Signature Theatre The Hollow

By Michael & Laura Clark • Sep 14th, 2011 • Category: Reviews

The Hollow
Signature Theatre
Signature Theatre
Through October 16th
90 minutes
$72-$77
Reviewed September 10th, 2011

The Hollow is a reinterpretation of Washington Irving’s short story “The Legend of Sleepy Hollow.” The Hollow tells of the adventures of schoolmaster Ichabod Crane and his interactions with the people of Tarrytown, a village in rural New York during the 1790s.

My only recollection of the Sleepy Hollow tale is the Headless Horseman as told by Walt Disney in an animated movie released in 1949. So I was expecting a ghost story, full of tension, playing on the fears of the audience. What I saw was an interesting love story between the former schoolmistress and the new schoolmaster, with the headless horseman running as an undercurrent to what was happening in the town.

Sam Ludwig made Ichabod Crane a trusting young man, a nice contrast to the distrustful townspeople. His kind manner upon meeting young Pieter Claassen (Noah Chiet) instantly allowed the audience to connect with Crane. Pieter takes Ichabod to meet the former school mistress, Katrina Van Tassel (Whitney Bashor). Katrina is very open to meeting Ichabod, and as Ichabod immediately starts to share new stories with Pieter and Katrina, it is obvious they have accepted him. Ichabod and Katrina’s relationship built slowly and believably. So when others in the town dislike the stories, and by extension Ichabod himself, simply because the stories are not from the Bible, there is a great amount of tension.

Parts of the show (the distrust of outsiders, supernatural beings, jealousy, deceit) felt as if they were built from ideas in Arthur Miller’s The Crucible. The time period of course contributes to that feeling. There is also a fair amount of humor, such as the different ways that the townspeople handle Ichabod’s books.

Derek McLane’s set was evocative, suggesting both the trees of the forest and a web. While the sounds and lights representing the Horseman were never fully explained in the story, those scenes in the forest were very effective. Were people imaging things, or was there really a presence of some sort out there? The townspeople also had a bizarre notion of honoring the Horseman’s victims would somehow serve as a talisman against him. The music and songs of The Hollow were nice, but didn’t really resonate. There isn’t a number you’ll be humming as you leave the theatre.

The Hollow is a part of Signature’s American Musical Voices Project Repertory Series, where they have developed two new musicals performing in repertory. The Boy Detective Fails is the other musical. Overall, The Hollow explores love (parent-child, husband-wife, drunkard-ale, fiance-betrothed) within the framework of The Legend of Sleepy Hollow, yet never really explains anything.