EASTER MYSTERIES Review

Review by Stephen Tronicek

At about the 87 minute mark of the Fathom Event EASTER MYSTERIES , the show ends, the cast takes a bow and a panel of ministers from each of the major religions sits to talk about how the show made them feel. How it was a show that didn’t insult anybody. This is actually an oddity in the Catholic “Passion” storytelling scene. Most of the time representations of this story insult people: from the controversial final act of Martin Scorsese’s masterful The Last Temptation of Christ, the rampant gore and sadism of The Passion of the Christ, and the comical The Life of Brian many of the versions of this story tend to be a problem.

That’s almost the point though. The universal story of the Passion is so ingrained into culture, or middle class white American culture that a straightforward retelling of the story while humbling (especially to those that actually believe in the story) can be utterly bland. The Bible is the literal start book for a lot of Hollywood based myths, and fantasy stories, and what has been done has been done to death. That means when a retelling of “The Passion” appears it has to bring something new to the table. Something different.

EASTER MYSTERIES  thankfully does bring something interesting to watch, and that is pacing and humor. Sure, that’s been done before (The Life of Brian), but here the whole thing isn’t reaching the point of parody. It is a wonder to watch how a faster pace changes this story though. The crucifixion is interpreted as a more beautiful and exciting thing then a horrible thing. That’s actually a fresh take by this point. No mention of anti-Semitism, no gory violence, nothing. EASTER MYSTERIES  almost seems to accept the fact that the story can be ultimately beautiful, and pretty funny. The excellent stage players fly through their lines with ease with their inflections paying off incredibly. There’s not a wide variety of dialogue to the piece, but what is there is excitingly performed.  It’s surprising to see performances that aren’t in anyway flawed. They could be plagued with small problems, but the actor’s hilarious timing really helps the stage play gain enough momentum. Wallace Smith (late of The Lion King and Godspell) smartly plays Jesus as less mythic and more human, and while it’s most certainly more a “stage performance” Kevin Earley as Peter shows a surprising about of anguish, and manages to be very moving.

The music is similar in its effectiveness. The songs at first seem simplistic, but soon these reveal themselves as leitmotifs keeping the show flowing smoothly, and not feeling disjointed at all. It’s also surprising how much humor can be squeezed from the way the musical numbers are blocked. One of them playing on the three men dealing with Jesus after he is arrested is quite inspired, and while the stage is sparse, the expressive and humorous movement of the actors provide all the necessary context for the story as needed. It’s the cooperation of this music, and the well calculated storytelling that allows the musical to have such a fast and exciting pace.

Again the musical ends at 87 minutes in and EASTER MYSTERIES is two hours long. The rest of the time is taken up by a group of speakers talking about the film and it’s representation of the Easter story. For the devout members of the audience this will probably play well, but for the others it may only provide surface level entertainment. The musical is the important part of the show here, and is good enough to be worth the price of admission.