Antigone 1989: A Town Hall Musical at Gilded Balloon, Patter House (Upstairs), grabs hold of the ancient Greek tragedy’s protest narrative and updates it for a modern audience needing inspiration to keep up the fight. This invigorating musical starring students from North Carolina’s Elon University will grab your heart, tap your feet, and raise your fist to fight injustice.
The story takes place in two layered Cities of Thebes: the ancient mythical Greek city, and the equally fictional city in California. Kicking off with a raucous number by the Oracle Teiresia (after Teiresias, the blind seer), Antigone 1989: A Town Hall Musical draws inspiration from Disney’s Hercules. The Oracle quickly spins us into the late 20th century at Governor Calvin’s funeral speech over the body of the city’s lost hero, Eli, which simultaneously decries Eli’s equally virtuous brother Nicholas, an AIDS rights activist. Tig and Issa, Eli’s and Nicholas’s sisters, are deeply hurt by Calvin’s proclamation at the funeral and his tyrannical simplification of Thebes’ law, but at first only Tig is willing to protest. Tig declares her intention to paint a huge memorial to Nicholas in protest of Calvin’s ‘law and order’ legislation to Issa and Henry, Calvin’s son and Nicholas’s secret lover. She pleads for their help and at first they are too afraid, but are eventually won over; for their bravery, Tig and Issa are gravely punished, and Henry receives only Calvin’s scorn. Is that the end? If this feels too tragic, don’t worry, the final song rouses the heart.
Ken Cerniglia, award-winning dramaturg behind Hadestown and Peter and the Starcatcher, developed the book based on the second in Sophocles’ enduring plays following the fall of Oedipus’ house. While some more complex moral grey areas in the source material might be missed, for instance, Creon and Antigone represent two rigid ends of a moral spectrum that the chorus is caught between, as a parable for our current times, Antigone 1989: A Town Hall Musical calls the audience to action in a way that ancient Athenian theatre could and should not. Each song pleads with the audience to take a stand against the evils of the world, against bigotry, tyranny, and oppression.
Elizabeth McKoy’s direction and concept, together with Chris Rayis’ music and lyrics, provide the perfect platform for this student cast’s impressive talents. I fully expect to see each of them gracing Broadway and West End stages in the next few years. See Antigone 1989: A Town Hall Musical at Gilded Balloon so you can brag that you saw them before they got famous.
Listings and ticket information can be found here
