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Writing for Us
A CurtainUp Review
Enchanted April
By Elyse Sommer
|
One prepares, is good, and is rewarded. I didn't know how quickly things change. That one must keep an eye on what one is preparing for, in case it no longer even exists. --- Lotty |
Like the novel and the film, the play with its facile message and predictable happy ending is easy to write off as a woman's story. However, Ms. Van Arnim, besides focusing on the confusion of two women with one foot in the old kirche-küsche-kinder society (church, kitchen, children) also managed to dip a toe into the broader unsettled feelings engendered by World War I. It is the idea of an uplifting experience to erase the sadness and confusion in the wake of wars and major social changes that perhaps best explains the story's enduring appeal.
Though Enchanted April: the play, precludes the panoramic Italian vistas of the 1991 Miramax film, it is soaked in enough atmosphere to convey the restorative effect of a sun-soaked Italian holiday on the lives of four Englishwomen -- not to mention the two husbands involved and the villa's owner. The production's chief pleasures, however, derive from the terrific performances of the ensemble, headed by Jayne Atkinson and Molly Ringwald as Lotty Wilton and Rose Arnott, the two London housewives desperately in need of a little enchantment to offset their joyless daily lives with husbands who have proved disappointing though for different reasons. Mellersh Wilton (Michael Cumpsty) is Lotty's pompous and bossy solicitor spouse. Frederick Arnott (Daniel Gerroll) has abandoned poetry to write historical romances under the pseudonym Florian Ayers, a career change which the pious Rose would hate even more than she already does if she realized that it has abetted his roving eye.
We don't get to the Tuscany castle pictured on the scrim curtain until the second act. The leisurely paced, London-based first act gets off to an amusing start with a soliloquy by Lotty which explains why she was drawn to the London Times "advert" for the rental of seacost villa for the month of April. A more seasoned playwright would have trimmed the rest of this act since it's mainly a set-up for Lotty and Rose, who belong to the same church and women's club but have never spoken, to become acquainted, follow up on the ad and enlist two co-renters to share expenses: Lady Caroline (Dagmara Dominczyk), the aloof flapper who, like Rose, harbors a tragic secret); and Mrs. Graves (Elizabeth Ashley), an autocratic older woman with a manner that seems immune to warming.
Since it is Lotty and Rose who instigate the life-changing holiday, Atkinson and Ringwald can be viewed as the leading characters. Indeed Atkinson's optimistic flightiness and Ringwald's mixture of prim restraint and submerged sunnier soul make for a delicious point-counterpoint pairing. When they meet Antony Wilding (Michael Hayden), their future landlord and he offers them tea -- "a choice of plain English black, for the more daring, a Moroccan blend called Indiscreet" -- you know Rose is going to stick to the plain English Black and Lotty's going to go for the "more daring" blend. These expert performances, as well as the excellent support from the rest of the cast, not the shift from wet and rainy London to sunny Italy, that provide the enchantment promised by the title.
Elizabeth Ashley is delightfully imperious as the dowager who refuses to let life intrude on the past she prefers -- though Barber rather overdoes the shtik about her walking stick which ultimately serves as a conclusion to an introductory anecdote about a wooden stick taking root. Dagmara Dominczyk invests the hard-drinking, jaded young aristocrat with a nice ethereal quality. Daniel Gerroll and Michael Cumpsty, whose arrival at the women's idyll makes the comedy veer towards farce, manage to convince us, as well as Rose and Lotty, that they are husbands worth keeping. Cumpsty, especially, has a grand old time in a scene that has him desperately trying to avoid first full frontal and then rear nudity.
Michael Hayden is charming as the landlord and, of course, no country house comedy would be complete without a maid whose every entrance threatens to steal the show. Patricia Conolly's constantly present pidgin English spouting Constanza is no exception.
Everyone portrays a traditional stereotype, as the play itself epitomizes the ladies' matinee theatrical entertainment of a by-gone era. As directed by Michael Wilson, it all has the feel of sunshine and wisteria with just enough evidence of the underlying tensions that prompted these Londoners to seek the warmth not just of sun, but of loving and being loved. Jess Goldstein's costumes abet their transition from darkness to light, restrained to unrestrained feelings.
The secrets of Rose and Frederick's marital woes and Lady Caroline's I want-to-be-alone pose, the obvious longing of everyone to feel more in touch with the world and each other are all gossamer transparent. It won't generate deep thoughts to keep you awake -- but the good acting and "comfort food" story will keep you engaged throughout the two hours plus that it takes for the enchantment of Italy to make friendships and love blossom.
| Enchanted April
Written by Matthew Barber, from Elizabeth von Arnim ' s 1922 novel Directed by Michael Wilson Cast: Jayne Atkinson (Lotty Wilton), Molly Ringwald (Rose Arnott), Michael Cumpsty (Mellersh Wilton), Daniel Gerroll (Frederick Arnott), Dagmara Dominczyk (Lady Caroline Bramble), Elizabeth Ashley (Mrs. Graves), Michael Hayden (Antony Wilding), Patricia Conolly (Costanza) and John Feltch (Servant).. Set Design: Tony Straiges Costume Design: Jess Goldstein Lighting Design: Rui Rita Original Music and Sound : John Gromada Hair and Wig Design: Paul Huntley Running time: 2 hours and 20 minutes, including one intermission Ambassador Theatre, 111 W 44th St. (6th Ave/Broadway) 212 239-6200. From 4/04/03; opening 4/29/03--Last Performance 8/29/03. Tues - Sat @8PM, Wed & Sat @2PM, Sun @ 3PM-- $80.00, $60.00, $45.00 Reviewed by Elyse Sommer based on April 26 press performance |
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