This is a past event.

Closing (Theater and Galleries) The Short List (Theater)
The Legend of Sleepy Hollow: A New Folk Musical

When: Thursdays-Sundays. Continues through Nov. 9 2009
Phone: 773-296-6024
Price: $10-$16.50
www.filamenttheatre.org/Welcome.html

Although smart and often charming, this Filament Theatre Company take on Washington Irving's famous ghost story tries too hard. Tyler Beattie has interesting notions about relating the tale of Ichabod Crane to Yankee folklore in general, for instance, but his script fails to meld them in a way that makes sense. He has sophisticated folk-based musical ideas, but his score gets overburdened by them and comes across as strained. Scott Ferguson's direction loses the narrative in stylized busyness. And the young cast seem almost too finely tuned: their physical skills, cultivated voices, and facility on everything from the accordion to the washtub bass end up conveying more about their excellent training than about the headless horseman. As a rough contemporary of Irving's said, "Simplify, simplify." --Tony Adler