Brecht Makes Way for Catalyst in Roundheads and Peakheads
Inserting a rap number into a 1930s Brechtian play-with-music takes a certain sort of chutzpah. Managing to elevate the work in the process: now, that's just impressive.
Catalyst Theater Company has definitely improved on the text of its latest production, Roundheads & Peakheads, a didactic little parable about class warfare and political maneuvering. The work's connection to the current economic climate is undeniable, but Catalyst doesn't dwell too much on beating us over the head with them (in fact, the company's so reluctant to seem cliché that a voiceover is quick to point out that the use of Sept. 11 as a pivotal date in the work was Brecht's move, not theirs).
Instead, director Christopher Gallu seems intent on interjecting as much energy and new life into the production as possible. With that in mind comes touches like the original, opening hip-hop number "Money Calls To Money" (the catchy hook is still pulsing in my head, days later). There's also a clever use of a large screen, where some of the action takes place in film form rather than live theater - and weaves between the two seamlessly, lending a feel of detachment that seems a fitting nod to the author.
Also at Gallu's disposal is a young, energetic cast, including Catherine Deadman, alternately a whore and a chanteuse, the versatile Jennifer Crooks in a variety of roles, most entertainingly as a repressed nun-in-training, Kathleen Gonzales as a throaty old madame (her musical numbers call to mind the no-nonsense showmanship of Chicago's "When You're Good To Mama"), and Grady Weatherford as a bumbling peasant.
Roundheads and Peakheads can be a little draining as ruminations continue on the tensions between the haves and have-nots, the pointlessness of racism, the deceptiveness of the powerful. Luckily, when things start to feel tiresome, there's usually a boisterous or wistful musical number just around the corner.
Roundheads & Peakheads runs through March 15 at the Atlas Performing Arts Center. Tickets, always $10, are available online.