BURNING BLUEBEARD – Written by Jay Torrence. Produced by The Catamounts Theatre Company (Presented at the Dairy Event Center, 2590 Walnut Street, Boulder) through February 21. Tickets available at 303-444-7328 or thedairy.org.
In January of 1903, a consortium of composers, comics, and collaborators put together a burlesque set of scenes very loosely based on the folk tale of Bluebeard, a notorious nobleman who marries women, beds them, and then kills them. The script contained comic depictions of the women and their reluctance to marry, a few musical numbers, and a supposed happy ending leading to the demise of the villain. It was considered successful in its initial run and became a staple for various travelling burlesque stock companies.
One such company took it with them to Chicago later in 1903 when they were hired to be part of the opening acts at the brand-new Iroquois Theatre in downtown Chicago. While struggling to reach an audience early in the run, when the holidays were finally over, and school was still out, the houses began to fill up. On the day before New Year’s Eve, the house finally filled. Its normal capacity of 1600 seated on three levels was sold to overflowing that day, with an estimated 2100 people filling the standing room only and seated in the aisles to watch the frivolity.
Midway through the production, right after the intermission, as the comic Eddie Foy was entertaining the audience, an arc light high in the fly space above the stage flared and caught a curtain on fire. It didn’t take long for it to spread, and flaming bits fell to the stage below. Efforts were made to calm the audience, lower the fire curtain (it got stuck on the way down), and extinguish the fire . . . to no avail. In no time, the interior of the theatre was filled with burning fabric, smoke, and flames. When a backstage door was finally forced open to allow the performers to escape, the gush of wind created a fireball, that flew into the gallery and balcony area, immediately incinerating the people trying to escape but trapped.
The upshot of the tragedy was 602 deaths, many children and their mothers, many trampled as they tried to get out the one front door or down improperly installed fire escapes. It was a tragedy not surpassed in the United States until the incidents on 9/11. Of course, there were arrests made because of graft covering shoddy workmanship, and bribes delivered for unreported safety issues. None of which helped the people who came that day looking for a little bit of song – a little joke or two. It also didn’t help the troupe of entertainers who, in spite of every effort to save people and expedite escape, were forced instead to watch as their audience died.
Jay Torrence has recreated that fateful day in history to give the players in that troupe one last chance to finish the Act Two of the afternoon and, perhaps, just maybe, change the outcome. Maybe if they can finish their performance, the ending will be what everyone expected and not the horrendous true events of the day. So, they explain to this audience on this day what they hope to do and start by going back to the beginning of MR. BLUEBEARD, the skit they were performing on that day.
Corny jokes and musical numbers start the performance. Bluebeard (Sam Gilstrap) bumps off two or three of his one night only wives. But then it’s intermission and Act Two must begin. Try as they might, the fire starts again. Robert Murray (Mark Collins), the Stage Manager, describes the conflagration and its progress as it is happening. Eddie Foy (Rakeem Lawrence) tries to get everyone to calm down and return to their seats, only to condemn them to a fiery death. Nellie Reed (Maggie Tisdale) was an aerial performer whose act was to drop in a harness from high in the wings, swinging out over the audience and dropping carnations into their laps. She was trapped in her harness, unable to free herself. In this version, even the Faerie Queen (Noelia Antweiler), whose magic wand was supposed to have all the answers, couldn’t help. A coda is added to the tale that offers the tiniest little bit of hope that if they continue perfecting their act, maybe someday it will come out differently.
This is a hard play for theatre people to watch. As a result of this event, safety measures in theatres all over the world have been regulated and improved. Doors can only open outward; only certain kinds of paint can be used; lighting equipment has changed; safety for the performers and audience members are protected by law. But still. As the players sat staring out into the house with the lights of the fire playing across their faces, as a responsible theatre person, you begin thinking, “Is my theatre protected? Could I get our audience out in time?”
While this is a gruesome topic, it is a well-told story, wondrously performed with authenticity and tenderness by the people of Catamounts. They are each physically committed to telling the story the way it happened over and over again, no matter how hard it is on them spiritually. In addition to the people named, Joan Bruemmer-Holden plays the classic clown of the troupe, instrumental in getting the players to fulfill their roles from beginning to end. This is a true ensemble as they pull the pieces together to tell both halves of the story. In a strange, beautiful way, it is told with lyrical overtones, lovely traditional costumes, and lighting that both enhances and horrifies.
You are left with the hope that maybe the next time they tell this tale, it really will end differently.
A WOW factor of 8.75!!