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RICHARD GREENE ©2025  George Drance as Asclepius

Few of us know his name, but many of us recognize his symbol: the snake-entwined staff, which is the emblem of the medical profession. Asclepius, the greek god of healing and medicine, has never before been the subject of a play. Now, he is featured in an earnest but unsatisfying epic opera by Ellen Stewart which is being performed at La MaMa E.T.C. by the Great Jones Repertory Company.

According to mythology, Asclepius was the son of Apollo and the ill-fated mortal woman Coronis. Raised by the centaur Chiron, Asclepius learned the art of healing, and eventually used his knowledge to bring people back from the dead. His art robbed Hades of his due, and the angered god of the underworld demanded Asclepius' death. After he was struck down by Zeus' thunderbolt, Asclepius was raised into the heavens as a constellation.

There are several fundamental problems with Asclepius, which was written, composed, and directed by Stewart with musical settings by Michael Sirotta and additional music by Sirotta, Heather Paauwe, and Yukio Tsuji and greek music composed by Elizabeth Swados. First, the source material upon which the show is based is massive, and Stewart has not been selective about which events of Asclepius' life to portray. The entire first act is dedicated to the details of the title character's conception and birth, meaning that Asclepius himself (played by George Drance) doesn't appear until after intermission. The show careens from plot-point to plot-point and from character to character, never fully developing any strand of the story. Even after reviewing Robert Graves' The Greek Myths as well as the plot outline in the program, there were times when the story was difficult to follow.

RICHARD GREENE ©2025  Prisca Ouya as Hygia, Valois Mickens as Epione, George Drance as Asclepius, Denise Greber as Pancea

One also senses that Asclepius had too many cooks in the kitchen: the show lacks a sense of unity. The long list of composers have resulted in a score which is pleasant but not very memorable, though Swados' greek music is better than the rest. Perhaps this is because the lyrics are not in English; those that are in English are borderline banal. The choreography, which was created by “The Company,” ranges from impressive (the acrobatic undulations of Eugene the Poogene as Hades) to underwhelming (the out-of-sync skipping and arm-waving of the ensemble). Asclepius' use of puppetry has the potential to be interesting, but the puppets are not particularly expressive, nor is their use internally justified. Why, for example, is the child Asclepius portrayed by a Pinocchio-like, oversized doll, when the child Hygeia is performed adorably by a real little girl, Nayel Amira Nelson-Young“

The show is not without its strong points, though. The set makes good use of LaMama's annex space, reorienting the audience along a side wall and transforming the risers into a white-draped rendition of Mount Olympus. The high levels and vast central playing space, which are somewhat reminiscent of the mansions of a medieval drama, serve Asclepius well. The music, directed by Sirotta, sounds good, too. Several performers give strong performances, particularly Michael Lynch as King Phylegys, Eugene the Poogene as Hades, and Perry Yung as Apollo. Drance oozes credibility as Asclepius, making his text seem natural and believable.

Unfortunately, just as the show begins to shine, the performers' work is undermined by weak choices. This was particularly disappointing in Apollo's rape of Coronis. At first danced abstractly and beautifully by Yung and Kat Yew, the scene was both exciting and discomfortingly violent. The magic of the moment was broken, though, when Apollo began rooting around in his pocket for confetti and undulating in an all-too-literal manner.

Asclepius' story needs to be told, and it is wonderful that individuals like Ellen Stewart and companies like the Great Jones Repertory are willing to take on such unique projects. Before the ringing in the curtain on Saturday evening, Stewart announced that the company's funding had been cut by the National Endowment for the Arts and they would not be able to continue their work next year. That is a true tragedy: America needs artists like Stewart who will take on difficult projects, even if the experiments are not always successful.