The Ledge - Fleetwood Macbeth

Well, here's my review. It is very late, but I wanted to get this all down before I forgot too much.

1) This was a hell of a great time.

2) THIS WAS A HELL OF A GREAT TIME !!!!

The show, literally, was a Macbeth play. If you didn't have to read it in school, this may be a bit hard to follow. Fleetwood Mac songs were peppered throughout the show, in addition to great dance numbers. There was a live band onstage.

The show begins with a bunch of ragtag people onstage. They are there before the lights go up. As we were getting seated, one of them came into the crowd and stole my boyfriend to be a volunteer actor. He was gone, just like that. I turned my back, and when I turned around, he was stepping onstage and being led away. He returned about 15 minutes later, after performing as a Scottish soldier and being killed.

As showtime came up, a narrator told some background in a heavy Scottish brogue - the King of Scotland, his cohorts
(Banquo, Macduff), his son Malcolm (a ridiculous guy in a pink skirt, pig tails, and carrying a black and white tiger handpuppet), and others were introduced. The first great laugh came quickly. Latecomers had been walking in for a few minutes with the house lights still up. But at about 10 after, the lights went down. Two sad people were very late, and headed straight to the first row. The guy talking pointed them out, and the entire cast - about 20 people, all pointed to them and broke into a rendition of "You're So Late" to the tune of "You're So Vain."
"You're so late, you probably think this show is about you."

That was excellent.

The first song was Tusk - the final lines being chanted "Macbeth" instead of Tusk. All the cast members were stomping around with these giant rubber animal feet on. I don't quite get the joke, but it worked. They had these big assed feet, and the men were all in ragged earthtoned tunics. The feet stayed on all the way through the show. The women (a big group of "weird sisters") were crazily dressed hoochy mamas a la Shakespeare. Of course, Hecate was a witch.

So, the stage is set, and Macbeth and Lady Macbeth begin to plot to kill the King so Macbeth can ascend to the throne. This, of course, culminates in what else ? A rousing version of "Say You Love Me" with lead vocals by Lady Macbeth. A word about her - a gene splice of Rosanne Barr and E.G. Daly. She was five foot nothing, as wide as she was tall, and a voice as big as all get out. Of course, she was in full Stevie drag. She wore three layers - a maroon leather coat, a raggedy white chiffon shift thing, and then more maroon batwing sleeves. The whole thing was topped off by a tremendous blonde wig a la The Dance. Say You Love Me was a wild number, with about 12 people onstage dancing in unison.

Macbeth soon kills the King, people freak out, and then he must also kill Banquo. The sword fight between Mac and Banquo is
started out as a duet between the two of them of "GYOW". They are singing the song to each other, leaping across the stage in swordplay and swapping verses. Of course, Macbeth wins the swordfight. And the song ends with Banquo wailing out "GYOW" one last time and dropping to the stage.

Macbeth is now king, and people are at his feet. Lady M is eating it up, and they have a big banquet to celebrate. Alas, the ghost of Banquo is haunting Mac, and he begins acting strangely.
The banquet table is a plexiglas topped table with tumbling mats on the floor on either side. At one point, Macbeth tries to attack the ghost of Banquo, who no one else can see, and jumps on the table. He, of course, slides all the way over it and lands on the floor. So what does everyone else do ? They mimic him. He's the King, so he must be right. This turns into a table sliding free for all and the whole cast slides, dances and breaks into World Turning.
Act One over ! Time for intermission.

Act Two begins with the requisite cauldron onstage, and the weird sisters doing a sinister dance around it. The characters emerge from the cauldron, as all of the cast sings a note perfect version of "The Chain", music is vamped between verses so the witches can warn Mac of his fate - when Birnham wood comes to Dunsinane, no man born of a woman will harm Macbeth, etc. I can't stress the power of how well this worked. Imagine 16 to 20 people singing the song, witches coming out of a cauldron, smoke, lights, damn it was good. It sounds cheesy, but it really was dramatic.

Things are starting to get strange, and Lady M emerges from the
back of the house singing the first two lines of Eo17. The she runs down to the stage and performs a cool monologue - stopping only to say "But before I continue, I am going to sing". A great banner is unfurled behind her that says "Lady M's Ballet Dream", and she begins singing Dreams, with the sisters doing a freaky ballet behind her. The girl can really sing. She is in a white dress, and glittery gold shawl, and after the first verse she is alone onstage doing a total Stevie act. At the instrumental break, the song shifts, and the band starts playing Rhiannon. She does a mean first two verses, then the sisters come in to sing the churus, they are carrying all these strange props - velvet pillows, stuffed animals, an e.t. doll, and other random things. They dance in a circle around Lady M singing "Rhiaaaaaa-non" while she is singing the chorus of "Dreams" and spinning. It seems unusual but it sounded great. It brought the house down.

Clearly, Lady M is now losing her mind. Mac is onstage, lamenting her losing her mind, when he hears he scream off stage. She has died. It isn't clear how. I can't remember from reading the play and it wasn't clear.

What next ? What else ? The sisters carry her body out on the plexi table and sing GDW. They trade lines on the verses, and when the second chorus comes around, Lady M rises off the table to sing the second chorus, while her husband wanders the stage horrified that his wife is dead. Of course she does the howl, and then pandemonium breaks out onstage. The English (?) army has arrived. They are carrying the Birnham wood staffs into Dunsinane to avenge the fallen king. They are led by the girl prince Malcolm - whose staff is actually a potted plant. The stage is chaos and the band turns the vamp at the end of GDW into a full on rave up. Loud guitars, chaos, the soldiers are knocking Mac's guys down and the whole cast is chanting "Ooo, pale, shadow of a woman" over and over. It ends with one last repeat of that phrase, and the dead crazy Lady M running off stage.

Next, Macduff fights Mac. This is done with Star Wars light sabers, and Macbeth is beheaded. A cart is brought on stage set for dinner, and as the lid is lifted off the silver tray - Macbeth's poor severed head (actor clearly under cart) sings "Landslide" with some excellent customized lyrics about power mad kings and losing control.
Very poignant, actually.

So, the show is over, but the cast then breaks into a rousing version of "Don't Stop". What a perfect ending song. The crowd claps along. All is well with the world.

I am exhausted, folks. But, in closing, I have to say that the band was really tight, the lights were fantastic, the costumes totally silly, and the actors inspired. On top of that, those people could really sing and clearly loved the material. It really worked with the story. I left some plot stuff out, but included all the songs.

I do wish each and every one of you could see it. It was so much fun. I laughed my butt off. It is moving to another theatre next month where it will be performed in rep with "It's a Stevie Wonderful Life". If you live anywhere around here, go, go, go.

BTW, talked to the creator afterwards who had spoken to John McVie when he was there. Evidently, John had a great time, but said he probably wouldn't be telling Stevie about it, as he didn't think she would appreciate it. Not quite sure why, as I thought her songs worked so well. Alas, could be the girl who played her as Lady M. I don't think the casting was a diss. The girl kicked ass.

Thumbs up !!!!!