Susan Granger’s review of “Spinning” (Long Wharf Theater, Stage II)
Mary Ann Frank’s “Spinning” is a remarkably unconventional amalgam of cabaret/theater – moving and memorable storytelling and song, a testament to the resilience of the human spirit.
Mary Ann Frank is not only a respected clinical psychologist in New Haven but also an accomplished singer, actress and story-teller. She lost her neuroscientist husband of 28 years after a 14-month battle with brain cancer. And she brings tremendous intelligence and feeling to the concept of a doctor becoming a patient.
But this is NOT a pity-party. Instead, imaginatively directed by Douglas Moser with a strong theatrical pace, it’s wildly funny and genuinely uplifting – aching and hilarious – based on harrowing situations that many middle-aged women – and men – encounter.
The title comes from Frank’s empathetic concept of time – past, present and future – spinning together, set to James F. Hanley’s poignant “Zing! Went the Strings of My Heart,” popularized by Judy Garland.
Among the other pop songs interwoven with the bittersweet story, there’s “Just Breathe” and the traditional American spiritual “Poor Man Lazarus”…a.k.a. “Dip Your Finger in the Water (And Cool My Thumb).”
The narrative includes a trip to Zion National Park, where Mary Ann Frank and her two grown children – twins Lucas and Lily – led by an intrepid guide – make a harrowing descent into a canyon called The Huntress, intending make sense of their loss and to spread her late husband’s ashes.
Andrew Levine handles the musical direction with a sure sense of fluidity, playing piano with Andrew Spalding on bass. The astute production and evocative lighting design is by Andrew Rubenoff with choreography by Ginger Thatcher, sound by Hunter Spoede and costumes by Marie Anne Chiment.
“Spinning” is playing in a limited run at Long Wharf’s Stage II – for now. I suspect it will re-open elsewhere soon, perhaps Off-Broadway.