{"id":22393,"date":"2019-11-13T20:10:23","date_gmt":"2019-11-14T04:10:23","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/Becomeimmersed.com\/?p=22393"},"modified":"2019-12-09T13:25:03","modified_gmt":"2019-12-09T21:25:03","slug":"recital-review","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/becomeimmersed.com\/recital-review\/","title":{"rendered":"The Recital Is an Exploration of Music and Madness"},"content":{"rendered":"

I\u2019ve never seen someone play piano quite the way Simon Barrow does. While other musicians gracefully move along with the notes, Simon\u2019s performance feels less like a coordinated dance with his instrument and more like an argument. It\u2019s as if he\u2019s fighting<\/i> the keys, locked in some kind of war. The music he\u2019s producing sounds beautiful, but it feels like it comes at great cost to his psyche. I\u2019ll find out very quickly that what I see on the outside of Simon\u2019s demeanor matches far too well with what\u2019s inside his head. My old friend, the troubled prodigy, struggling to regain some lost magic from his youth\u2026but was<\/i> it magic? I\u2019m here for Michael Cassady<\/a>, Eva Anderson, and Eric Hoff\u2019s The Recital<\/i>, a hybrid sandbox\/promenade<\/a> immersive experience, and the story that\u2019s about to unfold is much deeper and more tragic than just an adult man coming to grips with the childhood he\u2019s lost.<\/span><\/p>\n

The Recital<\/i> is the long-awaited return to immersive theater from Cassady, Anderson and Hoff, who stunned audiences with 2017\u2019s Amos: A Play With Music<\/a>. <\/i>Once again, Hoff is on hand to direct, Anderson to co-write, and Cassady to write, star, and compose original music for the piece. It\u2019s unfair, however, to compare the two shows. Where Amos<\/i> was a frenetic tribute to Electronic Dance Music, fueled by heavy beats, Recital <\/i>is a 75-minute performance, birthed from Classical Music, but far more focused on what happens when the music stops. This is a wholly new beast, driven by the strong performances of the cast and whip-smart direction; it\u2019s a step that shows the versatility of the creators while staying true to the musically inspired style that audiences have come to expect from them.<\/span><\/p>\n

\"The
Photo: Taylor Winters<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

Simon, played to deeply emotional effect by Cassady, is our driving force in The Recital<\/i>. He\u2019s called us all here because he\u2019s set to perform for the first time since the bright lights of his days as a child prodigy have long burned out. And he\u2019s good, really<\/i> good, despite his obvious resistance to play. After the formal \u201crecital\u201d portion of the show, Simon seems broken, the tone of the play shifts abruptly, and we enter Simon\u2019s mind, physically moving deeper within the recesses of Monkspace<\/a> in Los Angeles, which are deliberately and effectively set-designed by Narges Norouzi. We see Simon\u2019s memories, incomplete and slanted to feature him, like some kind of waking dream. We descend along with him through a seeming madness that we are slowly whirling toward the origin of.<\/span><\/p>\n

\"The
Photo: Taylor Winters<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

Cassady\u2019s performance is bolstered by the talented cast around him. Alana Dietze and Allan McLeod, as Simon\u2019s college friends, are effortlessly natural in their care and concern for Simon. McLeod, in particular, provides a much-appreciated comedic effect even in the most deliberately awkward scenarios. Both Dietze and McLeod feature in the only true \u201cimmersive\u201d portion of the show, mingling sandbox-style with the recital guests as we wait for the performance to begin, and adding additional insights into Simon\u2019s history for those willing to engage. Similarly, John Ross Bowie, as Simon\u2019s brash, uninterested boss Chuck, truly shines in his interactions in these scenes. As we move into clips from Simon\u2019s adult life, and his failure to move beyond the successes of his childhood, Chuck serves as a lens through which we see Simon begin to flounder as an adult. Also featured is the always excellent Lauren Flans as Adrienne, Simon\u2019s flirty, clever coworker, who can\u2019t seem to get him on the same page as her; both she and actor Ruby Farley as Monica\/Simon\u2019s sister Vanessa serve as the female influences on Simon\u2019s development that he feels wholly unequipped to interpret properly.<\/span><\/p>\n

\"The
Photo: Taylor Winters<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

Simon\u2019s story is a sad but not uncommon one – \u201cthere\u2019s no adult<\/i> prodigies,\u201d he notes, after all – and it\u2019s cleverly told thanks to Hoff, Anderson, and Cassady\u2019s execution. The performance overall, however, suffers somewhat from inconsistent pacing; the too-large group of 20 to 30 participants shuffling from room to room after Cassady makes transitions between scenes feel drawn out, although the space itself is used cleverly. Additionally, it\u2019s clear the audience is meant to get to the core of what \u201cwent wrong\u201d in Simon\u2019s mind that\u2019s brought him to where he is now, and while that does<\/i> become mostly clear, the implications of his past on the present feel somewhat murky when the performance is viewed as a whole. Despite this, the play is anchored together by the powerful work of Cassady himself; he struggles, sweats, and suffers his way through this forced retelling of his life, and the result is awe-inspiring. In total, The Recital<\/i> is a story brilliantly told and executed; an uncanny perspective on one man\u2019s journey that moves along eloquently like a well-crafted sonata.<\/span><\/p>\n

\"The
Photo: Taylor Winters<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

The play closes on yet another piano performance from Simon, this one in stark contrast to the first. By now we are no longer old friends supporting him as he returns to the stage, we are merely observers within his mind, silently reflecting back his own guilt and redemption as he plays. I watch his fingers float across the keys, still fighting against the tune in his head, though seemingly steadier now in himself. I now know what went wrong in his past, and I feel as if I’m seeing the beginning of something starting to go right. This is a man who\u2019s been locked in a battle with himself since the day he was first labelled \u201ca prodigy,\u201d but now, stretching himself across his instrument, it feels like a battle he may finally win.<\/span><\/p>\n

Find more information on The Recital<\/em> and possible extension of the sold-out run on their website<\/a> and Instagram<\/a>. Check out our Event Guide<\/a> for more immersive entertainment throughout the year.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

I\u2019ve never seen someone play piano quite the way Simon Barrow does. While other musicians gracefully move along with the notes, Simon\u2019s performance feels less like a coordinated dance with his instrument and more like an argument. It\u2019s as if he\u2019s fighting the keys, locked in some kind of war. The music he\u2019s producing sounds…<\/p>\n

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