The good news is, and I don’t mean this casually, that if John Patrick Shanley, a theater icon, can miss the mark by such a large measure, then what’s to stop any of us from trying something magnificent? Sure, Shanley is successful and doesn’t worry about his next meal – but the taste of disappointment is always bitter. Am I right?
This musical is an astonishing hodgepodge. The first five minutes of Romantic Poetry are pretty funny. Frankie (Jerry Dixon), a guy in a tux, sings about love and his devotion to romantic poetry; segue into Him, Frankie, and Her, Connie (Emily Swallow), Groom and Bride, moments after they have left their wedding reception. They sing about undying love, with the caveat that that was then, and this is now – four hours after the ceremony. The situation has changed.
Still good. Still good. I’m all set to find out why things changed. Except that I never do. This show reminded me of my night dreams – I often have dreams that never complete themselves. I start out dressing for a date and end up in a grocery store because I’m out of oranges. Hate that!
So too, we never get anywhere in this show, not with the book by Shanley nor the music by Krieger. There is a small tick of excitement when the always steady Mark Linn-Baker teams up with Jeb Brown to finally give us a plot point about 30 minutes into the show. They are both ex-husbands of our bride, and one is more ex- than the other. It’s a long scene, but we are rewarded with a great song-and-dance number straight out of vaudeville. And who knew Linn-Baker could sing? Not me.
Not only do we sit through the wanderings of Frankie and Connie, we have to watch the similar and equally drawn out escapades of the other couple we are tracking. They met at the honeymoon hotel – Fred (Ivan Hernandez) and Mary (Patina Renea Miller) and are on-again, off-again, and, um… where was I? Oh, who cares?
Article comments
1 - linda
This was stunningly bad.