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The Capeman
Original Broadway poster
MusicPaul Simon
LyricsPaul Simon
Derek Walcott
BookPaul Simon
Derek Walcott
BasisThe life of Salvador Agrón
Productions1998 Broadway
2010 Delacorte Theater

The Capeman is a musical play with music by Paul Simon and book and lyrics by Simon and Derek Walcott based on the life of convicted murderer Salvador Agrón. The play opened at the Marquis Theatre in 1998 to poor reviews and ran for 68 performances.[1] A blend of doo-wop, gospel, and Latin music, it received Tony Award nominations for Best Original Score, Best Orchestrations and Best Scenic Design. Renoly Santiago received a Drama Desk nomination for Outstanding Featured Performer in a Musical. Ednita Nazario won the Theater World Award for her performance.

In 2008, Simon and the Spanish Harlem Orchestra performed The Capeman at the Brooklyn Academy of Music with some of the original cast and other well-known artists. Simon also devoted a section of his two-night performances at the Beacon Theatre to The Capeman. The NY Public Theater presented a concert production of the musical in the Summer of 2010 at Central Park's Delacorte Theater, directed by Diane Paulus.

Production

[edit]

Paul Simon began working on The Capeman in 1988. The early development was aided by Simon's friend Carlos Ortiz, who helped Simon locate and translate source material. Simon and Ortiz met with people who had known Agron in prison, and visited Esmeralda Agron in Puerto Rico. In the first minutes of their meeting, Agron described a dream of her son entering heaven, which would become the song "Esmeralda's Dream."[2] Ortiz also introduced Simon to several Latin musicians, and before long Simon had written "Born in Puerto Rico," one of the show's centerpiece songs.[2]

Simon enlisted the help of Derek Walcott, a Nobel Prize-winning author and poet from the West Indies. Their working relationship was awkward at first: Simon had become unused to this type of creative collaboration, and Walcott initially disliked the show's main character. Simon insisted that the music be written first, with the lyrics set to the songs.[2] Eventually the two completed the play, with music composed by Simon and lyrics "about 50–50 Simon-Walcott."[2]

Simon assembled a band and spent almost five years and $1 million recording the songs. This was an unorthodox approach to constructing a Broadway show. Typically a show's writer delivers a script and score to a director, who assembles and creates the final production. Simon wanted to retain full artistic control over the show through its entire production.[2] Simon soon encountered resistance for refusing to follow custom in the Broadway industry.

Simon was often cited as being disdainful of Broadway,[3] and said in interviews that he hoped to reinvigorate what he saw as a stale musical form.[4] Broadway music, he said, had "ended up in a weird cul de sac – probably because it was never energized by rock and roll."[5] Theatre producer Rocco Landesman responded to Simon's statements: "The idea that you can at a strike rewrite an art form is a little presumptuous. I can't say the people in the theater community were rooting for Paul Simon after all the things he said about Broadway."[4]

In 2011, Simon admitted that his inexperience had been a problem, saying:

It's not that easy to write for the theater for the first time...You really need a guide. For people coming out of popular music, writing songs that further the plot is different from writing whatever is on your mind. It's a different discipline.[6]

Simon assembled a team of producers and financiers, including James L. Nederlander and Brad Grey. The team raised and contributed several million dollars, but none had experience producing a Broadway show.[2]

Eventually, the production cost an estimated $11 million, at the time a very high budget for a Broadway show.[3] Some of the high budget was due to Simon's insistence that his musicians participate in all rehearsals with the actors, not a typical practice in Broadway productions.[7]

In another unorthodox move, Simon hired the director as the last member of the creative team. Simon first offered the job to Mark Morris, who agreed to be the show's choreographer instead. Simon hired set designer Bob Crowley (who would be nominated for Tony Award for his sets in The Capeman), and cast Ruben Blades and Marc Anthony in the title roles. Only after these decisions did he hire Susana Tubert as the director.[2]

During the last 18 months before its opening, three different directors worked on the musical: Tubert, Eric Simonson, and Mark Morris, the choreographer, who was the final credited director.[4] The show's eventual release date was delayed by last-minute editing and restructuring. Derek Walcott, the show's book writer, effectively walked out of the production after resisting rewrites.[4] Blades, in particular, had very strong opinions about Walcott's book:

I admire him deeply, he is a Nobel Laureate, but there are cultural nuances that are lost in the translation that Walcott was simply unable to catch. I also had my struggles with Simon, telling him that a particular line or two would have never come out of a Latino's mouth if the play is to be believable.[citation needed]

Significant work was done by director Jerry Zaks, hired in an "unofficial capacity" to help Morris. Zaks said, "I've done about as much as I can with what's there."[3]

The production gave preview performances in New York while the rewriting was taking place. This put the cast in the difficult position of performing the original version of the show each night, while in the afternoons they learned and rehearsed rewritten versions.[6]

The show opened at the Marquis Theatre on January 29, 1998, and suffered from very poor reviews from the mainstream press.[8] Within a week, the show's producers discussed their strategy for saving the production,[8] and vowed to keep the show open at least until the Tony Award nominations in May.[9]

The show closed after only 68 performances on March 28.[10] After the show's closing was announced, Paul Simon issued a statement: "What I enjoyed the most, apart from the creative process, was the intensity with which the audience, in particular the Latino audience, responded to the play."[10]

Selected personnel for the Broadway production

[edit]

Original cast

[edit]

Reception

[edit]

