THEATRE REVIEW: ONE TOUCH OF VENUS
31 May'10

JOHN COULBOURN - QMI Agency
Rating: 4 out of 5

NIAGARA-ON-THE-LAKE — Over the ages, she’s been portrayed in countless different ways — large, small, zaftig or slight, raven-haired or fair — but the thing that always entrances about Venus, the legendary goddess of love, child of the Mediterranean’s foam — is a youthful and almost other-worldly ability to make every man fall in love with her and every woman envy her. So one assumes that, here at the Shaw Festival, a fair bit of time and energy went into casting the title role of ONE TOUCH OF VENUS — a delightful little musical confection that tells the story of an ancient statue of the youthful goddess, come inexplicably to life in mid-20th century Manhattan.

Premiered back in 1943 to considerable success, VENUS featured music by the legendary Kurt Weill and lyrics by the celebrated wordsmith and poet Ogden Nash, who also collaborated on the book with screenwriter S. J. Perelman. And most telling, perhaps, it starred the legendary Mary Martin in the early days of her career.

Here at the Shaw, where Venus opened Friday on the Royal George stage, they’ve cast young Robin Evan Willis in the pivotal role, a comely young lady who certainly meets most of the physical expectations an audience might bring to the tale. But while Willis is unquestionably a looker, she is no Mary Martin — nor for that matter, it seems, no Venus either, at least not in the world of this play, where the Roman goddess is transformed not only into flesh but into a stranger in a very strange land as well. It is here, in fact, that Willis, under the direction of Eda Holmes, falls down, creating a Venus that looks out of this world but plays like she’s too much of it. The script calls for Venus to come down to Manhattan from Olympus, after all, not from the Bronx or even upstate New York, which is about as far as the lovely Willis seems to travel.

Happily, on other fronts, Holmes — and her production — fare far better, for although things got off to a rocky start at Friday’s opening, thanks to mechanical glitches in Camellia Koo’s otherwise sophisticated set, it is obvious Holmes and choreographer Michael Lichtefeld have fused this cast into an impressive ensemble.

As Rodney Hatch, the unassuming barber who inadvertently brings Venus to life, the loose-limbed Kyle Blair is a natural, charming fit, while Julie Martell tackles the role of his déclassé fiancee with jarring enthusiasm. Meanwhile Mark Uhre and Deborah Hay stop just shy of stealing the entire show in a pair of delightful performances as modern art maven Whitelaw Savory and his long-suffering girl Friday, Molly Grant, respectively. In supporting roles, Shaw regulars like Jay Turvey, Neil Barclay and Gabrielle Jones do fine work too, backed by a disciplined and enthusiastic chorus.

Working with a largely unknown score, musical director Ryan de Souza turns Weill’s score into a hit parade, winning fans with everything from the delightful Way Out West In Jersey (showcasing Blair, Jones, Martell, Turvey and Barclay), Very, Very, Very (Hay at her very, very, very best) and the delightfully macabre Dr. Crippen (led by the unstoppable Uhre) through to smokey love ballads like I’m a Stranger Here Myself and Speak Low. Some work, however, is still needed to balance orchestrations with the vocals.

Throw in the strong but unobtrusive vision of choreographer Lichtefeld, some fine costuming from Michael Gianfrancesco and the lighting genius of Bonnie Beecher however, and it all comes together as more than a bit of a romp.

And the good news is, if you’re longing for a glimpse of an out-of-this-world Venus, you’ll find, as often as not, she’ll be hanging around in the night sky — just in time for intermission.