SANDY — “It is a meteorological impossibility to see both snow and stars at the same time,” states a character at the end of The Magician’s Elephant which made it’s national premiere at Hale Centre Theatre Sandy this week. Yet, in one of the show’s beautiful moments, the beauty of seeing stars and snow fall together was on display in the spectacular Young Living Centre Stage. It’s an apt metaphor for the performance on the whole. Stars and snow are both rich with symbolism of things that are complex, strong and fragile, profound and simple, small and massive. So too was the experience of engaging with this new musical from Nancy Harris and Marc Teitler and adapted from the novel by two-time Newberry Award winner Kate DiCamillo. It’s a production that worked on so many levels, and still left me with a sense of being unsettled. Buckle in for a long review because this musical adaptation had a lot to unpack, but was striking in its success.
The show’s first fifteen minutes felt, for all the world, like the profound beginning to the next great Disney musical – even though it’s not a Disney produced show. In the fictional western European city of Baltese, a young protagonist encounters a mystical stranger and is given an indecipherable prophecy to bring a spark of life to a dying ember of hope for a long-lost sister. The protagonist, young Peter Duchene is an orphan who lives with a PTSD riddled grandfather. Peter, played by Hyrum Smith is told that he can find the sister he believes was stillborn if he “follows the elephant” that he knows nothing about. Fascinating, no?
This strong start was aided by the world class technical prowess audiences flock to HCT for time and again, but in a way that was different than so many other productions I’ve seen in the space. The tech was exceptional without being an over the top flex like in recent productions of Fiddler on the Roof, The Little Mermaid, and more. The children’s fable was told through the use of clever sketches that had a touch of Tim Burton style flair without leaning too far into the truly eerie. The colors were gloomy tones of greys, browns and muted tones of other hues.
The lighting and projection design from Jaron Kent Hermansen was excellent in communicating mood and magic. When Peter is told the prophecy, handwritten script to “follow the elephant” to find his sister. When said sister, Adelle, is describing monsters she’s overcome, scurrying projections that appear to be a child’s drawings come to life across the show’s floor until a new terror is presented and the drawing morphs. I loved the choice to have scenic changes indicated through lights more often than set pieces including a great use of gobo transitions including into the jail scene; though that included a massive hanging piece that felt unnecessary. The use of hanging lanterns and video screens to add ambiance was exceptional and added to the feeling that The Magician’s Elephant is the perfect pumpkin season family experience. The show took itself seriously, and while there was humor, it wasn’t a story written to be funny which so many children’s stories lean too far into.
The acting throughout the cast was exceptional. Mack once again brought incredible prowess to an essential role as the Narrator. She slipped seamlessly into and out of the center of the story, and her songs, starting with “Welcome to the Town of Baltese” were some of the most engaging parts of the production. Her cat and mouse game with Smith when the narrator, in the story as a magical fortune teller, allows Peter just one question was delightful.
Adelle, played by Hailey Burnham, was a stunning performer. Adelle doesn’t appear until Act 2 in a major way but when she does, she bursts in with vocals I couldn’t believe were present in someone as young as her. Her song “Adelle the Brave” is one of the show’s major highlights.
I was impressed as well with Dave Tinney’s direction of the ensemble. The people of Baltese begin to develop a cultish fascination with the elephant at one point, and the build of individual townsfolk towards a fever pitch was exceptionally well done. Each character seemed to grasp their part on a deep level and how they impacted the story’s driving arc of the magical reuniting of the family.
So now to address the elephant in the room. No, I don’t mean the majestic three-person-operated elephant puppet the dimensions of an African Elephant. That phenomenal bit of craftsmanship by Acheson Walsh Studios was a magnificent production element, and a must-see for those who love an exceptionally built and manipulated puppet. Some of the show’s most magical moments happened around the elephant, and the actors manipulating it were impressive in their cohesion.
No, the elephant I’m referring to is the fact that I stated the success of the first fifteen minutes of the show. I’m thrilled that Hale Centre Theatre’s creative team and patrons support engaging in new works and premieres. While I felt last year’s Hans Christian Andersen in New York was a train wreck of a script, this was more of a fender bender. Maybe some bumps and bruises, a few things misaligned, but overall a functional piece that I think will get stronger with development.
The biggest issue right now is that this is a musical begging to be a play. Nearly every character and major moment or theme has an entire song, often a lengthy one, tied to it. While the performances were admirable, there were several characters who simply didn’t need a solo song that was often too similar to the others and not driving the story in a direction. This new musical had music that was enchanting at first, and eventually became too rote.
There were other things that lacked contextualization. In act two, Peter remembers his mother telling him the name of his sister, but the audience would have been best served with this memory at the top of the show as the mystical fortune teller, while fun, wasn’t being asked a question the audience cared about. Many scenes played on the idea of unearned emotion and, through no fault of the performers, were simply lacking any driving force.
Overall, this was a play that was interesting enough to make me want to read the book and listen to a soundtrack to see if there were things I missed. So much of the production works, even when the play itself is still a little lost. Like snow and stars, both had beauty that I think would gain depth upon closer inspection. However, the show lacked the ability to fully be successful in the, admittedly lengthy, scope given to it and left me feeling impressed, but a little cold.
These reviews are made possible by a grant from the Salt Lake County Zoo, Arts, and Parks program.
