Madeleine Rose Yen, David Lansbury, Tessa Klein in WAR HORSE. (Photo Credit: Paul Kolnik)
At a Wednesday matinee performance in March, Lincoln Center’s Vivian Beamount Theatre is packed. Understandably so, given that today’s production is War Horse, the play that swept the 2011 Tony Awards. It won all five of its nominations, including the coveted award for Best Play, and a Special Tony Award for the Handspring Puppet Company for the now iconic and unmistakable horse puppets. War Horse is infamous for being one of the hardest tickets in town, especially after two sold-out runs at the National Theatre in London, and its continual run on the West End. And although, yes, the play itself is remarkable in its own right, today I have placed my focus on the music in the production, an element of War Horse that is both surprising, and rarely seen elsewhere in modern American stage dramas.
The lights dim, the audience quiets, and the music begins. Soft, at first, yes. But as birds swoop through the audience, their chirps begin a soft, melodic tune. A single male cast member emerges from upstage and begins to sing. The song seems meaningful, thoughtful, and thought provoking, but we must wait to know its meaning for sure, seeing as War Horse has only just begun. [click to continue….]
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