[NEohioPAL] Review of "Art" at Fine Arts Association

[Bob Abelman]

Fine Arts Association delivers a fine 'Art'

 

Bob Abelman



News-Herald, Chagrin Valley Times, Solon Times,

The Morning Journal, Geauga Times Courier


Member, American Theatre Critics Association 




This review will appear in the News-Herald on 10/14/11

 

 

The mysteries of the human genome are being revealed through advancements in science.  

 

The wonders of the universe are being exposed through increasingly complex mathematics.  

 

Yet Bud Lite commercials and Hollywood buddy films come the closest to unveiling the dynamics of heterosexual male bonding.

 

>From them we learn that the pursuit of beer and babes is innate, the fist bump is the most intimate act of expression, and reflecting on the nature of friendship is an endeavor best left to the womenfolk and the Europeans.

 

Art, written by female French playwright Yasmina Reza and on stage at The Fine Arts Association in Willoughby, is a one-act exposé of the bond between men.  Well, the bond between three middle-aged French men whose passion is art, who congregate in ultra-cosmopolitan man-caves, and who have no trouble sharing their deepest feelings with one another. 

 

Serge, a wealthy dermatologist, has purchased a trendy, expensive minimalist painting that he adores.  Marc, his best and oldest friend, is horrified that the man whose exquisite taste in art he himself cultivated has gone and bought a large, unframed all-white canvas for 200,000 francs.  Yvan, the more milquetoast of the three, is caught squarely in the middle.

 

What begins as an intellectual argument over art aesthetics cleverly unravels and becomes a delightful play about relationships.  

 

''If you screw up your eyes, you make out some fine white diagonal lines,'' Marc suggests in his opening monologue when describing the appalling painting.  He then applies the same squinting strategy to his friendships to see what, if anything, lies beneath the surface and to determine whether things have become too monochromatic to be interesting.

 

Although the play has undergone a fine translation from French to English, the notion of three men having a falling out over a painting-and talking about it excessively and openly-has a foreign ring to it.  In order for Art to work on our shores, which it obvious has given its 1998 Tony award and a recent, successful staging at Steppenwolf in Chicago, the acting needs to be honest and abundantly au naturel.

 

Carl Simoncic is wonderful as Marc, a smug classicist who is mortally wounded by Serge's modernist leanings.  His soft-spoken and controlled demeanor beautifully gives way to short-lived outbursts, and he both recognizes and utilizes the quiet moments-the natural pauses the playwright works into the script-to expose his feelings.  

 

Alan Alda played this role on Broadway and Simoncic shares much of his physicality, sensitivity and stylized passive-aggressiveness.   

 

Tom Hill provides us with a rather skin-deep portrayal of the dermatologist, Serge.  Some of his acting choices-such as a go-to angry posture when on the defensive-keep him from displaying some of the likable attributes that justify why these three are friends after 15 years and why the audience should care about him.  Still, Hill manages to be charming and interesting from beginning to end.  

 

Greg Gnau is superb as Yvan, a walking, talking butterball of insecurities who wants nothing more than for his friends to stop fighting.  He is at his best when relaying a recent phone conversation he had with his mother, nicely balancing the scene's comedy and its pathos.   

 

In fact, director James Mango strikes the same, wonderful balance throughout the production.  This is a very funny play but the laughs need to come about organically and often come from dramatic moments.  Although several opportunities for humor fly underneath his radar (the snacks distributed throughout the play, for example, are begging for attention), Mango has put together a fine, fluid production.  

 

His choice to keep the set clean and simple-little more than a couch and chair, two side tables and a piece of art hanging in the middle-is the right one.

 

When the dust settles, it is clear that Art is not any more revealing about the mysteries of male bonding than a Bud Lite commercial.  Some things are simply beyond our comprehension.  Still, this play and the Fine Arts' production of it make for an enjoyable, intelligent entertainment. 

 

Art runs through October 23 at the Fine Arts Association's Corning Auditorium, 38660 Mentor Avenue, Willoughby.  For information or tickets, which are $20 to $22, call 440-951-7500 or visit  www.fineartsassociation.org.
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