Oh look, it's Dietrich

The other night, imlad and I returned from seeing the new musical at the American Repertory Theatre, Johnny Baseball, and drank like we were at a wake. While the subsequent hangover was punishing, it matched my sorrow at what I see as the passing of a great American theatre.

I have been waiting for the last production of the season to give my final verdict on Diane Paulus' inaugural year at the helm of the ART, and now that I have seen it I can give it: guilty.

This is not to say that the offerings of this Cambridge colossus were of poor quality, nor even that I wasn't entertained by them. But it has become abundantly clear to me that under Paulus' leadership, the ART simply isn't the ART anymore.

imlad has been a subscriber to the ART for over ten years, and when we got together, he roped me in. That first season, '04 into '05, I was blown away by theatrical experiences no less than six times: Theatre de Jeune Lune's Amerika, Or, The Disappearance; Janos Szasz's magnificent direction of Desire Under the Elms; Edward Bond's harrowing Olly's Prison; the beautiful far side of the moon, with original music by Laurie Anderson; the one-woman sensation The Syringa Tree; and my first exposure to the great Pieter Dirk-Uys, Foreign Aids.

I don't think any subsequent year ever matched up to the glory of that one, but I continued to be provoked, uplifted, flattened and changed by the theatre the ART brought me each year. At least once a year, if not twice, I saw something amazing: Rinde Eckert's Orpheus X in '06, a stage adaptation of Wings of Desire in '07, Elections and Erections in '08, The Seagull in '09. In between these bright lights were other strong shows - always daring, sometimes moving, usually thought-provoking. From time to time there would be a dud: the catastrophically bad '08 production of Julius Caesar comes to mind, as does the same year's Donnie Darko; the incidence of such weaknesses increased as Robert Woodruff's tenure wound down, and Gideon Lester's season, '08/'09, was really quite uneven. But the point is that for the five years before this one that I had been attending nearly every ART performance, I always looked forward to something new, fresh, interesting - and often, even life-changing.

This year there was a lot of buzz and excitement about Diane Paulus' takeover. And with good reason: her work in New York has been very exciting, and she's widely seen as a fresh, talented innovator. But I am here to tell you that with one exception, her first season at the ART has been an incredible disappointment when compared to what I've come to expect from this unique house of art.

As an overall note: first of all, what's with all the musicals? Paulus comes from a career in musicals and opera; I completely fail to see how that makes her an appropriate artistic director for the ART. Three of the six shows put on this year were musicals; one of the non-musicals was a dance/performance piece. Don't get me wrong: I love musicals as much as the next gay. (No, that's not a typo.) I adore musicals, and always have. But that's not what I go to the ART to see.

Second, nearly everything I saw was geared for a much more mainstream audience, even with Paulus' touted "experimental" bent. Two of the musicals enjoyed extended runs because of their mainstream appeal; one has become a cash cow for the ART. I'd be fine with that; the ART needs money to do what they do. But I'd be better with it if what they did was still what they used to do, instead of stuff that belongs more appropriately on Tremont Street.

And finally: where is the damn company, may I ask? The word "repertory" has a meaning, last time I checked, and a big part of that meaning involves a resident company who appears in, if not every show in a season, at least more than one. The one show I missed this season, sadly, was the one show that contained any of the core company: Karen MacDonald, Tommy Derrah, Remo Airaldi, Will LeBow, Jeremy Geidt. Everything else was shipped in.

Behind the cuts are my capsule reviews of the plays they put on this year. Gods willing next season will be better, but you won't see me subscribing, not even to see Amanda Palmer play the Emcee in Cabaret. (Yes, really.)

( The Donkey Show. )

( Sleep No More. )

( Best of Both Worlds. )

( Gatz. )

( Paradise Lost. )

( Johnny Baseball. )

Then again, what did I expect, exactly, from Diane Paulus, after her phenomenally successful revival of the musical Hair, but a bunch of musicals, a couple of ill-conceived concept plays, and to hear her talk about "the title character" of The Winter's Tale on NPR? Let's not even mention the little profiteering racket she's got going on with her husband around The Donkey Show, because hey, nobody else is. (Incidentally, that second-to-last link contains content about the current ART that's way snarkier than what I've written here - and more succinct. Really, check it out.)

So now I'm depressed. What theatre should I see this year?

"Kelly-Jo was throwing up. She couldn’t keep her bowels in. Liquid was coming out of her any way it could." Kelly-Jo, Bell adds, asked a guard if she could "please go to a hospital." But the guard replied, according to Bell, "This is the other side of the dope game. Get used to it."

On the morning of July 23, 2003, a mother of two, struggling with a heroin addiction and in the throes of withdrawal, died in a state prison, despite the fact that she'd been convicted of no crime. The circumstances of her death are extremely sketchy, and the reasons she ended up at the maximum security prison even sketicher - she was awaiting arraignment on motor-vehicle charges, and a judge had ordered her sent to the Salem District Court, which she never reached. Instead, she was left screaming for help all night while the guards yelled at her to shut up. In the morning she was dead, having somehow sustained massive head wounds.

Somebody, please, tell me what the hell is going on with this fucking country.

Also, you politically active folk: what would be my best bet for getting involved with 1) prisoners' rights, 2) drug legalization, and/or 3) harm reduction programs?

I am so pissed I could spit.