It was only the nation’s longest, dirtiest, most definitive and fatal bloodbath on domestic soil. Thousands upon thousands of lives lost, tears shed, hearts broken. Men, women and children who were once held captive by white plantation owners were freed from the bondage of slavery as invisible lines were drawn, forever dividing the North from the South. Everyone knows the history — or at least you should know the battles and the brawls of the American Civil War.
So how, then, can you take such a gruesome slice of history and slap it up onstage, presenting it with all of the casual reverence of a modern-day fundraiser that’s part college music revue, part rock concert?
That’s the plan in Ford Theatre’s revival of Frank Wildhorn’s 1998 musical. The Civil War has been unabashedly Disneyfied with stiff, sticky, glossy treatment from Jeff Calhoun, and if it’s at all possible to present an entire war and all its drama through peppy “Up with People” flair, Calhoun has figured out just the way to do it.
Wildhorn’s score is presented in a revue-style “song cycle,” with numbers vacillating wildly between the bland and the blazing.
Singers present a hearty package of musical material in mild montages that reflect varied attitudes and perspectives of America’s most epic war.
The problem is that Wildhorn didn’t write a “song cycle,” or mere cabaret. The original version of “The Civil War” was penned as a musical. Yet there’s no real plot to speak of, nor any real choreography to speak of, either. Instead, what you get in Calhoun’s 90-minute musical parade is a whole lot of wasted opportunities.
In what could have been the equivalent of an authentic American opera, covering significant historical events while illuminating the soul at war, Calhoun’s version visually recycles already regurgitated themes over and over and over again to the point of mawkish saturation. No one wants to see singing and dancing Union soldiers duke it out with the Confederacy (do they?), but a little pinch of plot here and a dash of period costumes there certainly wouldn’t have hurt the proceedings.
But Calhoun dresses his men and women in modern Bohemian garb, complete with bluejeans and ’do rags, a bit of flashy costume jewelry here and a flannel plaid touch there. It’s a jarring anachronistic approach that is neither compelling nor creative.
Still, despite its thread of unforgivable flaws — and there are plenty to scrutinize here — “The Civil War” is, for all of its belting and wailing, waxing and shouting, musically en pointe. Even if the vocalists are obscenely overamplified, the orchestra seated center stage produces lovely melodies with clear direction from Jay Crowder. And Calhoun’s cast seems nonplussed about having to fall victim to such baffling artistic license.
Familiar talents grace the stage aplenty, from Signature favorites Will Gartshore and Stephen Gregory Smith to the ever-reliable Eleasha Gamble, but most welcome are the talents new to the local stage, including powerhouses Kingsley Leggs and Michael Lanning, whose rendition of “Northbound Train” is about five minutes of pure magic. And they’re all beautifully lit by Michael Gilliam’s flawless design.
But it’s not enough to save Calhoun’s chipper rendition of war via Wildhorn. At best, his “War” is a rousing musical tribute, at worst, an out of touch, hokey way to memorialize the price of freedom.
If you go
“The Civil War”
Where: Ford’s Theatre
When: Through May 24
Info: $16 to $52; 202-397-7328; fords.org
