Sunday, May 25, 2008
A+E, Theater, Reviews
That’s Amore
David Kronawitter delivers zesty performance in ‘Poetry of Pizza’
MJ Conboy
David Kronawitter and Agnes Harty in “The Poetry of Pizza”
“THE POETRY OF PIZZA”
Theatre in the Square
$7-$35
770-422-8369
www.theatreinthesquare.com
Through June 8
DULY NOTED:
There’s not much to toast in Stage Door Players’ “The Cocktail Hour” (statically directed by Jessie Dean), a family comedy that feels considerably older than its 1988 copyright indicates. A middle-aged writer seeks his father’s approval before producing his next (semi-autobiographical) play. Based on the opening-night showing of Dean’s four-member cast, the characters lack ample sophistication or palpable conflict, and the actors struggle enough with their lines to disqualify all their talk of conversational “rhythm.” They get in some funny digs at critics, though. Through June 8. 770-396-1726. www.stagedoorplayers.net
BY BERT OSBORNE
A star is born in Theatre in the Square’s romantic comedy “The Poetry of Pizza,” and his name is David Kronawitter. Even if he impressed you with his leading role in last season’s “The Woman in Black”—never mind how he barely rated a second thought with smaller parts in “Beyond the Rainbow” or “Take Me Out”—nothing will prepare you for the sheer joy of his performance as a Kurdish refugee and pizza maker in Copenhagen who falls for a visiting American divorcee and poetry professor. She writes books. He can’t read. And so goes the innocuous play (by Deborah Brevoort), with little more profound to impart than that opposites sometimes attract.
It might be easy to marginalize the character of Soran Saleen as a kinder, gentler Borat, crossed with the sex appeal of a younger Omar Sharif. He’s tall, dark and handsome; impossibly sweet and charming; prone to adorable mispronunciations (“flu-air” for flower); and in touch with his emotions, too. (Breaking into tears at the very mention of the succulent figs back home, he sobs, “I no help it.”) What sensible single woman wouldn’t be eating out of his hand, as it were? In his culinary courtship of her, an eggplant pizza becomes an aphrodisiac he calls “purple passion.”
But Kronawitter provides remarkable shading, a depth and dimension that feels honest and real—and not only in his “big” scenes, like Soran’s inevitable recounting of the hellish circumstances under which he fled his land. He has an unspoken moment opposite Scott DePoy (as one of several Danish buffoons) that’s transfixing in its subtlety. DePoy’s character deludes himself into thinking the American is smitten with him, and as he’s telling Soran about it, watch Kronawitter balance his outward sunniness with inner heartache. Every time DePoy glances away from him, the smile begins to fade, but every time DePoy looks back, it quickly returns. It’s lovely work.
Sarah, the object of their affections, is portrayed by the estimable Agnes Harty, although she gets an unprecedented dose of her own medicine here. Ordinarily, she’s the one sweeping up the stage with her leading men (“Cabaret,” “Educating Rita”). As written, the true poetry of “Pizza” very much belongs to Kronawitter, and even all of the supporting players are more colorful (most memorably, Bill Murphey as Soran’s avuncular boss and fellow Kurd). That Sarah is the straight woman, the least distinctive personality in her own story, is finally beyond Harty’s control.
Coming out of nowhere, a late-breaking debate about Sarah “cleaning” herself through a certain Kurdish custom seems incongruous with the play’s frivolous tone, bordering on tasteless. And whether it’s Brevoort’s doing or a directorial choice by Jessica Phelps West, a lot of the staging is bizarrely blocked. One erotic encounter between Soran and Sarah places the actors side by side, looking out to the audience. In some scenes, different characters converse normally, face to face, while in others they stand at odd angles, aiming their dialogue off in unrelated directions. Huh?
It’s probably just as well that most eyes are bound to be firmly planted on Kronawitter, anyway. Soran Saleen will be a hard act for him to follow, but here’s to anticipating his next move. SP