Theatre in Review: Joan of Arc: Into the Fire (The Public Theater)Promises, promises: Joan of Arc: Into the Fire, a new musical by David Byrne, promised to be as exciting as Here Lies Love, his disco pop opera about the rise and fall of Ferdinand and Imelda Marcos. (This isn't even the first musical about Joan of Arc; that would be Goodtime Charley, a 1975 flop starring Joel Grey as the title character, the Dauphin of France, and Ann Reinking as Joan.) But, even before the first notes of Byrne's score are heard, promises are made that cannot be kept. In his program notes, Oskar Eustis, the Public's artistic director, says, "Joan's fame cannot mask the radical nature of her challenge to power," bypassing the authority of the Roman Catholic Church and challenging the gender- and class-based orthodoxies of her time. On stage is a kabuki drop on which is written Senator Mitch McConnell's now-infamous comment following the silencing of his colleague, Elizabeth Warren: "She was warned. She was given an explanation. Nevertheless, she persisted." Given such clues, surely we are about to meet with a heroine who speaks -- no, shouts -- truth to power, who rocks the society of her time to its very foundations. Instead, we get a smoothly professional, yet fundamentally unexciting, pop opera featuring a two-dimensional heroine -- a stout-hearted, implacable warrior -- who never begins to suggest the young woman who led armies, reconfigured a nation, and, for her pains, was deemed a heretic and burned at the stake. The fundamental task of any play about Joan must wrestle with the question, How did a teenage girl from the country rally an entire nation around her? The show has no opinion about the authenticity of her visions, in which a number of Catholic saints urged her to lead the French army to drive out the occupying British. Many of the episodes in Byrne's libretto will be familiar to anyone who has seen other dramatizations, especially Shaw's St. Joan, including the scene in which she picks out the Dauphin from a roomful of courtiers, thus convincing him that she is divinely guided. But, as conceived by Byrne, Joan is earnest, eager, and a quick study in all things military -- but not the necessary figure of overwhelming charisma and power. When she first encounters Captain Baudricourt, soon to be her friend and ally, she simply launches into the number "A Prayer for Everyone," and, one by one, his soldiers fall into line, singing "I believe." After only a couple of verses, they are ready to be led by an adolescent. Really, if it were that easy, we'd have had teenage girls running the Crusades. If Byrne had supplied Joan with a memorably outsized number here, it might have made all the difference. But the composer, who found a distinctive musical style for Here Lies Love, employing a disco-influenced sound to mirror the gaudy lives of the Marcoses, this time out provides a score that is pleasant -- at times even soaring -- but which lacks the color and variety needed to suggest the excitement and upheaval caused by this world-historical figure. Similarly, the libretto never digs deep enough to get at Joan's astonishing power. The first half of this ninety-minute musical feels like one long battle scene, with one martial number following another; the second half is rather more interesting, as Joan comes into conflict with both the Church and the French Crown, and her friends and allies fall away; the scenes in which she signs a statement admitting to heresy, then recants, are surefire dramatic episodes. But, too much of the time, this is little more than a quick, dutiful guided tour through Joan's life, scored to music that merely appeals when it should rock the house. Joan of Arc: Into the Fire might have been considerably duller without the presence of Jo Lampert, whose Joan is an implacably focused fighting machine, featuring a profile as sharp as a razor blade, hair cropped in a modified mohawk, and a stare so piercing that it's all too easy to believe that she has a direct line to heaven. Topping it off is her powerful belt, which turns each of her numbers into a rousing call to arms. It is surely an exhausting role -- at one point, she flings herself from a prison cell located on the second level of the set -- but her energy and commitment never flags. If nothing else, Joan of Arc: Into the Fire should put Lampert on the musical theatre map. Also making solid contributions are Sean Allan Krill as Bishop Cauchon, who tries to get Joan to renounce her visions; Michael James Shaw as Captain Baudricourt, her first and biggest ally; and, best of all, Mare Winningham, who, as Joan's mother, Isabelle, arrives at the eleventh hour to urge the Church to rescind her daughter's excommunication. Winningham has the benefit of the score's most appealing number, "Send Her to Heaven." Alex Timbers, a director who always has panache to spare, stages the fast-moving action on Christopher Barreca's strong, simple set, which is dominated by a set of stairs, the central portion of which rests on a turntable. Justin Townsend's lighting makes effective use of saturated color washes, bold angles, and blinder cues to suggest the whirl of events driving Joan. Darrel Maloney's projections include an early sequence in which historical events rewind, taking us back to the fifteenth century. Clint Ramos' costumes combine period details with modern haute-couture silhouettes; his gold-embroidered vestments for the princes of the church are especially eye-catching. Cody Spencer's sound design preserves an ideal balance between the voices and the six-member musical ensemble, some of whom occasionally roam the stage. It's hard to think of a slicker, more professionally staged musical in town at the moment, but this only points to what is weak about it. Even now, Joan's story astounds: How did she assume power so easily? How did she wield it so assuredly? The answers are not on display here, just the highlights, accompanied by hummable music. The show may be called Joan of Arc: Into the Fire, but what's missing is any evidence of fire in the belly. -- David Barbour 
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