Review: A COMEDY OF TENORS Sings at Carpenter Square Theatre

There's a lot to be said for escapism, especially right now. Sometimes we just want theatre that lets us sit in the dark and laugh for a bit. Carpenter Square Theatre's A Comedy of Tenors offers just that.

The show is one of many farcical comedies by prolific playwright Ken Ludwig, who has been writing plays since the 1980s. In fact, his first Broadway play, Lend Me A Tenor, is the prequel to A Comedy of Tenors and features many of the same characters. Both take place in a hotel suite, though here we are in 1930s Paris. Carpenter Square is no stranger to Ludwig, having previously produced his plays The Games Afoot, or Holmes for the Holidays, A Fox on the Fairway, and Leading Ladies. Directed by Rhonda Clark, A Comedy of Tenors is the second show of Carpenter Square's 37th season, which comes not just in the middle of an unprecedented pandemic, but also during a period of transition: the theatre will open its next season in their brand new space on West Reno.

The show opens with Henry Saunders desperately trying to arrange the final details of a make-or-break concert starring famed opera star Tito Merelli with the help of his hapless assistant and singer himself, Max. Tito arrives none-too-happy to be there. He laments to his wife Maria that he's aging out of his former glory. Tito goes to rest and prepare for the concert, but not before removing a blanket from the couch and revealing his daughter Mimi and her lover Carlo, who have both been hiding there. Turns out they were apparently in the middle of some afternoon delight when Tito walked in. From there, hijinks and misunderstandings ensue. Tito thinks that Maria is having an affair with Carlo and drops out of the concert, leaving Henry in a bind with just hours to go. That is until Beppo, a bellhop with a golden voice and who happens to look an awful lot like Tito shows up. Henry hatches a scheme where Beppo will pretend to be Tito, with Max and Carlo joining him on stage. What could go wrong?

This show is pure farce, with mistaken identity, misunderstandings, and frenetic confusion. There are some key ingredients you need to make a show like this work: you need a cast with lots of energy, you need good comic timing, and you need a set with lots of doors. Fortunately, Carpenter Square's production has all of these in spades. The characters are big, and the cast works well with each other. Terry Veal's Henry Saunders is a likable and effective gyroscope around which the chaos spins. Poor Max is played effectively by Peter Fischaber as a young, well-meaning singer facing the pressure of a make-or-break career moment. His scene after learning that he's just become a father was particularly nice. Keegan Zimmerman and Shelby Love both bring a charming, innocent presence to young lovers Carlo and Mimi. Zimmerman's comedic presence is boundless as Carlo, and Love brings a lovely sense of heart to Mimi. Katy Hayes is fully enjoyable as Tito's Russian lover, committing to her character's erotic side, and J. Christine Lanning is equally charming and brings some nice nuance to spit-fire Maria. Ed Spinelli maintains boundless energy and presence throughout the show as both Tito and Beppo. Playing multiple characters is no small task in any production, particularly in a farce, and Spinelli does a lovely job navigating and jumping between the two with energy and comic timing. Ford Filson had the dual role of stage manager and the voice of concert announcer Jacques Pessoir, and did a lovely job with a difficult French accent.

The show is a tad on the naughty side, as is any good farce, and every performer fully committed not just to the comedy but to the double-entendres (and in some cases, the single entendres) without shying away. The show's pace clipped along nicely and the energy stayed up throughout the entire show.

Of course, to fully bring a farce to life, you've got to have a set that will let you hide or run in and out of multiple doors. The set, designed by Ben Hall and Rhonda Clark, does just that and was used to its full potential. There are some simple furnishings that are used effectively, and the actors got plenty of mileage out of the doors built into the set.

The production does something that I thought was somewhat clever in that it makes a bit of a gag out of the fact that Tito and Beppo are played by the same actor. While productions of this show sometimes attempt to create totally distinct characters for the two, Carpenter Square's acknowledges the fact with a wry wink to the audience, which pays off particularly well during the "speed through", in which the actors silently and quickly recreated the play before the curtain call.

The theatre had COVID precautions in effect, with limited seating capacity, no concessions, audience members in masks, and performers in clear plastic shields (which were not as distracting as I initially thought they might be).

A Comedy of Tenors runs through March 20 at Carpenter Square Theatre. Tickets are available at http://www.carpentersquare.com/

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