Theater review by Adam Feldman
In Queen of the Mist, Michael John LaChiusa has written Mary Testa the part of a lifetime. LaChiusa's portrait of Anna Edson Taylor, who made a brief splash in 1901 as the first person to go over Niagara Falls in a barrel, is a musical-theater feast: a desperate love child of Gypsy's Mama Rose (without the children) and The Music Man's Harold Hill (without the salesmanship). An actor whose brassy bigness has often confined her, paradoxically, to smaller parts—a little of her can go a long way—Testa is finally playing a character on the scale of her abilities. She stalks and devours the role with riveting commitment and power; it's Testa's turn, and it's a bravura one.
The waters she rides are sometimes choppy. One of our most consistently serious and rewarding composers, LaChiusa tracks Taylor up to her stunt and beyond. He offers several exceptional sequences along the way, as well as a few that could benefit from editing or polish; the second act, which depicts Taylor's decline after the falls, builds unsteadily to its huge dramatic climax. But Transport Group's Jack Cummings III has staged the show with flair and variety, and the supporting cast—which includes Andrew Samonsky as Taylor's dissolute manager, Theresa McCarthy as her prim sister and Julia Murney as Carrie Nation—is very fine indeed. Queen of the Mist does not always move easily, but it commands respect as it barrels boldly forward.
Judson Memorial Church. By Michael John LaChiusa. Dir. Jack Cummings III. With Mary Testa, Andrew Samonsky. 2hrs 25mins. One intermission.
