The McGinn/Cazale Theatre will stage the transfer of Mint Theatre’s premiere production of Mark R. Giesser’s new comedy, Code of the West. Having completed a Mint Theatre run last month, the McGinn/Cazale run is scheduled to start previews March 24 and open March 29. The show runs through April 29.
A production spokesperson told Playbill On-Line that this is essentially a transfer of the Mint production, with certain casting changes. Although some casting remains to be done, the show is on schedule.
Set to perform, beginning March 24, are veteran Code cast members from the Mint run, Linda Ewing (The Night They Burned Washington), Mark McDonough (OB's Armchair in Hell, Dream Girl, Childe Byron) and Elisabeth Zambetti (Broadway's Summer and Smoke and OB's Measure for Measure, Richard III, Anne Frank and Me.).
Alces Productions has also joined in for the transfer. The creative team comprises Obie-winning scenic designer John C. Scheffler, costume designer Melanie Ann Schmidt and lighting designer Aaron Meadow.
As reported, Giesser—who does well adapting anecdotal U.S. history in his plays (The Night They Buried Washington, Pledge of Allegiance, Hansen’s Cab)— has embraced the legend of this country’s only monarch, Joshua A. Norton I, the self-proclaimed “Emperor of the United States and Protector of Mexico.” Emperor Norton, or the “Emp” as he was referred to by his fellow residents in San Francisco, announced his rule on Sept. 17, 1859.
Norton I ruled until his death on January 8, 1880 when he collapsed at California Street and Grant Avenue in San Francisco. In his two-decade reign, Norton I went from losing a $250,000 fortune gambling on the rice market to making alliances in the arts and distinguishing himself by calling for alternatively visionary or outrageous innovations and changes.
After assuming his regal persona—featuring public appearances in an old military uniform and various donated accessories—Norton I played his part in earnest. He became an icon in San Francisco; after a policeman arrested him for the purpose of mandating his treatment as a mental case, the citizenry protested widely on the "Emp"’s behalf. The police chief apologized publicly and, according to biographical clips, rank and file officers throughout San Francisco took to saluting Norton I on a regular basis.
“I’d have to call him one of America’s quintessential eccentrics and then one of America’s most original thinkers,” said Geisser. Giesser earlier told Playbill On-Line that his Victorian-era story also holds deep meaning for women. In Code, the character Violet Allerton finds herself about to be seriously disinherited unless she marries a man “bearing a title of nobility.” Allerton picks Emperor Norton.
“I try to look for stories that have some parallel for us in our contemporary world,” Giesser said. “In this particular case, we’re dealing with women who have to deal with some serious social constraints in order to achieve independence for themselves.”
Giesser said Code of the West has been workshopped extensively prior to the Off-Broadway debut at the Mint.
The parallels that can be drawn between Norton I’s more familiar “proclamations” and certain contemporary events are often amusing. In the mid-1800’s Norton I “dismissed” Virginia Governor Wise and “replaced” him with Kentucky’s John C. Breckenridge; he asked that a “suspension bridge” be built between San Francisco and Marin County; he called on San Franciscans to finance “airship experiments” by Frederick Marriott and — frustrated with political strife — for the dissolution of both the Republican and Democratic parties, as well as the United States itself.
Tickets are $40. The McGinn/Cazale Theatre is located at 2162 Broadway above the Promendae Theatre. For info and tickets call Ticket Central at (212) 279-4200.
—By Murdoch McBride
