Great artists have the ability to pilfer our sense of reality, ambition, love and order. Trying to seek out the roots of this power is often a dark proposition, filled with moments of uncomfortable self-revelation for the unprepared. The center of the musical "The Highest Yellow" revolves around this reality.
Rather than probing the mind of painter Vincent Van Gogh exclusively, playwright John Strand surrounds him with characters unprepared to leave the idle temptations of everyday life and ascend to Van Gogh's plane of consciousness. While this theme takes a considerable amount of time to emerge, its eventual progression compensates for earlier flaws in pacing and exposition.
"The Highest Yellow" integrates actual events in the life of Van Gogh with fictional characters. The lead of the production is Dr. Felix Rey, played by Jason Danieley. Rey is a physician in late 19th-century Arles, France, who dreams of moving to Paris and escaping the doldrums of common medicine for a more exciting life. His boredom and restlessness with his patients is more than evident in arguments with his superior, Dr. Uprar, played with strength and clarity by Harry A. Winter.
One evening, Van Gogh is admitted to Rey's clinic after severing his own ear and giving its remains to a prostitute. Rey soon takes interest in Van Gogh, portrayed with immense stage presence by Marc Kudisch, and becomes obsessed with his outlook on life and art. Thrown between the two men is Rachel, played by Judy Kuhn, the prostitute to whom Van Gogh had given his ear. She enters Rey's life, concerned that he would commit Van Gogh to an asylum. She freely gives herself to him in the hopes that he will delay his departure to Paris in order to ensure Van Gogh's health and sanity remain free from his inner demons. When Rey begins to become infatuated with Rachel and disturbed by the truths displayed in Van Gogh's work during physical recovery, "The Highest Yellow" speeds toward a dark yet fitting climax filled with betrayal and pathos.
Danieley's Rey fails to hold the audience's attention during moments of key plot exposition in the beginning. His initial interest in Van Gogh seems cryptic and almost wholly inconsistent with traits displayed during his introduction. However, Rey's dual obsessions with Rachel and Van Gogh are extremely convincing.
His look of emotional betrayal after Van Gogh has captured his image on canvass is gut wrenching. His heartache in the second act of the play is sincere when it needs to be, contrasting with instances of overacting and forced humor in the opening act. The song "Portrait of Dr. Rey" is Danieley's musical highlight after many unexceptional songs throughout Act One.
Kudisch's interpretation of Van Gogh as a weak instrument of higher inspiration is breathtaking throughout the play. The self-deprecation of his own human frailty combined with half-mad rants of a greater beauty that he alone can witness for insanely short periods adds necessary layers of depth to Strand's written dialogue. The title song to "The Highest Yellow" is given wonder and melancholy by his strength.
Likewise, Kuhn's Rachel provides a good foil for Rey. Kuhn lends Rachel a tentative balance of weariness and cautious idealism that provides the foundation for the more dramatic plot twists that dominate the last numbers of the musical. The best songs in "The Highest Yellow" belong to her and extra Donna Migliaccio, whose "Madam's Song" steals the show and provides the audience with a colorful transition into Act Two.
"The Highest Yellow" is the first musical produced by the Signature Theatre in Alexandria, Va., and the resources of the theater accommodate it well. The lighting in particular is outstanding in depicting Van Gogh and Rey's frenzied imaginations and resonating them throughout the audience. Composer and lyricist Michael John LaChiusa does a fairly good job in tying Strand's dialogue to song with several good numbers on display amid competent but decidedly less spectacular music segments. While La Chiusa always seems firmly in command of his score and music direction, it does not provide all of the elasticity needed to match up with the dramatic portions, bogging down the musical at times. Nevertheless, he fills a much-needed job with enthusiasm and creativity when called upon to deliver key portions of the musical.
"The Highest Yellow" is a very good play that borders on brilliance at times. If not for the uniformity of the musical score matched with dull plot exposition, higher marks would indeed be granted. As it stands though, "The Highest Yellow" is successful in the ambitions it has set out for itself, with a few minor drawbacks threatening to derail it before its conclusion.