Initial mainstream press reviews of The Capeman were overwhelmingly negative, though most had some praise for Simon's music.[8] Time Magazine referred to Capeman as "one of the biggest flops in Broadway history."[11]

Ben Brantley, reviewer for the New York Times, wrote a very negative review, calling the show a "sad, benumbed spectacle" which was "unparalleled in its wholesale squandering of illustrious talents".[3] He praised Simon's Songs from The Capeman album, but said that the translation to stage was lacking: "Everything in the music melts together; practically nothing that's said, done and shown on the stage seems to connect with anything else."[3] Brantley admired Anthony and Blades' talents, but criticized the writing of their character, saying that Anthony "has been given no proper role to play".[3] He wrote that the historical footage of Agron stole the show, especially young Sal's media statements that his mother could watch him burn. "Nothing that Mr. Anthony or Mr. Blades does in The Capeman begins to approach the disturbing complexity of that image."[3] However, The Capeman was included in the New York Times year-end Top Ten list for music in theater.

There was a minority that appreciated the play, but these were generally outside the mainstream. An article in The Progressive suggests cultural factors that led to the bad reviews, citing mainstream backlash against Simon's disparagement of the Broadway system, and discomfort with racial and ethnic themes in the Broadway core audience. The article points out that reviews were generally positive among two groups: out-of-town critics and non-white New York critics.[7]

Recordings

[edit]
"Cover" for digital release of The Capeman (Original Broadway Cast Recording)
Main article: Songs from The Capeman

In 1997 (before the show's premiere), Simon released a studio album called Songs from The Capeman, featuring 13 songs from the show performed by Simon with appearances from some of the original cast. Compared to Simon's other studio recordings, the album was not a success, peaking at position 42 of the Billboard 200 chart, the lowest of his career. Soon after, Puerto Rican singer Danny Rivera included a Spanish-language version of "Born in Puerto Rico" as part of his live recording, En Vivo desde Carnegie Hall. In the recording, Rivera can be heard acknowledging Simon's presence in the audience, and thanking him for the song on behalf of all Puerto Ricans.

An original Broadway cast recording was produced featuring 21 tracks, but its release was postponed after the show's failure. The record was eventually released in 2006 at the iTunes Store as The Capeman (Original Broadway Cast Recording). All vocals on this release were performed by the original cast, with an appearance by Paul Simon on "Trailways Bus."

The Capeman after Broadway

[edit]

The Capeman was not performed in its original form after its 68-show original Broadway run. Shortly after the show's closure there were discussions of a Songs of The Capeman national concert tour, but these plans were abandoned. [4]

Just days after the show's Broadway premiere, Variety journalist Greg Evans suggested that the doomed show would work well as a concert of songs. He wrote, "Years from now, when some savvy producer is scouting old theater material for a scaled-down concert staging, The Capeman should be first on his list."[12]

In 2008, Joseph Melillo, director of the Brooklyn Academy of Music, produced a stage show called Songs from the Capeman using Paul Simon's Capeman music without the narrative dramatic elements of the show. Melillo said, "I wanted to help Paul, to get this demon out of him and onto the stage, where we could say, 'Look everyone, this is great music.'"[13]

Melillo's production featured the Spanish Harlem Orchestra led by Oscar Hernández, original music director for the Broadway Capeman.[14]

Paul Simon appeared, to sing "Trailways Bus," one of the songs from the show, and finished the evening with a performance of his 1980 Latin-themed single "Late in the Evening."[14]

Poster for the 2010 production of The Capeman in Central Park

In August 2010 a heavily revised production of The Capeman ran three shows at Central Park's Delacorte Theater, directed by Diane Paulus. The production featured Obie Bermúdez as The Umbrella Man[15] and a musical number by Danny Rivera. This version was substantially stripped down, with a running time of only about 90 minutes (compared to the original production's three hours). The new version increased the focus on Agron's mother,[13] dropped some characters and subplots,[16] used more choreography, and had no sets. The media was instructed not to write reviews of the show, which was officially described as a work in progress,[17] with Public Theater artistic director Oskar Eustis calling it "just a sketch" of full reconception of the show.[18] Even so, Ben Brantley of the New York Times, who said the original Broadway production was "like watching a mortally wounded animal", gave a positive review, focusing on the organic staging outdoors on a rainy night in Central Park.[18]

References

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The Capeman

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The Capeman is a musical with music by Paul Simon and book and lyrics co-written by Simon and Derek Walcott, centered on the life of Salvador Agrón, a 16-year-old Puerto Rican gang member who murdered two teenagers in New York City's Hell's Kitchen neighborhood on August 29, 1959, while wearing a black cape and santería beads that led to his nickname "Capeman."[1][2] Agrón, leader of the Vampires gang, stabbed victims Anthony Krzesinski and Robert Young to death after mistaking them for rivals, resulting in his arrest, death sentence (later commuted), and eventual parole in 1979 after rehabilitation efforts including education and activism in prison.[3][4] The musical explores Agrón's troubled upbringing in Puerto Rico and New York, his descent into gang violence amid poverty and ethnic tensions, and his path to redemption during incarceration, drawing parallels to themes of immigration, crime, and forgiveness.[5][6] Premiering on Broadway at the Marquis Theatre on January 29, 1998, after developmental productions, it featured Marc Anthony in the title role and innovative staging but faced immediate backlash from the victims' families, who protested the perceived glorification of a murderer.[7][8] Despite praise for Simon's Latin-infused score and some performances, The Capeman received mixed-to-negative reviews criticizing its unfocused book, pacing issues, and handling of sensitive material, leading to poor box office performance and closure after 68 regular performances, with estimated losses exceeding $11 million.[9][10] Internal controversies included creative disputes and last-minute directorial changes, contributing to its reputation as one of Paul Simon's most challenging projects, though select songs were later released on the album Songs from The Capeman and revisited in a 2010 Central Park concert production.[11][12]

