Atomic the Musical!

The Acorn Theater, where the play was held, is situated in a three-story brick building on 42nd Street. We arrived there for the first preview show at around 6:00, and were initially standing in a very small lobby area, with doors to the left and the right.  At approximately 6:30 or so, the doors to the left opened, and we were told that ticket holders could either go up to the second floor lounge and wait, or go up to the third floor where the theater was and wait by the doors until they opened. They were scheduled to open around 6:30 or so.

We stayed for a few minutes in the lounge, and then headed up to the third floor.  A small group of people – I would estimate around 20 or so – eventually came to join us by the doorway.  I was accompanied by my 14-year-old nephew and an online friend from Twitter, Lindsay, who I had met for the first time.  I recognized a couple of other women there that I know from previous performances of Randy’s, and chatted with them for several minutes.

I was toting a rather heavy, brown paper bag with handles at the time that had been given to me earlier in the afternoon by the manager at Murray’s Cheese Shop in Grand Central Station. It was a gift box of gourmet cheeses for Randy that had taken on a life of their own. Discovering that Murray’s was known as one of the best cheese shops in NYC, I decided to purchase what I thought was a rather modest-sized gift box of cheeses to give to Randy as a token of my appreciation for the pleasure he always brings me through his performances, and I had asked earlier that morning how big the box was. I figured it was a cardboard box of some type, and the guy indicated it was approximately the size of a box of candy, so I thought, no problem!  Ha!

Imagine my surprise, then, when I arrived at 1:00 p.m. to pick up the box, and he presented me with a large shopping bag containing a wooden crate of cheeses inside approximately the size of a boot box!  Not to mention it was pretty heavy. But I figured if I could cart it by subway to the theater – and have it accompany me to dinner at a diner beforehand – the least Randy could do was cart it BACK to his apartment/condo by subway, too – ha!  I wasn’t sure if I would have the chance to speak to Randy afterward and give it to him, though, so when someone came out who worked there, I asked if he could have it delivered to him. He told me he would get someone to do that, and handed it off to another person, who took it up the steps.  Funny, though; about 10 minutes later, someone came back down with TWO bags that looked identical – both plain, brown, paper bags, and headed toward the theater doors.  I kiddingly asked him if they both had cheese in them, and he told me, no, one had flowers in it. My nephew was sure the other one had my cheese in it, though, so not sure if Randy was getting the flowers, or someone else.

The doors did not actually open until a little before seven – at approximately 6:55 p.m. The theater itself was rather small – according to the website, there are only a total of 199 seats in the entire theater, and I would estimate around a total of 12 rows or so.  We had tickets in the first row at the far right – the first three seats. The theater was very nice and modern looking, and the seats comfortable.

Just before the show started,  someone who worked for the theater came over and told us we could move further in toward the center, since the seats there were not filled, so we wound up in the first row center instead of stage right before the play began. The play did not start on time; it was more like 7:20 before the director stepped up to welcome us.

The stage consisted mainly of a series of metal cubes at the rear that at various times held spotlights, strobe lights, or even people.  Randy, in fact, wound up perched several feet up in the air later in the play when he was playing Paul Tibbets, which I will detail coming up.  Two areas in the upper right and upper left held the orchestra, which was unusual; I am used to seeing them in front of the stage. As a result, there was nothing separating us from the first row and stage (no orchestra pit), so we were only about 3 – 4 feet away, and could easily reach out and place our hands on the stage itself, or touch some of the stage lights. I had NEVER been that close to a stage before.  We were so close you could see the small microphones attached to the top of the actors' heads, right below their scalp, and even where a couple of the women had wigs on – you could see the separation from the wig and their head, so they did not fit very well.:)

The stage held a large, rectangular-sized, wooden desk, and various vertical, upright panels that were moved at various times to either be included as part of the set, or were slid back to temporarily hide them when not needed. The long desk was a crucial part of the film, used as a prop for several scenes between the scientists, as well as double duty as a bar at times.

There were a total of nine members in the cast; several of them, including Randy, played more than one character. Randy played two main characters in the show: Edward Teller, a young German scientist, and Paul Tibbets, the pilot who ultimately dropped the first atomic bomb from the Enola Gay on Hiroshima.

