Yesterday, on the thirtieth anniversary of Elvis's death, all you could hear on NPR radio was chat about Elvis and his impact on our culture. Professors and music mavens of all sorts weighed out his influence and his influences, deciding whether or not he stole the spotlight from Chuck Berry and the like, whether or not he was a true artist or simply an icon and a brand. Coincidentally, Steve Martin's clever play, 
“Picasso at the Lapin Agile,” newly revived, opened last night at Guild Hall (in their temporary venue at LTV); Elvis takes center stage in the company of such luminaries as Picasso and Einstein in a charming debate on the major intellectual and cultural trends of the twentieth century. Set in 1904 at a Montmartre pub/cabaret, the play portrays each on the verge a breakthrough, an idea that will change perception forever.
Who after all had the greater impact? You could say that the hip-swiveling “visitor,” the ghost of Elvis arriving in a cloud of smoke held sway, even after some deftly created projections of Picasso's famous 1907 Les Demoiselles d'Avignon vied for attention with the galaxy. (Einstein published his theory of relativity in 1905.) The exceptionally fine cast includes director Josh Gladstone as Einstein. A master eye roller, Gladstone gives 
Einstein a ditzy tousled air as he arrives at the wrong bar knowing that the woman he is to meet will make the same mistake. Joseph de Sane portrays the bear-like Picasso: “I have been thinking about sex all day,” he repeats. Elvis (Nick Fondulis in especially furry sideburns) was not wearing blue suede shoes, but the turquoise lizard roach kickers did the trick: his image evoked a future where fame will have much less to do with talent, accomplishment and “brains.” The actresses, Kate Mueth playing a smart bar maid, and Ann Moller in a variety of wigs and hats supply the much needed women's angle in this testosterone heavy encounter where Gaston (Gerard Doyle), another patron with a prostate problem is also obsessed with sex. Kameron Steele looks especially dapper as Sagot who arrives with a large camera on a tripod he acquired “from a Japanese tourist.” Kudos to costume designer Amy Ritchings and her fine team: Emily Havlik, Jane Salpeter, and Irma Escobar.
August is a month of losses, from the world renowned legendary artists: Max Roach, jazz man extraordinaire whose innovations made the drums a voice of their own, Elizabeth Murray, abstract painter whose joyful, cartoon inspired colors graced the walls of MOMA in a 2006 one-woman retrospective, and to the lesser known but well-loved Humphrey Bogart, the sweetest springer spaniel to have gathered sticks among the surfers in Ditch Plains. They will be missed.
