nothin Love Holds A Lamp — And Adah Rides A Horse | New Haven Independent

Love Holds A Lamp — And Adah Rides A Horse

ANDREA H. BERMAN PHOTO

Don’t let anybody tell you that Adah Isaacs Menken is obscure. She was one of the top-paid performers of her time, her popularity buoyed by scandals and rumors. She appeared nude — or appeared to appear nude — onstage, had numerous love affairs, and was of unusual ethnic heritage for a mainstream stage star in the late 19th century. (There were various claims that she was of Cuban, French, or Creole descent.) Her poetry collection Infelicia is still in print, and major biographies of her tend to come out every decade or so. She has more books written about her than a lot of U.S. presidents. The only thing that might make her more popular these days would be if she were still performing — which would be sensational indeed, since she died in 1868 at the age of 33. Just like John Belushi, Sam Cooke, Carole Lombard, Chris Farley, Eva Peron, Eva Braun, Bon Scott of AC/DC, and Jesus Christ.

Celebrity is definitely a major theme of the lilting, lowercase love holds a lamp in this little room, a new tribute to Menken devised by the current ensemble at the Yale Summer Cabaret. Not much more than an hour long, the play breaks down into a series of vignettes in a variety of different styles; the show is as devoted to the concept, the very idea, of Adah Isaacs Menken as it is to the woman herself.

The role of Menken is assumed by the show’s entire five-person cast, who play her individually and collectively. They are unified by a uniform: Menkenesque corsets. The actors collectively devised the piece in league with director Leora Morris, who is the one who came up with the concept of an ensemble show about this unique entertainer.

Some scenes are scored with contemporary dance-pop tunes, as the cast dramatizes expressions of romance, depression, and perseverance. Such underscoring even precedes the performance, with Nina Simone’s version of Don’t Let Me Be Misunderstood” played as pre-show music. Other scenes use Menken’s own words to bolster the scant plot line, including her reactions to her critics and — as the daughter of an octoroon” — her condemnation of Confederate forces during the Civil War.

Menken was a voice of female empowerment. love holds a lamp in this little room portrays her as a lover, a fighter, a feminist, a trick rider, an actress, a sex symbol, an influence, and an inspiration. While the show is happy to mock the staginess of action-packed mid-19th-century American melodrama (though one may well wonder if, a century and a half from now, there may be similarly merciless parodies of devised ensemble bio-plays), it wants to take Menken’s writings and sayings very seriously. love holds a lamp closes with one of Menken’s poems set to music by cast members Christopher Ross-Ewart and Leland Fowler.

There’s thus a curious mix of sensationalism and subtlety throughout the entire show. Menken’s career-making role, as a (seemingly) nude damsel in distress tied to a horse in the melodrama Mazeppa, is given both an abstract, modernist staging and evoked via a colorful clip of Sophia Loren aping Menken’s Mazeppa stunt in the 1960 Western film Heller in Pink Tights. But love holds a lamp also wants to show the struggles faced by a woman performer of that era — the sexism, the bigotry, the anxieties. The show is dimly lit and full of graceful gliding movement, giving it a meditative tone.

ANDREA H. BERMAN PHOTO

The play portrays Adah Isaacs Menken more evenhandedly than previous writings that narrowscape her life and achievements into such titles as The Original Naked Lady,” Jewish Superstar,” or as an example of Race and Transgendered Performance in the 19th Century.” The biographers who most want to pigeonhole Menken as a certain type of performer or person ultimately succumb to the immense contradictions and confusions regarding Menken’s life, how she lived it, and how she herself discussed it.

The vignettes that make up love holds a lamp don’t add up to a full chronological biographical portrait of Menken, and for those who’ve tired of verbose fact-filled biodramas, that may be a great relief. Instead, we get fragments and explorations. Some are beautiful, some whimsical, some strident. Some are deeply felt. Others feel like the cast is just trying to show off their range. This may be the best way to approach Adah Isaacs Menken’s larger-than-life legacy: a little loose, a bit unstructured, chasing off in odd directions, a difficult blend of lyrical and physical, but with plenty to say and quite a lot of talent with which to say it.

love holds a lamp in this little room is at the Yale Summer Cabaret, 217 Park St., through July 18. Remaining performances are today at 7 p.m., Wednesday and Thursday at 8 p.m., Friday at both 7 and 10 p.m. and Saturday at 8 p.m. Tickets are $25, $14 for students, and $20 for Yale faculty and staff. Visit the Yale Cab’s website for more information.

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