Living on Love
On Broadway at the Longacre Theatre

 


It’s 1957 and we are in the New York Living Room of the washed up De Angelis’s a/k/a The Maestro (Douglas Sills) and The Diva (Renée Fleming) I could tell you their characters first names, but it doesn’t matter because they will only answer to Maestro and Diva.  This is the latest in foreign accent comic plays, and it’s delightfully funny through and through.   Even the curtain announcement was done in Italian.

 
The De Angelis’s are feeling the financial pinch that their dried up careers have left them in, and the Maestro decides to take an offer of a $50,000 advance from a book publisher to write his biography.  The problem is, The Maestro has no patience for telling his story and would rather party all night, sleep all day, and seduce women whenever he can.  Sills is 100% believable as the European lover, with his wild hair, silk pajamas and flawless Italian accent.  Robert Sampson (Jerry O’Connell) is the current ghostwriter, who the Maestro refers to as his “spooky helper” in his broken English.  Sampson is last in a line of writers that have already attempted and failed at this task.  The ever-adorable O’Connell plays the intimidated writer and delivers foot in mouth laughs with ease.  The Maestro and Sampson squabble until The Diva enters the room, complete with her pet pooch, Puccini the Pomeranian played by the fluffy Trixie.  While this is not a musical, the script allows Fleming many opportunities to unleash her signature soprano.  We all know and love that rich voice, but what we didn’t know is how exceptional she is at comic delivery. This role is so out of character for Fleming, it was almost as if there was a Renée Fleming impersonator on the stage making a spoof of herself and it was downright hysterical.

Sampson finally has had enough with the incorrigible Maestro and quits and it’s not long before the frightened young editor Iris Peabody (Anna Chlumsky) shows up on behalf of the publisher to collect the $50,000 advance.  Chlumsky plays mousy, intelligent, and funny to a fault.    Of course the money has been long spent and the Maestro blows up on the timid girl who tells him “don’t go all Mediterranean on me”.  The Maestro as a diversion puts on Bolero and begins to seduce the young woman by conducting the music using her arms which he has taken hold of from behind.  The Diva enters to find them in this compromising position and after a bout of bickering she announces she is writing her own book, and the competition begins.
 

The Maestro now needs to jump into action and convinces Iris (that he pronounces Irish) that she must write his book, and she must move in so that they can work night and day and make sure that the Diva does not finish her book first.  The Diva hires Sampson and has him move in as well.    The new arrangement proves fruitless, and the writers soon learn that they are not going to teach these old dogs any new tricks.  The two writers spend so much time alone together they start finding some common interests and you can see an attraction growing, but the Maestro and Diva are now at odds and have plans to make their own propositions to the two writers.  The tag team butlers Bruce  (Blake Hammond) and Eric (Scott Robertson) are a dynamic duo, and are anchor characters in this production.  When they are summoned to prepare a dueling dinner party for the Maestro and Diva to profess their love to the writers they loyally and dutifully obey even though they have hidden concerns about the breakup of their employers.  It’s all champagne and slapstick comedy from there that ends with everyone finding the love they were meant for, and they all live happily ever after.  Even the butlers.   The Diva finishes this off singing a very touching version of Irving Berlin's “Always” and we are completely satisfied.
 
This was a very clean and crisp production directed by Kathleen Marshall with an idyllic cast.  The single set was ornate and appealing, as were  the costume designs (Michael Krass); especially the extravagant gowns worn by the Diva herself.   You won’t want to miss this one.  For tickets and more information visit www.livingonlovebroadway  and check out my page for available discounts here  -ThisbroadSway 4/4/2015