"Ben Hur" for Corrie's Birthday

Ben Hur! Yes! Ben Hur, but not the Charlton Heston movie, not any of the movies over the years, or even some other type of performance based on Lew Wallace's 400+ page book. (I hadn't known that Ben Hur (the book), written by former Civil War general Lew Wallace, became a best-seller, and by 'best seller' we mean the top selling book ever in America from the time of "Uncle Tom's Cabin" to "Gone with the Wind,"  a span of forty years of title-holding for Big Ben.)

No, for us, Ben Hur was the Long Beach Playhouse show, an ensemble of six actors (two understudies and four speaking roles), itself a play-within-a-play. See, the idea that "all 9000 speaking roles from the sweeping epic book" (as quoted during a fourth-wall break in the opening few seconds) would be performed by only four actors is kind of the whole joke. The main conceit of this performance is that "Daniel Veil" has adapted, directed, choreographed, and stars in the epic "Ben Hur," and his troupe, the Daniel Veil Theater Collective, fills out the other characters. There's "Crystal Singer" playing the Girl, but really she's playing all lady characters (except Judah and Messala's mom), and she's the love interest for Daniel Veil himself, only the feelings aren't reciprocated.

"Omar Lord" is the name of the young man playing Messala, Jesus, and a whole bunch of other characters. Rounding out the quartet is "Edgar Chesterfield," an older actor playing, well, any old character they need, including the Hur (and Messala's adoptive) matriarch...despite the goatee.

Despite the tongue-in-cheek silliness, the story is pretty coherent. The lack of actors and abundance of roles is played to great effect, mostly for humor. The venue is quite small and the stage is a peninsula, jutting out from "backstage", with seats on all sides. Check out my picture below:

The seats I got were essentially front row center, with our feet chilling on the stage if we stretched our legs. Visible above is the screen that had different things projected upon it, depending on the setting of the scene. Never a group to miss an opportunity for a joke, the stills projected often had the Shutterstock watermarks left on them (or other likewise watermarking) or, like when they were back in Jerusalem, it was the establishing shot of Agribah from Disney's Aladdin.

A few of the crazy scenes from the story they retained for us were (1) the sea battle; and (2) the chariot race. The sea battle was very interactive. Before they performed the scene, the team came out to explain "Care must be taken henceforth because lives are at stake." The crowds on both the left and right sides of the stage were instructed to pantomime the rowing motion. From our seat, this looked very cool: dozens of enthusiastic people rowing. Our group wasn't set to the rowing task. Our section was itself broken into three sections, with each group shouting--in unison--a "researched and approved-upon Roman-aristocracy slur/command." For me and Corrie it was "Row! Row, you Phillistine scum!" They even had cards to be read by the rowers, some of which were "Arrgghh!!" while others were more plaintive whines.

Once it all started going, both sides rowing, our section shouting a barrage of slurs I can't remember beyond our own, the cries coming from the rowers, and the "battle" happening in the center of the stage--actors wrestling with dressed blow-up dolls--the effect was complete, and awesome. It was loud and malevolent chaos.

The chariot scene was wonderful in its inventiveness, and because it's the climax of the Judah Ben-Hur and Messala storyline, was really just them. The screen behind them played on a loop scenes from the silent 1925 version of the movie, along with a black and white car race. In the scene, the guys were riding cheapo office chairs each wrapped in an Ikea box. It was wonderful and hilarious. Kinda like Jesus ascending. Kinda like the play within the play, where Daniel catches Omar and Crystal kissing, and alost ruins the whole play.

Our play turns into the same thing Ben Hur turned into: a story about vengeance becoming a story about forgiveness.

The show was a success; funny and well-thought, while also whimsical and heartfelt. It was also Opening Night and had a champagne gala afterwards. This was a birthday present for Corrie, which made it a datenight, one of our two-a-years. It was a great evening.

Also, as it was opening night for the (super-small) Long Beach Playhouse organization, as Corrie and I enjoyed our sparkling wine and hors d'oeuvre, showing off our awesome hair, we absorbed many quizzical and funny looks. Who were these two in the front row? Who were these two chilling with us afterwards? I'm fairly sure that Corrie and I were the ONLY people at this performance unaffiliated with one the actors or with the Friends of the LB Playhouse, the financial backers of the theater. We were seen, as it were.

The actors themselves were fun and game. Grant Thackray played Daniel Veil, Devin Ricklef played Omar Lord, Amara Phelps played Crystal Singer, and lawyer-by-day Eric Schiffer played Edgar. The two "understudies" were equally funny, even with no lines. they were played by Jackie Shearn and Charlie Rodriguez. Should you recognize any of those names? I'd be shocked if you did. I put them here because there were so few and they worked so hard. 

It has inspired me to make more of an effort to see the Charlton Heston version. And to also, er, be seen again...maybe...at a tiny local theater environment? Such a vibrant thing, live theater in Southern California...