Historical Basis

The Life of Salvador Agrón

Salvador Agrón was born on April 24, 1943, in Mayagüez, Puerto Rico, to parents Gumersindo Agrón, a street cleaner, and Esmeralda Rodriguez, who had eloped as a teenager.[13] His early childhood involved severe family instability, including his father's physical abuse of his mother with a machete and neglect amid drunkenness, prompting her to flee with Agrón's older sister to a Catholic asylum when he was 18 months old.[13] Agrón suffered malnutrition, delayed walking until age 2½, and bed-wetting until 14 while in the asylum; his mother later remarried Carlos Gonzalez, a harsh stepfather who imposed strict punishments including beatings, locking him out overnight, and restricting food access.[13] In 1953, at age 10, Agrón immigrated alone to New York City after his mother had relocated there earlier with his sister, settling into a midtown Manhattan tenement where the family lived in poverty in a single furnished room.[13][14] Upon arrival, Agrón struggled academically, having the equivalent of only one year of schooling in Puerto Rico, poor English skills, and difficulty reading or writing; he quickly turned to truancy, street wandering, and petty delinquency, behaving like "an alley cat" despite institutional placements such as Wiltwyck School for Boys.[13] He affiliated with a Puerto Rican street club on Manhattan's West Side, adopting the persona of "Capeman" by borrowing a red-lined nurse's cloak, which contributed to his fearsome reputation though he was not initially the group's leader.[13] Agrón lived with his mother and Pentecostal minister stepfather at the time of his later criminal acts, having briefly returned to Puerto Rico with his biological father before rejoining them in New York.[14] Convicted of first-degree murder in 1960 at age 17, Agrón received a death sentence but displayed defiance in court, rejecting his mother's offered Bible and stating, "I don’t care if I burn; my mother could watch me," reflecting an absence of remorse as noted by observers and psychiatrists who diagnosed a schizoid reaction with paranoia.[13][14] Governor Nelson A. Rockefeller commuted the sentence to life imprisonment on February 7, 1962.[15] In prison, Agrón pursued self-directed rehabilitation, learning to read and write poetry, earning a high school diploma and an associate degree from Dutchess County Community College, and serving as a jailhouse lawyer assisting fellow inmates with legal matters.[15] Granted parole eligibility after a further commutation by Governor Hugh Carey in 1976, Agrón was approved for release on September 21, 1979, and paroled from Auburn State Correctional Facility that November, having become a model prisoner through his educational and advisory efforts.[15] Post-release, he worked as a youth counselor, lectured on the dangers of gang involvement, and advocated against street violence, crediting his transformation to personal growth in incarceration.[4] Agrón died on April 22, 1986, in New York City at age 42.[16]

The 1959 Knickerbocker Gang Murders

On the evening of August 30, 1959, 16-year-old Salvador Agrón, leader of the Puerto Rican Vampires gang, and accomplice Luis Hernandez, armed with knives and seeking a confrontation with the rival Knickerbocker gang, entered a playground in Manhattan's Hell's Kitchen neighborhood.[15] Mistaking a group of non-gang-affiliated white teenagers for enemies, Agrón and his associates initiated a violent attack amid escalating ethnic gang rivalries fueled by urban turf disputes.[4] Agrón, clad in a black cape with red lining taken from a church to intimidate foes, stabbed 16-year-old Anthony Krzesinski in the chest and groin, and 16-year-old Robert Young Jr. in the back, killing both; a third youth, Ewald Reimer, was also stabbed but survived after fleeing.[1] [3] The victims had no prior acquaintance with the attackers and were not involved in gang activity, highlighting how misidentification in the dim lighting and heightened paranoia of the rumble led to the unprovoked killings.[4] Following the stabbings, Agrón and Hernandez discarded their weapons and briefly evaded capture by hiding nearby, but Agrón's boastful demeanor—declaring to police upon arrest, "You got me good, but I don't care if I burn"—accelerated their identification amid witness accounts and gang informants.[17] The incident, the third and fourth gang-related homicides in New York City that week, intensified public alarm over a juvenile crime surge in the 1950s, with newspapers decrying unchecked teen violence in impoverished immigrant enclaves like Hell's Kitchen, where economic deprivation and fractured families contributed to recruitment into groups like the Vampires.[3] Agrón's personal bravado, evidenced by his self-styled "Dracula" persona and leadership in prior skirmishes, drove the lethal escalation, as he explicitly threatened to stab anyone obstructing the gang's path.[4] In the ensuing trial, Agrón was convicted of two counts of first-degree murder on July 20, 1960, after a jury deliberated his role in the premeditated ambush, marking him as the youngest New Yorker ever sentenced to death row at age 17.[15] [4] Hernandez received a 7-to-15-year sentence as an accessory.[3] The case exemplified broader causal dynamics of individual agency in gang culture—where personal ambition for status amid peer pressure and territorial instincts outweighed restraint—against a backdrop of New York's post-war urban decay, though Agrón's defiance in court underscored his unrepentant choices rather than deterministic excuses.[13] Community backlash focused on lax juvenile justice and rising Puerto Rican migration tensions, prompting calls for harsher penalties on minors amid statistics showing a 21.1% increase in murders by those under 18 in the prior decade.[13]

