Playwright: book, music and lyrics by Jonathan Larson. At: American Theater Company, 1909 W. Byron St. Tickets: 773-409-4125; www.atcweb.org; $45-$50. Runs through: June 17
Early in the play, a struggling songwriter yearns to write "one great song" before dying. Jonathan Larson, composing that lyric, probably didn't know that his own days were numbered, but his recollections of urban romantics dwelling amid the squalor that was New York City's Lower East Side in the 1980s had certainly acquainted him with the carpe-diem mentality characteristic of youth the world over, but in those years intensified by the fatal AIDS epidemic sweeping the United States.
This may account for so many of Larson's songs emerging as anthems: blood-stirring hymns to passion, to independence, to making the world better, to the comfort of shared sympathies, to the terror of having your whole futurewhether lengthy or briefahead of you. This also explains why the show is less a traditional book-musical than it is a documentaryrather like the one that Mark, our guide to this lifestyle, is filming. You'll find no central plot line in it, no star turns, no lockstep chorus drills, no "name" cameos to attract older demographics. In this portrait of a subculture, each individual does his or her own thing (to use an old-school phrase).
The empathy that is the goal of this genre mandates that physical distance between actor and audience be minimal, thus allowing for an undiluted (insofar as possible) exchange of the energy vital to the performance dynamic. The American Theater Company accomplishes this by reconfiguring their auditorium to an alley-style arrangement locating spectators no more than seven rows deep on both sides of the playing space, resulting in a panoramic stage picture rendered vibrant and kinetic at all times.
Under the direction of David Cromer, movement is choreographed for 360-degree visibility and body-mikes ensure audibility in all corners of the house (or will, once the op-night bugs have been ironed out of the brand-newand manifestly improvedtech system), while wagons, hand-held spotlights, portable speakers trailed by miles of extension cord and other scenic furniture is wheeled in at a vigorous gallop only to disappear just as speedily. The play's dramatic progress also reflects the requisite urgency, its often-stilted recitative endowed by a pumped-up cast with an appealing conviction spurring the fourth-wall breakdown contributing to this show's well-documented cult following. As the weather warms, look for it to draw first-time converts (like me) and revitalized pilgrims alike.