A CurtainUp Review 

Mr. Fox: A Rumination 

. . .so little of a story can be known, and perhaps even so little of
the reason to tell it may be known, but that it must be
told. . .if. . .if you are his heir. ---Fox

Rumination: The state of being disposed to ruminate or ponder;
deliberate meditation or reflection. 
-- Webster's Revised Unabridged Dictionary



The name Bill Irwin evokes an instant image of a face contorted in
devilish grins and grimaces, a body that seems made of rubber. But
though famous for his physicality, the fit and youthful looking
fifty-four year old Irwin has been exploring less strictly physical
outlets for his talents; for example, he took on the lead in Edward
Albee's The Goat (Review). While he's proved himself to be well able
to handle a straight acting role, his season in the spotlight at the
Signature Theater Company happily afforded audiences a chance to once
again see him clad in baggy pants and pulling all manner of tricks out
of his famous trunk. 

The Harlequin Studies, co-written with his long-time colleague Doug
Skinner, was a play in the format of an illustrated lesson on the
Harlequin tradition associated with the commedia dell'arte theater. As
was to be expected given Irwin's best known clown persona, the focus
was on the physical rather than the verbal. The middle of Irwin's trio
of Signature offerings reprised the marvelous The Regard of Flight
which twenty years ago initiated his reign as "King of Clowns."

Now, to cap things off, we have Irwin as a more serious, text oriented
playwright, and while he is still the central performer, he has put
the baton into the capable hands of the Signature's founder James
Houghton. Like the two previous productions, Mr. Fox: A Rumination is
smartly staged and features an excellent supporting cast. 

The subject of Irwin's biographical play is George Washington
Lafayette Fox (1825-1877), a legendary clown who started performing on
New England stages as part of a sibling act known as "The Little
Foxes." Fox made his New York stage debut at The National Theatre in
the Bowery. The turning point in his career came with his Humpty
Dumpty in white face, the first American pantomine in two acts. It was
a role he played over 1,000 times and, like Irwin's Chaplinesque
Harlequin, the one that became his trademark. His career and personal
life were dogged by bad business decisionss and illness leading to
dementia and death at age fifty-two (possibly caused by the chemicals
in his makeup or an on-stage collision with another performer). 

Understandably this is a character to whom Mr. Irwin relates strongly,
and though his "rumination" embraces several thematic subtexts -- the
sad clown aspects of Fox's history and the racial implications of
putting on white and black face makeup illustrated through the
relationship with his black valet and dresser (Marc Damon Johnson) --
you may be sure that the ninety minutes won't go by without some
side-splitting Irwin-via-G.L. Fox clowning. Sure enough, the scenes
recreating Fox's famous Humpty Dumpty pantomine and the "Three-Legged
Dance" that marked the opening of Fox's Broadway Theatre don't
disappoint. The latter, in which Fox's younger brother Charlie (Geoff
Hoyle) played the three-legged dancing Pantaloon to Fox's Clown, is
priceless and had this critic, who tends to be a silent laugher,
laughing out loud along with everyone else.

Houghton has choreographed the shifts from the backstage to in front
of the curtain scenes clearly and without missing a beat. Irwin's
frame for the Fox story is a prologue and epilogue in which he and
Marc Damon Johnson, as themselves, discuss the concept of the play as
rumination. It works quite well and the author has effectively
compressed the historical data. The downside is that in the end we
have a more sharply defined, over-emphasized picture of the disastrous
business side of this man's career than his personality; this despite
Irwin's ever marvelous portrayal of Fox and the supporting players'
deft handling of multiple roles such as his brother, duplicitous
managers, stage hands and the dancer who became his second wife. 

Irwin certainly seems the right person to tell his story and his Fox
both enthralls and breaks your heart. Too often, however, the story
telling falls victim to the overly ambitious melding of entertainment
with show business biography and meditation on performance and race --
maybe because those two clown acts draw a richer portrait of memorable
clowns like George L. Fox than any play or rumination could.

The creative team deserves much praise for the handsome look of the
production: Christine Jones for her atmospheric onstage and back stage
set, James Vermeulen for lighting it to reflect the changing moods and
Elizabeth Caitlin Ward for costumes to suit each situation. Much of
the overall enjoyment can be attributed to the musical selections
which includes works by Rossini, Massenet, Schubert, Berlioz and
more. 

Mr. Fox may be the end of Bill Irwin's Signature season but it also
marks the beginning of a new and worth watching phase in his life. For
the Signature's ever-growing fans, it also means another playwright's
showcase is on its way, this one to feature three plays by Pulitzer
Prize winner Paula Vogel. 

MR. FOX: A RUMINATION 
Written by Bill Irwin 
Directed by James Houghton.
Cast: Bill Irwin; also Bianca Amato, Jason Butler Harner, Geoff Hoyle,
Marc Damon Johnson, Peter Maloney and Richard Poe.
Set Design: Christine Jones
Costume Design: Elizabeth Caitlin Ward 
Lighting Design: James Vermeulen 
Sound Design: Brett R. Jarvis. 
Music: Loren Toolajian. 
Running time: 90 minutes, without an intermission 
Signature's Peter Norton Space, 555 W. 42nd St.(10th /11thAvenues)
212/244-PLAY (7529). www.signaturetheatre.org. 
3/24/04 through 5/16/04; Wednesday through Sunday at 8 PM; Saturday
and Sunday at 3 PM. 
Reviewed by Elyse Sommer based on 4/11/04 press performance