Lend Me a Tenor: The Farce is strong with this one
Back in 1986, Andrew Lloyd Webber (yes – that Lloyd Webber, not yet called “Sir”) found a hidden theatrical gem.
In fact, he personally produced its first major production in his Globe Theatre in London – called Lend Me a Tenor, by American comic playwright Ken Ludwig. Both the play and Ludwig were not well known, but Londoners began to flock to the West End to see it. That flock included us – and I remember it as one of the funniest evenings I had ever spent in a theatre. Not that there was anything new about the show. Ludwig had penned your basic old-fashioned farce complete with slamming doors, flimsy disguises, horny sopranos and mistaken identities – but the tried and true formula is as old as theatre itself.
We have seen Lend Me a Tenor several times since then and the various productions have validated one of the great theatrical truths: that farce done right can be very funny, but if it shows any hint of heavy handedness it stinks up the joint.
At the Mayfield Dinner Theatre until March 31, director Dave Horak and his cast of merry farceurs aim for the yuks, which are plentiful, and keep the singing low key.
The premise is that in 1934, the future of the grandly named Cleveland Grand Opera Company is in doubt, and so to hold off ruin the company brings in the world famous Italian tenor, Tito Morelli (Vance Avery). Of course, he’s put up in a lavish hotel which has (surprise) a lot of entrances and exits. The local tin-pot impresario, Saunders (Jeff Haslam), imperiously directs his harried assistant, Max (Steven Greenfield), to look after the star, who turns up complete with his fiery but sexually unsatisfied wife, Maria (Stephanie Wolfe). Unfortunately, Tito has an attack and is rendered comatose. Max, who (of course) is an aspiring operatic tenor himself, thinks he’s dead. Saunders, looking at his sold-out house, demands that the reluctant Max go out in Tito’s place. The rickety, jury-rigged connivance seems to be going well as Max dons the costume and prepares to take on the central role – until Tito revives and arrives in full regalia to perform. The result is a headlong rush of mistaken identities and romantic complications.
Under Horak’s zippy direction the cast gives the old warhorse all they’ve got. The stand-out of the evening is Vance Avery as the imperious and operatic demigod, Tito. Avery is an Edmontonian who leapt from his beginnings in Dasha Goody’s Edmonton Musical Theatre to play a series of leads on Broadway (including the Emcee in Cabaret). He has recently returned to Edmonton to appear in a number of local productions (Baby, and Hadestown). His Tito shows an actor with a keen comic bent, an accent as thick as a Milanese ragu and (when he gets the chance to use it) a big burnished opera-style voice. Steven Greenfield, as the put-upon bespectacled nerd Max, is dithery and funny and fakes the opera singing quite effectively. The two perform a lovely duet and it’s one of the high points of the evening.
Long-time Edmonton all-round performer Jeff Haslam huffs and puffs as Saunders the arrogant tinpot impresario, sputtering with indignation, swanning about the stage and firing off broad double takes.
As usual in these things, the first act tends to drag a bit because it’s necessary to get to know the characters and their various quirks, but in Act 2 it shifts into high-octane madcap. Works out well for Max. All the women want to bed the great tenor and Max in disguise finds himself, all of the sudden, getting lucky.
The opera the Grand Opera company is performing is Othello and, in the original, the performers are in traditional blackface. Since that would be impossible today, the Mayfield have the tenors in clown whiteface looking as if they wandered in from a production of Pagliacci next door. Works well, though.
This creaky old vehicle doesn’t elicit the hilarious reaction it once did, but you will laugh at this evening of innocent high jinks and hokum. A hard-working cast and a savvy director manage to keep the pot boiling.
Photos by Ed Ellis
