AmericanTheaterWeb Original News & Reviews

For the characters in John Patrick Shanley and Henry Krieger's quirky new chamber musical, that opened at Manhattan Theatre Club's Stage 1 at City Center last night, life should be quite simple. All they're looking for is a little of that magic that's found in the stuff of the tuner's title: Romantic Poetry. You know, the big emotions where everything is swirling and pretty and everyone feels good all of the time. The characters sing about their need for this elusive commodity in the show's opening number and spend the next two hours or so trying to attain it. Their ride, like the musical itself, is rocky, but when all is said and done, it's also an exceedingly enjoyable ride, sort of like love itself.

Connie (Emily Swallow) and Fred (Ivan Hernandez) are the lovebirds at the center of "Poetry." They've both been married twice before and as the musical begins they've arrived at their honeymoon getaway in the Poconos. From the way they're fighting (she's wielding the baseball bat that she found in the priest's car she drunkenly stole from their reception), romance is not going to come easy for these two on the third time around. When Mary (Patina Renea Miller), the hotel's assistant manager, shows up in the room with a complimentary bottle of champagne and instantly falls for Frankie (Jerry Dixon), the caterer who's followed the newlyweds demanding payment on the bill Connie's dad hasn't paid, love does spring at the honeymoon resort. They share Krieger's pop-infused, almost Ashford and Simpson-like, tune "Destiny" and retreat to another room in the hotel.

With love blooming for this latter couple, and seesawing for the former, "Poetry" flies off into other directions. Fred's convinced that Connie is the woman that his aunt predicted would ruin his life, but at the same time, Connie's willing to let him drop his job as a cell phone salesman to try his hand at being a poet. Frankie and Mary confront a similar dilemma when she announces that all she's ever really wanted to do is be a painter. The lives of all concerned are further complicated by the presence of the emotionally challenged Red (Jeb Brown) and the somewhat oily attorney Carl (Mark Linn-Baker), Connie's first and second husbands respectively.

Shanley's book and Krieger's score run a gamut of styles. Sometimes farce collides with opera. Elsewhere, there's a strict razzmatazz Broadway sensibility to it all. Sometimes, "Poetry" even brings to mind the emotional and musical complexity of shows from Stephen Sondheim and William Finn. It's a hodgepodge – sort of like the process of navigating a relationship – and it's to Shanley's credit as the director show's that "Poetry" succeeds as well as it does. As the piece becomes increasingly absurd (and in the second half it almost derails as the story twists and turns), theatergoers are swept along with the characters and their stories, with rarely a moment to register incredulity or skepticism. (David Korins' scenic design which brings to mind the sort of bare stage that might have served for a Busby Berkley production number allows Shanley's staging to move with its fluidity and also brings a sort of old-time glamour to the proceedings).

The performers navigate the varied tones and styles of Shanley's script and Krieger's score with aplomb. Swallow makes Connie not only deliciously coarse, but also appealingly vulnerable. Dixon's smooth tones are beautifully suited for Krieger's music and he makes Frankie's straightforwardness about finances seem reasonable rather than harsh. Miller imbues Mary with a sultry artsyness and Brown and Linn-Baker are total delights at the sort of old-school vaudevillians who are generally on the sidelines of the action but sometimes at its center. Ultimately, theatergoers find that these two are looking for a little romance in their lives as well, only enhancing and complicating the joys to be found in Romantic Poetry.

---- Andy Propst

Romantic Poetry plays at Manhattan Theatre Club at City Center (131 West 55th Street). Performance schedule varies. For complete information and online ticketing visit: www.ManhattanTheatreClub.com or www.NyCityCenter.org. Tickets are also available by phone at 212-581-1212.