Development and Concept

Origins and Inspiration

Paul Simon encountered the story of Salvador Agrón, a Puerto Rican immigrant convicted of two murders in 1959 New York City, through historical news accounts and related materials as early as 1989.[4] This discovery drew him to themes of personal redemption, forgiveness, and the challenges faced by immigrant youth in mid-20th-century America, prompting him to conceptualize a musical that interrogated the conditions under which society might grant absolution for grave offenses.[18] Simon explicitly framed the work around the question of "what a person must do to receive forgiveness," emphasizing moral accountability over glorification of violence.[19] Seeking to differentiate from romanticized portrayals of gang culture, such as in West Side Story, Simon intended a more unflinching examination of Agrón's life, rooted in the doo-wop and Latin musical styles prevalent among Puerto Rican communities in 1950s Hell's Kitchen.[20] Initially, Simon pursued the project independently, composing music and drafting concepts over several years, before enlisting Nobel Prize-winning poet Derek Walcott in the early 1990s to co-write the book and lyrics.[21] Their collaboration integrated poetic narrative with Simon's score, prioritizing artistic innovation—blending period-specific rhythms with contemporary introspection—over a literal biography of Agrón.[20] Simon's early research included reviewing prison correspondence provided by Agrón's sister and engaging with individuals connected to the era, though he subordinated historical fidelity to thematic and musical exploration.[19] This approach reflected his broader aim to use the Agrón narrative as a lens for universal questions of sin, atonement, and cultural displacement, rather than a documentary retelling of events.[8]

Writing Process and Collaborators

Paul Simon initiated collaboration with Nobel Prize-winning poet and playwright Derek Walcott on the book's lyrics and narrative structure in 1988, drawing on Walcott's expertise to infuse poetic depth into the adaptation of Salvador Agrón's life story.[21] Simon first developed musical templates rooted in his pop and doo-wop sensibilities, after which the pair refined the words together, aiming to merge Simon's rhythmic accessibility with Walcott's lyrical formalism during intensive sessions from the mid-1990s through 1997.[22] This process faced early friction, as Walcott initially resisted portraying Agrón sympathetically, insisting on a character arc that confronted the murderer's actions without evasion, though the resulting book drew criticism for its perceived ambiguity in assigning moral culpability, often framing Agrón's violence amid socioeconomic pressures rather than foregrounding unmitigated personal agency.[20][9] The writing incorporated verifiable historical details, such as Agrón's signature cape and his Pentecostal family background, to ground the story in reality, while constructing a fictionalized redemption narrative centered on Agrón's prison conversion and self-reckoning, prioritizing internal moral evolution over external justifications like poverty or discrimination.[8] Revisions emphasized balancing the music-driven, sung-through format with dramatic coherence, including Walcott's contributions to authentically depict Puerto Rican immigrant experiences and cultural rhythms, informed by consultations with Latino performers to avoid stereotypical portrayals.[22][23] Key collaborators extended beyond the core writing duo to include director Jerry Zaks, who shaped revisions for narrative clarity during developmental workshops, and choreographer Vincent Paterson, whose input on movement helped integrate Simon's vision for stylized, non-operatic staging that eschewed conventional Broadway spectacle in favor of raw, episodic storytelling reflective of the protagonist's fractured psyche.[24] Simon insisted on this unconventional approach to prevent the material from devolving into sentimental excess, ensuring the adaptation retained a stark focus on accountability amid its stylistic innovations.[20]

Production History

Workshops and Pre-Broadway Iterations

Development of The Capeman began with a workshop in October 1996 at the Westbeth Theatre Centre in New York City's Greenwich Village, where Paul Simon tested musical elements such as instrumentation placement and staging basics under initial director Eric Simonson.[10][8] Simon demanded a full band of seven or eight musicians be present throughout rehearsals, prioritizing authentic musical texture over cost efficiencies, which contributed to early budgetary strains.[8] This iteration focused on integrating doo-wop ensembles and Latin rhythms, elements that drew positive internal responses for their rhythmic vitality, though narrative cohesion remained underdeveloped.[10] Feedback from the 1996 workshop highlighted persistent weaknesses in the book co-written by Simon and Derek Walcott, including narrative gaps and an overemphasis on musical sequences at the expense of dramatic propulsion, prompting script revisions and additional songwriting.[20] Simon's hands-on oversight rejected conventional Broadway directorial input, as he cycled through candidates like Simonson and later Susana Tubert who clashed with his vision of avoiding auteur-driven interpretations or standard musical tropes such as overt spectacle.[8] By early 1997, the workshop phase concluded with plans for out-of-town testing abandoned, leading directly to New York previews starting December 1, 1997; sneak previews in late November revealed tuning and rhythmic inconsistencies, eliciting Simon's direct reprimands to the cast and orchestra.[20][25] Budget escalations underscored these iterations' challenges, with initial estimates of $10 million swelling to $11 million amid Simon's perfectionism and financier withdrawals, such as the Nederlander organization's reduction to $1 million in backing.[10] Internal concerns emerged over the story's portrayal of Salvador Agrón, with early staging risking unintended sympathy for the protagonist's crimes through episodic jumps rather than causal clarity, though musical highlights like ensemble harmonies offered counterpoints of promise.[10] These pre-Broadway efforts, marked by iterative but unresolved fixes to the libretto's structural deficits, presaged the production's later struggles with audience disconnection and critical dissection of its fragmented arc.[8]

