But heartbreaking compromises were everyday fare for the Soviet people she wrote about. Despite the concessions made by the translator (Jane Ann Miller) and the company, this production still excelled, providing an amusing and touching glimpse of the author's prodigious talent and of Russia.
In "Love," a shrill and quarrelsome newly-wed (Antoinette LaVecchia), terrified of her marital duties, asks her goofy, uncomprehending husband (Stephen Turner) "What is woman's purpose and what is man's destiny?" The resulting storm and stress almost lead to annulment.
In "The Stairwell," a matchmaker introduces a lonely woman (Alice O'Neill) to a randy musician (Michael Rudko), who brings his pal (Turner) along. The men are out for a better time than she can show them, and decide that even if they can't screw her, they'll play a free dirge for a funeral she happens to arrange.
Becky London is very funny in "Andante" as a pseudo-sophisticate aspiring to elegance in a tatty world doomed to pathos. Appealing to "haute nouvelle," she impresses a naive friend (LaVecchia) while being herself reduced to a fetch-and-carry servant. Meanwhile, LaVecchia is perfectly charming while blackmailing her landlord and defending her rights.
In "Columbina's Apartment" Turner and London frantically performed a sex-reversal à la commedia dell'arte which was energetic and well-done, though a little confusing. One of the funniest moments (because it was typically Russian) occurred when Rudko, as the brunt of the sexual confusion, found it "interesting" when the mustachioed and fetching Mr. Turner, playing a woman kissing Ms. London, was explained as being a lesbian.
The staging included virtuosic farce as well as song and dance, and was adroit - although sometimes too clever, as when ending scenes with freeze-frame tableaux that would have been more credible on film.
The lighting by Robert Perry and sound by Sheafe B. Walker were quite sophisticated. Slide projections defined the mood and even footlights lined the stage. The clever set by Boris Zhukov included cut-outs for easy set changes, and a marvelous elevator door with real character.
Inspired costumes by Juliet Ouyoung expressed their characters with skill and imagination. Men wore Soviet stars on their lapels, and women had some gorgeous outfits, ranging from comically fake leopard skin to sexy peignoir.
Despite the disadvantage for an American audience, much about Russian culture could and should be absorbed from these impressive, well-performed plays.
Copyright 1999 Marshall Yaeger