BWW Reviews: Dramatic, Musical Tchaikovsky in NONE BUT THE LONELY HEART

Famed for its vital presentation of The Bard and contemporary plays, Shakespeare & Company in Lenox, MA is now also a place where you can see and hear some of Tchaikovsky's most passionate and heartfelt music sung, danced and played. Actors plus a piano trio, a singer and a dancer collaborate to bring his works to life but with a delightful difference. As you enjoy a cascade of Tchaikovsky's magnificent works, you learn about who - and what - inspired their creation. The Ensemble for the Romantic Century has devised a way to insert theatrical program notes about his life and relationship with his patron, Madame Nedezhda von Meck who he called "Moj genji, moj angel, moj drug," (My Angel, My Protector, My Friend). Their relationship was intimate yet they never met.

What is best described as a theatrical concert NONE BUT THE LONELY HEART: The Strange Story of Tchaikovsky and Madame von Meck has opened new doors for Shakespeare & Company where, at a packed Bernstein Theatre yesterday afternoon there was hardly a vacant seat to be found. There were lots of Tanglewood and Boston Symphony Orchestra regulars in the audience, and at the end of the performance many a "bravo" and "brava" could be heard being shouted at the actors and musicians, all of whom acquitted themselves with distinction and elegance. In the tradition of high minded western classical music culture, there was refinement everywhere, even the stage was decked out in candlelight and tulle.

We learn about many of the dramatic elements of Tchaikovsky's life and his heartfelt feelings towards Madame von Meck as well as hers towards him. We never quite came to fully understand why a condition of their relationship was that they should never meet and talk in person.

Looking at the larger picture, Tchaikovsky was, of course, a conflicted and repressed homosexual. In NONE BUT THE LONELY HEART this defining aspect of his life is viewed mostly from the fact that Tchaikovsky, in anguish over his homosexuality, had yielded to the standards of the time and made a decision to marry. This ill-advised decision leads to many regrets which are expressed in a letter to von Meck. Where else could the union of a neurotic, hypersensitive homosexual and a mentally-disturbed, non-musical and obviously sexually incompatible young girl lead but to disaster. In a rare moment of candor he tells von Meck why the marriage failed but stops short of expressing what he really desires instead. For all the letters and writings we hear it seems that particular passion and its details remain buried deep inside his heart.

Some insist that these missives reveal the composers most intimate thoughts but to anyone who thinks deeply, this is patently untrue. The good stuff he kept truly secret.

So once again,a high minded exercise that is supposed to reveal all just tiptoes out of the gay quicksand and never covers the real pain he endured. It keeps the revelations palatable to the mainstream audience.

Admittedly you would have to lose the scholarly credibility and have to dabble in conjecture, reading between the lines because Tchaikovsky never fully revealed himself to anyone; not to his beloved patroness, perhaps not even fully to himself. But that is what would make great theatre, not sanitized and safe scholarly program notes, don't you think?

The script by Eve Wolf had to remain authentic and true to the written record, so the focus more on his compositional habits and the money that passed between the patron and he. In the end she cut him off without a ruble, perhaps because of the increasing criticism of him by the aristocrats close to the Czar. It is said that these complaints led him to commit suicide by exposing himself to cholera. That and being cut off by von Meck, not only from his stipends, but from her correspondence, support and affection.

Perhaps some of the repressed homosexuality was meant to be inferred by the presence of a male dancer during the performance. After all, ballet does have a long and complicated history with the erotic. Onstage, danseur Daniel Mantei communicated a physical and sensual intensity that went beyond words, but as he danced Tchaikovsky never acknowledged even seeing him. There were moments that he connected with Madame von Meck, though never did their eyes meet, it was just gazing from afar. The dancer passes within inches of Tchaikovsky, yet he never looks up from the paper in his hands. An opportunity to make a statement about the subtext was missed. Of course in the Bernstein theatre this could have happened for a fleeting moment or two, but because of the configuration of the seats, arrayed around 3/4 of the stage, there are many moments that the actors have their backs to one section of the theatre or another.