Broadway Premiere and Run

The Capeman opened on Broadway at the Marquis Theatre on January 29, 1998, following 59 previews that commenced on December 1, 1997.[26] The production shuttered on March 28, 1998, after 68 regular performances, marking one of the more abrupt closures for a high-profile musical in recent Broadway history.[27] Capitalized at between $11 million and $13 million, the show incurred losses of approximately $11 million, unable to recoup costs despite a total box office gross exceeding $8 million.[28] [20] [29] Escalating expenses stemmed from Paul Simon's perfectionist approach, which prolonged rehearsals and revisions, ballooning the budget and deterring potential investors wary of the risks.[20] Weekly operating costs, combined with an average audience capacity of 76%, exacerbated the financial strain, as ticket sales failed to cover ongoing outlays.[28] Logistically, the production relied on a large ensemble to stage gang-related sequences, amplifying payroll and staging demands in a venue seating over 1,600.[26] This ambitious scale, while aligning with the musical's thematic scope, underscored a disconnect between creative aspirations and commercial imperatives, hastening the decision to close amid mounting deficits rather than sustain indefinite losses.[9]

Cast and Creative Team

The creative team for the 1998 Broadway production of The Capeman was led by Paul Simon, who composed the music and co-wrote the book and lyrics with Nobel Prize-winning poet Derek Walcott. Jerry Zaks served as director, stepping in during previews on January 7, 1998, to refine the staging amid reported difficulties with the initial director, Mark Morris.[30] Choreography was handled by Joey McKneeley, who assumed duties after changes during the preview period, contributing to cuts of over 30 minutes from the original runtime.[31] Marc Anthony portrayed the young Salvador Agrón in the title role, selected by Simon for his rising prominence as a salsa vocalist to deliver authentic performances in the score's Latin-infused style.[32] Rubén Blades played the adult Agrón, bringing his background as a Panamanian salsa singer and actor to the part, emphasizing the character's reflective maturity.[32] Ednita Nazario enacted the role of Esmeralda Agrón, the protagonist's mother, as part of the production's focus on Puerto Rican performers for cultural verisimilitude.[26] Renoly Santiago appeared as Tony Hernandez, a key figure in the gang narrative.[26] The ensemble cast, numbering over two dozen performers, included many actors of Latino descent to represent the 1950s Knickerbocker gang members and supporting roles, aligning with Simon's intent to evoke the raw ethnic dynamics of New York City's Puerto Rican youth subculture through performers experienced in street-level authenticity rather than polished Broadway veterans.[33] This approach prioritized vocal and cultural genuineness in the doo-wop and calypso elements, with Anthony's Broadway exposure from the production aiding his transition to wider pop success post-closing on March 28, 1998.[34]

Musical Composition

Style, Influences, and Structure

The Capeman integrates a diverse array of musical genres, including salsa, doo-wop, gospel, and rock, into a sung-through format that evokes the rhythmic hybridity of 1950s Puerto Rican immigrant life in New York City.[9][7] This stylistic blend, incorporating elements like rockabilly and Puerto Rican bomba, prioritizes percussive Latin grooves and vocal harmonies over conventional orchestration, resulting in a score that functions more as an illustrated concert than a traditional book musical.[35][7] Paul Simon's compositional approach reflects influences from his earlier world music experiments, such as the South African and Brazilian infusions in Graceland, reoriented here toward Caribbean and Latin American traditions to mirror the story's cultural context.[35] The collaboration with Derek Walcott introduces poetic lyricism drawn from his Caribbean heritage, infusing the narrative with elevated, rhythmic verse that avoids Broadway's standard verse-chorus conventions in favor of extended arias and ensemble chants.[35][7] Divided into two acts, the structure traces a thematic arc from youthful delinquency and the 1959 murders in Act One—paced tightly at approximately one hour—to incarceration, religious awakening, and release in Act Two, where narrative momentum falters amid extended introspection.[7] Non-linear elements dominate, with episodic flashbacks shifting between 1949 Puerto Rico, 1959 New York, prison locales, and 1979, connected via a ghostly narrator figure, Saint Lazarus, who provides commentary and temporal bridging.[9] This framework relies heavily on lyrics for exposition, minimizing spoken dialogue and actor-driven scenes, while the music propels progression through sin, suffering, repentance, and forgiveness motifs, though the book's sparsity leaves causal connections between events underdeveloped.[9][7]

Key Songs and Themes

"Adios Hermanos" opens the musical as an a cappella doo-wop recitative, framing the immigrant struggles of Puerto Rican families in 1950s New York City through lyrics evoking fear of both home and streets amid escalating gang tensions on October 1, 1959.[36][37] The song sets a context of cultural displacement and poverty without portraying these as deterministic excuses for violence, instead highlighting the agency individuals retain in navigating such environments.[38] Gang-related numbers, such as "The Vampires," depict the seductive bravado of street life through rhythmic, Cuban-influenced piano and lyrics where a gang leader lures the teenage Salvador Agrón into affiliation, underscoring how peer-driven machismo propels escalation from posturing to lethal confrontation.[39] These energetic anthems illustrate the cultural pull of identity-based groups but emphasize personal choices' role in yielding irreversible consequences, rejecting narratives that over-rely on socioeconomic explanations for heinous acts.[38] "Time Is an Ocean," featuring a prison mentor's counsel to Agrón, employs oceanic metaphors for remorse—"Time is an ocean of endless tears"—to probe redemption's feasibility, advocating introspection and behavioral reform during incarceration as pathways to change rather than innate or superficial absolution.[40][39] The lyrics tie cultural heritage to individual accountability, portraying genuine transformation as empirically verifiable through sustained post-crime conduct, such as Agrón's real-life prison writings and anti-gang advocacy after his 1979 parole, while critiquing facile forgiveness detached from causal accountability.[20][38]

