Since I don’t have command of every musical ever written, I can only suggest that the first-ever Revenge Musical is now on display. I certainly don’t recall seeing any previously. This one is Turtle on a Fence Post with a book by Prisoner #11R0731. That identification is also likely the first of its kind, but don’t take my word for that, either.
We do know who Prisoner #11R0731 is: Hank Morris, who may be recalled by New York Staters as a prominent Democratic political media and strategy consultants. He may be even more clearly recalled as having gotten in a fracas circa 2009 with then Attorney General Andrew Cuomo over alleged infringement of the Martin Act. (The Martin Act is too convoluted to be explained in full, but anyone interested in following up is directed to the New York Law Journal, Volume 44, No. 6.)
For purposes here, you only need know that Morris, maintaining his innocence, was charged on 123 counts under the Act and after deliberation pled guilty to one count. He was sentenced to prison time despite having been assured there’d be no incarceration. Furthermore, he contends that his being denied parole five times was due to Cuomo’s continued harassment.
Remaining unhappy and unhappily behind bars, Morris decided to relieve his despair by preparing a musical about the painful episode in his life and tapping composer Austin Nuckols and lyricist Lily Dwoskin to supply the score. To give the very hard-luck story a slightly lighter framework, he’s set it in a Manhattan comedy club. The band, with Aaron Gandy musical directing, is visible on designer Walt Spangler’s appropriate set.
Morris casts himself as a stand-up comic out to register his observations and resentments but hasn’t gone so far as to put in a personal appearance. The likable Garth Kravits pulls that assignment, with Kate Loprest, Joanna Glushak, Janet Aldrich, Josh Marin, Richard E. Waits, Erik Gratton, and David Aron Damane playing any number of other roles.
The upshot: Morris’s pummeled heart is in the right place about demonstrating what prison life is and the need for reform. He’s honest about the strain put on his marriage to wife Leslie (Loprest). Nor does he do anything like gratifying his kvetchy mother Rita (Glushak), whose health takes a downturn. He makes his case against the much-disputed Martin Act, passed in 1921 and rarely accessed. There’s no doubt he gets in vengeful digs at now Ex-Governor Cuomo. (Does the man show up in person? No tattling here.)
But although he accomplishes that part of his intentions (and may even depict them as less severe than they were), how are he, Nuckols, and Dwoskin about creating an actual musical? So-so. The drawbacks begin with Morris’ book. While uncorking many a ba-da-bing gag to keep the comedy-club atmosphere jiving, he nevertheless packs so much outrage in that he streeeeetches his taletelling to two acts.
With seemingly no irony in mind, he even has Nuckols and Dwoskin deliver a second-act opener dubbed “There’s Always a Second Act.” At the theater nowadays there isn’t always a second act, and when there is a second act, it often isn’t necessary. This is true of Turtle on a Fence Post, where the second act is heavy with gratuitous scenes showing Morris learning things already sufficiently established about him and other inmates. This on top of first-act closer, “I’m Out,” in which Morris celebrates his impending parole, all the while the ticket buyers know he’s not getting out.
It might be said of “There’s Always a Second Act” and ”I’m Out” that they’re okay as they come and go, but somehow Nuckols and Dwoskin have the mysterious tic of providing the right idea for a song yet pulling back from realizing their goal. It’s uncanny how regularly this occurs, particularly on the ballads “Look at the Stars” and ‘”How Can I Help You” and the comedy number, “Jewish Guilt,” which have strong premises and magnetic starts but stop short of reaching satisfying pay-offs.
Nuckols and Dwoskin are lucky in their singers, however. Lopresto and Grushak perform their numbers with grace and gusto. And the songsmiths are especially fortunate with Damane, a handsome bruiser of a fellow. As the toughest of the inmates, his “Z”—a seasoned chess player, and a painter with a love of the Hudson River School—turns out to be a good pal to Morris. Guiding the author/character to think better of himself, he does connect with “Leave It All Behind” and “There’s a Light.”
Funny thing about “There’s a Light,” though, a song meant to cheer Morris up. According to him, it does. Yet within five minutes or so, Morris is all doom-and-gloom again, chanting “Alone in the Darkness.” With this, he substantiates that Turtle on a Fence Post is repetitious. Perhaps he thinks he’s underlining a lightness-darkness sub-theme woven through the autobiographical piece.
In closing, I feel obligated to mention that, convincing as Turtle on a Fence Post is regarding its political history, it’s still one side of the Morris-Cuomo story. Could it be that wherever Cuomo is hunkering these days, he’s not so much planning a comeback as working up a Revenge-Answer musical?
Turtle on a Fence Post opened November 14, 2021 at Theater 555 and runs through January 2, 2022. Tickets and information: turtlemusical.com
