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<p class="MsoNormal"><b style><br></b></p><p class="MsoNormal"><span style="color:rgb(153,0,255)"><b style></b></span></p><p class="MsoNormal"><b style><br></b></p><p class="MsoNormal"><b style>PRELUDE TO A KISS, a
romantic fantasy at Ensemble</b></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"> </p>
<p class="MsoNormal">Roy Berko</p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-size:10pt">(Member, American Theatre
Critics Association, Cleveland Critics Circle)</span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-size:10pt"> </span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal">If you hear a song in blue</p>
<p class="MsoNormal">Like a flower crying for the dew</p>
<p class="MsoNormal">That was my heart serenading you</p>
<p class="MsoNormal">My prelude to a kiss</p>
<p class="MsoNormal"> </p>
<p class="MsoNormal">These are the lyrics which Duke Ellington wrote as the first
stanza to his 1938 torch song, Prelude to a Kiss.<span style> </span>It is this song which supposedly inspired Craig Lucas to
write and title his romantic comedy of the same name.</p>
<p class="MsoNormal"> </p>
<p class="MsoNormal">Lucass 1988 script, which has been critically dubbed, a
whimsically inept piece of high kitscha TWILIGHT ZONE for yuppie soft-heads
and was credited as being packed with cheap sentiment and puerile
romanticism, also was dubbed, <span style>a charming sentimental fable about the importance
of loving the essence of a human being, not the package it happens to come in.<span style> </span>Yes, thats the kind of script and
production which will probably engender a variety of reactions to viewers of
the present staging at Ensemble Theatre.</span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><span style> </span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><span style>PRELUDE TO A KISS basically tells the story of a pessimistic, liberal,
free-spirited young lady who earns her living as a bartender, who meets a
conservative manager of a Chicago scientific publishing house.<span style> </span>They quickly fall in love, get married,
kiss to affirm their wedding bows, and are confronted by a series of bizarre
events after an old man kisses the new bride.<span style> </span></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><span style> </span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><span style>While on their honeymoon, husband, Peter, begins to feel that new
wife, Rita, is not the same person that he married.<span style> </span>As the tale unfolds, the author leads the audience down a
supernatural path that includes the Old Man and Kelly having switched
personas.<span style> </span>In other words,<span style> </span>Rita is now inside the Old Mans body,
and he in hers.</span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><span style> </span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><span style>The assumption was made at the time the play was first presented that
there was more to the story than Lucas examining whether the strength of
commitment to each other can survive drastic changes to a person.<span style> </span></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><span style> </span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><span style>To understand this premise, it must be realized that when Lucas wrote
the play, the AIDS epidemic was in full rage with no definitive knowledge of
its cause or how it was being passed on.<span style>
</span></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><span style> </span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><span style>To some, the act of love/sex, including maybe even kissing, was
changing people.<span style> </span>The young were
becoming old before the eyes of the onlookers.<span style> </span>Would these physical changes make for bonding changes?<span style> </span>As one critic stated, So while it ends
as fairy tales tend to, PRELUDE TO A KISS is steeped in the ache of loss and
sorrowful awareness that lifes joys can be as fleeting as its grief are
unavoidable.</span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><span style> </span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><span style>In light of present day circumstances, the play is most likely to be
regarded as an<span style> </span>examination of the
limits of love and the meaning of obligation to one another.</span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><span style> </span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><span style>The play starred Alec Baldwin and Mary-Louise Parker in its
well-received off-Broadway staging and Timothy Hutton and Parker in its 440-performance
Broadway run.<span style> </span>It was nominated for
a best play Tony Award and was a Pulitzer Prize finalist.<span style> </span>A generally negatively reviewed
movie version starred Baldwin and Meg Ryan.</span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><span style> </span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><span style>The Ensemble production, under the direction of Martin Friedman, is a rather
neutral experience.<span style> </span>The play
hasnt worn well over time.<span style> </span>With
the AIDS issue generally under control, the writers underlying message is no
longer relevant.<span style> </span>The concept of a
kiss causing a cosmic bodily exchange is hard, even in this era of vampire,
werewolf and supernatural movies and television shows, for realists to accept.</span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><span style> </span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><span style>Nothing is wrong with the production, but nothing is really
compelling.<span style> </span>There is a leisurely
pace, the acting is acceptable, the musical interludes pleasant, the projections
place the settings, move the storyline along.</span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><span style> </span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><span style>Aaron Elersich gives a nice interpretation to Peter.<span style> </span>Cute Kelly Strand, though perfectly
acceptable, could have been more quirky and dynamic as Rita.<span style> </span>There was little performance evidence
of her change from youthful malcontent to dying old man.</span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-size:13pt;font-family:Helvetica"> </span></p>
<p class="" style="text-autospace:none"><i style>CAPSULE
JUDGEMENT:<span style> </span>Ensemble Theatres
PRELUDE TO A KISS is one of those plays and productions, that while a perfectly
acceptable evening of theatre, quickly fades from memory.</i></p>
<p class="" style="text-autospace:none"><i style> </i></p>
<p class=""><span style>PRELUDE TO A KISS </span>runs Thursdays through Sundays through December
15, 2012, at Ensemble Theatre, housed in Coventry School, 2843 Washington Blvd,
Cleveland Heights.<span style> </span>For tickets
call 216-321-2930 or go online to <a href="http://www.ensemble-theatre.org">http://www.ensemble-theatre.org</a></p>
<p class=""><span style="color:rgb(153,0,255)"></span></p><p class=""><br></p><p class=""> <br></p></div>