Sitting through the Ohio University Division of Theater’s latest production isn’t a sprint — it’s a marathon.
Marathon ’33 by June Havoc analyzes the phenomenon of the dance marathon in Depression-era America. It’s a fascinating topic that is hardly ever discussed in U.S. history classes. Marathoners, as they were dubbed, danced for hundreds or thousands of hours at a time just in order to have a place to sleep, eat and make a little bit of money, all while audiences would fill arenas to watch.
Havoc wrote the play based on her own memoir, titled Early Havoc, and the novel They Shoot Horses, Don’t They? by Horace McCoy. The play follows June’s, played by Elizabeth Johnson, first time at a dance marathon in 1933 and all the heights and pitfalls that go with it.
That’s where the play tended to lose the audience. The play is so realistic in its storytelling that time seemed to sometimes move so slow that it felt as if the performance had gone on as long as the dance marathon it was portraying, which ended up totaling near 3,100 hours. The subject material is fascinating, but the story gets bogged down in unneeded moments. The somewhat sluggish tone started from the very beginning. For at least 10 minutes — forcing the show to not truly begin until about 15 minutes after the scheduled time — cast members banged and pounded backstage as audiences sat confused at what was happening. The narrator Ruddy, played by Jarahme Pollock, attempted to make it relevant, but it was just unnecessary.
The show needs condensing. It runs more than two and a half hours, and it could fairly easily be cut to about two hours. The pre-show banging is the first to go. Next would be some of the musical numbers director Aurora Held incorporated into the show. To make her thesis production more akin to her multi-faceted theatrical training, Held added dance numbers and performances. Many of them were fantastic additions. The big Charleston number in the first act literally lit up the room as the lights brightened up the stage and matched the audience’s much more energetic and excited tone. Tess Stevens as Melba Marvel, “the queen of the comedy musical stage,” gave an excellent, old crooner-esque performance. But when it came to William Travis as Scotty aka “Hercules,” it’s a different story. It was a mediocre performance that would be fine had the show not gone on as long as it did. His songs can be cut.
Marathon ’33 is at its best when Emilio Tirri was on stage. Tirri plays Patsy, the experienced clown and entertainer of the marathon, who dances with June. His comedy and smile were infectious. Chuckles erupted every time he took control. Tirri also managed to steal every moment he could. When June and marathoner manager Mr. Dankle, played by Alex Nicosia, are having a conversation about her performing at the marathon, Tirri dominates as he fools around with Patsy’s clown props. During the Charleston, his energy is irresistible, and he incites some serious laughs with his side remarks. At the same time he was the king of comedy, Tirri also expertly performed the more dramatic moments with his accomplished way of delivering every line. The script is decent, but it becomes elevated in Tirri’s hands.
Tirri’s Patsy is often flanked by Abe O’Brien, played by Greg Atkin, and Bozo, played by Patrick Wagstaff for a Three Stooges-like slapstick routine. Again, these moments are some of the most enjoyable ones because of the trio’s expert comedic timing. Atkin and Wagstaff truly kick off the play with their antics — the first thing that captures the audience’s attention, even if it does occur 10 to 15 minutes into the action.
Johnson did well as June, the hopeful dreamer. The issue that comes with her performance is the highs and lows of the narrative. The story includes so many moments to make it a realistic story, but some are frankly just bland and unnecessary. As the main character, Johnson has to perform both the interesting and the tedious, thus it is sometimes hard to sit through one of her monologues when the monologue isn’t that intriguing.
The production aspects of the play match the minimalistic nature of the Great Depression. The set is well executed as usual, but it just can’t compare some of the the university’s other productions, particularly Metamorphoses, Assassins and As You Like It. It is efficient in how it uses the first level as the dance space and the second as the rest quarters, but it just doesn’t have the usual “wow” effect. Painted vintages signs for candy and companies decorate the walls of the theater to make it look more like the arena where the dance marathon is set. The costumes are what anyone would expect to be pulled from storage for a play set in the 1930s. Only Bozo’s crazy styled hair and laughably oversized pants are worth noting. The lighting design is nothing spectacular and often seemed to miss its cues when the action moved to the second level of the set. Its only highlight is when the entire stage would go dark except for a lone light to emphasize the “number of hours danced,” a moment that often incited gasps from the audience.
The live band on stage is a nice addition as an attempt to make the marathon feel more realistic. The impact of the piano and drums is much greater with these live components as opposed to a soundtrack. However, the limited space of the stage made it hard for the live band to excel. They have to play quietly in order for the actors to be heard, and that requirement truly lessened their performance.
The overall theater space is an issue in and of itself. The play takes place in the Forum Theater in the basement of the Radio-Television Building. The Forum is a thrust stage where the audience surrounds the stage on three sides, with the rows slanted at angle to the point where the first row is at the same level as the stage. With such a large cast, much of the action is blocked unless audience members sit in particular sections. Don’t sit in the first two to three rows and make sure to pick a seat that is higher up in the middle sections. There is a lot of good action to see, but the experience can be robbed if a viewer finds himself or herself in the left corner where a marathon couple will most definitely block his or her view of the action on the other side of the stage. The regular proscenium stage of the Elizabeth Evans Baker Theater in Kantner Hall would have suited this play much better. That way, all of the action of the play’s large cast could have been seen by all audience members at all times.
The play surely succeeds in informing its audience of the culture of the dance marathon in the Depression-era and making an impact by showing the extents to which people would go just to have a place to eat and sleep for a given amount of time. Marathon ’33 gets bogged down in its ultra-realistic storytelling, but it truly inspires the audience to think about how far they would go to survive.
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