BWW Reviews: The Sidesplitting and Strange MELANCHOLY PLAY: A CHAMBER MUSICAL at Trinity Rep

Melancholy Play: A Chamber Musical, begins as one might expect-- with a song about being melancholy. Set in what looks like the aftermath of a New Year's Eve party with gold tinsel strewn about the floor, and a sad, saggy banner on the back wall, our five characters regale the audience with a song of melancholy setting the audience up for a witty, if nonsensical 90 minutes.

From that point, the characters start to introduce themselves to the audience, beginning with Lorenzo, played by Joe Wilson Jr., looking like a European turtle and speaking with an indeterminate accent that makes one think alternately of Italian stereotypes and someone trying desperately to sound sophisticated but not quite knowing how. Lorenzo is from an indeterminate European country, but now lives in Illinois, as do all our characters. He was born in a sweet shop, but grew up an orphan, giving him further cause to be melancholy. Frank, the Tailor played by Charlie Thurston and Frances, the Hairdresser played by Rebecca Gibel, sing in unison their slightly different origin stories. They too are orphans, and everyone's seeming lack of family or a grounding influence serves to heighten the farcical elements and leave the audience as consistently unmoored as the characters.

From there, we shift our focus to Tilly, around whom all the action in the play revolves. Tilly works as a bank teller, and has been told by her job that she is too depressed and needs to seek counseling, which brings her into contact with Lorenzo, who is a psychiatrist. Her melancholy is a palpable net that ensnares everyone who comes into contact with her including Lorenzo, Frank, Frances, and eventually Joan, a British nurse and Frances' live-in girlfriend played by Mia Ellis.

Tilly's melancholy consumes her total focus leaving her seemingly unaware of the increasing number of devotees she has, somewhat like an adult Pied Piper leading everyone into a state of melancholy so intense Frances starts to lose her sense of smell and others physically fight over a vial of Tilly's tears. Everyone who encounters Tilly falls instantly and irrevocably into her thrall, and while she's not a femme fatale, she is potentially destroying lives through obliviousness. Though if our characters are seeking melancholy in the first place, is she actually destroying lives, or buoying people up through a gentle despair?

If that description sounds a bit confusing, it's because the play is just that. This is a pure farce, taking place on a one-room set with a deliberately incomprehensible plot. Of course, in order to have a plot at all, something must change, and the major shift, where Tilly shrugs off her melancholy, takes up bike riding, and beams and bounces her way across the stage seems more jarring for the characters than necessarily for the audience. It is at that point, where the play starts to get a little sloppy, to the point where it starts to feel like the writer just kept throwing in more and more absurdity just to run out the clock.

Watching this play and trying to make sense of it is an exercise in frustration. In this world, people who succumb to total melancholy run the risk of turning into almonds, which does result in several funny scenes requiring the actors to act opposite a tiny, protein-rich snack.

The first section of this play is much more polished than the second, but what keeps it working is strong performances by all. Rachel Warren carries the play with a charming and manic performance that is hard to tear your eyes away from. During several sections of the play, she is offstage, and the audience feels her absence as keenly as the characters on stage yearning for her to come back. The musical selections can't be called songs as much as interludes, but all include subtle jokes and wordplay that advance the story while showcasing such truly impressive vocal talents.

Despite some clunkiness, the Melancholy Play had the audience laughing out loud from start to finish, and knowing that it isn't supposed to make sense frees a person from the shackles of reason. What it may lack in tight cohesion, it makes up for in pure entertainment.

MELANCHOLY PLAY: A CHAMBER MUSICAL runs through June 28 at Trinity Repertory Company 201 Washington Street, Providence. It is presented in one ninety minute act. Tickets run from $30-$71 and can be purchased by calling (401) 351-4242, or visiting trinityrep.com.

Pictured L to R: Rebecca Gibel, Mia Ellis, Charlie Thurston, Rachel Warren and Joe Wilson Jr. Photo Credit Mark Turek.

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