Dance! Why don't you dance? Photo from The Doctor in Spite of Himself at Yale Rep, taken by Carol Rosegg.
Interesting pre show phenomenon at performances of A Doctor in Spite of Himself, which closed last week at Yale rep. Rallied by some animated young ushers, audiences were urged to get up and shake their booties, dancing in the aisles and in their seats.
The activity put the crowd in an appropriate mood for the antic hyperkinetic comedy which followed. Yet it also existed on a separate plane, since the old pop songs playing pre- show had nothing in common with the three-man multi-instrumental live band which scored the play.
On opening night, for instance, the tune which roused the most folks to their feet was Harry Nilsson’s 1970s Jamaican novelty tune “Lime and the Coconut,” which other than its medical theme has little relation to either Moliere’s play or what Steven Epp and Christopher Bayes had done with it.
Art the same time, that “Fuck at, let’s dance” vibe was very similar to the “Fuck art, let’s laugh” vibe of the subsequent show. And even Moliere purists (if there is such an animal) would have to admit that there’s a direct link to this sort of subscriber-audience opening-night hullabaloo and the pageantry and partying which preceded royal theater engagements in Moliere’s time.