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A CurtainUp New Jersey Review
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You were born a grand Duchess. That gave you a bad start in life. — Prince Mikail Alexandrovitch Ouratieff (to the Grand Duchess Tatiana Petrovna)
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Carly Street and Jon Barker(Photo: Gerry Goodstein)
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Tovarich, or "comrade" to us as translated from the Russian, has opened at the Shakespeare Theatre of New Jersey directly following the rarely produced Fallen Angels. by Noel Coward, and it is also a wonderfully entertaining show. This makes for a double whammy of beautifully acted and directed underappreciated, minor classics that have made attendance this season obligatory.
Destined to be the winner of four Pulitzer Prizes (three for drama — Idiot's Delight 1936; Abe Lincoln in Illinois 1938; There Shall Be No Night 1940) Sherwood was lauded for his flair for integrating high and low comedy into themes that stressed the socio-politicized, probably polarizing, issues of the day.
It is easy to see how this French play with aspects of Capitalism/Communism piqued his interest. The more serious issues, and they are addressed in the latter part of the play, do, however, take a back seat to the front-loaded frivolity: the willfully wacky plans for survival undertaken by a resilient and feisty Russian Grand Duchess and her equally proud and utterly devoted husband, an exiled Prince. Living in poverty-like refuge in Paris in 1925 ever since the Russian revolution these attractive, amorous "White Russians" are determined to be resourceful. She is quite adept at shoplifting food, notably artichokes, and he is, mainly amorous.
And it is in their determination to hide their identity that the plot is allowed to spin in an orbit of good humor. In the hope that they have found a perfect way to evade both the Russian politicos and the French government that keep them under constant surveillance and believe them to be in control of a huge sum of money, Mikail (John Barker) and Tatiana (Carly Street) apply for and get positions with a wealthy family as a butler and a lady's maid.
"We were born to suffer," may be their tongue-in-cheek motto, but Mikail and Tatiana have no idea what is in store for them as soon-to-be-devoted employees of French banker Charles Dupont (Matt Sullivan) and his wife Fernande (Alison Weller). Along with their incorrigibly spoiled adult children George (Seamus Mulcahy) and Helene (Rachael Fox), the Duponts become increasingly charmed as often as they are stunned by the unorthodox behavior and well-bred manners of their also astonishingly sophisticated employees. Did you ever hear of the Russian "kiss of reconciliation?" Far be it from me to spoil that surprise.
As the inevitable is bound to happen, it happens in an atmosphere of delightfully droll decorum, mainly charged by Mikail and Tatiana's constantly recycled airs of noblesse oblige. This leaves us almost unprepared for the more serious content of the denouement. In it, the disposed royals, reluctant to admit the end of an era but willing to start life afresh, are put in a politically and ethically compromising situation by the imposing and heartless Bolshevik Commissar Gorotchenki (Anthony Cochrane).
Barker is terrific and displays a dashing Errol Flynn-like derring-do especially when he takes a flying leap toward the bed where his wife is reclining, but less so when he has pretends to his employer that he has arthritis because the sword he has hidden in his pant leg keeps him from bending. Street is making an auspicious debut at STNJ as Tatiana whose delight in passionate excess is most comically exercised in toying with love-sick young George, played with disarming gullibility by Mulcahy. One of the play's funniest scenes finds George, who fancies himself a swordsman, trying to out-duel the more skilled Prince.
Sullivan, as the stuffy Mr. Dupont, has fashioned an endearing character cut from the befuddled John Cleese cloth with Weller, as Mrs. Dupont sustaining a marvelously unnerved look by all the goings-on. There is, in fact, a lot of mirthful madness that goes on in the Dupont's handsome drawing room. But set designer Brittany Vasta has devised a remarkable way for her set to revolve from a shabby hotel room into the drawing room and then into the Dupont's kitchen. Director Monte has directed this effervescent comedy with an eye ready to nail every amusingly fabricated nuance Sherwood put into his intelligently inane comedy. Paul Canada's fancifully fabricated costumes offer additional eye appeal.
Some of you old-movie buffs may have caught the 1937 film version with Claudette Colbert and Charles Boyer (that somehow has eluded me) that is shown on occasion on TCM, but from what I have heard is a far cry in tone and spirit from the play, as was also the musical version (also regrettably missed) of 1963 that starred Vivian Leigh (wining the Best Actress in a Musical Award) and Jean Pierre Aumont. You are therefore hereby ordered by royal decree to see this Tovarich.
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Tovarich By Jacques Deval Adapted by Robert E. Sherwood Directed by Bonnie J. Monte Cast: Jon Barker (Prince Mikail Alexandrovitch Ouratieff), Carly Street (Grand Duchess Tatiana Petrovna), Blythe Coons (Olga, Madame Chauffourier-Dubieff), Colin McPhillamy (Chauffourier-Dubieff), John Greenbaum (Count Feodor Brekenski), Einar Gunn (Marteleau), Alison Weller (Fernande Dupont), Matt Sullivan (Charles Dupont), Christy Richardson (Louise), Seamus Mulcahy (Georges), Rachael Fox (Helene), Einar Gunn (Concierge), Mary Dierson (Madame Van Hemert), Anthony Cochrane (Commissar Gorotchenko). Scenic Designer: Brittany Vasta Costume Designer: Paul Canada Lighting Designer: Steven Rosen Sound Designer: Karin Graybash Fight Director: Rick Sordelet Running Time: 2 hours 30 minutes including intermission The Shakespeare Theatre of New Jersey in the F.M. Kirby Shakespeare Theatre, located on the campus of Drew University, 36 Madison Avenue, Madison, NJ. (973) 408 - 5600 Tickets: $35.00 - $70.00; student rush $15.00 30 minutes before curtain. Performances: Tuesdays, Wednesdays, Sundays at 7:30 pm; Thursday, Friday, Saturdays at 8 pm; Saturday and Sundays at 2 pm. From 08/07/13 Opened 08/10/13 Ends 08/25/13 Review by Simon Saltzman based on performance 08/10/13 |
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