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Photo Jeff Zinn
Robert Kropf and Erin Cherry in WHAT’s production of “Love Song.” |
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Photo Jeff Zinn
Birgit Huppuch and Michael Ornstein talk while Robert Kropf wails in “Love Song.” |
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‘Love Song’ lingers long after the final verse
By Sue Harrison
Banner Staff
Who has the better grip on reality — the deeply dysfunctional, slacker brother or the executive sister who appears to be on top of everything in the world? Find the answer to this and many more philosophical musings in the crackling Wellfleet Harbor Actors Theater production of “Love Song.”
Maybe it’s the time of year but there seems to be more theater focusing on the power of words and less on tons of action, and that’s been a good thing for theatergoers. John Kolvenbach’s “Love Song” certainly doesn’t stand still — the set changes are rapid and dynamic but it’s all about the words and they are so well crafted and delivered. Director Jeff Zinn takes this highly professional cast and tosses them headfirst into the angst and zeitgeist of modern life to see who sinks and who swims.
How do we measure success? What is the really meaningful way to lead one’s life? How much can one overlook in order to maintain the status quo? Which questions are inappropriate and why? Does love conquer all? These are just a few of the deeper lines buried underneath the rapid-fire dialogue that verges on being a Seinfeld exploration-of-the-navel kind of thing. Not that that’s bad either. Seinfeld was a brilliant purveyor of how life’s banal moments are continually transformed into the sum and substance of one’s days.
The story is about Beane (Robert Kropf), a guy who lives in a beat-up, nearly empty apartment, often sitting in the dark, alone, and his sister Joan (Birgit Huppuch), a top level executive with a perfect life, perfect apartment and perfect husband — if only the rest of the damn world would measure up to her standards of “do it and do it right the first time.” Beane works in some unspecified government job. He drifts around the stage like a wraith, haunting the otherwise normal existence of his sister.
Joan’s husband, Harry (Michael Ornstein), is the long-suffering foil to her keyed-up and hyper-tense character. He and she are both quite smart and trade machine gun rapid back and forths throughout both acts.
The fourth main character is Molly (Erin Cherry), an African-American robber who breaks into people’s houses and cleans them out. She is angry and indicts as failures all the rich folks whose houses and apartments she has burgled and occasionally destroyed. When her anger intersects with Beane’s minimalist life the consequences are explosive.
Huppuch’s Joan and Ornstein’s Harry have us believing they are a long-married couple who have worked out their ways of coping and ways of relating to each other years ago. We can feel the affection, the resignation, the sometimes bristling interactions and on occasion the pure joy that a good relationship delivers.
Cherry’s Molly is like a volcano on stage, sometimes just there like a beautiful vista quietly in the background and at other times boiling over to cover the expanse of stage with her fierce presence.
Kropf, ah Kropf, the master of the deranged character, returns for another adeptly played misfit. He has had this role before in WHAT productions (“Bug” for example) and is so good at it that one wonders if he is an actor or “on loan” from a nearby institution. Fortunately he’s done enough other characters over the years that we know it’s his skill and not his personal mental defects on display.
(WHAT intern William Balmer gets to show his stuff in a brief stint on stage as a waiter. His role was made more difficult by the very strong performances and characters in the play but he held his own during his scene.)
The plot begins right after Joan has fired yet another intern at her business and Harry is amused to try and find out what the problem with this particular young woman was. Beane gets robbed by Molly and finds himself wishing the robber would come back. Though she is violent and stripped him of everything, her words about life remain in his head. When she does come back it looks as if Beane may find a way to join the rest of the world.
Even Joan and Harry step away from their usual sparring and fall under love’s spell. Before the final scene, things get turned on their head and we find Joan willing to forgo reality in favor of happiness and Beane choosing an uncertain future.
Act I is non-stop but Act II gets off to a slower start. Nevertheless, it soon gets theatrically back on track and the train trundles on gaining speed as it heads for the last curve.
The sets are a clever use of the new Julie Harris Stage. WHAT is renowned for its terrific stage sets over at the Harbor Stage but hasn’t quite hit its stride yet at the new facility. This play signals a change in that. What we have is Beane’s apartment center stage that literally folds up on itself to reveal Joan and Harry’s upscale digs surrounding it. Lighting works well to enhance the quick set changes that happen in a matter of seconds.
This is a nice example of the kind of productions fans expect from WHAT. It won’t leave you crying or gasping for air or changing your political affiliation but it will make you glad you came out no matter how bad the fall weather gets. Put this on your to-do list and take the rest of the day off.
“Love Song,” by John Kolvenbach. Runs Thurs. through Sun. at 8:15 pm with 5:15 pm matinees on Sat. through Nov. 25 at the Wellfleet Harbor Actors Theater (Julie Harris Stage on Route 6 next to the Wellfleet Post Office). Tickets $29, call (508) 349-WHAT.
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Nov 1st, 2007