Not one angry protester showed up at the first performance of the New York
revival of Terrence
McNally’s notorious “Corpus Christi.” There was no talk in the aisles of
free speech or the First Amendment. I didn’t even walk through a metal detector.
Times have certainly changed.
Only a decade ago this fragile, heartfelt play, which portrays Jesus as a
young gay man, sparked hysterical protests from religious groups, leading to
bomb threats at the Manhattan
Theater Club, which canceled the show. Outrage ensued, and before you knew
it, a culture war had erupted, before anyone had seen one scene. When the
production finally opened, it turned out that it was an earnest and reverent
spin on the Jesus story, with some soft-spoken, gay-friendly politics thrown in.
Critics were underwhelmed.
Typically producers should wait more than 10 years before reviving a show,
but the second coming of “Corpus Christi” seems justified. Without the noise of
controversy, the play can finally be heard. Staged with admirable delicacy by
Nic Arnzen and the Los Angeles troupe 108 Productions, the work seems more
personal than political, a coming-of-age story wrapped in religious sentiment.
At the start, one member of the casually dressed cast, which includes a handful
of female apostles (in the original, it was all-male), sets the straightforward
tone, saying this is an “old and familiar story,” adding, “There are no tricks
up our sleeve.”
This play faithfully (in two senses) follows Jesus’ life from birth to the
Last Supper to the Crucifixion. But here Jesus is called Joshua, and he’s a
musical-theater-loving outsider struggling in the confines of present-day Corpus
Christi, Tex. (Mr. McNally’s hometown). His followers include an architect, a
lawyer and the least disreputable hustler you’ll ever meet.
Played by the blond, angelic James Brandon, Joshua has an awkward, bony
frame, and the early part of the show reveals him ill at ease, suffering from
growing pains in a small town. Matthew
Shepard was killed in Laramie, Wyo., the day before “Corpus Christi” opened,
and Mr. Brandon seems to invite comparisons, at first, until Joshua leaves home
and heads to the wilderness. Mr. Brandon’s body then straightens into a more
classical pose.
One wishes the playwright had delved deeper into the love story between
Joshua and Judas (Steve Callahan), who is the most interesting of the apostles
here. A soulless yuppie, he’s starved for Joshua’s attention and love, and
bitter when unable to get them.
At one point, two men ask Joshua to marry them. When he agrees, they want him
to be sure, bringing up the scriptural passage that says man shouldn’t lie with
man. Joshua responds, “Why would you memorize such a terrible passage?” Later he
strikes a priest for denouncing him, and a follower asks about turning the other
cheek. “Do not take everything I say so seriously,” Joshua replies, revealing a
wit rarely seen in the Bible.
Such moments are a bit too infrequent in “Christi,” and its glee club charm
may not appeal to everyone. It’s one of Mr. McNally’s minor works, but as in his
best plays, there are moments of hard-won sentiment that will win over the
biggest skeptic.