Review of Delaware Theatre Company's Picasso at the Lapin Agile

First published in Edge Philadelphia, 12-15-2008:

Whether done at a community theatre, college, or professional stage, Steve Martin’s Picasso at the Lapin Agile stands as the one play that I will almost always advise people to see. Particularly if they’ve never before caught a production.

Set in a Parisian café in 1904, the play imagines a chance meeting between Pablo Picasso (Caesar Samayoa) and Albert Einstein (Matt Pfeiffer) before both of them became internationally famous in their respective fields. In conversation that ranges over art and science and what separates or unifies the two, their giant egos collide; the bar’s patrons chime in with discussions on the value of art, the nature of sex and the battle of the sexes, with the entire evening filtered through and enlivened by Martin’s unmatchable wit. (Yes, it’s that Steve Martin.)

As I said, I’d almost always recommend this play. I’ve even enjoyed staged readings, where nine actors in chairs read from the script and found all the laughter that bubbles forth from the wellspring of Martin’s wide-ranging comedic gifts. However, at Delaware Theatre Company (DTC), director David Stradley’s addition to and re-framing of the script proves that there’s not a script that’s safe from a director who thinks he can improve it.

Rather than feel charming and light and offer a sense of poignant grandeur-seriously, imagine a meeting between Einstein and Picasso-this production simply felt weird, as if Stradley wanted DTC’s audience to view an evening at a Parisian bar through the same kaleidoscopic refractions that Picasso made visible in his paintings. From the bizarre-and wholly unnecessary-opening that introduces all the characters like they’re arriving to perform in a pageant, to the strange interludes of dance and song that punctuated (or rather "punctured") the script, I started to wonder what’s next, having the Visitor (Danny Bernardy) arrive in the manner of an alien abduction?

I can’t blame choreographer Samantha Bellomo for her contributions, and I liked Eric Schaeffer’s scenic design of three inter-set painting frames. Both did what Stradley asked. But why he asked for a longish dance interlude to dilute the charm of Martin’s play baffles, especially since Martin’s self-referential lines already frame the play in a light, witty fashion.

When Einstein arrives, the bartender interrupts him to say "wait, you can’t be Einstein, you arrived third." To prove his point, he runs into the audience, snatches one a patron’s program and then says "see, you’re supposed to come on fourth." Later, one of Picasso’s lovers asks when he’ll return to his apartment. His reply: "When the play’s over." But Stradley ignores this straightforward device in favor of leaving his own mark on the play. Next up, his director’s edit of "The Jerk."

Due largely to individual efforts, much of the humor of Martin’s play shined through. John Morrison (as bar regular Gaston) lurched across the stage in his incredibly humorous portrayal of an aging Frenchman, and Aaron Cromie’s physical dexterity (as the art dealer Sagot) enlivened his every appearance. As the bar owner Freddy and his bickering wife Germaine, both Jeb Kreager and Lee Ann Etzold delivered deadpan humor that set an undercurrent for the more vibrant explosions of comedy (though I’ve seen Etzold deliver far more laughs with her deadpan in "The Happiness Lecture," where she positively shone, but the staging-having her walk toward the back of the bar while speaking-doesn’t help her here).

Pfeiffer and Samayoa both create fascinating versions of their characters that never degrade into caricature, and Pfeiffer especially (and almost by himself) manages to capture the moments of poignancy woven into Martin’s script. Bernardy’s "Visitor" smartly gave everyone in the audience a reason to smirk, and Nathan Holt garners ten-minutes of laughs as Schmendiman, the born-to-fail inventor of an asbestos product (even without the requisite intensity that should have sent him zooming in and out of the bar).

However, when Karen Peakes provides the most charming bit of the play in a one-minute, single-gag appearance, her brief moment reflects the inability of Stradley to capture the essence of Martin’s comedy. DTC’s production gets laughs; but never inspires a a sense of wonder. Stradley fails to gild the entire evening with a sense of joyous magic and, in the process, strains the credulity of Martin’s inventive meeting of the two minds that shaped the 20th Century. Martin basically gift-wraps this comedy for any production. Sometimes the best approach for a director is to take it with hat in hand.

Delaware Theatre Company, 200 Water St. Wilmington, DE, presents Steve Martin’s Picasso at the Lapin Agile until Dec. 21. Tickets and information available at http://www.delawaretheatre.org/

Review of "The Taming of the Shrew" at the Pennsylvania Shakespeare Festival, published by EDGE Philadelphia

In academic circles, the heated debates about Shakespeare’s Taming of the Shrew focus solely on the misogynistic plot, completely ignoring the humor of the play. In their current production of the same, the Pennsylvania Shakespeare Festival takes the opposite tact-inserting humor at every possible opportunity, in a staging that occasionally comes at the expense of the play itself.

