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The Horn

Continuing a fine tradition of adapting works of literature for the stage.

Saturday May 05, 2001.     By Temple Lentz

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City Lit Theater Company

Continuing a fine tradition of adapting works of literature for the stage, City Lit Theater Company makes a valiant effort to transform John Clellon Holmes' beat-era novel into a modern, retro-hip play full-length play. Adapted from the original text by Artistic Director Mark Richard, The Horn follows the rise and fall of one of the time's premier tenor saxophone players. Edgar, known more simply by his friends and followers as "The Horn," made a name for himself almost as soon as he entered the scene, mixing a mediocre talent with an incredible presence in front of an audience. Once he got to the top, though, musical styles began to change and younger players routinely bested him.

As Edgar begins to slide, the world of drinking, smoking, and living on the edge which had once invigorated him, instead starts to devour him. Often drunk and always on the defensive, Edgar tries to prove himself in every way imaginable. The Horn shows the pathetic, but still somehow noble, decline of a man whose every move was is a struggle to redeem himself.

Ron OJ Parson directs an excellent, finely tuned cast of actors with a sweeping, delicate touch. He has staged this difficult play with remarkable clarity and insight, and revels in the mood and tone of the jazz era. Victor J. Cole's meticulous portrayal of Edgar reveals a man who's tormented on the inside as well as outside, and who, inadvertently, steps all over the people who love him most. As the Narrator, Ron Wells captures the jive-slinging, cool-talking sensibility that marks the play's time period, and tells the story with incredible fluidity, intelligence, and compassion. On stage, above the primary playing space, Mwata Bowden conducts a small jazz ensemble that underscores and accompanies the action below.

Rob Martin's lush set design, which plays with shades of grey and images of musical instruments, is utter eye candy. Unfortunately, its execution was not as well-conceived -- the unwieldy set often moves or catches on itself without warning, forcing actors and musicians to help pull it back into place or steady themselves in the midst of intense dialogue.

Despite any insufficiencies technically, The Horn is a wonderful production. All the same, however, The Horn isn't a very good play. Holmes' novel is dense and ambient, and Richards' adaptation seems to be patchwork at best. An adapter's job isn't simply to take bits and pieces of text and turn them into dialogue -- it's to hone those pieces into a work of theater that stands on its own. Richards leaves too much out and relies too heavily on mood to carry his work.