Dark Water – Location, Tickets, Reviews
Manhattan Theatre Works and the Theater Series at the 14th Street Y present the world premiere of Dark Water, an a cappella musical written by David Stallings and directed by Heather Cohn. It’s an allegory inspired by the massive BP oil spill in the Gulf of Mexico in 2010 and tells the perilous journey of Barnacle, a sea turtle, rescuing her stranded daughters. It’s a story about animals and employs a cartoon-like puppet to play the only human in the story but it is not intended for children.
Maxamoo
Dark Water gives voice to the voiceless animal victims of eco-disasters. The play utilizes a wide range of animal characters — turtles, dolphins, fish, seagulls — to demonstrate the difficulty of escaping and surviving a catastrophic event. Although the play is told from the animals’ perspective, the morality of this tale squarely rests with humans. The animal characters, portrayed by actors, exhibit a complex range of human behavior from kindness to cruelty and juxtapose the views of predator/prey and friend/enemy. The commentary is acerbic and heart-wrenching and we noticed more than a few damp eyes exiting the theater.
We liked the story better than the execution of this production. Unlike most musicals, Dark Water features a cappella singing. Though the performers are excellent singers, the absence of underscoring and, thus, songs beginning without notice sometimes made the singing feel unnatural. Likewise, the variety of storytelling devices and performance techniques, including poetry and rhyming couplets, tap dance, shadow puppetry, and video projection, made the production feel like an experimental rehearsal rather than a finalized piece of theater but we love the message.
Public Opinion
Have you seen Dark Water? What did you think? Comment below or tweet to us at @Maxamoo.
Critics’ Reviews
Talkin’ Broadway
Dark Water is a breathtaking work, a rich and powerful allegory that is both exceptionally literate and a searing cautionary tale and call to arms of the sort that seldom finds its way onto a stage.
TICKETS
$18 (click here for tickets)
DATES
Performances through March 29, 2014
LOCATION
Theater Series at the 14th Street Y
344 East 14th Street
New York City
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RUNNING TIME
2 hours, one intermission
CAST & CREW
(partial list)
Written by David Stallings
Directed by Heather Cohn
Featuring Susan G. Bob, Lily Drexler, Emily Hartford, Erica Lauren McLaughlin, Dianna Martin, Antonio Minino, Stephen Conrad Moore, Kathleen O’Neill, Chester Poon, Brian Silliman