Review: 'Paris by Night' at Trinity Rep

As one of the top repertory companies in the U.S., Trinity Repertory Company (Trinity) has been asked, or has chosen, to workshop and premiere countless plays and fewer musicals. Trinity audiences are very sophisticated and understand that bringing theater, especially musical theater, to the stage is a process.

In contrast to the successes of Trinity's new dramas over the past handful of years, audiences have learned that the dynamic Leslie Uggams cannot save every musical in which she appears. We know first-hand that even a national treasure of a playwright can write a musical so bad that it loses much of its audience at intermission. We have been the canary that died in the mine when someone thought "Oh, we should combine 'American Idol' with 'Shakespeare'".  Trinity audiences understand, no, embrace, our role in bringing theater to the stage.

So, I expect to encounter healthy, sophisticated, skepticism when I say, in Paris by Night, Trinity has produced a fully-formed musical drama. It is perfectly entertaining and packs an unexpected emotional punch.

Deftly directed and choreographed by Birgitta Victorson, with book and lyrics by Trinity's Artistic Director, Curt Columbus, and music by Andre Pluess and Amy Warren, Paris by Night tells the story of Sam (Joe Wilson, Jr.), an African-American ex-patriot living in Paris in the very early 1960s. Sam has fled the U.S. for Paris to escape a failed romance. In Paris he joins his oldest friend and former college professor, Harry (Stephen Berenson), and finds greater societal acceptance of who he is as a gay, black man.

In the "A" storyline, Sam has set up a little tattoo parlor and meets a handsome American GI, Buck, who is on a 3-day pass. Stationed in Germany, and from a tiny town in West Virgina, Buck (James Royce Edwards) is reveling in the big city feel of Paris and wants a tattoo to remember his brief stay. The dynamic is as familiar and as old as love stories themselves: "Will they or won't they?" The road to true love is never simple, even in Paris, even in a musical.

The "B" storyline involves Buck's fellow soldiers Patrick (Stephen Thorne) and Frank (Mauro Hauntman) and a love triangle with a beautiful French chanteuse, Marie (Rachael Warren).

The consistent thread of the story is the 20-year friendship and affection that Sam shares with his dear friend Harry.

Columbus has cited the movie musicals of the 1950s and '60s as being the jumping off point for the show. Their influence can be found at every turn. It is almost as if Columbus took a frame, just a snapshot, of all of his favorite movie musicals and made sure that they got a cameo in Paris by Night. The stylized Paris set by Eugene Lee and costumes by William Lane look as if they could have been lifted from any one of Vincent Minnelli's movies.

There are strong and nuanced performances from the leads, Wilson and Edwards, with chemistry to spare. Wilson has a terrific performing voice and Edwards plays the saucer-eyed, confused, love-struck GI very convincingly.

Stephen Berenson fleshes out Harry, making sure he is more than just a "sissy." The "sissy," a character near and dear to me, was usually not played as overtly homosexual (think Tony Randall in the Doris Day-Rock Hudson movies).

Rachel Warren does a lovely job as Marie. Though she and many of the performers are over-mic'ed, Warren sails beautifully through two lovely songs. "Yankee Rhythm" is instantly recognizable as a well-presented homage to Bob Fosse and Gwen Verdon.

Mauro Hauntman wraps himself in the character of Frank, becoming indistinguishable from the bigoted, nationalistic, hick that we hope the world doesn't think we are.

As Patrick, Stephen Thorne plays "The Other Guy" that was usually played by Danny Kaye. Sweet, charming, unassuming, and Oh, Wow! a pretty swell dancer, too. I have never seen Thorne's comic-timing as fine-tuned. He gets more than one huge, unexpected, laugh.

In fact, the comic timing throughout was consistently dead-on. Waiters pop up behind the bar on cue. Janice Duclos takes the exact amount of time between signaling the barman she needs another shot of whiskey, making a throw-away moment really funny. They are tiny moments, done with consistency, signaling director Victorson's attention to detail.

Musically, as expected, there are some hits and misses, with most of the music providing song that moves the narrative, as opposed to "numbers." "The Art of Le Café" is divine as is "Harry's Lament" and the above mentioned "Yankee Rhythm".  "Buck Boxes", which opens Act Two, feels completely out of place (more Grease-2 than An American in Paris) and had me worried about the road ahead, but it is only an aberration in what is otherwise a solid musical score.

The love scenes are chaste and the violence is slow motion. The melody and lyrics are simple. The overall effect created by this talented team of artists is completely, and disarmingly, charming.

Paris by Night runs through June 1 in Trinity's Dowling Theater.

Tickets range from $20 -$60 and can be purchased at the Trinity Rep box office, 201 Washington Street; by phone at (401) 351-4242; and online at www.trinityrep.com. Discounted and rush tickets are also available.                                           

To post a comment, you must register and login.