The Comedy of Tenors at Paper Mill Playhouse through Feb. 26, 2017

John Treacy Egan and Judy Blazer (photo credit: Jerry Dalia)

It’s easy to see what has gone slightly awry with this production at the Paper Mill Playhouse of Ken Ludwig’s farce A Comedy of Tenors, but it can be fixed. Why it isn’t as consistently hilarious as it was in its world premiere at Princeton’s McCarter Theatre almost two years ago can, I suspect, be traced to a general performance level way that is, at the present time, way over the top and with direction and staging that too often exceeds the boundaries of truly effective farce.

Without drawing too many comparisons between the two productions, I was initially encouraged to see that Don Stephenson has reunited members of the cast he directed in Lend Me a Tenor at the Paper Mill Playhouse in 2013 for this eagerly anticipated sequel.  They are a splendid ensemble and just need more time to inhabit rather than invade their roles

The good news is that there is plenty of time to consider what works and what doesn’t before any move to Broadway is considered. As it is, there is plenty of fun to be had for audiences who are both new to the play and for those who remember and love Lend Me a Tenor. However, you only had to listen to the appreciable difference in audience response to the terrific Act II in contrast to the more tepid reactions to many of the antics that simply seem unnecessarily forced in Act I.

As for the play, for those who may need a fast refresher course on characters who have been refreshingly re-observed, here goes:  A trio of temperamental tenors (are there any other kind?) one wife, one lover and a few significant others have been recruited to create havoc, make love to the wrong person, slam the usual number of doors, leap head first off a balcony, hide, dress and undress in corresponding bedrooms and one pretending to be who he is not.

It's an absurdist situation involving a look-a-like hotel porter who amazingly sings, a talking pickled tongue (don't ask) and a nervous producer who can't keep the approaching preparations from spiraling out of control and into complete chaos. As it should, the play with it many stunts and silly shtick galore moves along at breakneck speed. But it is Ludwig's gleeful almost giddy text that will keep you laughing, sometimes even hoping for a breather.

A Comedy of Tenors takes place in 1936 two years after the events that take place in Lend Me a Tenor and mostly concerns the frustrations that beset the world-class tenor Tito Merelli (John Treacy Egan) as he arrives in Paris, accompanied (once again) by his tempestuous wife Maria (Judy Blazer) to sing at a gala concert. The gimmick is that he is contracted to sing with two other tenors Max (David Josefsberg) and Carlo (newcomer Ryan Silverman) for what has been promoted by their high-anxiety producer Saunders (Michael Kostroff) as "the biggest concert in the history of Paris."

All the action takes place in a luxurious suite in a swanky Paris hotel (handsomely designed by Michael Schweikardt) in which a little hanky-panky is already in progress. Unknown to Tito is the affair that is going on between his beguiling daughter Mimi (Jill Paice) and Carlo of whom Tito not only disapproves but who he mistakenly believes is having an affair with his wife. Add the singing hotel porter (also played by Egan who, except for his beard,  is the spitting image of Tito) and a sexy Russian soprano (Donna English) — who, unbeknownst to Maria, once had had a torrid affair with Tito. I should mention that Max, who was Saunder's assistant in Lend Me a Tenor and his now his son-in-law, is anxious to get through the concert before his wife (unseen) goes into labor

The shenanigans unfold in close to real time with the concert scheduled to begin in two hours. It remains for Saunders to keep his temper-prone tenors from killing each other before they actually get to sing. If some of the outrageous behavior that is guided by director Stephenson needs reigning in, the ensemble has been otherwise been corralled to work seamlessly as a team and individually as shameless scene-stealers. There are opportunities for designer Mariah Hale’s period-perfect costumes to steal a scene or two.

If A Comedy of Tenors too often mistakes frantic for funny, it also joyously  carries on the age-old tradition of farce that inspired and sometimes even confounded many playwrights from Plautus to Moliere to George S. Kaufman.

            

Paper Mill Playhouse, 22 Brookside Drive, Millburn, N.J. 973 - 376 - 4343 Tickets: $32.00 - $123.00

Performances: Wednesday at 7:30pm, Thursday at 1:30pm and 7:30pm, Friday at 8:00pm, Saturday at 1:30pm and 8:00pm and Sunday at 1:30pm and 7:00pm.

From 02/01/17 Opened 02/05/17 Ends 02/26/17

 

"Yen" at the Lucille Lortel Theatre through February 19.

Stefania LaVie Owen and Lucas Hedges
Photo by Joan Marcus

Left to fend for themselves in a squalid suburban London housing project by their  diabetic, drugs and alcohol-addicted mother, two teenage half brothers spend their days watching sadistic porno and playing violent video games on the TV. Hench (Lucas Hedges) and Bobbie (Justice Smith) have in their care a dog named Taliban (unseen) that, shall we say gets no care and remains locked in a room. They evidently do know how to care for their mother Maggie (Ari Graynor) when she pops in sporadically to steal something in the apartment to sell. She apparently lives elsewhere with the current boyfriend.

At the beginning of London-based playwright Anna Jordan’s depressing but grimly grounded play, she arrives in time to have a hissy fit over something or everything and go into a seizure-induced coma. One can suspect there is some affection that exists and is exhibited in rare moments between the boys and their mother. But their volatile relationship is typically expressed through their vulgar vernacular and aggressively rough and tumble behavior.

A mostly sullen Hench has his hands full controlling the hyperactive Bobbie. It seems that Bobbie is afflicted with a number of overlapping behavioral and emotional disorders too numerous to enumerate, except that they are likely to be the cause of the psoriasis that is visible when he removes the single T-shirt that is shared by them. An unexpected visit by an extraordinarily sweet and generous teenage girl Jennifer (Stefania LaVie Owen) who wants to help them care for the dog adds a touch of complexity to this uncompromisingly dour drama. Not unexpectedly is Jennifer, who calls herself Yen, physically attracted to Hench.What next?

All the actors, under the direction of Trip Cullman, are terrific. If the talented good-looking Hedges, who has received laudatory reviews as the troubled son in the acclaimed film “Manchester by the Sea” appears to be all skin and bones, he, nevertheless, brings a meaty dimension to his role. He perfectly channels and embodies Hench’s despairing reality. An impressive Smith flings himself into rages and rampages that leave both him and us shattered. There is nothing like going ballistic and/or berserk for a good actor and Graynor nails it. As Jennifer, Ms. Owen, brings a breath of freshness into a play that is purposely steeped in a rancid reality. Mark Wendland’s setting and Ben Stanton’s lighting expertly addresses a sad world without prospects or wonder.