Leave it to the Metro Theater Company to find a new and intelligent — and still entertaining — approach to a very sticky subject.
"Battledrum," which opened a January run yesterday at the Missouri History Museum, is about drummer boys during the Civil War, and it's strongly anti-war, even if it's set within one of the bloodiest. And it does not take sides, although many other Americans still seem to. "Battledrum" is about war, but as a partly remembered bumper sticker said, it's more about the fact that war is bad for every living thing. The hour-long play, with music by Lee Ahlin, book and lyrics by Doug Cooney, supports neither the North nor the South.
Three of the young cast members are drummer boys, but they're also frightened children, part of the Union army but not really knowing why. Rufus (Patrick Mullen) was left alone on his Kentucky farm when soldiers burned it. His father went to war, fighting for the Confederacy, and his mother has disappeared. A offer of food makes him a Union drummer boy, though not a soldier. Jackson (Mark Holzum) is a soldier, a young one, a real drummer boy whose drum is named Obadiah, after a Biblical prophet. He lords it over Rufus,but still tries to protect him and to teach him how to survive. He also reads (or pretends to read) from a letter found in an abandoned overcoat, and it's funny to hear the boy gushing to "My precious only darling. . . ."
They soon meet George Washington (Robert Moore), an escaped slave. He came north on the Underground Railroad, which piques Rufus' interest because he wants a ride, too. George has something neither Rufus nor Jackson have — he can read, having learned from listening to the teacher of his young master. He reads from the letter, too, but it's totally different.
All three young men are fresh and spirited, with energy that makes up for other shortcomings. The cast is rounded out by Nicholas Kryah, the long-time Metro resident artist and veteran of more than 5000 performances. He's the corporal, the man among boys, and he teaches the facts of life in gruff but kindly style. He also designed the simple, effective set. Susan Elaine Rasch plays four or five other characters, of both genders, handling the switches in excellent style as she goes from a mother to a runaway girl to several soldiers.
Cooney and Ahlin intersperse a variety of songs into a play aimed a young audience, but which does not talk down to it. An opening scene when Rufus' farm is torched is quite strong, and while "Battledrum" is more about people in wartime than war itself, it's a solid piece of entertainment that will both teach and amuse.
Battledrum, a production of Metro Theater Company, opened yesterday (Jan. 10) and will run through Jan. 29 at the Missouri History Museum
— Joe