‘THE CAR MAN’: Auto-erotica in Los Angeles
October 15, 2001 | 12:00am
Combine the fiery music of Carmen with steamy story line somewhat similar to that of The Postman Always Rings Twice and what do you get? A ballet that sizzles with sensuality.
Just when we thought Matthew Bourne won’t be able to top the success of his all-male Swan Lake, The Car Man zooms into the scene.
The ballet, staged in the British capital last year and named "musical event of the year" at the London 2000 Theater Awards, is currently running at the Ahmanson Theater in Los Angeles until Oct. 28. And what better place to stage the ballet than in the city built as a homage to the automobile.
We caught a performance of The Car Man while on a recent visit to California, needless to say, we were mesmerized. By successfully blending seduction and action in his latest work, Bourne took us on an exciting ride down the freeway of love.
Dubbed as an auto-erotic thriller, the ballet is set sometime in the ’60s in a small American Midwestern town where the center of universe is Dino’s garage and its adjoining diner. Life in town moves on quite leisurely until the arrival of Luca, a drifter who is hired as mechanic by garage owner Dino Alfano. The action shifts to high gear when Lucas has an affair with Dino’s wife Lana.
It takes an even more exciting turn when Luca humps the boyfriend of Lana’s sister Rita, Angelo, who actually enjoys the gay liaison.
The biggest bump on the road comes when Dino discovers his wife’s illicit affair and is accidentally killed in a moment of panic by Lana and Luca. Angelo, who innocently walks into the gruesome scene, is tagged by the duo as the murderer and is subsequently jailed. He experiences a rough ride in prison where he’s bullied by other prisoners and raped by jail guards. The end of the road for Luca and Lana comes when Angelo escapes from prison and exacts his revenge.
The leads were performed by Scott Ambler as Dino Alfaro, Saranne Curtin as his wife Lana, Etta Murfitt as her sister Rita, Will Kemp as Angelo, and Alan Vincent as Luca.
It was perfect casting as each not only oozed with passion required for their roles but they also took pains to look the part.
Vincent of course was every inch your stunning Cassanova of a hunk while wife Curtin looked the part of the sexy, sex-starved? with the least effort. Kemp was easily believable as the sissy Angelo what with his reed-thin body. Call it type-casting but in a way he reminded us of Dolphy and Jeffrey Quizon when they essay gay roles. Murfit had no trouble looking naïve. Ambler, it seemed took the effort to look like the pot-bellied husband who spends more time at work than with his wife. But the "spare tire" round the waist was no hindrance to his agile movements.
The Car Man’s opening scene oozes with lots of body heat, revved-up with a sleazy shower scene. From here, the ballet accelerates into non-stop excitement.
At every junction, surprises are in store from Bourne. They run the gamut from a hot drag race and a brawl to cabaret acts and liberal sex where dance steps include lots of humping and thumping.
Conductor Brett Morris ably interpreted Bizet’s music, which in this case, was punctuated with sounds of gunfire, car collisions, banging prison doors and of course heavy breathing and groaning.
If the movies has its Film Noir, The Car Man is dance’s Ballet Noir.
So the question now is, will Bourne be able to top this one? With his track record – setting The Nutcracker in an 19th century orphanage, moving La Sylphide to a tenement in Glasgow, and making a production of Cinderella into what one critic said was "more like Addams family"– it seems Bourne’s wellspring of creativity is still very productive.
The talk now is of a musical based on the Tim Burton film Edward Scissorhands which is set to open at around this time next year.
Now that’s another reason to fly to LA, or if you happen to be in the US, hop on an automobile and drive down to the Ahmanson.
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