I was looking forward to watching “War Horse” at the Fabulous Fox Theater in Atlanta the other night. Why not? The play received rave reviews on Broadway and the West End, so it had to be a no brainer.
We enjoyed a pre-show meal with friends at Bara Wanda restaurant a mere half a block away from the theater, and well fed and watered eagerly approached the Foxy lady.
Atlanta’s only daily newspaper “The Atlanta Journal & Constitution”, had given the performance a B in its review the following morning, but unfortunately I could not share their enthusiasm. We had reasonable seats in the Dress Circle until I realized I was sitting behind the incredible hulk. Half the stage was obliterated by his white head of hair bearing the hallmark of a Jimmy Johnson bouffant supported by gargantuan linebacker shoulders. The situation improved in the second half when a number of the audience around us left and we were able to move forward a few rows to obtain a better view.
However the sound system remained unpredictable for want of a better word. I have always had issues with the Fox’s acoustics and War Horse proved to be no exception. It was probably made worse by some of the phony English accents produced by members of the cast.
The script was rather lame from the words I could hear or understand, and the performance by the actor in the leading role of Albert was wooden and generated little empathy with the audience. The set was bland and uninspiring, but one redeeming feature was the exceptional puppetry which brought two horses to life ingeniously operated by two “three man” crews.
The Fox is an old theater (built in 1929 and saved from the demolition ball in 1974) and consequently the seats are spatially challenged. The auditorium can hold 4,678, but it’s not exaggeration to find one’s knees supporting one’s chin while experiencing the surreal straight jacket effect.
Don’t get me wrong. The shortcomings of the Fox Theater would not have mattered if the play had held my attention. Furthermore it mattered little that I had seen the movie version which I thoroughly enjoyed. The movie did not increase my expectations. You can’t compare apples and oranges.
In hindsight, the original National Theater’s production is probably light years away from a touring production with American actors attempting English accents from the Kevin Costner Speech Academy introduced for his version of “Robin Hood.”
But I can only judge on what I see and hear (which wasn’t much) and I regrettably can only give the play a D. However the horses stole the show and deserved an A.
