The Green Bird

"It’s as easy to make a true friend as it is to rip your ass on a rose", says the melancholy king in THE GREEN BIRD. A fractured fable, rife with vaudevillian turns and unexpected occurrences, it also offers some memorable jewels of wisdom. Presented in the tradition of the commedia dell’arte with knock-about acting, masks, and ad-lib antics, it’s just the stuff for Julie Taymor, the Tony award winning director of the LION KING.

While not nearly so spectacular as the Disney musical, GREEN BIRD is also saucy and unconventional. Based on the 18th century Italian fable about royal twins abandoned at birth by an evil queen, the production is set in a magical universe. Here a couple of burlesque types selling Hebrew Nationals have rescued two orphans who, having reached the age of 18 set off in search of truth and love. Instead they discover lust and greed, not to mention an enormous talking statue, a wall of skulls, talking apples and dancing waters.

The characters portrayed broadly through the use of masks and puppetry are individually delightful, crossing the line from the 18th century to the modern age. The evil sorcerer, a rap artist, the king, a lovable queen, and the bird, wouldn’t you know it, is a prince.

The music, too, is appropriately irreverent with a mix of rap, opera and Italian popular. Clearly, the production which seeks to entertain finds no perch too low or antic too trite. But one can only watch so many singing apples without finally concluding, what fruit! For all its mastery GREEN BIRD is a flight of fantasy which goes everywhere to get nowhere... and takes too long to do it.

That’s This Week on Broadway. I’m Isa Goldberg.