A Musical of Biblical Distortions
Posted by on 12:30 pm Sep 19th, 2008(More news)
Peter Kramer of In the Wings writes...
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A musical of biblical distortions
Posted By Peter D. Kramer On September 17, 2008 @ 10:41 am In Must-see | 2 Comments
“The Jerusalem Syndrome” sounds like it could be a ’70s disaster movie — perhaps starring George Kennedy or Charlton Heston.
[1] In fact, it’s a new musical comedy at the New York Musical Theatre Festival, from Sept. 23 to Oct. 5.
But keep Charlton Heston in mind.
The show — with music by Kyle Rosen and a book and lyrics by Felicia Needleman of Larchmont and Laurence Holzman, now of Dobbs Ferry — is based on a real psychological anomaly that causes some visitors to Jerusalem to believe that they are characters from the Bible.
more->“It happens to about 200 tourists a year,” says Holzman. “They’re overcome by the holiness of the place and suddenly do these outlandish things. They take off all their worldly possessions, wrap themselves in their hotel bed sheets and walk around.”
Needleman says these are normal people with no prior psychological disturbance. They’re not particularly religious.
“The doctors think it may be triggered by the juxtaposition of a neon McDonald’s sign next to a holy site,” she says. “They’re not sure.”
There are more severe forms of Jerusalem Syndrome that are permanent and affect people more deeply, but that’s not the stuff musical comedies are made of.
“That’s not funny,” Holzman says. “But about 20 to 30 people a year are afflicted with Jerusalem Syndrome proper, which is what our musical focuses on: a temporary delusion that they come out of through medication and treatment.”
Treatment includes immersion in the modern day. Doctors show patients television shows, the newspaper, or a Diet Coke and remind them of who they really are.
As the doctor in the script tells a patient who thinks he’s John the Baptist: “Mr. Stone, we talked about this earlier. You’re an insurance salesman from Philadelphia.”
When Holzman was in Jerusalem a few years ago, he found a doctor who had treated several cases of Jerusalem Syndrome. The lyricist told the doctor that he was intrigued by the idea and wanted to write a musical comedy about it.
“He said, ‘When you’re with a patient who’s under severe psychological disturbance, it’s a very serious matter,’” Holzman recalls. “‘But when you go home and you tell your wife “We have three Virgin Marys living in the same hallway,” you have to laugh about it.’ ”
There’s something about Jerusalem, the doctor told Holzman.
“They take a three-week tour of Greece, Israel and Egypt,” Needleman says. “They’re fine in Greece, they spend their Israel week in the hospital and then they go on to Egypt and the last leg of their tour.”
The impact on those less-severe cases is minimal, Holzman says.
“They remember it kind of like they were drunk at a party and they go back to their lives, a little embarrassed by it, but they remember it as a pleasant experience and they move on.”
Holzman and Needleman have crafted a pleasant theatrical experience, adding meaning to the medicine. In their musical, people find in their biblical incarnations what they lack in their real lives: a nebbishy tour guide becomes a decisive Moses; a vindictive businessman becomes a love-promoting Jesus; an ignored wife becomes Sarah, married to an extremely attentive Abraham.
That’s the leap they take as artists, but another connection has a basis in the science: Jews tend to choose Old Testament figures; Christians the New Testament.
“The most popular characters are John the Baptist, Jesus, God, and the messiah, a general messiah,” Holzman says. “They had a couple of Virgin Marys and they had one Samson, which is very odd.”
Rosen’s music ranges from ballads to love songs to patter songs.
There is more working here than just a simple story about an odd psychological problem, though.
In the song “Is It Crazy?” Holzman and Needleman find contemporary parallels to those biblical forebears, with the lyrics: “Is it crazy to stand up for God’s commandments/Even if you find you stand alone?/Is it crazy to insist on love and kindness?/To place another’s needs before your own?”
The point, Needleman says, is: “If Jesus, or the messiah, or whoever you believe in, came back, would people just lock him up?”
At a 2007 reading of the show, the librettists were happy to hear laughter where they expected it, but surprised to see the audience moved by their work.
“As a result,” Holzman says, “we toned down some of the comedy later in the work. Once we hooked them emotionally, we didn’t want to go back to silly land.”
If writing a musical is a leap of faith, the lyricists weren’t daunted at the prospect of writing a song that shouts their central theme.
At the top of Act 2, the song “Somebody Upstairs” proclaims that God still works miracles.
“Maybe it’s not the parting of the Red Sea, but there are still amazing things happening,” Holzman says.
The lyric goes, in part:
“Some seek other theories to try to explain it
’Cause faith is a struggle; it’s hard to maintain it.
But how can there be any doubts or misgivings
When the proof’s all around us?”
Holzman and Needleman have been collaborating for years. Among their works is “Wallenberg” about the heroic Swedish diplomat, “Suddenly Hope” and the holiday musical revue, “That Time of the Year.”
In 2006, they won the prestigious Kleban Award for the most promising musical theater librettists. Included in their body of work, on which judges based the award, was “The Jerusalem Syndrome.”
“Some of the judges privately told us that they loved it,” Needleman says. “And it’s better now. We’ve worked on it so much more since then.”
Photo by Matthew Brown/The Journal News: Laurence Holzman and Felicia Needleman take a break from rehearsals for the upcoming musical production of “The Jerusalem Syndrome.”
“The Jerusalem Syndrome”
Where: 37 Arts, 450 W. 37th St., Manhattan.
When: 8 p.m. Sept. 23; 1 p.m. Sept. 24, 27; 9 p.m. Sept. 26 and Oct. 2; 5 p.m. Oct. 5.
Tickets: $20.
Web: www.NYMF.org
