'lend Me A Tenor'
Is Farce At Its Finest

MICHAEL H. MARGOLIN SPECIAL TO THE JEWISH NEWS

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Between 630 &rtL 5'30 a m For A Urged Tune Only

n England, the request to bor- vulgar notes dead on. If only his
Elsewhere in fine supporting
row 10 pounds might come out accent stayed as solid.
performances are Diana Van Fos-
as "Lend me a termer?" On the
The third man in this operatic sen, a superbly tempestuous Ital-
stage of the Meadow Brook theme is Phillip Locker as Saun- ian tenor's wife; the sprightly
Theatre, the same phrase refers ders, the impresario who's pro- bellhop neatly turned by Thomas
to the substitution of one singer ducing the soon-to-be misguided D. Mahard; and Julia, as played
— male, operatic — by another. enterprise. Locker has a lock on robustly, but not too broadly, by
In this case, the items are
Laurie V. Logan.
high Cs, not bank notes.
When Julia comes on
Farce — of which Ken
stage in a glimmering
Ludwig's Lend Me a Tenor
gown with alternating
is a prime example — de-
rows of silver, grey and
pends on such nonsensical
dark beads in a horizontal
confusions appearing to be
zigzag pattern, she asks
acutely natural in an oblig-
how she looks. Says Saun-
ing set of circumstances.
ders, "Like the Chrysler
So, of course, the mistak-
Building." And she does.
enly drugged opera star,
Credit for that wonder-
Tito Merelli, thought dead,
ful dress design and the ex-
will be replaced in the
ceptional costumes (but for
evening's performance of
Maggie's chemise) goes to
Otello by Milquetoast Max.
Barbara Jenks. She is not
While Max can sing, he
hiding her bright light un-
certainly can't woo until, in
der a bushel, either, for
black face, he seduces his
Reid G. Johnson's light
own girlfriend who thinks
plot is just right. The fine
Phillip Locker and Kathleen McCall are featured in
that clothes—in this case Meadow Brook Theatre's production of Lend Me A Tenor,
deco/moderne sets are by
tights and a curly wig — through Nov. 12.
Peter W. Hicks — those
make the man.
doors close with satisfying
And so the pistons of surprise, bluster, pushiness, egocentricity chunks like exclamations points
misconception and trickery drive and all the nasty little emotions for the action.
the engine of farce on through that make Saunders a laughable
Last, but not least, is the direc-
slammed doors and hasty exits, lout. And when he discovers the tor of the enterprise, Geoffrey
of which there are many in Tenor. comatose, assumed dead Merelli, Sherman. Farce depends on mo-
And through them go a lovely and his fit of snit is a glory to behold. ments of stillness among silliness,
lithe bunch of actors who have
The production, too, is well- like cats among the pigeons. Sher-
been reading the text on farce and, served by its ladies: Kathleen Mc- man knows the advantage of the
under Geoffrey Sherman's direc- Call's Maggie is ingenue quiet moment and the slow take
tion, strut their impeccable stuff. incarnate, but misses by a mile and he trusts his actors to sustain
Scott Mikita as Max bears the the often-too-cuteness of many ac- the energy.
brunt of the plot on his puny tresses in this type of role.
While Ken Ludwig is
shoulders which, by play's end are Her nemesis is the long-
not America's answer to
THEATER
a bit broader — based on pulling legged, push-up bra-ed Di-
that inimitable French
off a seduction as well as an im- ana, played to the hilt and
farceur Georges Fey-
personation in one evening. Miki- beyond by Alison Edwards. When deau, Lend Me a Tenor is a funny
ta goes from mousy to manly and the two, in surprise, then delight, enough vehicle. And in this pro-
is boyishly endearing.
squeal over the discovery of the duction, Meadow Brook has all of
His overbearing counterpart, double game they've played, it is its ducks in a row: It earns its
John Patrick Lowrie as Tito like a pigeon coo crossed with a jet laughs honestly. ❑
Merelli, is just right, hitting the engine.

'Les Miserables'

Rated R

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THE JEWISH NEWS

L

ike an impotent husband
who blames his wife for his
failure, anti-Semitism is the
bitter fruit of an impotent
world that must blame the Jews
for societal ills, Andre Ziman ex-
plains to one of his protectors in
the epic Les Miserables, a fine,
complex film that lifts Victor
Hugo's seminal novel out of its
time and gives it a place in the
Mid-20th century.
Here the oppressed are pitted
against Hitler and France's pro-

visional Vichy government. At he smuggles them across France,
the heart of the tale is the thick- and essentially provide him with
hided, illiterate Henri Fortin the opportunity to become a sav-
(Jean-Paul Belmondo), who ior.
struggles against his own nature
The personal and political
to do good as he comes to see him- chapters of history are played out
self as Jean Valjean, Hugo's hero. in Les Miserables as Fortin be-
He saves Ziman (Michel Bou- comes a boxing champ, as he is
jenah), his prima ballerina wife tortured, as he takes up with the
(Alessandra Martines) and
Resistance, as he helps
daughter (Salome) by ly-
destroy a Nazi bunker in
ing to the authorities and
France while Americans
eventually brings the fam-
land at Normandy, and
ily back together when the war as he becomes a wealthy man —
comes to a close. They, in turn, with the help of Ziman.
read Hugo's novel to him while
But the most poignant drama