News:
  • The 7 Fingers at The Broad Stage & Other LA Dance Happenings
  • On the portraiture of things
  • Teaching Nat King Cole to Tap Dance
  • A Performative Procession In Venice
  • LIFE AFTER BIRTH WISHES YOU A HAPPY GALENTINE'S DAY
  • Come from Away Shines a Light on Human Kindness
  • Contact us
  • About
    • What is Cultural Weekly?
    • Advertise
    • Contributors
    • Masthead
    • Subscribe
    • Submissions: Write for us
    • Cultural Weekly Style & Formatting Guide
  • Contact us
  • About
    • What is Cultural Weekly?
    • Advertise
    • Contributors
    • Masthead
    • Subscribe
    • Submissions: Write for us
    • Cultural Weekly Style & Formatting Guide
Cultural Weekly logo
  • Film
  • TV + Web
  • Poetry
  • Art
  • Architecture
  • Literature
  • Theatre
  • Music
  • Dance
  • Tech
  • Lifestyle
  • Food
  • Film
  • TV + Web
  • Poetry
  • Art
  • Architecture
  • Literature
  • Theatre
  • Music
  • Dance
  • Tech
  • Lifestyle
  • Food
Off-Broadway Review

King Rat: Brecht’s Resistible Rise of Arturo Ui

By David Sheward on November 28, 2018 in Theatre

Click Here To View Comments

As audiences enter the Laura F. Angelson Theatre for Classic Stage Company’s revival of Bertolt Brecht’s rarely produced The Resistible Rise of Arturo Ui, they step into a dangerous world where murder and menace lurk in every corner. This dark kingdom of night, with eerie parallels to America in 2018 as well as Germany in the 1930s, is ruled over by a vicious brute given snarling, malevolent life by Raul Esparza in a powerhouse performance. Esparza has won acclaim in musicals like Company, Taboo, and Chitty Chitty Bang Bang, as well as dark dramas such as The Normal Heart and The Homecoming. But here he totally dominates the proceedings with such ferocity and detail, you cannot take your eyes off him.

Written in 1941 while he was in exile from his native Germany in Finland, Brecht’s allegorical satire recasts Adolph Hitler as a Chicago gangster ruling over the Windy City’s cauliflower trade rather than a monomaniacal dictator taking control of Europe. There are numerous allusions to Richard III as well as rattling news bulletins of Der Fuerher’s ascension to power as they parallel that of Ui (pronounced “Oooo-eee”) who commits murder, arson, blackmail, and terrorism to claw his way to power among the grocers. George Tabori’s translation combines a Hollywood version of street slang with mock Shakespeare.

Surprisingly, Ui has only had three previous major New York productions: on Broadway in 1963 starring Christopher Plummer (a flop with only eight performances) and two Off-Broadway limited engagements: in 1991 with John Turturro (also at CSC) and in 2002 with Al Pacino produced by Tony Randall’s National Actors Theater.

This is a black, fiercely funny and horrifying vision of political ruthlessness. Though the pace and plot do get rather monotonous as atrocity piles on top of atrocity. Fortunately, CSC artistic director John Doyle employs an inventive, frankly theatrical style of staging as he did in his productions of Sweeney Todd, Company and The Color Purple, and as Brecht prescribed for his plays.

Raul Esparza in The Resistible Rise of Arturo Ui. Credit: Joan Marcus

Raul Esparza in The Resistible Rise of Arturo Ui.
Credit: Joan Marcus

Just as he transformed the CSC space into a 1940s Army barracks for his thrilling production of the musical Carmen Jones, Doyle, who also designed the production, has reconfigured the company’s intimate Off-Broadway venue into a combination union hall and supply house. The audience becomes part of the angry mob and Ui’s kitchen cabinet of killers. The stark lighting design by Jane Cox and Tess James, much of which is accomplished by bare fluorescent tubes, makes the milieu eerie and frightening.

A cast of eight plays multiple roles with both broad comic strokes and emotional reality. Christopher Gurr captures the affronted, tarnished dignity of Dogsborough and Dullfleet, two traditional power-brokers devoured by Ui. Omoze Idehenre displays fiery fury as a pair of the dictator’s victims who dare to stand up to him. Elizabeth A. Davis, Eddie Cooper and Thom Sesma are terrifying as a trio of henchmen while George Abud and Mahira Kakkar are appropriately craven as corrupt officials.

