WHEREUPON A MOUSE BECOMES A MAN
LEND ME A TENOR
Directed by Drew Barr; written by Ken Ludwig
With: Ron Botting, Aled Davies, Tom Ford, John Hildreth, Barbara Mather,
Janice O’Rourke, Michele Ragusa, and Jordan Simmons
At Portland Stage Company in Portland, Maine
From January 27 through February 22, 2004
Reviewed by Laurie Meunier Graves
To be successful, a farce depends on several things. First, the audience
must be willing to suspend disbelief. In general, the plots of farces are so
ludicrous that they can’t withstand close scrutiny. Second, the timing must
be flawless. Only a moment’s hesitation will ruin the flow of the
performance. Third, the pacing must be frantic. By the time the play is
over, the lead actors should have gotten a very good workout. It also helps
if there are a lot of slamming doors. This last condition is not necessary—The
Importance of Being Earnest does very well without them—but somehow,
those slamming doors add just the right touch to the inevitable mayhem and
chaos for which farces are so famous.
I am happy to report that Portland Stage Company’s production of Lend Me
a Tenor meets all three requirements, and, as a bonus, includes plenty
of slamming doors. In general, farce is not my favorite type of theater, yet
I laughed more than I care to admit during this very silly play. As Mr.
Bennet from Pride and Prejudice might have said, there weren’t two words of
sense spoken together during the entire show. But that just added to the
fun.
Lend Me a Tenor is set in a hotel suite (the better to slam doors!)
in Cleveland, Ohio, in 1934. Choleric, high-strung Henry Saunders (Aled
Davies) is the general Manager of the Cleveland Grand Opera Company, which,
as is so often the case with such companies, is struggling financially. All
his hopes hinge on a production of Verdi’s Otello, which is to be
performed that very evening. Somehow, he has managed to snag a famous
Italian tenor, Tito Merelli (Ron Botting), to sing the lead role. However,
when the play opens, Tito hasn’t even arrived in Cleveland, and, of course,
hasn’t had a chance to rehearse with the rest of the company. In the company
of his fresh-faced daughter Maggie (Janice O’Rourke) and his meek assistant
Max (Tom Ford), Saunders waits impatiently in the hotel suit for Tito’s
arrival. Finally, the great man arrives with his shrewish, jealous wife
Maria (Michele Ragusa).
But is all well? Of course it is not. Tito, who has a tetchy stomach and a
glutinous nature, has overindulged. He is too sick to his stomach to attend
the only rehearsal left before the evening’s performance. However, Tito is
unconcerned. After all, he has been in countless performances of Otello
and even travels with two sets of costumes. (I told you a major suspension
of disbelief was necessary.) To further complicate matters, Maggie is
besotted by Tito, and Max is besotted by Maggie. In addition, Max has
delusions of grandeur. He, too, wants to be an opera singer. Unfortunately, the
timid Max gets nothing but scorn and ridicule from Saunders.
Except it seems that Max can really sing. Under Tito’s imperious but kindly
tutelage, Max learns to relax enough to let his voice soar free. There are,
of course, more complications. In a jealous snit, Maria leaves Tito, who,
through no fault of his own, takes too much medication and passes out on the
bed. Is Tito dead or alive? Max is convinced it’s the former. But the show
must go on! With great effort, Max goes from being a mouse to being a man,
dons one of Tito’s costumes, blackens his face, and prepares to take the
great tenor’s place. After all, as Max has stated, he knows all of Otello’s
lyrics.
Is Tito really dead? Will Max have the courage to go on stage? What’s going
to happen to that convenient second costume? Will Maria come back? Will
Maggie fall in love with Max? Will the show be a success? Questions,
questions! Let’s just say that as the play comes to its frenetic conclusion there
are mistaken identities, slamming doors, and sexual innuendoes aplenty.
The cast does a terrific job with this confection of a play, which unlike
Shakespeare’s silliest comedies, doesn’t have even the faintest glimmer of
character development. Ron Botting is a fine Tito, by turns imposing and
humorous, kindly and put-upon. Michele Ragusa, who plays his wife, is a
perfect foil, volatile but clearly in love with Tito. She is small but has a
formidable presence. Janice O’Rourke is suitably perky as Maggie; Jordan
Simmons, as an ambitious soprano, vamps her way through the production; and
Barbara Mather is strong-minded, elegant, and a little desperate as the
“mature” Julia. John Hildreth is just plain hilarious as a star-struck
bellhop, and Aled Davies’s Saunders is definitely a man on the verge of a
nervous breakdown. The entire cast has a fine sense of comic timing and
makes the most of what are, in the end, stock characters.
However, special compliments must go to Tom Ford, who plays the meek
assistant Max. With his slicked back hair and long face, Ford looks as
though he could be Hugh Grant’s plain cousin. He has the same air of
cringing self-effacement and perpetual embarrassment. At certain times in
the play, you get the idea that if it were humanly possible, Max would have
melted from sheer humiliation and frustration. The viewer, of course, is on
this mouse’s side, and while Max’s transformation seems too abrupt, it
nonetheless feels like a moment of triumph.
Lend Me a Tenor is full of good-natured tomfoolery. While it might
lack substance, it definitely succeeds in making an audience laugh,
especially during the improbable second half. In Maine, in January and
February, it’s just right for combating the winter doldrums.
