Fresh Loaf

I saw the Sunday matinee of True Colors Theatre Company’s The Amen Corner, but artistic director Kenny Leon was not there to introduce it with his typical effervescence. It had somehow escaped my attention that, Leon had been directing Flashdance: The Musical, which just opened at England’s Theatre Royal in Plymouth.

After an esteemed stint as the Alliance Theatre’s artistic director, Leon has become a director of Broadway and national stature, most recently with his Emmy-nominated TV movie of A Raisin in the Sun. He has certainly directed musicals in the past, but the genre never seemed like his first love, making him a surprising choice for the musicalization of the 1983 Jennifer Beals movie. Just imagine the costume budget for leg warmers in numbers like “She’s a Maniac.” If you need your Flashdance memory refreshed, here’s a clip of the final dance number, as interpreted by a Boba Fett action figure. (Be sure to watch it to the end.)

The only aesthetic connection that I see between Leon and Flashdance is so tenuous that it can’t possibly be correct, but here goes:
Leon worked closely with the late Pulitzer-winning playwright August Wilson on his final plays, The Gem of the Ocean and Radio Golf. (Incidentally, the Alliance stages both of those plays in repertory beginning Aug. 29, with Leon helming Ocean.) I believe Leon has directed every title in Wilson’s landmark, 10-play cycle at least once — and they all take place in Pittsburgh — which happens to be the setting of Flashdance! Remember, “She welds by day! She dances by night!” Makes sense? No? Oh well.

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Tags: August Wilson, Flashdance the Musical, Kenny Leon, True Colors Theatre Co..