Women on the Verge
of a Nervouse Breakdown

If the talented divas at the Belasco Theatre—Patti LuPone, Sherie Rene Scott, and Laura Benanti—were teetering on the verge of a nervous breakdown, it’s amazing how they didn’t just tumble over.  Not that the musical adaptation of Pedro Almodóvar’s film is a complete flop.   Michael Yeargan’s props and set are colorful, clever and imaginative.  However, the sound, fury and frenzy of the sketchy characters, plus the taxi, motorcycle, moving walkways, various apartments, flaming mattress, and Sven Ortel's manic projections of Madrid scenes… whew, you have to catch your breath and wonder: where is it all headed?

Here’s the deal:  It’s flamboyant Madrid in the ‘80’s.  Pepa (Sherie Rene Scott), who is a film dubber, gets an “adios” via answering machine from her lover, Ivan (Brian Stokes Mitchell).  Not nice, but she should have been prepared since Ivan has had a long-term unfaithfulness problem.  Pepa goes on a frantic chase to find answers and, fortunately, a taxi driver (Danny Burstein) happens to be ready and willing to chauffeur her around Madrid.

Meanwhile, Ivan is being stalked by his wife, Lucia (Patti LuPone) whom he abandoned two decades earlier, sending her into a mental institution.  Now released, Lucia wants financial revenge.  Ironically, Lucia hires a lawyer, Paulina (de'Adre Aziza), who happens to be Ivan’s latest paramour.  She is further stressed by Carlos, her grown wimpy son (Justin Guarini), and Marisa, his unpleasant girlfriend (Nikka Graff Lanzarone), are planning to move out of Lucia’s house and into their own apartment.

Pepa’s best friend is a jittery bubblehead named Candela (Laura Benanti) who is in love with a terrorist.   When Candela realizes her liaison might mean serious trouble, she is frantic.  At one point, Pepa even fears her pal has gone over the ledge—literally.  Wearing a micro-mini, Benanti skitters around the stage, screaming, crying, wringing the juice from this plum role, and yet is kind of lovable.  ersHer tongue-twisting, hilarious “Model Behavior” is a standout tune in David Yazbek’s Latin-flavored, largely unmemorable score.

Bartlett Sher (South Pacific) directed this screwball comedy fluidly and it all might have worked if librettist Jeffrey Lane (Dirty Rotten Scandals) had produced a sleeker point of view and stronger character development.  The silvery voice and heroic presence of Brian Stokes Mitchell, as Ivan, is seriously underutilized.  Even LuPone hardly has a chance to showcase her voice, except for the poignant, “Ínvisible.”  Unfortunately, she does not have much to do at all except parade around wearing Catherine Zuber’s richly colored costumes harking back to the Dynasty days, but she wears them with flair.

As Pepa, Scott looks bewildered in all this chaos.  She throws her phone away in frustration once too many times and, in desperation, spikes a batch of her famous gazpacho with a handful of Valium, hoping in vain to get Ivan to drink it.

Choreography by Michael Yeargan exudes the energy you’d expect, highlighted in a flashy ensemble segment at the end of Act I, with the women acknowledging they were indeed "On the Verge," cavorting on colorful elastic ropes.

It all works out at the end and there are even some entertaining moments.  The production, however, follows the 1988 madcap comedy so literally that Lincoln Center Theater’s musical adaptation ends up in overdrive, as a couple of unfocused Looney Tunes hours and not much more.

(Pictured: Nikka Graff Lanzarone, Laura Benanti, Justin Guarini. Photo by Joan Marcus)

Elizabeth Ahlfors
Cabaret Scenes
November 7, 2010
www.cabaretscenes.org