BWW Reviews: ARI-MARIA, An Operatic Musical at Triangle Productions

Tommy Tune said it (or sang it) best in Seesaw, to the music of Cy Coleman and the lyrics of Dorothy Fields: "It's not where you start, it's where you finish." When a show has a strong finale that sends you out into the night singing, you'll forgive it some bumps along the way.

Ari-Maria is an original musical about the affair between opera diva Maria Callas and shipping magnate Aristotle Onassis, which ran on and off for eleven years. Both were fiery, tempestuous Greeks with a penchant for melodrama and a number of high-society friends, and neither was the type to sit at home and let the other have the spotlight. Great jumping off point for a musical, right? Donald Horn (book, lyrics, and direction) and Jonathan Quesenberry (music, additional lyrics, and musical direction) have chosen their subjects well.

The show begins a bit slowly. Maria (Amy Jo Halliday) sings an aria at a party, then is introduced to Ari (Bruce Blanchard) at a party. The two are instantly drawn to each other, but both are married to others. A nameless friend of Maria's (Michelle Maida) tells us the story, explaining who the characters are and giving us gossip about the times and the characters. We have expository scenes, telephone calls, more narration...and it takes about halfway through Act One before we get a good, solid scene between Maria and Ari, and from there the show takes off, and Act Two is a series of satisfying confrontations leading to a bittersweet ending.

Mr. Horn knows how to write an argument, and his lyrics (though slightly blurred by the sound system) are clear and often clever. I can't claim to be an expert on Maria or Ari or their society friends, but the scenes work as drama, and the narration is funny and interesting, filling in the background with panache. (One slight historical glitch: Ari is seen complaining about Maria to Prince Rainier, who is trying to decide between Grace Kelly and Marilyn Monroe...but didn't Rainier marry Grace in 1956, a year before Ari even met Maria?) Mr. Quesenberry's music is lovely and varied throughout the show, with just enough Greek flavor in the instrumentation to fit the characters. It doesn't fall into the usual "song" patterns heard in musical theatre, but it's melodic and easily singable. He also leads the six-piece orchestra and plays piano ably.

Ari-Maria is blessed with a terrific cast. Bruce Blanchard is a force of nature as Ari, passionate, funny, intense, and childish as only a rich man can be. He has a powerful singing voice and a vibrant stage presence. He never just walks out onto the stage: he strides on, his gestures and his mannerisms all Greek, his accent just right (and consistently so), his attitude all business. (He even dances off at the end of his curtain call with a Zorba-ish wiggle.)

Amy Jo Halliday has a tougher assignment as Maria. Diva-like behavior doesn't seem to come naturally to her, and she struggles to make the character as vibrant and demanding as she needs to be to hold her own with the other characters. She has a lovely voice, and handles the arias beautifully, but doesn't seem comfortable with the rest of the score until her final number, "But a Woman," where Maria finally declares her independence. In this song, Halliday seems at last to be singing in a style that suits her, and the song is easily the best in the score.

As the narrator, Michelle Maida is delightful, gleefully spreading gossip and making snotty remarks about new money. She enters a few of the scenes to counsel Maria, and she's wise and measured against Maria's romanticism.

The rest of the cast handle multiple roles, and juggle them well. Gary Wayne Cash plays Maria's husband, and his breakup scene with her is intense and dramatic (though the song that comes after is one of the weaker ballads, and doesn't seem to suit the character); he also plays a doctor, a judge, and a priest with skill. Chrissy Kelly-Petit makes the best of a brief cameo as Elsa Maxwell, then comes back to play Jacqueline Kennedy, and it would have been nice to get to know the character better. Erin Oleson gets one of the best cameos, playing Lee Radziwill (Jackie's sister) and getting to share a truly bitchy number with Maria. Gabriel Mikalson rounds out the ensemble in a series of wordless roles, moving props and helping with costume changes, but he gets a chance to shine with a traditional Greek wedding song at the end of the show.

The show moves swiftly, with many short scenes and songs interspersed with narration, and technically it flowed quite well. Mr. Horn's direction was smooth, though occasionally he had his actors turn their backs to the audience at inconvenient moments. There isn't a lot of dancing, but Cherie Price and Sarah Martins have devised movements that work for the characters, particularly in a first-act tango involving Maria and Ari and their spouses.

The set design is minimal, with the orchestra upstage behind a see-through curtain, and the costumes are perfect for the era and the characters-they're rich without being over-the-top. Some effort was put into making the actors feel like the people they're playing, without resorting to heavy makeup or prosthetics, though the actress playing Jackie Kennedy could have used a better wig or something to identify her; in the wedding sequence, I wasn't even sure who she was meant to be.

With some revisions (perhaps a new opening section?) and more performances to see how the show is developing, I can see Ari-Maria moving forward and becoming successful at other theaters. Certainly the audience at Triangle Productions enjoyed it thoroughly. And so did I.

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