The personality of the narrator seems to elude him, and his character’s feelings about Novecento never clearly emerge we need a stronger sense of the man we’re listening to. The central ideas - that “life is immense” and that making choices can be terrifying - are not profound enough to sustain the play, and the monologue is driven merely by “and then…”ĭugald MacArthur’s direction seems to have encouraged Frank X, an actor capable of great subtlety, to overact - the gestures too big, the timing too obvious.
But while the theatrical challenges are many, there really isn’t enough substance to the script to provide much more than busy-ness. He recounts dreams of cathedrals and lions tales about the bejeweled rich in first class and about the immigrants in steerage catching their first thrilled glimpse of America.Īs the narrator, Frank X, whose talent is wide as well as deep, is kept busy by this monologue stuffed with characters and events. The narrator, a trumpet player in the ship’s band, tells us about the captain and the crew, about the pianist, Novecento’s adoptive father and about the sensational musical duel between Jelly Roll Morton and Novecento.
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