I
Love My Wife at The Center at Rhinebeck
by
Jay Blotcher
Peter Aaron
...But this is a show from mainstream showmen Michael
Stewart and Cy Coleman, whose contributions to American musical
theater include Bye Bye Birdie, Hello, Dolly!, Sweet Charity and
Mack & Mabel.
For
those ticket holders expecting bisexual co-minglings, the genteel
title of the musical should undermine any lascivious notions. Perhaps
the show’s message of extramarital coitus interruptus has
more in common with our current neoconservative era than we would
like to believe.
“If
you look at most popular shows like Cabaret—threesomes—
and Chicago—murder, infidelity—this subject matter is
much more tame,” said di Grandi, whose Up In One Productions
has mounted the show.
The
libidinous quartet sporting maxi-skirts and polyester shirts includes
Cat Messing as Monica, Jeffrey Stults as her husband Wally, Terry
Weaver as Alvin and Joy Covert as his wife Cleo.
Known
more for staging Shakespeare tragedies and Method actor classics,
Gregio (also a scholar of the Bard) is happy to switch gears. “There
is nothing about this musical that has any heavy dramatic type of
material. It‘s all about laughing and having a good time.”
The
show is anything but offensive; it sides with the wallflowers. The
nebbishness of the leads and their corny dialogue keeps the situation
light. I Love My Wife is a lighthearted crowd pleaser, trafficking
in corny wit and resolutely steering clear of the bitter truths
that made Company an accurate report from the front in the war between
the sexes.
Continue...
|
