Rapunzel Music by Fred Palmisano Book & Lyrics by Sharon O'Brien Revisal directed & designed by Edward R. Cox CAST Meghan Gibbens as Rapunzel Vatican Lokey as Tacky the Witch Bonnie Knowles as Tinsel the Fairy Godmother Greg Hill as Fritz Keely Tieperman as Schnitzel Brittany Hill as Greta 1999 Revisal, Le Petit Theatre, New Orleans

Hairum Scare 'em

Beneath the magical beauty of great fairy tales lurks a sense of dread.  And this dread is not merely the result of the dreamlike transformations that can happen at any moment.  The dread also rises from strange and seemingly inexplicable actions the characters are driven to perform.  In Rapunzel, for instance, the story is launced by an otherwise normal woman's obsession with rampions (a now-obscure vegetable) growing in a high-walled neighboring garden that belongs, as luck would have it, to a witch.  The woman languishes and grows ill because she simply must have some of those rampions.  Finally, she imposes on her husband to steal some.  But having eaten them, her greed merely increases, and she demands more.  On his secodn foray into the witch's garden, he is caught and, in his terror, accedes to the witch's demand:  In exchange for the rampions, the couple must give up their first-born child.

When the child, Rapunzel (which means rampion in German), reaches puberty, the witch locks her up in a tower with no door.  A prince hears the lonly girl singing and falls in love.  He sees the witch gain access by climbing up the girl's magically abundant hair.  And he coaxes  his imprisoned beloved into letting him in by the same means.  Rapunzel has never seen a man, so she is frightened, but soon agrees to marry the prince.  How to escape?  He will bring her silk cord each time he visits, and she will weave a ladder.

All is going well until the contented Rapunzel unthinkingly blurts out her secret to the witch:
"Why is it you are so much heavier than the prince?"  Oops!  The witch, in a fury, cuts off Rapunzel's hair and turns her out in a barren wilderness.  When the prince arrives, the witch lowers the hair.  The young man, having been roundly cursed, throws himself off the tower and lands on some brambles that pierce his eyes and blind him.  After wandering for years, he stumbles on Rapunzel (who meanwhile has borne twins, as a result--we take it--of their trysts in the tower).  Her tears fall on his eyes, and he regains his sight.  He takes her to his kingdom, and, at last, the sun sets on happiness and a world set right. 
No wonder students of myth and the unconscious are drawn to these tales.

Of course--perhaps like you--I had only vague memories of Rapunzel:  Little more than the witch, the prince, the tower and the hair.  It was only after seeing the recent, delightful version of the tale at Le Petit that I was driven to search out a Penguin Classic on my bookshelf and rediscover the dark, hypnotic world of the original.  I don't know if anyone will ever try to capture the evocative poetry of these tales on stage.  The more customary route is to create an entertainment that employs some of the familiar symbols and characters in a light-hearted celebration--in the same way that we have transformed the death-haunted rituals of All Souls into the jolly and innocuous festivities of Halloween.

Rapunzel, with book and lyrics by Sharon O'Brien and music by Freddie Palmisano, ahs a long local history.  It was first produced at the old Gallery Circle in 1969, then further developed as part of the celebrated Children's Corner during runs in 1972, '76, and '78.  In its recent incarnation, under Edward R. Cox's direction, one can see why this upbeat "Fantasia on a theme from the Brothers Grimm" keeps coming back.  Reataining its flower-power '70s style--which now has the patina of retro-chic (or retro-kitsch, depending on your point of view), Rapunzel bounced along from one catchy number to the next.  It was never arch, never condescinging, and was, as they say, great fun for the whole family.

Vatican Lokey, in a star turn as Tacky the Witch, seemed to draw his inspiration equally from Chales Ludlam and Bugs Bunny (who you will remember was also a great cross-dresser).  Like the "wascally wabbit", this witch was capable of brief, instantaneous transmogrifications, as a Texas Ranger or a toothless Mortimer Snerd.

The forces of "good" arrayed against this amusing villain were noteworthy for the ease and charm of their characterizations:  Greg Hill as the prince, Bethany Hill and Keeley Tieperman as his chums, Meghan Gibons as Rapunzel, and Bonnie Knowles as the Fairy Godmother.  Jennifer Quilty at the piano and Bryant Mannix at the drums provided an effective accompaniment, and an excellent soundtrack of effects and punctuations.
The O'Brien-Palmisano Rapunzel is a sort of fairy tale cabaret for kiddies.  No doubt, it will continue to come around again and again.