MONSIEUR D’EON IS A WOMAN
by T.E. Klunzinger
J. Edgar Hoover, we are told, liked to dress up in women’s clothes, had a longtime boyfriend, but was clearly a man. Or so the rumor mill had it. This true story of 18th-Century France, now playing through Sunday at MSU’s Pasant Theatre, has very much those same basic elements, including the rumor mill, except… it’s kind of lacking as a satisfying play.
This is not for lack of trying: the many costumes by Mona Jahani and lighting by Lilian Meyers are seriously gorgeous, and the musical interludes with sometimes-curious choreography by Jaylin Coleman are enough to make you think that just maybe, despite all expectations, this is going to become the musical you want it to be. And director Deric McNish keeps the ensemble of 20 actors playing 50 roles moving along smartly.
Perhaps the problem lies in the linear nature of the script: our hero is sent to Russia, then to England, then back to France, then back to England, then back to France – have we seen that scene before? Flashback storytelling is a much better structure with which to focus on the action highlights and skip over the tedious parts.
Or perhaps the problem is in the uneven dialogue, which jumps back and forth between smart-ass remarks and passionate declaiming, so that you’re never exactly sure what kind of a show this is supposed to be.
The athletic Stefon Funderburke plays the title character as a heroic soldier and skillful spy, but totally without any hint of femininity that might have started the court tongues wagging. There are occasional references to his being a virgin, but the gossip only starts when he puts on a dress to escape from England back to France. Really?
As well, the many actors play up to four roles each, with no attempt to be gender-specific – maybe the script specifies that, or maybe it’s what college theater is supposed to be these days. I simply found it confusing.
On the other hand, there are many joys throughout: Emilio Pido is all commanding authority as Louis XV, and as Ben Franklin, his faux-tango with D’Eon is sublime. Jacob Squire’s Louis XVI made me want to delay the guillotine a bit, and his fight choreography for the big and little battle scenes was very well done.
Keara Hayes as Joan of Arc made you take notice every time she appeared, and Blaze Herdegen was deftly distinctive as a soldier, philosopher and drunken Prince Regent.
All in all, this is definitely worth a trip to the Pasant, if only to enjoy the enjoy the great energy and talent to be seen on the stage. But I’d still like to see it as a musical.
Tickets are available online at
http://whartoncenter.com
at the Wharton Center box office, or by calling 1-800-WHARTON.
Continues on the Pasant Stage at Wharton Center:
Friday, April 22, 2022, at 8 p.m.
Saturday, April 23, 2022, at 2 p.m.
Saturday, April 23, 2022, at 8 p.m.
*Sunday, April 24, 2022. at 2 p.m.
* Pre-Show Discussion with director Deric McNish Sunday, April 24, at 1:15 p.m.
For more information on the show and other MSU Department of Theatre productions, visit:https://theatre.msu.edu/productions/21-22/