Unusual Beauty in Kensington's 'Nevermore'

Dark Musical Captures Artistry, Psychotic Downfall of Edgar Allan Poe

Evan Hoffmann as Edgar Allan Poe. With him, clockwise from left, are women who both torment and inspire him, played by Margo Seibert, Karissa Swanigan, Brianne Cobuzzi, Gilly Conklin, Caroline Angell and Jaclyn Young. (By Cynthia Zarcone)

Kensington Arts Theatre, now in its fifth season, is reaching a zenith with its hauntingly beautiful production of "Nevermore," a dark musical based on the writings and the tortured life of Edgar Allan Poe. The company has evolved from ragged beginnings into a top-notch interpreter of demanding works and is not afraid to challenge audiences, as this production demonstrates.

This is only the second time "Nevermore" has been staged, following its world premiere a year ago at Arlington's Signature Theatre. Signature gambled on a local actor and composer named Matt Conner who found inspiration and music in Poe's meter, rhythm and what he calls Poe's "dramatic sounds."

Poe's work intertwines hope, horror and an obsession with death. Conner and writer Grace Barnes mixed fragments of his poems and short stories with facets of his short life into a psychosexual journey through dreams and nightmares. Poe's mother, his lovers and prostitutes swirl about him in a nonlinear fantasy played out in a song cycle.

Directed by Evan Hoffmann, who also stars as Poe, Kensington Arts Theatre's version is a hypnotic 95 minutes of intense imagery and evocative music that finds color and texture in the darkest of shadows. Hoffmann had support and assistance from Conner, and this production starts off better than Signature's version.

Hoffmann reinstated a song that Signature Theatre director Eric Schaeffer had excised. It's a short number called "The Bells," part of the opening montage. The restoration smooths out the abrupt, almost overwhelming introduction we are given to Poe's fevered fantasies and helps us acclimate to his highly pitched emotional state. By the time a prostitute, played with sensual warmth and a clear, powerful voice by Caroline Angell, brings sexual and emotional solace to Poe with the undulating Latin rhythms of the song "El Dorado," we are consumed by Poe's lurid fantasies.

Hoffmann and scenic designer Kevin Boyce have cleverly turned the difficult auditorium space inside the Kensington Town Center into a black-box theater. They made a stage out of rough-hewn, wide wooden planks and flanked it with dark scrims covered with angry storm clouds. Ghostly apparitions of women from Poe's past appear through the cloth and dominate his imagination. A large, coffin-shaped portal appears at rear center.

The songs range from lovely ballads that bear a whisper of Sondheim to rousing anthems and poem-songs blending strains of gospel, pop and rock. Though energy lags in short dialogue scenes without music, the seven cast members and the small but vibrant orchestra are a tightly knit ensemble.

Hoffmann's performance is solid as he finds a believable balance between brilliance and madness. His voice is strong and expressive.

Margo Siebert is poignant as Poe's 13-year-old first cousin Virginia, whom he marries. The poem "The Raven" provides an emotional climax, as Poe disintegrates into sorrow. The words of the iconic poem are punctuated by bursts of music, swelling to a potent crescendo as Poe grieves over ever-present loss.

Angell's prostitute provides solace with the lovely ballad "Dreamland," in which she, seemingly alone among the women in Poe's life, comprehends that his darkness can also be exquisite.

Another standout is Brianne Cobuzzi as Poe's mother, whose coolly disdainful attitude helps unhinge him. Cobuzzi is soothing, however, in the finale, "Dreams." Here Hoffmann sings "I have been happy in a dream," as Poe embraces his psychoses and prepares to slip away. The elegiac ending evokes serenity rather than tragedy, the show's unusual beauty blotting out the darkness.

"Nevermore" continues through March 31 at Kensington Town Center, 3710 Mitchell St. Showtimes are Fridays and Saturdays at 8 p.m., Sunday at 7 p.m. and, next Thursday at 8 p.m. For information and reservations, call 240-396-4307 or visithttp://www.katonline.org.