Reception

Critical Reviews

Critics largely panned The Capeman upon its January 29, 1998, Broadway opening, citing a weak and unfocused book by Paul Simon and Derek Walcott that failed to cohere the story of Salvador Agrón's crimes and redemption into a compelling narrative. Ben Brantley of The New York Times described the production as a "sad, benumbed spectacle" akin to "watching a mortally wounded animal," faulting its flat dramatic impact despite innovative staging.[41][42] Variety echoed this, noting the book's attempt to portray Agrón as a victim of poverty and racism blurred distinctions between perpetrator and victim, resulting in moral ambiguity that undermined the plot's tension.[9] Praise centered on Simon's score, blending doo-wop, salsa, and Latin influences into what Variety called one of the finest Broadway scores in recent seasons, with innovative rhythmic fusions that elevated individual songs.[9] However, reviewers like those in CurtainUp argued the music overwhelmed the story, preventing seamless integration of song and drama.[7] Conservative-leaning critiques, such as those highlighting insufficient explicit condemnation of Agrón's murders, aligned with mainstream consensus on narrative flaws, while outlets like El Diario—defending cultural representation of Puerto Rican experiences—still conceded dramatic shortcomings but lauded its contextual denunciation of social conditions.[43] The production received three Tony Award nominations—for Best Original Score (Paul Simon), Best Orchestrations (Stanley Silverman), and Best Scenic Design—but no wins and no nomination for Best Musical, reflecting critical dismissal. Audience responses were mixed, with preview crowds often applauding the buoyant score and performances despite story weaknesses, contrasting sharply with aggregators' poor ratings and contributing to the show's brief 68-performance run.[44]

Commercial Performance and Audience Response

The Capeman was capitalized at an estimated $11 million, one of the higher budgets for a Broadway musical at the time, yet it failed to recoup costs during its limited run.[34][45] Opening on January 29, 1998, at the Marquis Theatre following previews that began on December 14, 1997, the production closed on March 28, 1998, after 59 previews and just 68 regular performances.[34] This abbreviated engagement underscored its status as a commercial flop, particularly in contrast to successful 1990s musicals like Rent, which premiered in 1996 and ran for over 5,000 performances through strong word-of-mouth and repeat attendance.[45] Ticket sales did not generate sufficient revenue to offset operating expenses, with the rapid closure signaling weak audience demand despite Paul Simon's established popularity outside theater circles.[46] The production's failure highlighted the challenges of translating pop-rock artistry into Broadway's high-stakes commercial model, where sustained grosses typically require broad demographic appeal beyond niche fanbases.[45] In a season otherwise buoyed by hits, The Capeman's quick exit exemplified the risks of large-scale investments in unconventional narrative adaptations lacking proven market viability.[45]

Controversies

Ethical Concerns Over Glorifying a Murderer

Critics and relatives of the victims accused The Capeman of glorifying Salvador Agrón, the 16-year-old gang member who stabbed two teenagers, Robert Young and Anthony Krzesinski, to death on August 29, 1959, during a street brawl in New York City's Hell's Kitchen neighborhood, by centering the narrative on his personal redemption rather than the irreversible harm inflicted on innocent bystanders.[18][47] Family members of the victims staged protests outside the Marquis Theatre during previews in January 1998, arguing that dramatizing Agrón's life—initially marked by defiance and lack of remorse, as he reportedly showed no immediate regret after the killings—disrespected the deceased and their survivors by romanticizing gang violence without equivalent emphasis on the victims' innocence and loss.[18][48] One victim's mother highlighted Agrón's "total disrespect for the two victims and their families," underscoring how the production's focus on his trajectory echoed his early unrepentant posture rather than prioritizing causal accountability for the murders.[47] Paul Simon countered these charges by framing the musical as an artistic inquiry into the boundaries of atonement and forgiveness, drawing from Agrón's real-life prison transformation into an anti-gang advocate after his death sentence was commuted in 1960 and parole granted in 1979, rather than an endorsement of violence.[49] Simon emphasized social contextual factors like poverty and ethnic tensions in 1950s New York, positioning the work as a cautionary exploration of delinquency's roots without intending to normalize crime, though detractors contended this empathetic lens insufficiently reckoned with Agrón's agency in the stabbings, potentially portraying juvenile offenders as inherently redeemable absent rigorous evidence of behavioral permanence.[50] Such portrayals raised broader ethical questions about misleading audiences on the durability of criminal impulses, particularly in gang-affiliated youth, where empirical data indicate high recidivism: a 2011 multi-state analysis found 70% to 80% of juveniles exiting residential facilities rearrested within three years, with violent offenders facing elevated risks of reoffending due to entrenched gang loyalties and limited intervention efficacy.[51] While Agrón's post-incarceration advocacy against gangs represented a rare reform outcome, critics argued the musical's redemptive arc underemphasized recidivism patterns and gang culture's persistence, potentially fostering illusions of easy reversibility for behaviors rooted in unchecked impulsivity and group dynamics.[52] The narrative's omission of substantive victim perspectives further fueled objections, as the production largely sidelined the families' ongoing grief—evident in their sustained protests— in favor of Agrón's internal journey, prioritizing biographical interest over a balanced reckoning with crime's human costs and the victims' unrecoverable lives.[29] This approach, while artistically defensible as selective storytelling, was seen by protesters as compounding the original offense by rendering the slain boys peripheral figures in a tale of their killer's potential absolution.[53]

