Farinelli Charms the King and the Audience

Farinelli and the King, now at the Belasco, is a wonderous play. It is slightly magical, beautiful musically, a little funny and utterly charming without being twee. By way of ingenious use of staging, candlelight and proscenium build out, the Belasco feels intimate, although I would avoid the balcony for this show.

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Mark Rylance plays the King of Spain who suffers from delusions and depression. The show opens with Mr. Rylance having a discussion with a goldfish, a moment he can’t distinguish between dream or nightmare. The audience can feel the weight of his position in the soliloquy. As King he is as trapped in his role as the goldfish is trapped in the bowl.

Farinelli (Sam Crane), left, and King Philippe V (Mark Rylance

Mr. Rylance is once again charming in a period role. He can transition from funny to enraged to incompetent in a flash. The Queen (a lovely tempered Melody Grove) wants to help her King recover and keep the monsters, imagined and real, at bay.  The royal court, embodied by Edward Pell as his chief minister – in over the top outfits and wigs, but a measured performance, is ready to force the King to abdicate. The chief minister dispatches the Queen to take over the court.

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In London, the Queen hears the Opera star Farinelli, and is convinced that his voice will help to stabilize the King. When Farinelli does arrive and sing, the moment is transformative. Watching the King listen to the music the audience can see the beauty and calmness spread across his face, and the relaxation in his carriage. Farinelli is played by Sam Crane in a touching performance as he grows to love the King and the Queen. Farinelli is sung, marvelously, by Iestyn Davies (or the equally sublime James Hall). During the moments of song, the actor and the singer concurrently play Farinelli shadowing one another: they dress the same, and Mr. Crane follows the singer’s lead in demeanor and gesture.

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Farinelli joins the King and Queen both in court and later when they take up residence outside Madrid. The King is able to recuperate, and Farinelli drops his mask as performer to embrace his full personality. Of course, Kings have responsibilities, and their time away from court must come to an end, but it was a moment that was precious to the three and a joy to watch.

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Farinelli and the King feels like a moment captured in amber, a bit dreamy and otherworldly in the best possible sense. Director John Dove gives the play room to grow organically from the actors involved. Jonathan Fensom’s designs enhance the feeling of being let in on a small secret performance. I am not an Opera fan, but Mr. Davies’ performance of Handel’s pieces are like small presents from the past to us today.

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Farinelli and the King | Playwright: Claire van Kampen| Director: John Dove | Cast: Mark Rylance, Sam Crane, Melody Grove, Huss Garbiya, Colin Hurley, Edward Pell, Iestyn Davies, James Hall

A Deal Comes Away with Laughs, But No Easy Answers

The world premiere of A Deal at Urban Stages occurs just as the play is staged also being staged in China and one can’t help but wonder what lessons the Chinese audience will take away. A Deal depends on looking at stereotypes and assumptions with fresh eyes. That is a tough, but valuable, thing to ask audiences to do.

The funny comedy is deceptively simple. Wei-Yin Lin plays Li Su, a Chinese national who has just recently graduated from Colombia’s Master of Fine Arts program. Her parents, only known as Mr. and Mrs. Li, are played by Alan Ariano and Lydia Gaston. Mr. Li is a relatively high-ranking member of the Communist Party and he has put away some money to buy an apartment in New York for his daughter. He and his wife come to New York to buy an apartment and surprise their daughter. Mrs. Li has found memories of the stage when she was a younger woman and sympathizes with her daughter's dreams. They play then follows the child and her parents on concurrent paths.

Lydia Gaston, Wei-Yi Lin and Alan Ariano in A Deal

Li Su gets to opportunity to play the lead role in an off-Broadway play about a tragic abandoned Chinese girl and the system she struggles to grow up in. In order to sell herself to the producers, she convinces the backers and show-goers that she herself is an orphan, a product of the very system they are exposing. It is a poorly sold tale, but one the American backers are happy to exploit. This leads not just to Li Su getting the part, but to  television appearances, panel discussions and relative fame. Her parents, who don’t understand English, are none the wiser.

Mr. and Mrs. Li, after being cheated out of a down payment in Shanghai, engage the services of Peter (Pun Bandhu) an old flame and acting partner of Mrs. Li, to help them find an apartment in New York. Peter left China years ago, and is now a real estate agent in New York. Their interaction revolves around trying to get them settled in the city and Peter’s devotion to Mrs. Li. Mr. Li is annoyed at the country, the city, his wife’s ex-partner and the lack of order that China provides. He also cannot understand the idea of “becoming” an American. The pull of understood versus unexpected and stability versus opportunity is amplified by the undercurrent of Peter’s affection for Mrs. Li and the conflict that creates with Mr. Li.

A Deal looks at the dichotomy of choices and outcomes between the old and the new. Not just defined as old equals China, but generation versus generation. The China which Peter left isn’t the China that Mr. and Mrs. Li live in now. Their stereotypes of America are reinforced, just American’s expectations of China are self-reinforcing. Playwright Zhu Yi does a great job of exploiting these assumptions for laughs, but still leaving enough steel underneath the laughs to make us question our assumptions.

Helen Coxe and Seth Moore pick up multiple roles in the show, and their great acting – as with the entire troupe, is critical for making the show work so well.

It is a very good play, and Zhu Yi will do great things. That said, there are some rough edges that will hit viewer. A Deal is made up of a series vignettes, and there are a lot of them for such a short show. Occasionally this makes the show a little choppy. Director John Giampietro does a great job of making them seamless, but there are still a lot of changes. The longer scenes just pack a deeper punch.

A Deal | Playwright: Zhu Yi | Director: John Giampietro | Cast: Alan Ariano, Pun Bandhu, Helen Coxe, Lydia Gaston, Wei-Yi Lin, Seth Moore | website