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REVIEW: "The Blue Whale of Catoosa."
Published: 9/10/2011 11:14 AM
Last Modified: 9/10/2011 11:14 AM

Think of “The Blue Whale of Catoosa” as a kind of retrospective of all the shows that have been presented at the Nightingale Theater over the past decade or so.

Because this original science-fiction rock opera by John Cruncleton crams bits and pieces of just about everything one might associate with this scrappy band of iconoclasts.

Well, it certainly seems that way, especially since this show, which debuted Friday, runs for three hours and 35 minutes.

To enumerate, “The Blue Whale of Catoosa” contains:

— Original work by created by local artists (in this case, Cruncleton’s script and lyrics, the music composed and performed by the three-piece band the Calamites, the imaginative realization of various otherworldly individuals through objects easily and inexpensively found in our lowly space-time continuum).
— Local performers. And there are a lot of them, 26 in all, actors, dancers, singers, musicians (not counting the backstage crew). Programs weren’t available at Friday’s performance, but we’re going by the list of cast members that appears on the show’s Facebook page.
— Stories that defy easy description. What happens in “The Blue Whale of Catoosa”? You wanna know, trust me – it’s gonna take three and a half hours. Suffice it to say, there is a girl named Nancy Maria Chevrolet (Annie Ellicott) who is sent on a picaresque journey from the Moon to the Earth to explore one of “the mysteries of existence” that has the form of a roadside attraction along Route 66 that through some sort of “preservational magic” has survived the extinction of the human species. Well, not the complete extinction of the species – this show is, as so many musicals are, a love story at heart.
— Dialogue that runs the gamut from pseudo-Shakespearean syntax to Borscht Belt punchlines, from lofty poetry to base profanity, used to serve up all sorts of high-falutin’ ideas about personal identity, the vagaries and complexity of the simple word love, and silly shout-outs to Tulsa area landmarks.
— Interpretive dance. Here it’s confined mostly to the character of Telly Fae (Jolianna Wright), a leather-masked creature who lives in the crumbled ruins of the Nature’s Acres park next to the Blue Whale and who pines for the ghost of a suicidal poet (Joseph Gomez) who haunts the big fish in which he took his last breath. (See what we mean about “defies easy description”?)
— Puppetry – although in this show, it’s a kind of “blink and you’ll miss it” element.
— Performances that range from the barely adequate to the smoothly professional to the so very over-the-top that you can’t help but be impressed by the way these actors have given themselves over to portraying these extremely bizarre characters.
o There is Ellicott, first and foremost, who is onstage practically the entire evening, and whose energy level never seems to falter, and who brings a nice mix of wide-eyed innocence and confident sass to the character of Nancy.
o Chris Williams, as Nancy’s not-quite-with-it American Indian guide, Chief Wolf Robe Hunt, drops one-liners in a rueful deadpan that makes the jokes sound funnier than they are.
o And Sara Wilemon as Ilsa the Harlot, who rules a small circle of the Moon with a wicked-looking sceptre and a penchant for shrieking for her “elevensies.”
o David Lawrence, who quite excellently embodies a walking computer virus, biting off his Yoda-like pronouncements with manic glee.
o Peter Bedgood, whose performance as Kluge, the satyr-like creature who pines for heroine, has some pleasantly surprising nuance and depth to it – even when he’s galloping around the stage with a yard-long phallus affixed to his person.
— Which reminds us of another characteristic of Nightingale productions: These shows aren’t for kids, or the easily offended. Because of:
— Burlesque routines. And a naked guy wrapped in plastic. Although these two elements do not share the stage at the same time.

“The Blue Whale of Catoosa” probably could have benefited from a bit – OK, maybe a lot – of judicious editing. It’s as if it began as half a dozen individual one-acts or sketches that were something finely, sometimes crudely, stitched together into a kind of surreal “Pilgrim’s Progess,” with Nancy as the Everyperson in search of something called love.

But for all its ambitions, for all its content, for all its energy (and there aren’t too many longueurs in the action in the course of its 215 minutes), “The Blue Whale of Catoosa” is very much like its concrete namesake. It remains resolutely on the surface, never delving deep into the ideas it wants to address. It’s an amusement, a funhouse, complete with loud music that ranges from ‘50s pop pastiches to straightforward rock to electronic noodling, and lots of things that pop and sparkle and flash (in every sense of the word). And at the end, it’s might even make your head spin a little.

“The Blue Whale of Catoosa” continues with performances at 8 p.m. Fridays and Saturdays through Sept. 24. Tickets are $12, and are available only at the door. The Nightingale accepts cash only.



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ARTS

James D. Watts Jr. has lived in Oklahoma for most his life, even though he still has people saying to him, "Don't sound like you're from around these parts." A University of Oklahoma Phi Beta Kappa graduate, Watts has received the Governor Arts Award, Harwelden Award and the National Conference of Christians and Jews Beth Macklin Award for his writing. Before coming to the Tulsa World, Watts worked for the Tulsa Tribune.

Contact him at (918) 581-8478.

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