But the center of gravity is supplied by Esparza who delivers a dynamic, horrifying performance as the villainous Arturo. He could easily have turned in a one-note howl of rage, but Esparza calibrates Ui’s villainy, shading and orchestrating his insatiable grasping for dominance. At first, he is like a sniveling rat, cowering and covered up in a shapeless dark jacket and fedora. He whines and wheedles in a nasal Brooklyn-ese, sounding like a cartoon rodent in a Warner Brothers’ cartoon. As the play progresses and Ui refines his message of terror and takes posture lessons from a broken-down classical actor (Davis in a sharply funny turn), Esparza then appears in a sleeveless black tank top, exposing muscular arms and adapting postures of intimidation. His whine becomes a roar and then a bellow as Ui transforms from tiny weasel to massive beast, beating his chest like King Kong and becoming much more frightening than the massive puppet of the current Broadway musical version of the classic film. Arturo Ui is a bold reminder of the dangers of fascism and a warning against its future recurrences.

Nov. 14—Dec. 22. Classic Stage Company at the Lynn F. Angelson Theatre, 136 E. 13th St., NYC. Tue—Thu 7pm, Fri 8pm, Sat 2pm & 8pm, Sun 2pm. Running time: two hours and 10 mins. including intermission. $82—$127. (212) 677-4210. www.classicstage.org.

This review previously appeared on Theaterlife.com.

Click Here To View Comments

TagsAdolph HitlerBertold BrechtClassic Stage CompanyJohn DoyleRaul Esparza

Previous Story

The Music, the Mirror and the Chance to Dance

Next Story

Jude Goodwin: “Words to never use in a poem”

About the author

David Sheward

David Sheward

Facebook Twitter Website

David Sheward is a respected writer, editor, and critic. He is the former executive editor and theater critic for Back Stage, the actors’ resource. He has published three books on show business: Rage and Glory: The Volatile Life and Career of George C. Scott, It’s a Hit! The Back Stage Book of Broadway’s Longest-Running Shows and The Big Book of Show Business Awards. He served as president of the Drama Desk, the organization of New York-based theater critics, editors and reporters for seven years. He's also a member of the New York Drama Critics Circle, the Outer Critics Circle and the American Theater Critics Association where he currently is a member of the organization's New Play Committee. For over ten years, he was a contributing correspondent on NY-1 News’ weekly theater show On Stage. In addition to his blog, which you can access from the link above, David also provides Broadway walking tours: http://criticschoicetours.com/

Related Posts

  • Intimate Carmen Jones Electrifies Off-Broadway

    By David Sheward
    The grand passion of opera and the...
  • More Air Than Fire in McNally’s Diaghilev Play

    By David Sheward
    “Does my enthusiasm exhaust you?”...
  • Chris Noth Is a Weak Dr. Faustus; Guards Rule

    By David Sheward
    The devils have all the fun and the angels...
  • TV Stars Fail to Brighten Month in the Country

    By David Sheward
    The Classic Stage Company production of Ivan...

Support Our Friends

Follow Us

Join Our Mailing List

Latest Tweets

Tweets by @CulturalWeekly

Comments

  • maurice amiel maurice amiel
    Abraheem Dittu: “Up Anchor”
    One more among the few whose poetry one hears as...
    2/15/2019
  • maurice amiel maurice amiel
    LIFE AFTER BIRTH WISHES YOU A HAPPY GALENTINE’S DAY
    that is the spirit of it !
    2/14/2019
  • Suzanne Lummis Suzanne Lummis
    Claudia Cardinale Today
    So good to get this update on Claudia Cardinale --...
    2/11/2019

New

  • CLS Ferguson & Rich Ferguson: Tribute to Evelyn
  • The 7 Fingers at The Broad Stage & Other LA Dance Happenings
  • On the portraiture of things
  • Book Review: Spaghetti and Meatballs: Poems for Hot Organs by Mendes Biondo
  • Viva Fo! The Playwright As Anarchist

Tags

art dance film Los Angeles movies music poem poems poetry Theatre

Like us

Please Help

Donate

Who are we?

Cultural Weekly is a place to talk about our creative culture with passion, perspective and analysis – and more words than “thumbs up” or “thumbs down.” Our mission is to draw attention to our cultural environment, illuminate it, and make it ... read more

Site map

  • About
  • Advertise
  • Contact us
  • Contributors
  • Cultural Weekly Style & Formatting Guide
  • Food
  • Home
  • Masthead
  • Privacy Policy
  • Submissions: Write for us
  • Subscribe
  • Terms and Conditions
  • Thank You

Links

Adam Leipzig
Entertainment Media Partners
This Is Crowd
CreativeFuture
Plastic Oceans Foundation
Arts & Letters Daily
Alltop
Alexis Rhone Fancher
Jack Grapes
Ethan Bearman
Writ Large Press

Mailing List

* indicates required


  • Terms and Conditions
  • Privacy Policy
  • Contact us
Cultural Weekly is the digital magazine and public platform of Next Echo Foundation. DONATE HERE.
Copyright © 2010-2018 by Adam Leipzig. All Rights Reserved. Website by Crowd