The modern-day rock star, especially Mick Jagger and his glam rock descendents, is much the same. This uncanny comparison is the basis of Psittacus Production's "Cyclops: A Rock Opera," which turns the one surviving Athenian satyr play—Euripides's "Cyclops"— into the frame narrative for a nearly two-hour rock concert.
In the adaptation, a chorus of satyrs have become The Satyrs, a band of five sweaty and mostly shirtless men with electric guitars instead of Bacchic flutes. Led by their patriarch Silenus (Louis Butelli), the group play music to bide the time on the island of Aetna while enduring enslavement to the egomaniacal, man-eating Cyclops (Jayson Landon Marcus). Odysseus (Chas LiBretto, co-book writer along with Butelli) stumbles onto the island and helps them to defeat the monster.
Despite the small 47th Street Theatre stage and the overworked sound system which obscures many of the lyrics, "Cyclops" rocks. The strength of the music (co-composed by Marcus and guitarist Benjamin Sherman), and Butelli's deliciously sardonic performance, carry the day. Korie Blossey, who, as Dionysus, joins the party late and inexplicably, brings much-welcome vocal power and an awesome presence.
The story itself suffers a lack of motivation. With no clear reason to retell this Homeric episode, the concert begins to drag. LiBretto, a weaker singer and actor than his fellow leads, saps some energy. Marcus's Cyclops, played as a glam diva-slash-one-eyed pirate, wrestles with material defeats him both vocally—lots of writhing, screaming, and falsetto whelps—and structurally.
Since Marcus is allowed as much rock star presence as Butelli, LiBretto, and Blossey, the last third of the play, devoted to the title monster's torture and demise, feels cruel rather than victorious. Perhaps against the production's intention, it is the saytr's dark nihilism, rather than the hero's strength or the god's revelry,that finally rules the evening.
Presented by Psittacus Productions as part of the New York Musical Theatre Festival at the 47th Street Theatre, 304 W. 47th St., NYC Sept. 30–Oct. 9. Remaining performances: Sat., Oct. 1, 7:30p.m.; Sun., Oct. 2, 5 p.m.; Mon., Oct. 3, 4:30p.m.; Wed., Oct. 5, 8 p.m.; Sun., Oct. 9, 11 p.m. www.nymf.org or 212-352-3101.