Yet the Bernstein because of its shoebox shape is ideal for classical music. The acoustics enhance the musical sound, even when the musicians are placed at one side of the rectangle, rather at one end or the other as in concert halls. As I noted in my review for Master Class which is also playing in the same theatre, they have hardened many sections of the walls to make them more reverberant and less like sponges to sop up the sound. Thus the glorious playing by Eve Wolf at the keyboard with Susie Park on violin and Adrain Daurov on cello produced an ambience that simply delights the fastidious ear. The powerful tenor Edwin Vega set the mood for the entire work with his rendering of Net,tol'ko tot, kto znal... (None but the Lonely Heart).

From the outset it was clear that this was a concert with spoken words rather than a play with music. Jonathan Epstein as Tchaikovsky and Ariel Bock as Nedezhda von Meck brought their letters (768 from the composer to von Meck alone) to life. There is little theatrical drama in these exchanges other than the overly florid expressions of admiration and gratitude common to that period. But both actors make the most of little, and to keep the eye interested, Mrs. von Meck often slipped offstage when the music began in order to change her costume/dress. The set with its sweeping tulle and the costumes with their attention to detail are very artistic in a cloying, clichéd sort of way, and no doubt resonated with those who admire a minor fashion show along with their concert and play. The differing costumes telegraph the passage of time, but the absences are not helpful in sustaining the dramatic line, since the music being played is dedicated to her.

Ultimately it is the music that shines brightest in NONE BUT THE LONELY HEART. Thaikovsky's renowned Piano Trio in A minor, Pezzo elegiaco (a sort of lament) carries us along in its memories and recollections of mother Russia, and of suffering and loss. The composer may well have been thinking of his mother's death from cholera when he composed it, and we can feel as well, the loss of the intimate - and distant - relationship Piotr Li'yich had with Nadezhda.

Only the complexities of classical music - especially by composers of the late Romantic period such as Tchaikovsky - can capture the torment and roiling emotions of love affairs, and lives, gone awry. So for me, it is in these musical moments that the real Tchaikovsky is most clearly revealed, his genius exposed, and his frustrated life most deeply understood.

The Ensemble for the Romantic Century continues to find innovative ways to connect great music to the history, politics and philosophies of earlier eras. Its objective is to deepen the experience of classical music for audiences of the present day. Over 13 years it has many successes, with this production of NONE BUT THE LONELY HEART: The Strange Story of Tchaikovsky and Madame von Meck brings it ever closer to fulfilling its ideal.

Shakespeare & Company has also embarked on a quest for additional programming that might connect them more closely to the many residents and visitor who make the Berkshires their home. With Tanglewood so very close, it makes the trip to see some theatre while attending the BSO concerts a simple matter of a short drive. Here the company has showed as much attention to the details of a musical presentation as they do to the dramatic, and everyone, music lovers and theatre-goers alike are the winner.

Shakespeare & Company presents NONE BUT THE LONELY HEART: The Strange Story of Tchaikovsky and Madame von Meck written by Eve Wolf, based on letters, diaries and memoirs; set and costume design by Vanessa James; lighting designer - Beverly Emmons; choreography - Daniel Mantei; stage manager - Anthony O. Bullock; directed by Donald T. Sanders. Cast: Jonathan Epstein - Tchaikovsky; Ariel Bock - Nedezhda von Meck. Susie Park, violin; Adrian Daurov, cello; Eve Wolf, piano; Edwin Vega, tenor; Daniel Mantei, dancer; Alec Donaldson, cover tenor and page-turner. July 18-August 3, 2013, Elayne P. Bernstein Theatre at Shakespeare & Company, Lenox, MA. www.shakespeare.org Box Office: 413-637-3353

Photo by Enrico Spada

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