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Writing for Us
A CurtainUp Review
Six Dance Lessons In Six Weeks
By Elyse Sommer
|
You're still enjoying the gift of youth, Michael. And despite what my AARP newsletter claims, the world does belong to the young ---Lily No, it doesn't, Lily. We're renting it just like the rest of you. ---Michael |
Polly Bergen as Lily Harrison & Mark Hamill as Michael Minetti (Photo: Carol Rosegg) |
Not that Richard Alferi's pas de deux doesn't have a touch of class, courtesy of Polly Bergen as a lonely widow who needs a dance partner but not really a teacher since she quite obviously can hold her own to a swing, fox trot, tango, waltz, cha-cha-cha or contemporary dance tempo. Ms. Bergen's only misstep is that she has lent her talents to this play. Granted it offers a meaty part and with less reliance on every cliche in the book and its monotonously repetitive plot arc might just have been yet another successful variation of the tried-and-true formula of an "odd couple" friendship.
The odd couplehood establishes itself through St. Petersburg retiree Lily Harison's response to an ad for a private, at-home dance course from an outfit calling itself "Six Dance Lessons in Six Weeks." This brings gay, ex-chorus boy Michael Minetti to her blandly furnished condo with its drop-dead view. His brash manners and crude language threaten to end the lessons before they can begin. But not to worry. He's a nice warm-hearted guy who came to Florida to take care of his dying mother and Lily is not the " tight-assed old biddy" he thinks she is. Since there's more talk than dancing (too bad!) they establish a rapport that blossoms into a warm friendship and along the way reveals easily predicted small and large secrets (Lily's true age, her not-so-great relationship with her Baptist Minister husband, terminal illness, etc.etc.).
Add to this recipe for comic sparring leading and a touchy-feely ending bathed in the sunset that regularly lights up the condo's picture window a standard issue third character, economically kept off stage -- a downstairs neighbor who regularly interrupts the dancing with phone calls that end with yet another bit of bathos and an unsurprising happy ending to Michael's love life.
Richard Alfiri's leaden-footed script isn't exactly helped by Arthur Allan Seidelman's direction which seems to play each scene at the slowest possible tempo. Seidelman has also misdirected Mark Hammill to play up the off-putting aspects of the early scenes to the point of coarseness which even his better and more sympathetic final scene can't redeem.
Each scene features a new dance and musical sound track. There are some variations and, of course, additional secrets spilled out in the interest of the steadily building rapport, but essentially there is a sameness to the overall that makes it feel like a needle stuck in an old gramophone record. When Alfiri gives Lily a funny line like "I'm wearing my fuck-me dress, and I'm going to dance!" he negates it by having her talk about his "being in the cupboard" -- making her character seem insultingly and unbelievably out of touch, especially when you consider that it isn't all that long since she taught high school.
Sound designer Philip G. Allen's choice of music (Starting with the Andrew Sisters' "Bei Mir Mist Du Schön" and and ending with the Beach Boys'" Surfin' USA";) is one of the play's chief pleasures. So are the ever-changing, if at times over-elegant outfits Helen Butler has provided for Ms. Bergen.
But for all Bergen's charm and good timing, this isn't quite the acting lesson that Laura Hitchcock described when she saw Six Lessons with Uta Hagen and David Pierce-Hyde. To return to my real estate truism, at a top ticket price of $80 this is a lesson in how to get the least bang for the buck. And while Lily doesn't need any dancing lessons, Mr. Alfieri could use a minimum of six lessons on original, non-cliched playwriting.
To read the review of the Los Angeles production go here.
| SIX DANCE LESSONS IN SIX WEEKS
Written by Richard Alfieri' Directed by Arthur Allan Seidelman Cast: Polly Bergen as Lily Harrison and Mark Hamill as Michael Minetti Dances choreographed by Kay Cole Set Design: Roy Christopher. Costume Design: Helen Butler Lighting Design: Tom Ruzika Sound Design: Philip G. Allen Running time: 2 hours, including one 15-minute intermission Belasco Theatre, 111 West 44th St 212-239-6200 From 10/07/03; opening 10/29/03 Schedule: Tuesday at 7 PM, Wednesday at 2 and 8 PM, Thursday and Friday at 8 PM, Saturday at 2 and 8 PM, Sunday at 3 PM Ticket price: Tuesday, Wednesday, and Thursday Performances: $70, $50, and $25. Friday, Saturday, and Sunday Performances: $80, $55, and $25. Reviewed by Elyse Sommer based on performance |
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Leonard Maltin's 2003 Movie and Video Guide
Ridiculous!The Theatrical Life & Times of Charles Ludlam
Somewhere For Me, a Biography of Richard Rodgers
The New York Times Book of Broadway: On the Aisle for the Unforgettable Plays of the Last Century
6, 500 Comparative Phrases including 800 Shakespearean Metaphors by CurtainUp's editor.
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