Artistic and Production Criticisms

The libretto, co-authored by Paul Simon and Derek Walcott, drew criticism for its structural ambiguity, prioritizing poetic and episodic vignettes over a linear narrative, which resulted in unresolved plot inconsistencies such as unclear motivations for the protagonist's transformation into a gang leader.[9] Reviewers observed that the dominance of Simon's intricate musical sequences often eclipsed dramatic clarity, leaving key events—like the central murders—underdeveloped and disconnected from preceding character arcs.[54] Simon's reluctance to undertake substantial revisions exacerbated these flaws; during previews, he resisted external pressures to overhaul the book, insisting on preserving its experimental form despite feedback highlighting narrative gaps.[8] [55] Staging elements further alienated audiences through unconventional directorial and choreographic choices, including director Jerry Zaks's integration of abstract, non-literal movement sequences that prioritized spectacle over emotional accessibility.[56] Choreographer Mark Morris's experimental routines, blending doo-wop influences with avant-garde physicality, incurred elevated production expenses from custom sets and lighting rigs but failed to unify the fragmented scenes, contributing to a disjointed onstage experience.[57] These decisions, rooted in Simon's vision of a non-traditional musical, clashed with Broadway expectations for polished execution, as evidenced by pre-opening adjustments that delayed the January 29, 1998, premiere by weeks.[22] While the production received some acclaim for its unprecedented inclusion of Latino performers—such as Rubén Blades and Marc Anthony—in lead roles, it faced rebuke for perpetuating stereotypes of Puerto Rican youth as inherently violent and gang-affiliated, reducing complex socioeconomic contexts to sensationalized tropes of urban predation.[23] Academic analyses have argued that the portrayal commodified Puerto Rican identity as exotic spectacle, with gang rituals depicted through hyperbolic staging that echoed mid-20th-century media biases rather than nuanced cultural realism.[58] Internal discord marked the creative process, particularly between Simon and Walcott, whose differing approaches—Simon's pop-infused lyricism versus Walcott's literary formalism—led to protracted disagreements over tonal balance and character depth.[10] Pre-opening turmoil included the dismissal of key personnel, such as initial choreographic assistants and script consultants, amid reports of Simon's selective openness to input, which prolonged rehearsals and intensified team fractures before the transfer from the Public Theater.[56]

Recordings and Media Adaptations

Soundtrack Releases

The principal audio release tied to The Capeman is Paul Simon's Songs from The Capeman, released by Warner Bros. Records on November 18, 1997.[59] This album comprises Simon's personal renditions of musical numbers from the production, augmented by select original cast vocalists and session performers.[60] Spanning 16 tracks, it opens with "Adios Hermanos" and incorporates narrative-driven pieces such as "Born in Puerto Rico," which delivers biographical context on the protagonist through verse and spoken elements.[61] Other selections include "Satin Summer Nights," "Bernadette," and "The Vampires."[62] No official Broadway cast recording was issued commercially, despite audio captures from rehearsals and performances during the musical's development workshops.[63] The Songs from The Capeman album itself underperformed in sales, mirroring the financial losses of the stage production, and failed to achieve significant chart placement relative to Simon's prior releases.[64] Tracks from the album have since appeared in reissues and streaming compilations within Simon's catalog but not as dedicated Capeman-centric anthologies.[65]

Post-Broadway Performances and Legacy

Following the Broadway closure on March 28, 1998, producers announced plans for a national concert tour featuring Songs from The Capeman, with Paul Simon potentially performing select numbers, but these efforts were ultimately abandoned in the ensuing weeks.[11][66] Simon incorporated sporadic excerpts from the score into his solo concert sets during the 2000s, including performances of songs like "Satin Summer Nights" and "Adios Hermanos" in informal or one-off contexts, though no full staged revivals or extended runs materialized.[67] As of 2025, the musical has seen no professional revivals, with discussions of potential restarts, such as a 2022 online forum query about feasibility, yielding no concrete action.[68] The Capeman's legacy endures primarily as a cautionary example of artistic overreach for established musicians entering Broadway, where Simon himself later reflected that the project's scope represented ambition exceeding practical execution, contributing to its $11 million financial loss after just 68 performances.[69][22] Despite this, the production advanced conversations around Puerto Rican and multicultural narratives in American theater by centering a Latino protagonist's story amid 1950s gang conflicts, indirectly paving the way for subsequent works that more successfully integrated ethnic diversity without overt romanticization of violence.[70] Critics and observers have noted its role in highlighting pitfalls of sanitizing true-crime tales—particularly those involving youthful offenders and gang lore—without sufficiently challenging myths of redemptive glamour in street violence, a theme underexplored in the original staging but evident in retrospective analyses.[71] Reflections on the musical in recent media, including a 2024 documentary series In Restless Dreams: The Music of Paul Simon, portray its impact as "complicated," with Simon expressing continued pride in the songs' quality while acknowledging production missteps, though the film largely sidesteps deeper ethical debates over portraying real-life murderers.[66][71] No formal 25th-anniversary events marked the 1998 premiere in 2023, underscoring the work's marginal stage afterlife compared to Simon's broader catalog.[22]

