Photo by Joan MarcusLove the Set and the Raptors, but Enron Fails to Make Me Want to Invest My Time
By Lauren Yarger
The story of the fall of Enron is depressing and no amount of flashy lights, cool video projections, amusing songs or even people walking around in Jurassic Park raptor heads can save it from itself, much like the corporate giant itself tried and failed to do, though all of the above give this production a “wow” factor unusual with Broadway plays.
The real Enron, recreated here by playwright Lucy Prebble, went down in flames in 2001 when investors discovered that the energy company had no real assets and that fake companies had been sustaining its debt. This production saw sold-out success in London before transferring to New York, but it didn’t find an audience here (or a Tony Award nomination for Best Play), so the producers, who ironically will lose a ton of money invested in the show, have announced it will close Sunday after only 22 previews and 16 performances.
Who can explain exactly why the Brits embraced the tale and why New York audiences have stayed away (literally – the house was sparse when I attended)?
By Lauren Yarger
The story of the fall of Enron is depressing and no amount of flashy lights, cool video projections, amusing songs or even people walking around in Jurassic Park raptor heads can save it from itself, much like the corporate giant itself tried and failed to do, though all of the above give this production a “wow” factor unusual with Broadway plays.
The real Enron, recreated here by playwright Lucy Prebble, went down in flames in 2001 when investors discovered that the energy company had no real assets and that fake companies had been sustaining its debt. This production saw sold-out success in London before transferring to New York, but it didn’t find an audience here (or a Tony Award nomination for Best Play), so the producers, who ironically will lose a ton of money invested in the show, have announced it will close Sunday after only 22 previews and 16 performances.
Who can explain exactly why the Brits embraced the tale and why New York audiences have stayed away (literally – the house was sparse when I attended)?
Well, perhaps it’s due in part to the fact that Enron’s fall just really isn’t entertaining subject matter and a lot of people who suffered financially from the company’s follies still don’t sit around laughing about it. More, I think to blame, is the current economic climate. Reliving the start of it all – the first company we knew of who had acted so irresponsibly simply out of greed -- knowing that others in various industries continued to do the same over the years until we’re where we are in the middle of bailouts and a national debt we can’t even calculate with government spending out of control – well, it’s downright depressing.
And by the way, the play without all of its special effects, isn’t all that great either.
Broadway veteran Norbert Leo Butz stars as Jeffrey Skilling, the president who takes Enron from being America’s most innovative company to the energy-trading conglomerate which uses its influence to elect a US president and which has corporate giants like the Lehman Brothers (a couple of guys in one suit like conjoined twins) and Arthur Anderson (a ventriloquist and his dummy) begging to be part of its action.
Skilling collaborates with CFO Andy Fastow (Stephen Kunken) to bet on Enron’s future profits while hiding current debt. Fastow creates “raptor” models, four actors with dinosaur heads, representing the false companies created to secretly eat the company’s debt – until they are full and can eat no more.
Along the way to the top, Skilling has a rather vulgar office romance with rival Claudia Roe (Marin Mazzie) and keeps CEO Kenneth Lay (Gregory Itzin) in the dark so he can schmooze with the right people to get George W. Bush and his pro electricity deregulation policies into the White House. If that happens, Enron will have a chance at turning a profit if Skilling can just keep the stock price up. (Itzin is perfectly cast since fans of TV’s “24” know that the actor, who plays sleazy President Charles Logan, is more than capable of portraying a corrupt official pretending he doesn’t know what’s going on.)
That all-important stock price ticks across a screen in a video projection (Jon Driscoll, design) in the rear center of Anthony Ward’s really cool set featuring rod-like lights that form office cubicles lined by rows of filing cabinets along the sides.
The large cast sings and dances (Scott Ambler, choreography), a lot for a play, actually, and there even are some lStar Wars light sabers. Overall, Director Rupert Goold does a good job making this production big and fun to look at. The story just doesn’t grab you.
Prebbles sticks mostly to the facts of the case, and except for a few personal interjections about Skilling’s affair, his distracted thoughts about his young daughter and his pro-Charles Darwin/ atheist Richard Dawkins philosophy, we know very little about this unlikable man and even less about the other unlikable characters. The result is more than two and a half hours of reliving a pretty depressing period in America’s history with the nagging thought lurking that the financial world outside the theater today is even worse. It’s just not a fun way to spend an evening of entertainment, despite the really cool raptor heads.
The show runs at the Broadhurst Theatre, 235 West 44th St., NYC. Discounted tickets for friends of Masterwork Productions are available here. A show has been added at the end of the run Sunday evening at 7:30.
Christians might also like to know:
• Sexual activity
• Sexual dialogue
• Language
• God’s name taken in vain
And by the way, the play without all of its special effects, isn’t all that great either.
Broadway veteran Norbert Leo Butz stars as Jeffrey Skilling, the president who takes Enron from being America’s most innovative company to the energy-trading conglomerate which uses its influence to elect a US president and which has corporate giants like the Lehman Brothers (a couple of guys in one suit like conjoined twins) and Arthur Anderson (a ventriloquist and his dummy) begging to be part of its action.
Skilling collaborates with CFO Andy Fastow (Stephen Kunken) to bet on Enron’s future profits while hiding current debt. Fastow creates “raptor” models, four actors with dinosaur heads, representing the false companies created to secretly eat the company’s debt – until they are full and can eat no more.
Along the way to the top, Skilling has a rather vulgar office romance with rival Claudia Roe (Marin Mazzie) and keeps CEO Kenneth Lay (Gregory Itzin) in the dark so he can schmooze with the right people to get George W. Bush and his pro electricity deregulation policies into the White House. If that happens, Enron will have a chance at turning a profit if Skilling can just keep the stock price up. (Itzin is perfectly cast since fans of TV’s “24” know that the actor, who plays sleazy President Charles Logan, is more than capable of portraying a corrupt official pretending he doesn’t know what’s going on.)
That all-important stock price ticks across a screen in a video projection (Jon Driscoll, design) in the rear center of Anthony Ward’s really cool set featuring rod-like lights that form office cubicles lined by rows of filing cabinets along the sides.
The large cast sings and dances (Scott Ambler, choreography), a lot for a play, actually, and there even are some lStar Wars light sabers. Overall, Director Rupert Goold does a good job making this production big and fun to look at. The story just doesn’t grab you.
Prebbles sticks mostly to the facts of the case, and except for a few personal interjections about Skilling’s affair, his distracted thoughts about his young daughter and his pro-Charles Darwin/ atheist Richard Dawkins philosophy, we know very little about this unlikable man and even less about the other unlikable characters. The result is more than two and a half hours of reliving a pretty depressing period in America’s history with the nagging thought lurking that the financial world outside the theater today is even worse. It’s just not a fun way to spend an evening of entertainment, despite the really cool raptor heads.
The show runs at the Broadhurst Theatre, 235 West 44th St., NYC. Discounted tickets for friends of Masterwork Productions are available here. A show has been added at the end of the run Sunday evening at 7:30.
Christians might also like to know:
• Sexual activity
• Sexual dialogue
• Language
• God’s name taken in vain
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