Reviewed by Tony Annicone
The current show at Wilbury Theatre Group is the Rhode Island premiere of “Futurity”, an avant-garde-Americana musical by Cesar Alvarez and the Lisps. It mixes sci-fi with 19th Century Americana. The story follows the correspondence between Ada Lovelace, the real life daughter of Lord Byron, who was a poet and a mathematician, and Julian Munro, a completely fictional soldier during the American Civil War who served with the Ohio regiment.
Julian would like to design a machine that can think creatively, with the ultimate goal of ending all wars. He believes that war is the failure of imagination because it comes from man’s animal instinct, however a mathematical machine wouldn’t have that instinct. But Ada doesn’t believe that it will ever be accomplished in their lifetimes but is drawn to it anyway. They begin working on it in London as Julian and his unit march from Ohio to Virginia.. “Futurity” was hailed as a groundbreaking work and won the 2016 Lucille Lortel Award for Outstanding Musical. It presents a strong anti-war message. It feels like a performance piece especially when Julian and Ada come into the audience then break out into song at the start of Act 2. Director Brien Lang and music director Milly Massey assemble strong performers and vocalists to handle these roles. Brien gives each of them their moment to shine in this show. The harmonic blend of this cast is fabulous especially with the poignant numbers. Everyone in the show also plays a musical instrument. It is a stunning must see show that proves the evilness of war and all the human sacrifices made not only in the Civil War but in many other ones, too.
Leading the cast is Alexander Platt as Julian. He commands the stage in this role and delivers a strong performance as the Union solider. He wants a “steam brain” to help prevent wars in the future. Alexander’s vocals are splendid and he leads the other 9 performers in many songs including the powerful “No More War” which leaves the audience in stunned silence as well “Steam Brain” where he and Ada do a patter section in it that sounds like “Trouble” from “The Music Man.” Another powerful number is “Singularity” sung by the whole cast. It sounds like the rousing “Solidarity” from “Billy Elliot, Musical.” Meg Sullivan plays Ada with a marvelous British accent and gets to display her voice in a pretty ballad at the start of the show as she explains she’s a mathematician who is interested in finding out the animating force from which intelligence emerges, is it material in nature or a spiritual convergence. Meg also does the patter song with Alexander in “Steam Brain” and the final stunning number is “Thinking” on all the death and destruction that has taken place after Julian reveals the steam brain at last. Helena Tafuri, Maggie Papa and Nicholas Corey do a comical dance which covers the Charleston, the twist and other dances while they place upper crust British scientists in “Steam Brain” song.
Other dramatic numbers include “How Much We Lost” as the Battle day occurs.The closing “Battle Hymn” brings tears to eyes of the audience at the performers magnificent rendition of it. Jason Quinn plays the General and sings a powerful song “Shadows in the Valley of Death” as he explains what happens from war to war. A rousing marching number sung by Christine Treglia and company is “Cumberland Gap” sung with gusto in Act 1 and then more ominously in Act 2 as the dreadful battle day draws near. Another rousing number is “I Wrote a Song Once” with the cast coming into the audience while singing it which makes us feel like we are part of the horrors of the war when one loses all hope. It is just one of the fabulous moments in this show. So for a play that will resonate with contemporary audiences, be sure to catch “Futurity” at Wilbury Theatre Group. This show is one more feather in the cap of this up and coming theatre company. They always do cutting edge work.
FUTURITY (December 6 to 30 )
Wilbury Theatre Group, 40 Sonoma Court, Providence, RI
1(401)400-7100 or www.thewilburygroup.org
