I'm going to stop apologizing for occasionally writing about plays. Plays have every right to claim the attention of the theater-going public, I just don't happen to be interested in seeing very many of them. But there are some plays that have an almost musical quality to them: The Lion in Winter, for example, or Angels in America. The heightened emotion and aria-like passages in these plays make them seem as though the characters, at times, are singing.
The same can be said about the plays of Noel Coward, which brings me to the point of today's post, my take on the current production at Boston's Huntington Theater, Coward's Present Laughter. Director Nicholas Martin has amassed an impressive cast of Broadway-caliber talent for this very sharp and funny production.
The show takes place entirely in the living room of English actor Gary Essendine. You know you're in the provinces when the set gets applause. (Please, Boston, we're better than that.) The set was admittedly stunning, an art deco extravagance suitable to Essendine's ego and countenance.
The wonderful Victor Garber plays Essendine in this production and he does a bang-up job. I had the great pleasure of seeing Frank Langella in this part in the most recent Broadway revival. Garber is a formidable performer, and he can almost hold a candle to Langella. Almost. But comparisons are odious, and Garber masterfully embodies the role with the requisite bluster and histrionics.
The rest of the cast is a bit of a mixed bag. Martin seems to have directed everyone to be overly mannered and larger than life, which is very drawing-room-comedy, but it distracts from the one character who needs to be, Gary Essendine.
A notable exception is Brooks Ashmanskas as the starstruck (lovestruck?) Roland Maule. A surprise Tony nominee this year for Martin Short: Fame Becomes Me, Ashmanskas at first seemed a bit much: lots of not-so-subtle mugging and physical comedy. But by act 2, he had won the audience's collective heart, mine included. Plus, he became the source of one of the most extended and hearty laughs I've ever witnessed and enjoyed in the theater.
So, overall a strong production of a very funny play. The show runs until June 17th. Catch it if you can.
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