If all things were fair in this world, then Elizabeth Swados' Kaspar Hauser would have a successful run on Broadway. Sometimes you can just see where things are headed. I knew it when I saw the sexy, but ultimately disappointing, Spring Awakening Off-Broadway. I said it when I saw In the Heights while still in previews. Some shows just work and deserve to pull it out on a major stage.
Sadly, they don't always work when they leave the confines of their humble beginnings and get trumped up for Broadway audiences (and prices). At the moment Kaspar Hauser: a foundling's opera, is crazy fun partly because it's crammed into the tiny space at the Flea Theater. The versatile main space has been sliced in half lengthwise (resembling the smaller downstairs space) with a few rows of seats on high risers so that the large cast can have a little more room to stretch. This means you have actors singing and shrieking just inches from your toes in the front row. The story follows the eponymous German foundling who becomes the love of Nuremberg. But things eventually go awry. It all feels a bit Sweeney Todd if it were mixed with Bat Boy—which means fun, dark and a little bit silly.
The impressive young cast is composed of 19 of The Bats, The Flea's resident acting troupe, and probably explains why everyone is so fresh-faced and eager, as if we're watching an MFA acting triumph. The acting never wavers, the choreography is crisp and tight, the singing excellent (if a little brash at time). It also explains how The Flea is getting away with such an ambitious, scrappy production: The Bats work for free. The costumes are intentionally outlandish and the set is mostly bare and objects are used creatively as props and minimal technical feats (a favorite is the paper snow) are required. The production is so overwhelming, at points it would be nice to get a breather: so we could applaud, so we could figure out what's actually going on, so we don't worry that the entire stage will collapse (at one point during an especially jovial number, the risers were literally bouncing along with the dancers).
Of course the production is actually a musical, not an opera, but that word continues to have cachet for the hipster theater set and makes it sound that much sexier. Whatever it takes to get a crowd in to see this magnificent show. Maybe this will be The Flea's big chance to jump a show to Broadway. We'll just have to wait to see how the producers decide to screw up what is so fun about seeing a boy drool and a chorus literally spit on you. Of course, put the audience on stage! That's the answer! Why didn't I think of that?
