Word: sagall
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Proving that bigger is not necessarily better, Sagal, his cast and crew have brought out the full potential of Moliere's classic. This production takes previous Mainstage shows to school...
...RECENT years, Mainstage shows have gotten bigger and bigger--bigger casts, bigger sets, bigger statements on the meaning of life--but not better in quality. Director Peter Sagal's hilarious version of Moliere's School for Wives is a simple, unassuming production that puts recent Mainstage shows to shame...
...true Moliere fashion, none of Arnolphe's carefully laid-out schemes work, and the chaos that ensues has only been matched these days by the best of Blake Edwards' movies. Sagal takes considerable liberties with the script, further fleshing out Moliere's humor. Scenes take on a cartoon-like quality in the spirit of Chuck Jones' Looney Tunes. At times, Oleson becomes an Elmer Fudd buffoon. He stumbles over tree stumps and brings out an armory of weapons to battle his imagined enemies, looking ridiculously anachronistic in a World War I helmet...
...middle of the play, Arnolphe forces Agnes to read a book of maxims about marriage, her schooling in wifery. Instead of having Robin read the ditties as the script calls for, Sagal sends in a troupe of "Maxim Players" (Jennifer Litt, Will Provost, Fiona Tingley, and Manson Yew) who proceed to act out eleven of them. Sagal turns a potentially boring segment into an amusing vaudeville skit. Other scenes like this punctuate the show, keeping the action fastpaced and the energy level high...
What makes these performances even more enjoyable is Sagal's intimate staging and inventive set. Foregoing the Loeb's cavernous regular stage, Sagal built a new set where the front section of seats used to be, surrounding the stage on three sides with seats. During Arnolphe's "asides," Oleson comes right up to people in the front rows and talks directly to them. The high degree of interaction makes the impact of the performances greater than "normal" staging would have...