Prosperous Fools

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In this year of Moliere adaptations MacArthur Genius Grant Award winner Taylor Mac has created the most original and inventive version of all in his Prosperous Fools now at Theatre for a New Audience, inspired by Le Bourgeois Gentilhomme. In addition, this year’s adaptations include Red Bull Theater’s reading of the witty Martin Crimp version of The Misanthrope in rhymed couplets with Peter Sarsgaard in the leading role, Moliere in the Park’s new version of The Imaginary Invalid by written and directed by Lucie Tigerghien starring international star Sahr Ngaujah as Argan with an updated Brooklyn vibe performed al fresco in Prospect Park (May 8-15), Red Bull Theater’s spring mainstage production of Jeffrey Hatcher’s new streamlined version of The Imaginary Invalid with Mark Linn-Baker in the leading role (May 21 – June 29) and New York Theatre Workshop’s recently announced Tarfuffe in the Lucas Hnath adaptation with Matthew Broderick in the title role as part of their winter season.

Mac’s Prosperous Fools has been 12 years in the making simply because no nonprofit theater group offered to stage it until now. (Could nonprofits have been afraid to bite the hand that feeds them? No one is telling.) Mac shifts the leading character of the nouveau riche bourgeois trying to become an aristocrat to the secondary role (played by Jason O’Connell) and takes on the leading role of the Artist who becomes central. The premise is that a non-profit arts organization is honoring a billionaire real estate mogul (like our president) who has helped fund their new modern theater inside a brand new skyscraper in order to help burnish his image. For the National Ballet Theater Gala, the Artist, a composer/choreographer, has been commissioned to create a ballet on the mythological subject of Prometheus with a company of 40 (we only get to see four dancers.) Not only is the theater honoring the philanthropic billionaire but also a film superstar humanitarian who was unaware that she was sharing the stage with someone else.

Mac uses this framework to satirize billionaire philanthropists, greedy cultural institutions, overwhelmed artistic directors, insincere celebrity humanitarians, obnoxious nouveau riche bourgeois, hypocritical gala award nights, and megalomaniac artists. The play uses both Juvenalian (bitter) and Horatian (mild) satire, as well as the six classifications of humorists. While some of the satire is right on target, many of the rants go on too long and the audience gets the point long before they are over. An example of Juvenalian humor is the Artist as Wally Shawn’s repeated accusation that “Why should we thank the wealthy for giving away what shouldn’t be theirs to begin with?” and an example of Horatian humor is the billionaire real estate mogul arriving on the back of a bald eagle. Much of the visual humor of the costume is initially hilarious, while the physical humor is mostly over the top (like all of the characters falling into the orchestra pit, some not just once but several times.)

Ironically, we never get to see the Prometheus ballet, just a rehearsal and the curtain call which comes just at the beginning of Act II. Obviously, a great deal of Mac’s long-time experience has gone into the parody of the world of non-profits dependent on philanthropists who may have their own agenda or requirements for funding. When the Artist states “You want a life in the arts, this is what it looks like. You work for free, you beg for permission to ask for permission to do what you’ve worked  for free to do, and after years of this humiliation, you finally break through, get yourself a patron, and he represents everything you’ve been fighting against your entire life.”

Among the gimmicks that don’t work as well as they ought to is the use of playwright Wally Shawn as a cultural icon. The billionaire philanthropist is under the impression that Shawn will appear at the gala so the Artist is madeto dress up in a costume and impersonate him. Another gimmick is the use of sound rather than names for many of the main characters: the billionaire philanthropist is called $#@%$ pronounced “as if a censor buzzer has just gone off;” the superstar humanitarian is called ####-## and pronounced “as if a choir is heralding the appearance of an angel.”

Among the play’s successes are the costumes by Anita Yavich which has the billionaire philanthropist dressed as the CEO of Tesla in Act I (black baseball cap, black t-shirt and black jacket) and for the gala ceremony in a blue suit, white shirt and red tie in Act II à la our current president. She has the humanitarian superstar famous for her work with poverty stricken children in a gold gown that has painted children clutching the hem of the dress. Alexander Dodge’s set design has several witty props and devices. Under Darko Tesnjak’s assured direction, Jason O’Connell as the billionaire philanthropist set on burnishing his image and Sierra Boggess as the superstar are both in keeping with the tone of the show but there is little variety to what they do.

Mac playing both the Artist and Wally Shawn is a chameleon shifting styles and moods in the course of the play. The final rant from the Artist is a tour de force. As the artistic director here called the Philanthropoid for dispersing the money obtained from rich donors, Jennifer Regan is over-the top as the much crazed, pill-popping executive who feels her job is on the line based on how the under rehearsed gala goes. Kaliswa Brewster as the Intern assigned to the Artist is very amusing particularly when she finds herself at the podium during the gala. Megumi Iwama,  Em Stockwell and Cara Seymour as the artist’s muses and Ian Joseph Paget as the Prometheus Dancer are actually dancers and are fine at expressing their silent contempt for the goings-on around them.

Prosperous Fools is like those 1960s and 70s East Village happenings where one never knew what was coming next. Taylor Mac’s tremendous imagination could use some reining in but his satire is pungent and on target. Like happenings, this is a show that must be experienced to feel the import of the event. And one admires Theatre for a New Audience for risking their funding to offer to stage it. Moliere would be pleased that his 18^th century comedy gave rise to this 21^st century free-for-all.

Prosperous Fools (through June 29, 2025)

Theatre for a New Audience

Samuel H. Scripps Mainstage at the Polonsky Shakespeare Center, 262 Ashland Place, in Brooklyn

For tickets, call 646-553-3880 or visit http://www.tfana.org

Running time: two hours and 25 minutes without an intermission