October 21-27, 2004

theater

The Arabian Nights

by Toby Zinman

The Caliph Haroun al-Raschid sat in his palace, wondering if there was anything left in the world that could possibly give him a few hours’ amusement, when his old friend, Terry Nolan, the grand vizir, suddenly appeared before him. Bowing low, he waited, as was his duty, till his master spoke, but Haroun al-Raschid merely turned his head and looked at him and sank back into his former weary posture.

"O, King of Time," Nolan said, "I have directed a show called The Arabian Nights created by el-Zimm-er-man, a Mary of great renown throughout the theater world. She has adapted the great Homer. She has adapted the magnificent Ovid. And now, Caliph, she offers for your entertainment and edification the stories of Scheherazade. Scheherazade, you may recall, was the woman who beguiled a king almost as splendid as you are. That king, betrayed by his wife, took revenge on women by marrying virgin after virgin, murdering each one at dawn following the wedding night. As Scheherazade’s dawn approaches, she begins a story so intriguing that the king spares her life -- and so on for 1,001 nights. The show acts out some of her stories and is full of beautiful lighting (Dennis Parichy)."

The Caliph pondered the invitation, lying back on his silken cushions, noshing on dates. Unwilling to take the grand vizir’s word and unwilling to waste his precious time, he put on the clothes of a common man and went out into the marketplace to inquire of the people. The passersby told him that the show lacked all subtlety, and that the flat, modern voices of the ensemble were unsuited to the antique and spellbinding tales (only Shirley Roeca in Act 2 triumphs over this difficulty).

Others, amid the cries of the mango-sellers and the fishmongers, pointed out that the magic of famous and ancient stories is diminished by illustrating those stories, making the larger-than-life characters who had previously lived in our imaginations suddenly walk and talk as ordinary people. This, the citizens pointed out, is a great loss and the chief hazard of adaptation. Most grievous, said the people, was the way the show made cheesy political references to the fact that the stories take place in Iraq. There were amusing tiny moments (created by David Jadico and LeeAnn Etzold), the citizens concluded, but the show seems more suited to children than to adults.

THE ARABIAN NIGHTS

Through Nov. 7, Arden Theatre, 40 N. Second St., 215-922-1122.