The Mandrake–a Renaissance Musical
Niccolo Machiavelli would seem an unlikely source for a witty, good-hearted comedy–much less one enlivened every ten minutes or so by a showstopping musical number. But here it is, a rollicking comedy by Machiavelli, translated by Christopher Tiffany, with music by Andrew Hansen and a cast of adept comic actors wringing every laugh they can out of the material.
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But much of the vilification of Machiavelli may simply be a case of killing the messenger in the hope of killing the message. He was, of course, much more complex than his enemies made him out to be. And not all of his devotees have been monsters. Frederick the Great–a well-known protector of free speech–was a big admirer, though he hid his admiration by attacking Machiavelli in print. The Prussian ruler made sure only his policies were Machiavellian–a move Machiavelli would have approved, as Voltaire wryly noted in his memoirs. And Machiavelli never advised his readers to be unstintingly cruel, mean-spirited monsters. He asked them to be realistic.
Director Kevin Theis sidesteps all the traps that usually ensnare people producing pre-Shakespeare comedies. The play is filled with long speeches, for example, many of which are wittier on the page than they are on the stage. But every time Machiavelli indulges his now unfashionable love of speechifying, Theis finds some appropriate stage business–enacting the story one character is telling another, finding a handful of nicely executed visual gags–to spice up the show.
Art accompanying story in printed newspaper (not available in this archive): theater still by John Flak.
