Mission Drift
The making of Las Vegas and the sour consequences of the great capitalist adventure are told in thrilling fashion by the New York-based TEAM ensemble, filling the stage with incident, great power ballads and southern blues, and the story of one particular pioneer couple.
Catalina and Joris go from Amsterdam, Europe, to New Amsterdam in 1624, heading west to the American territories and building the shining Ark, symbol of glitter and gambling. A casino worker is sacked, a native American displaced, the country turned upside down.
It’s a Brechtian, slightly old-fashioned parable of “progress,” and none the worse for that. And it’s stunningly performed by cast and onstage musicians alike, notably by Helen Christian as a tigerish, acrobatic, piano-playing blonde blues singer who redefines the whole notion of a pocket dynamo: move over Elaine Paige and Elena Roger.
She’s the star of my festival so far, but doesn’t totally eclipse the contributions of Libby King and Brian Hastert as the pioneer capitalists who suffer serious fall-out over 400 years, or Mikaal Sulaiman as an “Everyman” cowboy.
And Amber Gray as the waitress Joan embodies the soul of the piece, proving that experience is the best ideological framework for revenge, and that there are endless variations on how the American dream turned into a nightmare. She finally heads out of town, and back to Montana.
