When Elmer Rice's "The Adding Machine" premiered in 1923, it was hailed as a new kind of expressionism, a play that was relevant to the era, but not necessarily of that era.
The adaptation, "Adding Machine: A Musical," with original music by Joshua Schmidt and libretto by Jason Loewith and Joshua Schmidt, making it's Cincinnati premiere this weekend at the Know Theatre Company, remains a timeless piece, with a production and a style of music that evokes the 1920s, but remains essentially timeless, according to director Michael Burnham.
"The libretto is almost the original play," he said. "If you just read the lyrics, it looks like quotes, and the music is absolutely gorgeous. It's almost as if the composer finds you in the 1920s and drags you kicking and screaming into the 21st century."
"It’s remarkably eclectic piece of work and it definitely doesn’t sound like any other musical I’ve ever worked on," said musical director Alan Patrick Kenny. "Schmidt advanced the musical theatre form in a really powerful way with this piece. He tried to use sounds that aren’t used in musical theatre. Even though its influences are so diverse, it all sounds like one composition coming from a specific voice and a specific vision.”
The story concerns a middle-class worker, Mr. Zero, who after 25 years of service to his company he is replaced by a mechanical adding machine. In a vengeful rage, he murders his boss. Zero arrives at an afterlife in the Elysian Fields where he is forced to decide his fate for eternity. The angelic and remarkably eclectic score gives each character a unique voice for their hopes, dreams, and failures as they wander through their monotonous and darkly comic lives.
"Elmer Rice saw what was coming, saw the economic bubble rising," Burnham said. "He was bringing up the idea that this bubble could burst -- and it has. Zero knows there's something wrong, he just doesn't know what it is.
"Adding Machine: The Musical" runs February 13 - March 6, 2010
All tickets to all Know Theatre productions are $12 in advance and $15 on the day of the performance. You can purchase online www.knotheatre.com or call the Know Theatre box office at (513) 300-KNOW (5669).
The cast feature Robert Pavlovich, Aretta Baumgartner, Liz Vosmeier, Rich Roedersheimer and Joshua Murphy. The ensemble includes Beth Harris, Blythe Walker, Chris Wesselman and Ken Early.
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