Cast the talent, not the type, goes an old showbiz axiom — and so it went at Metropolitan Playhouse, when the East Village theatrical heritage hawks found themselves scrambling for a replacement production to match their already-hired ensemble.
Specializing in early American (almost always public domain) works, Metropolitan was set to revive George M. Cohan’s virtually unknown “Broadway Jones” — until artistic director Alex Roe discovered “that the darned play was re-published, with some edits, in the pivotal year of 1923. Anything published then, if the renewals were properly applied for, gets protection for 95 years. That would be 2018.” After a crash course in copyright law via numerous emails between himself and the Samuel French licensing agency, plans for “Broadway Jones” had to be scrapped — putting the literal brakes on Metropolitan’s 23rd season theme: Progress.
Happenstance had other plans, helped along by a sympathetic nod from Actors Equity that allowed most of the rehearsal-ready cast to begin memorizing “Rollo’s Wild Oat” — a progress-themed comedy that, Roe happily notes, “had parts that were just right for nearly every member of the waiting cast.”
First produced in 1920 at the Punch and Judy Theatre on West 49th Street, Clare Beecher Kummer’s sparkling, screwball tale of economic entitlement and artistic pretense concerns a rudderless young man’s decision to sink his inheritance into an extremely ill-advised production of “Hamlet.” Like the story of how it got onto the Metropolitan Playhouse stage, “Oat” has a narrative arc that’s both unexpected and satisfying (if a little hard to believe).
Through Dec. 20. Thurs.–Sat. at 7:30 p.m. & Sun. at 3 p.m. No performance on Nov. 27. Additional performances: Dec. 3, 10, 13, 17 & 20 at 3 p.m. At Metropolitan Playhouse (220 E. Fourth St., btw. Aves. A & B). Tickets are $25 general admission, $20 for students/seniors, $10 for those under 18. To order, call 800-838-3006 or visit metropolitanplayhouse.org.
—Scott Stiffler
