BEAU COMES OUT OF THE BOX
BEAU reminds us of an unshakable truth.
When you were growing up – with as much love as you may have had from your parents – you probably received more from your grandparents.
That’s what Ace experiences in BEAU. It’s the musical that received a world premiere recording on Masterworks Broadway six years ago, where eight performers sang a country-flavored score by Douglas Lyons and Ethan D. Pakchar.
BEAU is done in the style of Broadway’s DEAD OUTLAW and London’s THE CURIOUS CASE OF BENJAMIN BUTTON. Musicians not only play stringed instruments – guitar, bass, violin and mandolin – but they’re also on stage, alternating between telling the story of these Southerners and becoming the characters.
Even the 2022 film version used this conceit, for it all took place in a barroom set where Ace Baker and his band perform. And now, thanks to Out of the Box Theatrics, you can see BEAU on that license-plates-on-the-wall set through July 27 at Theatre 154.
The playhouse is named for the number it occupies on Christopher Street. Betty Comden and Adolph Green, in WONDERFUL TOWN, insisted that there were “such int’resting people” there. With BEAU on the boards, there are now eight more.
To be fair, parents have the tough job of tending to their children 24/7. But Ace doesn’t have the total experience that Jonathan Larson mentioned in RENT’s “La Vie Boheme”: “Hating ol’ Mom and Dad,”
because Ace has only known a Mom.
His father was a fly-by-nighter for whom a one-night stand was enough. Ace needed a male role model, and that’s where “Pop Pop Beau” came in.
The lad considered him “my best friend” and “I miss him every day.” The way that John Krause delivers these lyrics on the recording – and Matt Rodin does in the new production – you may well believe that Ace truly does think of Beau at least once every 24 hours.
In a flashback, we see that despite his father’s total neglect, Ace as a teen always wanted his dad to be “Comin’ Home.” That may be too much to ask, so Ace instead says, “Can we catch up on the phone?” He’ll settle for the bare minimum, knowing that a phone conversation would be less stressful than an actual meeting where eye contact could prove difficult.
That’s not the only question that Ace has for his dad: “Do you have sisters or brothers?” As if going fatherless isn’t enough, Ace has been denied, at least from one side of the family, the love and support of aunts and uncles who might have provided warm greetings, smiles and pleasant conversation before goodbyes replete with hugs and kisses.
But wait! Beau wasn’t there for him during his youth until the aged man died, as we’ve assumed. He’s still alive and living in Memphis. His mother Raven, for reasons of her own, told Ace that Beau had passed, and he of course believed her.
One good thing about assuming your grandfather has gone to his final reward is that you can convince yourself that he “would want me to live my way.” After Ace finds that Beau is alive and plans to leave Nashville to meet him, he’ll learn if “Pop Pop” will do just that.
On the album, Beau’s song “By Your Side” sounds as if he’s telling the teen Ace that no matter what kind of person he is, Pop Pop will be there for him. In the musical, we find that, no, it’s a song that Beau wrote for Ace right after he was born (not that Raven would even let him see the child).
Ah, but unconditional love is easy to give to a baby, before a kid emerges as the person he’ll become. Will Beau still be by Ace’s side when he finds the grown-up version?
The two do have a meeting of the minds and souls when Beau finds that Ace is eager to learn to play the guitar. In fact, an early barrier between Beau and Raven – hardly the greatest one, mind you – was that he wanted her to learn the instrument, which she didn’t want to do. So, guitar-playing skipped a generation, and grandfather and grandson now bond over it.
Rose in GYPSY claimed that she and Herbie had “so much in common, it’s a phenomenon.” Neither Beau nor Ace could have guessed that they had another commonality besides music.
However, the writers were careful not to make Beau too good to be remotely true. They revealed his darker side when he sang a song to his wife that’s blatantly named “Shut Up!”
Granted, Beau could put it more civilly, but he does repeatedly say in the song “I love you.”
(It may even be the case.)
And speaking of love, now that Ace has found Beau, can he now find a beau?
We’ve all been in a situation where we’re attracted to someone. Slowly but unsurely, we may drop our guard along with some hints. But we always fear being rejected.
As painful as that is for heterosexuals, young gays who live down South usually find it substantially harder.
How much does Ace believe that he might have a romantic relationship with Ferris? He sings, “It Couldn’t Be.”
Yet we all live in hope. After Ace wonders to himself, “Was there a spark?” that Ferris felt, he decides that “a flame is flickering.”
But will Ferris pour cold water on that spark? As it turns out, he’s a self-hating gay who’s in the ultimate denial: he claims that until a girl comes along, he’ll simply use Ace for sexual release, that’s all.
(There may be more to it than that…)
The words “by your side” turn up again in “Crush” when Ace sings about Ferris: “I think you’re ‘a 10,’ gorgeous and unique, when I’m by your side.”
And, whether Ace is giving a tribute to The Beatles first American hit, he does sing “I just wanna hold your hand.”
Let’s be real, though: Ace wants to hold substantially more. The question is, will this crush crush Ace? More than a dozen times he uses the word “crush,” so his stating near the end of the song that it’s a “little crush” seems to be a gross underestimation.
What happens may be inferred from the title of the next song: “Disappear.” And devastation comes in another way on a “Thursday in July.” But in the end, Ace realizes that he’s now “Runnin’” to something and not away from it.
Out of the Box’s Pride Month offering has brought new attention to BEAU, but they’re not just settling for June, for they’re running through almost all of July. If you can’t get to Theatre 154, Masterworks Broadway has seen to it that hearing the score will be as easy as 1-2-3.
Peter Filichia can be heard most weeks of the year on www.broadwayradio.com. His calendar – A SHOW TUNE FOR TODAY: 366 Songs to Brighten Your Year – is now available on Amazon