References

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  2. 'CAPE MAN': LIFE OF KILLER IS OVER AT 42 - The New York Times
  3. Capeman & Umbrella Man | New York City Fighting Gangs
  4. Salvador Agron 'Cape Man' - New York Daily News
  5. Listening Party: Revisit Paul Simon's The Capeman - Playbill
  6. The Capeman: Musical Info & Synopsis | Theatre Trip
  7. The Capeman, a CurtainUp review
  8. Theater: Seeking Salvation for the Capeman - Time Magazine
  9. The Capeman - Variety
  10. The Capeman: how Paul Simon's Broadway bomb almost broke him
  11. Simon's Broadway disaster to close - Tampa Bay Times
  12. Paul Simon's 'Capeman' in Central Park - The New York Times
  13. The Making of a Boy Killer; This is the story of the bitter sixteen years ...
  14. Sketches of Seven Youths Guilty Of Slaying Boys in Playground ...
  15. State to Free the 'Capeman,' Street‐Gang Leader Who Killed 2 in 1959
  16. SALVADOR AGRON, 'CAPEMAN' KILLER OF 2 TEENS IN '59
  17. 'Capeman' killer dead at 43 - UPI Archives
  18. Playbill Poll: The Capeman Controversy
  19. THE SOUND OF VIOLENCE - The Washington Post
  20. The Pop Perfectionist on a Crowded Stage - The New York Times
  21. Derek Walcott, Who Collaborated with Paul Simon on Broadway's ...
  22. How Paul Simon's 'Songs From the Capeman' Became Such a Failure
  23. Capeman's PR Means Public Relations – ED MORALES
  24. The Complete Book of 1990s Broadway Musicals (2016) PDF - Scribd
  25. On Stage, and Off - The New York Times
  26. The Capeman – Broadway Musical – Original | IBDB
  27. After Rocky Run, 'Capeman' to Close - The New York Times
  28. The Capeman (Broadway, Marquis Theatre, 1998) | Playbill
  29. Curtains for Capeman ?Paul Simon's $11 Million Mess - Observer
  30. Jerry Zaks Will Help Direct 'Capeman' - The New York Times
  31. Paul Simon's Broadway Capeman Opens Tonight | Playbill
  32. Paul Simon's Capeman Opens to Protests - Playbill
  33. The Capeman Original Broadway Musical Cast 1998
  34. Paul Simon's Capeman Closing Mar. 28 - Playbill
  35. George Graham Reviews Paul Simon's "Songs from the Capeman"
  36. 'THE CAPEMAN': PAUL SIMON'S BROADWAY PRELUDE
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  38. A REVEALING 'CAPEMAN' - New York Daily News
  39. Paul Simon “Songs from The Capeman” - Past Prime
  40. Time Is An Ocean - The Paul Simon Official Site
  41. THEATER REVIEW; The Lure of Gang Violence To a Latin Beat
  42. Gang of crix knife 'Capeman' - Variety
  43. NY's El Diario Blasts Capeman Critics - Playbill
  44. Live Review: The Capeman - Rolling Stone
  45. After 'Capeman,' A Chill in a Thriving Broadway Season
  46. $11 MILLION 'CAPEMAN' OPENS, BUT IT MAY NOT SURVIVE LONG
  47. 'CAPEMAN' IS PANNED BY CRITICS, MOM GRIM REMINDER OF ...
  48. Looking Back: The Capeman - JK's TheatreScene
  49. Paul Simon on Charlie Rose: "Can You Atone? | Playbill
  50. USA: NEW YORK: PROTESTS AT PAUL SIMON'S NEW MUSICAL
  51. Why Youth Incarceration Fails: An Updated Review of the Evidence
  52. Violent and Nonviolent Youth Offenders - NIH
  53. 5. THE CAPEMAN (1998)
  54. In Troubled Water - Los Angeles Times
  55. ON STAGE AND OFF; A Revival Of 'Capeman'? - The New York Times
  56. Delay in 'Capeman' Opening: A Tale of 'Tough Decisions' - The New ...
  57. Editorial Observer; Wondering How 'The Capeman' Fell to Earth
  58. https://www.degruyterbrill.com/document/doi/10.18574/nyu/9780814790816.003.0013/html
  59. Songs From The Capeman - The Paul Simon Official Site
  60. https://www.discogs.com/master/287922-Paul-Simon-Songs-From-The-Capeman
  61. Paul Simon - Songs from the Capeman Lyrics and Tracklist | Genius
  62. Songs from The Capeman - Paul Simon | Album | AllMusic
  63. Obscure Videos: A Roll of the Dice | Broadway Buzz
  64. Paul Simon | Folk Song Index - Fandom
  65. Songs From The Capeman - Album by Paul Simon | Spotify
  66. Paul Simon and the 'Complicated' Legacy of 'The Capeman' Musical
  67. the capeman in concert 2010 & 2008 - Maestravida.com
  68. How terrible an idea is reviving Paul Simon's 1998 flop The ... - Reddit
  69. PAUL SIMON INTERVIEWED (2000) The Attraction of Opposites
  70. [PDF] Latino Characters on Broadway - SDSU Digital Collections
  71. Paul Simon and the 'Complicated' Legacy of 'The Capeman' Musical
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