Reviewed by Tony Annicone
Renaissance City Theatre, the producing entity of the Granite Theatre’s current show is “A Comedy of Tenors” by Ken Ludwig. The characters that he has in this one are a trio of temperamental tenors, one wife, one lover and a few significant others have been assembled to cause mayhem. This show takes place two years after the events in “Lend Me a Tenor.” The events in this show concern the frustrations that beset world class tenor, Tito Merelli as he arrives in Paris once again with his tempestuous wife, Maria to sing at a gala concert. He is contracted to sing with two other tenors, Max and Carlo for what has been billed as the biggest concert in the history of Paris by high-anxiety producer, Saunders. Unknown to Tito is that his daughter, Mimi is having an affair with Carlo of whom Tito not only disapproves but mistakenly believes is having an affair with Maria. Add a singing hotel porter, Beppo who is the spitting image of Tito and a sexy Russian soprano, who unbeknownst to Maria, once had a torrid affair with Tito. Max who was Saunders assistant is now his son-in-law who is waiting for his wife to give birth to their baby. Director Lee Rush guides her talented cast to steal many scenes along the way in this naughty and bawdy farce.
Lee gives some clever shtick to her cast with face slapping, slamming doors, mistaken identities, double entendres, head hitting and pratfalls to name a few. She blocks the madcap farce beautifully while obtaining strong performances from her cast.The gorgeous Art Deco hotel room set is by David Jepson while the lovely costumes are by Paula Brouilette and Beth Jepson. Keith Eugene Brayne commands the stage as Tito. He runs roughshod over Saunders and Max while delivering a well nuanced performance. He demonstrates his strong comic acting prowess in this role. Keith delivers his enormous amount of dialogue splendidly and is like a whirling dervish on the stage. There is also a scene with a talking tongue that is laugh out loud. Pretty red head Veronica Strickland also shines as his hot tempered wife, Maria. Their bickering as this long married couple with hilarious Italian accents wins many laughs. They threaten divorce to each other and then the making up after the argument win the day and more laughs. Maria gives him a back rub to calm him down, announces its her birthday and tries to cover up for her daughter, Mimi’s indiscretion with a terrible misunderstanding taking place. Veronica is wonderful in this role.
Beautiful and statuesque, Lydia Fascia plays the Russian soprano,Tatiana Racon who is still interested in Tito in a sexual manner. Tatiana tries to win him back. Does she succeed in her task and does she finally have sex with him? Danielle Conti and Nicholas Lombardo as Mimi and Carlo also have a lot of physical comedy and arguing to do. There is a face slapping scene that has to be seen to be believed. Tom Steenburg as Max shines as he tries to do Saunders bidding and keep an eye on making things go smoothly. Fergus Milton as Saunders is sarcastic and ready to blow his top constantly as he and the others are caught in many ridiculous situations. The curtain call is as wild as it was in “Lend Me a Tenor” which gives the audience nonstop laughter in this brand new comic gem of a play. Lee had to block five pages for this recap sequence that is hilarious. So for a fun filled farce, full of sexual escapades and hilarity, be sure to catch “A Comedy of Tenors” in Westerly.
A COMEDY OF TENORS (29 June to 22 July)
Renaissance City Theatre, Granite Theatre, 1 Granite Street, Westerly, RI
1(401)596-2341 or www.granitetheatre.com