His outfit as Edward Teller consisted of a geeky type of medium green sweater vest, bow tie, light colored shirt, and slacks, along with a pair of glasses. He spoke with a very convincing German accent while portraying this character. At other times, he could also be seen in the background as a supplementary character at various times.  I noticed him, for instance, as a passenger on a plane reading a paper, or as a FBI type with a dark hat and coat. Both times in those types of roles he did not speak, however.

As Paul Tibbets, at various times he wore a ‘doughboy’ outfit while at a bar, or a leather bomber jacket later with military slacks and a white scarf around his neck.  He also wore a white laboratory coat on occasion as Edward Teller, a black hat and coat as a minor character in another scene, and also a very smart-fitting, black, vintage tux when he performed, along with other members of the cast, in a short dance sequence with one of the female actresses in a scene set in Berlin (he looked amazing!).

The play centered mainly around two real-life characters:  Leo Szilard, played by Jeremy Kushnier, and his eventual wife, Trude Weiss Szilard, played by Randy’s former classmate, Sara Gettelfinger, and told the story of the Manhattan Project – how it began, why it began, what the consequences were, and the eventual detonation of the atomic bomb over Hiroshima, and how this affected each of the scientists that worked on the Manhattan Project that were responsible for its successful implementation.  The bombing itself was handled in a unique way, with a multitude of strobe lights that actually made you feel like the actors were moving in slow motion. Very interesting scene (which did not involve Randy's character).

Randy did have two prominent occasions where he sung: once as Paul Tibbets at the bar – the same singing scene previously shown in the sneak preview online – and another time as a trio with two other actors when he was sitting in the Enola Gay, waiting to drop the bomb. While singing this part, he climbed several feet up into the air and sat in one of the metal cubes at the right rear side of the stage, as if he were piloting his plane on the way to drop the bomb.  I noticed after he was done, and the lights dimmed, he had a harness on and climbed down from the cube he was in back down to the stage.  Looks like his trapeze training came in handy as he managed that in record time!

The story – from the inception of the atomic bomb to the actual implementation of it, and the subsequent feelings of indecisiveness regarding whether it was the right thing to do – takes place by use of different colored lighting, light screens, strobe lights, shading, music and the ever-present long table.  At times it was hard to keep track of all the different times and locations, but Randy’s singing is superb, clear, and strong.  I loved his singing of “Stars and Stripes” in his role as Paul Tibbets, and he looked adorable in his tan ‘doughboy’ World War Two outfit.  And even when he was singing as part of an ensemble, it was easy for me to pick his voice out.

I would say Randy was in the play for approximately half of the time, and loved the smiles he flashed throughout the play in character as Edward Teller (always nice to the smiles!),  He also interjected some humor into the play while playing Teller, which I enjoyed.   And during one of the final scenes, Randy walks out to the ‘bar’ (the table in other scenes) and sits down next to Leo Szilard (played by Jeremy Kushnier), with his back to us, sitting in a chair. Being in the first row, let’s just say the three of us had a, ahem, very interesting view of him.;)  We could have almost reached out and touched him at that point; it was amazing how close we were to him.  We were also lucky that in a lot of the scenes, he was directly across from us on the right side of the stage.

After the play, we walked down from the third floor where it was performed to the second floor, standing in the small foyer between the steps and the lounge, not sure if he would show up or not. We kept seeing some people who worked for the Acorn going up the steps, and thought that perhaps they were having an after-show meeting. But one of the actors came down after several minutes, and then finally Randy scampered down the steps with another person. He spoke briefly to Trish when she called over to him, but his view was blocked somewhat by two others standing nearby, so I’m not sure if he even saw the rest of us. He only stayed a second or two before he hurried down the steps and was gone, no cheese in sight.:( Hopefully, though, he did get it and at least got refrigerated.;)  My group was kidding each other that during intermission that he was probably backstage, nibbling on the cheese and crackers from the box.;)  Anyway, I did not get a chance to speak with him, unfortunately, to verify that.

I will be going back tomorrow and Sunday to see the play before heading home. Sorry if this is not as detailed as Trish’s account – I can never compete with her amazing recollections – but hopefully this at least gives you a feel for the show.