Theatre Review

OSTC’S ‘Lend Me a Tenor’ is the ultimate slapstick farce

Don Fowler
Posted 4/8/15

If Trinity’s “A Flea in Her Ear” doesn’t provide you with enough farce and swinging doors, head on over to Warwick’s Ocean State Theatre Company, where six doors and eight zany characters …

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Theatre Review

OSTC’S ‘Lend Me a Tenor’ is the ultimate slapstick farce

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If Trinity’s “A Flea in Her Ear” doesn’t provide you with enough farce and swinging doors, head on over to Warwick’s Ocean State Theatre Company, where six doors and eight zany characters will further entertain you with Ken Ludwig’s ultimate slapstick farce, “Lend Me a Tenor.”

The comedy has been around for a long time and shows a little wear and tear, but under Rhode Island native Kevin Pariseau’s direction it is filled with fast-paced humor. Double entendres, mistaken identities and near catastrophes, as zany characters rush in and out of six doors at a hotel room keep this comedy moving at a rapid pace. Outrageously corny, the craziness sometimes goes overboard, but let’s face it, this ain’t Shakespeare, folks.

The action – and there’s lots of it – takes place during the Cleveland Grand Opera’s opening of “Otello.”

World-famous tenor Tito Merelli (Bruce Sabath) has been flown in to play the lead. He arrives late, refuses to rehearse, mixes pills with alcohol and passes out. When he is believed to be dead, the company’s “goffer,” Max (Nick Gaswirth), an aspiring but nervous tenor, is forced to take his place. That’s the one-hour first act.

Take a quick break and settle in your seats for the wild and crazy 45-minute second act, which begins with Max having wowed the audience, who believe he is the great Tito Morelli.

Tito wakes up, and now we have two Otellos running around the living and bedrooms, in and out of doors, narrowly avoiding each other, Tito’s wife, and two sexy admirers.

While some may view the play as a bit too silly, the small Easter weekend audience laughed hysterically at the antics. Gaswirth and Sabath showed their great comic timing, both dressed in the same costumes, wigs and makeup. One scene, where they exaggerate their gestures on each side of the bedroom door, is a sure showstopper.

The rest of the cast (Elizabeth Boyke, Alexander Cook, Gerrianne Genga, Rochelle Weinrauch and Maria Tavarozzi) have all mastered the physical requirements of narrow escapes through those dastardly doors, thanks to good direction by Pariseau.

And then there’s Rhode Island’s own peripatetic playwright/player Kevin Broccoli, hamming it up as the interfering bellhop. Broccoli has some very funny moments, handling them brilliantly. He also has the clever job of presenting each actor for an encore.

“Lend Me a Tenor” is at Ocean State Theatre, 1245 Jefferson Blvd. in Warwick, through April 19. Call 921-6800 for reservations.

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