(Top) Liz Owens (Sylvestro) and Marianne Meyers (Scapino) – (Bottom) Paul Laudiero (Ottavio) and Lucy Rojansky (Giacinta)(Photo: Doug Olmsted)
Ranter: lizzylibra@gmail.com
I just finished reading the review on LTA’s rendition of Scapino, by James Cullum. I was there on opening night and I have to ask James if he was truly there at all or if he just peaked in occasionally between talking or texting on his cell phone since he got so many things incorrectly stated in his review.
I believe that everyone is entitled to their opinion, but bashing a show just to prove you can is ridiculous. You may not have understood Moliere’s style of farce. You may also not be a big fan of the Mel Brooks style comedy. None the less the cast of LTA’s Scapino did a fantastic job of pulling both of these styles together to present a magnificent rendition of Scapino.
The audience clearly loved the show and responded by applauding and laughing loudly, and often. The actors did not break character, they broke the fourth wall. If their comedic timing was off then how can you possibly explain the almost continuous laughter from the audience after each and every comic bit? I am unclear why you were confused about Scapino and Sylvestro being played by women. The character names may be male and they may both dress as males, but to be confused as to their genders for 30 minutes seems like you were not really paying attention. I’ve seen many a female, including these two talented young ladies, play many male like roles and find that they do a fantastic job! These two ladies were clearly sharing a great deal of talent in this show in their timing, wit, and skill. Meanwhile, you were so hung up on how they wore pants and a tie instead of a traditional feminine skirt and heels that you missed out on their great performance entirely.
Sadly you stated that the fast wit and line delivery was not correct and that it should have been slowed down so the audience would be taken on a journey. To this I beg to ask the question, did you know this was a comedy at all? Do you know how comedy is performed? Again you clearly do not know your Moliere and Mel Brooks styles.
Other mistakes in your review include the fact that it was a five-person wait staff not four-person. The only time a person sat on the floor right next to a perfectly good chair that I saw was Carlo when he was giving Argante a shoe shine, which makes perfect logical sense. Scapino and Sylvestro together sang a brief “Evita”-inspired Don’t Cry For Me Giacinta, and this was not in anyway their saying good bye to her. Ottavio is supposed to be a weakling who can’t refuse his father, until later when he builds up the courage. If every character was strong a brave from the beginning don’t you think that would bore the life out of people?
I can only finish by saying that AlexandriaNews.org has provided well written and factually accurate reviews in the past. Hopefully their next review will be better.