The sci-fi, Civil War musical is funny, incredibly well directed and deeply inspiring
A Civil War folk-rock musical that engages in historical revisionism is not an easy sell to audiences. One of the ushers told me that when she first heard the plot was about a Civil War soldier who goes on a sci-fi journey to create a peace machine, “I thought, what kind of hippy-dippy nonsense is that?” However, the usher also mentioned that after seeing it, she fell in love with the show and had since seen it four times! Futurity dazzles in its Colorado premiere at Aurora Fox, thanks to an exceptional ensemble and a thoughtful vision from an experienced director.
History of Futurity
Futurity is a folk-rock musical by Alvarez and the Lisps that tells the story of Julian Munro (Nik Vlachos), a fictional Civil War soldier who, in collaboration with real-life mathematician Ada Lovelace (Adriane Leigh Robinson), tries to invent a machine that creates peace. Ada proposes the Steam Brain, a machine that uploads the consciousness and experience of many people to create a shared morality that they hope will put an end to slavery. This machine will generate a singularity of information, but can information be used to defeat bigotry?
Growing up in the South as the child of social justice organizers, César Alvarez often felt like he was fighting the same battle, but with a saxophone. What began as Alvarez’s MFA thesis at Bard College in 2008 about artistic creation and imagination in seemingly hopeless circumstances received its world premiere in March 2012 at the American Repertory Theater at Harvard University. The production transferred to New York’s Off-Broadway in 2015, where it won the Lortel Award for Outstanding Musical and the Off-Broadway Alliance Award for Best New Musical.
‘Human-powered musical
The musical begins with Robinson and Vlachos addressing the audience, asking how we are and if we are confused by the plot. Robinson and Vlachos are both cool, charismatic performers, and their riffing to the audience relaxes the audience; the pair has fantastic chemistry together and seamlessly transitions between comedic beats and heart-wrenching emotional moments. Throughout the first act, the pair periodically checks in with the audience to ensure we are still following the plot and to break the tension from the intense war choreography and discussion of racial violence. The pair’s presence informs the audience that, while the show occasionally veers into heady and philosophical territory, the majority of it comes from the heart.
The other actors trickle in, carrying musical instruments to add to the musical’s soundscape, and are cleverly directed to use these instruments as weapons in combat. Outgoing Aurora Fox Artistic Cirector Helen R. Murray, Futurity’s director, mentions in her director’s note that “Futurity is human-powered — the magic of it comes from the actors who play instruments … It stays pre-industrial on purpose, as an allegory for our world — we have big problems in our world, and it will take big ideas powered by people and their hard work if we have any hope of them being solved.” Murray’s vision for a naturalistic theatrical experience has come to fruition, and it is a joy to behold.
Shane Franklin, drummer and tap dancing legend, in ‘Futurity’ | Photo by Gail Bransteitter
While all of the musicians were excellent, the drummer, Shane Franklin, was electric. Franklin’s percussion is the show’s rhythmic heartbeat, and his drumming is what helps power the machine. Franklin and Robinson have a fantastic scene together in which the audience witnesses her getting the idea for the Steam Brain from his experimental drumming on the machine. He also creates a funky beat for the machine’s highly stylized construction process by hitting various items mounted to the wall around him, such as a lantern and cowbell. Franklin’s highly athletic slam poetry tap dance at the start of Act 2 blew me away, reminding us that our past is our future and our future is our past. This display earned Franklin three well-deserved rounds of applause from the crowd I attended and was a sensational way to start Act 2.
Brandon Philip Case’s distinctive set design frames the action of the piece with two raised platforms on either side for actors to sit on and an elaborate wooden contraption nestled far upstage, lightly lit in blue. The deep set allows actors to use the full length of the stage and make unexpected entrances from the set’s many entrance points. Jen Orf’s lighting design enhances the set with its unique color palette of blue, orange and purple. Orf’s lighting of the machines, in particular, is consistently inventive and majestic. Curt Behm’s pre-show sound design includes rustling noises, wind sounds and slight metal clanging; the metal noises, combined with natural sounds, create an eerie and unnatural feeling that forces you to acknowledge humanity’s disruption of the natural world.
Don Randle delivers a star-making performance as the General, who’s charged with the task of inspiring his men to kill their oppressors. He orders his men to rip up the railroad so the Confederates will starve. “War,” the General says, “is cruelty.” However, the General remains deeply troubled because he knows that “even once the war is over, my body won’t be safe.” Nothing can undo white oppressors’ dehumanizing reduction of black bodies to commodities to be bought and traded. As he watches his men die, Randle becomes both more conflicted and more intent on fulfilling his mission. He is the emotional core of this show, and Randle’s complicated performance will stick with you long after you leave the theatre.
What is the purpose of art in times of conflict?
One of the most interesting questions of the play is posed by Julian, who asks the audience if “artists actually help the world with what they create.” Initially, Julian answers this question with a yes, because while artists are creating, they don’t make the world worse. However, this answer is complicated because, while they are distracted working on the machine, one of the men in Julian’s fleet is killed. While Julian and Ada are creating, people are dying, and their work will do nothing to save them.
This forces the characters to question whether their actions will help. The cast powerfully sings “I don’t know” as the lights and sound abruptly shut off and bring Act 1 to a powerful conclusion. By Act 2, even the comic relief gets introspective. “Every Egg Broke,” a musical number early in the second act, begins with a lighthearted story about a song that causes every egg within a hundred miles to explode. While the song starts humorously, it gets increasingly existential as the cast probes how terrifying it would be to realize that all eggs were connected at a microcosmic level, because that could be us at any moment.
The musical’s script does a better job of proposing questions than it does answering them and, as a result, doesn’t quite stick the landing. Alvarez’s musical spends a lot of time building the machine but ultimately argues that technology for technology’s sake won’t save us. Instead, music and storytelling themselves are the machines that create peace. I’m all for championing the power of imagination, but this conclusion isn’t the most satisfying and does feel a little bit like a cop-out given the highly scientific and philosophical musings from earlier in the show. Although, I suppose none of our world leaders have gotten us any closer to achieving world peace, so we might as well give the artist’s approach a shot.
The Colorado premiere of Futurity is truly great theatre that proposes human connection and musical storytelling as a way out of seemingly hopeless circumstances. The musical is only playing for one more weekend, so I urge you to take advantage of this current opportunity to see Futurity at the Aurora Fox before it becomes history.
‘Futurity’ asks what the point of art is if people are dying? | Photo by Gail Bransteitter
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