My familiarity with Rogers and Hart pretty much ends with Rodgers and Hammerstein, though I have heard "Lady is a Tramp" too many times to count, so I wasn't really sure what I was getting myself into when I saw a concert performance of this musical this weekend. It's a very cute re-setting of The Comedy of Errors plot with a few modern twists.
I would guess that it was set in the 1940s, given the jazzy tone, and apparently the swinging forties were even more swinging than I thought!
First there's the fleshed out character of Luce - the kitchen wench married to Dromio of Ephesus - who, in Shakespeare's play, is "all grease" and as big as the globe (one of my favorite comic passages in the canon compares her body parts to different parts of the continents). In this musical, Luce is a slim vivacious and hungry (no, not for food) young woman who is completely dissatisfied with her husband's, er, lack of effort as a, erm, husband. [blush!]
Next, the action of the play cuts off for intermission about an hour in with Adriana having unknowingly locked the door on her real husband while taking the stranger, Antipholus of Syracuse, to bed (Luce doing the same with Dromio). Enraged and jealous, Antipholus of Ephesus seeks out the, um, ministrations of the local Courtesan.
First there's the fleshed out character of Luce - the kitchen wench married to Dromio of Ephesus - who, in Shakespeare's play, is "all grease" and as big as the globe (one of my favorite comic passages in the canon compares her body parts to different parts of the continents). In this musical, Luce is a slim vivacious and hungry (no, not for food) young woman who is completely dissatisfied with her husband's, er, lack of effort as a, erm, husband. [blush!]
Next, the action of the play cuts off for intermission about an hour in with Adriana having unknowingly locked the door on her real husband while taking the stranger, Antipholus of Syracuse, to bed (Luce doing the same with Dromio). Enraged and jealous, Antipholus of Ephesus seeks out the, um, ministrations of the local Courtesan.
I don't know what it was, but I was more than a little disturbed by how no one seemed to notice or care that Antipholus definitely slept with the Courtesan, while Adriana didn't sleep with AofS (he claimed a headache); nor did it bother a soul that Luce is now being unsatisfied by both Dromio brothers. Ick.
Sex aside, the show really is very cute, especially between Antipholus of Syracuse and Luciana, who fall in love at first sight. Their song then, "This Can't be Love," is a catchy simple little tune, and I left still humming it. Well, ok, it's also the reprise at the end of the show. And in the middle. There were a LOT of reprises, and for a 2 hour show (including an intermission!), that's a lot of repetition.
The story also follows the Shakespearean plot pretty closely, even with the Duke soliciting the town for any help for the Antipholii's father, Aegon, with Shakespeare's own text (thanks for that unnecessary reminder, Dromio). The reveals at the end are rapid-fire... Here are the other twins, you're brothers, I gave you money, no I have your money, no I have your padlock, I'm your father, I'm your mother, no I didn't sleep with your wife, let's ignore where I slept, HURRAY REPRISE IT'S OVERRRRR!
Overall, I probably wouldn't buy the soundtrack or see it again, but it was nice to have seen a musical adaptation of one of the lesser-knowns.
0 ladies doth protest too much:
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