroe. Seething with acidic jealousy for his more successful brother, Duncan's portrayal is an instantly-classic villain - the kind of performance delivered so well you are forced to admit you really love hating how devious he is. The portrayal rightfully takes something away from an otherwise favorable opinion of Venice - for again you are forced to recognize that - in a real-world situation of political intrigue and skullduggery - one could say that Venice deserves what his ignorance has wrought. More accurately, Rosen comments that this "tragic flaw [is] not pride, but foolishness." In classic fashion where every capable villain needs unwitting pawns to manipulate, Markos makes good use of Theodore Westerbrook (J.D. Goldblatt) and Hailey Daisy (Angela Wildflower Polk) in bringing down his brother's well-intentioned reunification. Goldblatt delivers a sympathetic, naive character who is endearing despite his evil collusion, and Polk's Daisy jumps off the stage with a burlesque-like entrance that is part Marilyn Monroe, Mae West and Billie Holliday.

The combination multimedia/set design (Meghan Raham and Jason A. Thompson) was a visual tour-de-force, as was John Carrafa and Tanisha Scott's choreography. Matt Sax's score was deliciously provocative, with a maturity that shows great potential and has a very "Broadway" edge to it. Infused largely with rap and hip-hop elements, Sax also displayed impressive song-writing skills, best evidenced by Act Two's incredible The Wind Cried Willow. As a collective performance, and largely on the strengths of the Rosen-Sax collaboration, I could immediately envision Venice as a full-fledged Broadway production.

Flaws were minimal, and mostly structural. I only had trouble with some longer-than-necessary segments and a few awkward, abrupt cadences. There is some room for "tightening up" and I think the overall tremendous effect of Venice would be enhanced and intensified by being between 15 to 20 minutes shorter. But none of that takes away from my enthusiasm for this tremendous work. Few "masterpieces" achieve their status on their first, second, or even fifth or sixth iteration, but I think Rosen and Sax have the beginnings of one with this work.

But the most remarkable aspect for me was Venice's timeless relevance.

Venice portrays everything that is good and hopeful about human nature- and everything that is ugly and destructive about human nature. It is about peace, and the absence of peace. It is pre-war and post-war. It is revolution and post-revolution. It is pre-apocalyptic and post-apocalyptic (the analogies between Rosen's Venice and the biblical city of Har Magedon are intriguing - each being a physical place as well as a representation of impending doom). Venice is perfectly crafted to evoke similar emotions in every language and culture on earth, playing in any city in the world - today; 100 years ago; 500 years from now.

The end result is as predictable as any similarly-volatile arrangement of tragic characters and circumstances in all of history. And yet Rosen and Sax manage to deliver it with a freshness that feels visionary and ahead of its time. In one fell swoop - and notwithstanding all of the vibrancy that Rosen has already brought to The Rep since 2007 - Venice is the quantum leap that has every potential to redraw the map of Kansas City theatre. From here forward, it is fair and fitting to expect that Venice will be the work to which all subsequent new works should rightfully be compared.

As you read this, you will have 13 more opportunities to see Venice in its opening debut at Copaken Stage. Run, don't walk.


REVIEW:
Kansas City Repertory Theatre
Venice
by Eric Rosen and Matt Sax
Directed by Eric Rosen
Runs April 9 - May 9 (Reviewed Friday, April 23, 2010)
Kansas City Repertory Theatre
Copaken Stage
13th and Walnut Streets, Kansas City, MO 
For tickets call 816-235-2700 or online at www.kcrep.org

Cover photo: Don Ipock

By Christopher Guerin

Traditional and New Classical music, and Theatre Contributor (Past writer)
Christopher Guerin holds degrees in Music Education, Music Business, and Music Theory & Composition, the latter from the University of Massachusetts (Lowell) College of Music where he co-founded the college's Composers' Guild, and, in 1985, won the Artin Arslanian Composition Award. During college, he also obtained some musical theatre experience as a member of pit orchestras for Threepenny Opera and My Fair Lady. Since 1989, Christopher has been in the very non-artistic corporate sector, where his creative energies have been put to more mundane endeavors 

Christopher credits his musical motivations to his late father, who was concertmaster of the Springfield (MA) Community (pre-cursor to the city's current Symphony) Orchestra and performed popular music on radio in the 1930s. Christopher began his classical training in 1972 at age 10, began teaching at 16 (continuing to take private students throughout college), and traveled extensively with a youth orchestra - including to New Zealand in 1980. After college, and until 1989, Christopher focused on the business end of music as a successful sales manager for one of New England's largest music chains.

Over the past 20 years, Christopher's expertise has focused on medicine as a life risk underwriting officer for a large Midwest insurance group. His past duties included responsibility for risk underwriting in Pacific Rim markets where he traveled extensively to Indonesia, Singapore, Malaysia, the Philippines, Hong Kong, Thailand and Burma. Time permitting, he has continued to compose intermittently throughout this period. Christopher is married to Paula, a fellow musician he met during college, and together they have "composed" their magnum opera in three very creative children - an architecture student (go K-State!), an aspiring classical pianist, and a budding writer/journalist. He and his wife relocated from Massachusetts to the Kansas City area in 1997.