Picasso at the Lapin Agile: The Future Is Relative

"Picasso at the Lapin Agile"

Written by Steve Martin; directed by Daniel Gidron; scenic design by Cristina Todesco; costume design by Frances Nelson McSherry; lighting design by John R. Malinowski; sound design by Dewey Delay; wig and make-up design by Michael A. Kind; properties design by GeorGina Kayes; stage manager, Jennifer Braun

Cast in order of appearance:

Freddy, Owen Doyle; Gaston, Paul D. Farwell; Germaine, Marianna Bassham; Albert Einstein, Neil A. Casey; Suzanne, The Countess, A Female Admirer, Stacy Fischer; Sagot, Scott H. Severance; Pablo Picasso, Scott Sweatt; Charles Dabernow Schmendiman, Dennis Trainor; A Visitor, Christopher James Webb

Performances: Now through May 10, New Repertory Theatre, Arsenal Center for the Arts, Mosesian Theater, 321 Arsenal Street, Watertown, Mass.

Tickets: Box Office at 617-923-8487 or www.newrep.org

In Picasso at the Lapin Agile, talented actor, comedian, writer, and SNL alum Steve Martin has fashioned a mercurial, heady and intelligent comedy that weaves its way in and out of time as agilely as the rabbit in its title might bound across the beautiful French countryside. Supposing what it might be like if visionary young geniuses Pablo Picasso and Albert Einstein were to meet in a bohemian Parisian café at the turn of the 20th century, Martin engages his characters in a sharp philosophical debate that ultimately leads the artistic and scientific adversaries to discover surprising common ground.

New Rep's beautifully designed and perfectly acted production captures all the flair and flavor of Martin's piquant script, serving up 75 uninterrupted minutes of smart and sassy humor. But in addition to Martin's patented quick-witted joke-making, Lapin Agile possesses an almost cosmic aesthetic that celebrates through clever analysis and droll wordplay the life-altering impact that both Einstein and Picasso had on modern civilization.

We meet both men in their mid-twenties, each on the brink of greatness but not yet fully appreciated for their revolutionary ideas. Einstein (the pixie-ish Neil A. Casey) is still an obscure nerdy physicist who has just written what will prove to be his seminal work, The Theory of Relativity. Somewhat lacking in smooth social graces, he nevertheless has a gift for astute observation and pointed repartee. Picasso (a brooding Scott Sweatt) is a temperamental artiste whose reputation for sexual dalliances is almost as noteworthy as his inspired paintings. Just emerging from his Blue Period, he has begun experimenting in an unconventional art form that will come to be known as cubism. Over the course of the evening many drinks are shared, and Einstein, Picasso, the café proprietors and assorted free-thinking guests passionately discuss life, love, sex, and the universe from their own distinctly colorful perspectives.

Freddy (Owen Doyle), a sweet but slightly irritated man who at first blush seems a bit dim, quietly interjects the occasional deadpan comment that hilariously proves there's more to him than his bartender's apron. Germaine (Marianna Baasham), Freddy's saucy barmaid and lover, is a straight-talking sexually liberated cynic on the one hand and a hopeful, incurable romantic on the other. Gaston (Paul D. Farwell), an adorable aging bon vivant, has a bladder that's weak but a mind that delights in heated discussion. Sagot (Scott H. Severance) is a blend of pompous, pragmatic art dealer and jovial connoisseur, while Charles Dabernow Schmendiman (Dennis Trainor) is an exuberant, self-aggrandizing, overblown cartoon whose love for himself is matched only by the length of his flowing silk scarf. Stacy Fischer romps first as Picasso's jilted lover Suzanne, then as Einstein's geeky date The Countess, and finally as a Female Admirer whose affection for a man unworthy of his esteemed position is decidedly misplaced. All blend a natural comic ease with period café society style to render both the earthy and refined elements of Martin's script with panache.

The merging of Einstein's theories of time and space with Picasso's expressionist art is also cleverly handled through the appearance of an iconic time-traveling Visitor (Christopher James Webb) whose notoriety and down-home charm suggest that genius and historical importance come in surprising packages. When he magically transforms a mundane - and much maligned - painting which hangs behind the bar into one of Picasso's most famous and influential works of art, he drives home Einstein's most notable theory: all perception is relative.

Director Daniel Gidron and his New Rep cast and crew have skillfully wrought both the comedy and humanity out of Martin's anachronistic celebration of the future. Blending art and science in a giddy fourth-wall breaking delight, Lapin Agile is both funny and thought-provoking. It all depends on how you look at it.

PHOTOS by Andrew Brilliant: Neil A. Casey, Scott Sweatt and Marianna Baasham; Stacy Fischer and Paul D. Farwell; Stacy Fischer, Neil A. Casey, Marianna Baasham, Scott H. Severance, and Owen Doyle

 

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