Shrew opens upon the young noble Lucentio (a smooth and mellow Zach Robidas) and his servant Tranio (Matt Pfeiffer) overhearing the laments of an awkward pair of suitors, Gremio (Wayne Turney) and Hortensio (Aaron Galligan-Stierle). Both fawn over the delicate and beautiful Bianca (Rachel Joffred), while railing against her father’s decision to withhold her hand until he can marry off his elder daughter Katherine (Grace Gonglewski). However, Kate’s foul tongue and temper make this a seemingly impossible task-her reputation and violent behavior scaring off all possible suitors in town.

Enter Petruchio (Greg Wood), an ambitious and equally abusive traveler seeking his fortune, willing to square off against Kate to secure her immense dowry. Petruchio plots to confound her every action with the opposite of her intent, and in the spirit of "perfect love," break down her stubborn contentiousness in order to make her into the perfectly submissive wife, even pausing to ask the audience if they can offer him a better way to tame a shrew.

Petruchio’s intent, and that he achieves it - Kate’s closing speech is an unmatched example of the victim’s compliance - is what enrages everyone, though to be fair, Shakespeare attempts to show in Bianca how an initial, yet manipulative docility, will lead later to a husband ruled by his mistress. Yet no one watching PSF’s production has the time to feel anger, let alone think about what’s being said, as they’re too busy laughing at the hilarious comedy crafted here by director Russell Treyz.

Drawing on every conceivable source - from Monty Python toSaturday morning cartoons - Treyz’s production capitalizes on every opportunity for humor. Wood’s initial entrance takes a self-referential poke at his age (in his mid-40’s, his character must nonetheless introduce himself as a "young man seeking his fortune"), and Gonglewski childishly torments with wet willies, Indian burns, and even titty-twisters. (I wonder if Treyz had Gonglewski do this to see just how many critics would write the word "titty-twister" into their reviews.)

But the bulk of the humor belongs to the superb ensemble, led here by Turney’s Gremio, and Chris Faith and Andy Wertner as the dimwitted servants Grumio and Biondello. If the servants can’t take Petruchio’s malice seriously, than neither can we, and the result is one long stretch of mirth and laughter, as even Wood and Gonglewski had to hide their amusement during Faith’s standout performance.

Unfortunately, the physical gags and comic inserts often hindered the dialogue, lessening the comprehension of Shakespeare’s lines, entertaining the audience while making them struggle to stay with the story. And with the cast assembled here, the dialogue and expressions deserved full attention.

From his first entrance, Wood strutted about the stage like a cat waiting to pounce-both relaxed and full of tension-and declaimed Shakespeare’s lines with the ease of a native Elizabethan. Likewise, both he and Gonglewski ignited the stage as the warring pair of lovers-she as the ferocious flame that threatened to consume the cast, and he as the explosive and pugnacious bully who set forth to extinguish her. Later, her Kate became a true delight, as the talented Gonglewski conveyed the whole of her character’s evolution from Shrew to submissive with just the lift of her eyes and the turn of her smile, melting both Petruchio and audience alike.

Besides making this one of the funniest and well-acted productions of Shrew I’ve witnessed (three so far just this year), Treyz attempts nothing new or different here. Or rather, he attempts an opening where the half-costumed cast mulls about the stage, some talking on cell phones, others listening to a radio, and where Alan Coates (brilliant and thoroughly underused in his minor part as Vincentio) interrupts this activity to welcome the audience to the "final dress rehearsal." An interesting approach, but unfortunately, Treyz does nothing else with it, neither integrating the notion of a dress rehearsal into the piece, or coming back around to this idea at the play’s end (Shakespeare already presents numerous opportunities to speak to the audience or break away from realism). All his device did was tack fifteen more minutes onto a play stuffed with the use of extras (as servants), added jokes, and Benny Hill inspired chases back and forth across the stage.

Beyond this attempt, Treyz presented an invigorating and funny, though fairly straightforward production of this play. However, given the truly magnificent cast, and the fact that most interpretations of Shakespeare range from mediocre to contemptuous, I’ll take the superb playing over bad innovations any day of the week, and highly recommend this production for the quality of the performances alone.