A MUSICAL THAT’S TOO CIVIL TO RESONATE
Union soldier Jeffrey N. Davis (no relation to President of the Confederate States of America Jefferson Davis), is on the hunt for his best friend, Albert Cashier, a fellow soldier in the the 95th Illinois Infantry. Following a skirmish, the brave sharpshooter Cashier stayed behind to place a U.S. flag high in a tree, but was captured by two Johnny Rebs. While searching for his young friend in the song “Excuse Me Sir”, Jeffrey (a winning Blake Jenner) comes to the realization that he is in love with Albert. What Jeffrey doesn’t know is that Albert (spectacular Dani Shay) was born a woman, and is living his life as what we would call now a transgender man. In 1862, at 19, Cashier, born in Ireland as Jennie Hodgers, signed up for duty. Although he was the shortest soldier in the regiment, and kept mostly to himself, Cashier was accepted as “one of the boys” and made an exemplary soldier. While not alone as a woman serving on the battlefield during the war, Cashier — after serving with distinction — continued his identity as a man in Saunemin, Illinois, holding many different jobs and even voting in elections.
Blake Jenner, Dani Shay
In this spirited revival of The Civility of Albert Cashier, “Excuse Me Sir” feels fitting, resourceful, surprising, valiant and very engaging. The scene comes in the second act of this entertaining and original, yet strangely unmoving musical, which opened last night at the Colony Theatre in Burbank. In director Richard Israel’s heartfelt, magnificently staged interpretation for the L.A. premiere (it originated in Chicago in 2017), the sequence’s elements register as both exceedingly charming (a new-found love) and — given Albert’s secret — disturbingly familiar, as anti-trans bills are still making their way through state legislatures.
Dani Shay
I suspect opinions will vary about the show. At its heart, this is a formidable queer story that isn’t so much about Albert Cashier and those he affected; ultimately, it is about support and acceptance, and that is most appealing. However, even with a profoundly well-produced production — Israel’s staging is some of his best, right up there with Floyd Collins — the musical may win hearts for its timeliness, but it fails to be timeless. In the end, this moving, touching, and inspiring true tale rarely moved, touched or inspired me.
Most of the songs in this two-act historical musical are functional and durable rather than melodic and informative, and the score gets faint praise for its delicious guitar and fiddle-rich pop/country/American roots feel. With beautiful but amorphous music by Coyote Joe Stevens & Keaton Wooden, and lyrics by Stevens, Wooden and bookwriter Jay Paul Deratany, the majority of the songs doggedly refuse to explicate character, concentrating on themes rather than on character history. Moreover, the imperfect rhymes such as those used here always drive me batty in musicals; and too many songs disappear from memory as you are listening to them. This is why “Excuse Me Sir” was a welcome relief.
The Company
Gorgeously shaped by musical director Anthony Lucca and conductor Anthony Zediker, who leads the 5-piece orchestra, which includes co-composer Mr. Stevens on guitar, a magnetic, mesmeric cast shoots these musket-ball numbers right between the eyes; the songs may not kill, but they hit their target. Robert Arturo Ramirez‘s sound design is impeccable; the 7.1 stereophonic sound — with instruments appearing from different speakers — is a sensorial delight.
Cameron Armstrong, Dani Shay, Fatima El-Bashir
Deratany’s book is strong, amalgamating and re-assigning some people from what little is known of Albert Cashier’s remarkable story. But we need more background about the characters’ lives, which would give the show a much-needed solidity and bulk. This historical musical may be based on a true story, but it feels like the creators so sanctify their subject that they refused to add much fictional background to spice up the characters. In fact, there are three strong female characters — a friend of Albert’s (Andrea Daveline as socialite Abigail Lannon); the wife of a soldier who will not make it home (force of nature Fatima El-Bashir as Sattie Douglas); and a nurse (Lisa Dyson as the belligerent, bossy Nurse Smith) — who are nevertheless mostly one-dimensional; the powerhouse actresses give such pile-driving performances that it’s a shame they don’t have their own songs. A few duets let us know what they are, not who they are. Their era-appropriate costumes by Rebecca Carr, however, are simply marvelous.
Andrea Daveline, Phillip J. Lewis, Cidny Bullens, Lisa Dyson, Brett Calo
Right from the onset, Deratany juxtaposes the story of young Albert at war with that of old Albert both at the hospital and on trial for impersonating a soldier (which had fellow soldiers return decades later to detail Albert’s heroism and life). This works quite well with flashbacks to the war, but it makes older Albert a stagnant role: his job is to be an irascible, defiant, curmudgeon wobbling on a cane throughout, and Cidny Bullens does not disappoint in that regard.
Cidny Bullens, Dani Shay
The song near the top, “I’m Alive”, is a winner, setting up the soldiers’ characters as Sergeant Collins (Josh Adamson) checks them in. Along with the immensely likeable Mr. Jenner as Jeffrey (don’t call him Jefferson) Davis are Cameron J. Armstrong as a Black Freeman enlistee assigned as the company’s medic, and John Bucy as redneck Billy Middleton.
Dani Shay, Blake Jenner, Cameron Armstrong
It seems that Deratany fused two hospitals together. In 1910, Cashier was working as a chauffeur for Sen. Ira M. Lish, who accidentally ran over his leg in an accident (here, erstwhile soldier Jeffrey Davis becomes a senator). The local hospital agreed not to divulge his newly discovered sex assignment, and he was sent to the Soldiers and Sailors Home in Quincy, Illinois to recover. Cashier remained a resident of the home until March of 1913, when due to the onset of dementia, he was misdiagnosed and sent to a state hospital for the insane. Attendants there discovered his sex assignment and forced him to wear a dress (this doesn’t happen in the musical, and, boy, does it need to happen; I can see the eleven o’clock number now with older Albert dramatically ripping off the dress). Deratany has Cashier enter the hospital with a hip injury because he got hit by a car; the real reason Albert broke his hip was by tripping while wearing that dress. Can you imagine that utter humiliation onstage? The Civil War aside — one of the greatest calamities in human history — our creators avoid the tragic. This could have — and should have — been gut-wrenching theatre.
The Company
At the hospital, Black attendant Booker Curtis (Phillip J. Lewis) is empathetic towards Cashier, to whom he relays his dream of playing banjo and singing in Chicago (Curtis takes out a banjo, but never plays it; now what did Chekhov say?). In the most rousing and loveable melody in the show, Lewis belts out a grand and glorious ode to “Chicago”, but the number, which gets the only encore later, ends up as superfluous (again, we know what he wants to do, but not who he is). Abigail, who knows Albert’s secret, visits with pies and staunchly stands up against the tyranny of Nurse Smith.
After battling dementia and ongoing PTSD, the real Albert Cashier died in 1915 at 72. He was buried in his old Union uniform. The headstone was inscribed “Albert D. J. Cashier, Co. G. 95 Ill. Inf” (in the 1970s another tombstone bearing the name of Jennie Hodgers was placed next to the original). I know The Civility of Albert Cashier will be embraced for its feel-good trajectory, and, as I said, you won’t be bored. But like Albert himself, the musical is clear on what it wants to be, but hides from what it could be.
photos by Ashley Erikson
The Civility of Albert Cashier
Reel Red Entertainment
Colony Theater, 555 N Third St. in Burbank
free parking in the multi-level lot adjacent to the theater
Thurs-Sat at 8; Sun at 2; Sat at 2 (Sept. 14); dark Sept. 13
ends on September 22, 2024
for tickets ($55-$60), call 818.558.7000 or visit Colony Theatre
