Theatre Review - "Melancholy Play: A Chamber Musical" at WCSU

DANBURY - Western CT State University Department of Theatre Arts is presenting the play “Melancholy Play: a chamber musical” written by Sara Ruhl and Todd Almond. The WCSU students are directed and music directed by Justin P. Cowan and the play was produced by Pam McDaniel.

The original play by Ruhl was subtitled “A Contemporary Farce” was written as a non-musical in 2002 as Ruel’s attempt to defend the artistic need for basking in melancholia. It was later adapted into a chamber musical version, which was produced in 2012.

In both versions, Tilly’s melancholy is of an exquisite quality. She turns her melancholy into a sexy thing, and every stranger she meets falls in love with her. One day, inexplicably, Tilly becomes happy, and wreaks havoc on the lives of her paramours.

The playwright notes that the play poses the question of “how to reach people who are sealed off past the point of melancholy, and in a windowless room of depression. The rather simple answer that the play offers is: you go to them.”

Frances, Tilly’s hairdresser, becomes so melancholy that she turns into an almond. It is up to Tilly to get her back. Frank, a tailor who opens the performance, is played very well by Sam Rogers, a senior who played Demetrius in “A Midsummer Night’s Dream.”

The almond, the surname of the composer, appears several times in the dialogue as metaphor and an actual nut in the work. The latter is just one of the silly parts of the farce that make the audience smile. The harmonies of the voices of the five performers were quite beautiful as they sang their way through the score.

The bank teller Tilly was played at the matinee I attended by Bella Bosco and she did very well with the melancholy role. Bosco is a junior BFA Musical Theatre major from Delaware, OH. She shares the role with Julia Rocchio from Naugatuck.

WCSU senior Dean Martin from Manchester CT, is a delight in the role of Lorenzo, Tilly’s therapist. Martin appeared in “Radium Girls,” “Night Music, “ and “Midsummer Night’s Dream” as Oberon. The understudy for Lorenzo is Raul Calderon.

Joan, a nurse, is played by Rachel Faria, a senior BFA Musical Theatre major. The Joan understudy is Kendyl Davis. Sydney Maher, a junior from Milford, sings wonderfully in the role of Frances. Maher appeared in “A Little Night Music” at the university and in “Beat Bugs: A Musical Adventure” as Buzz. The Frances understudy is Jamishay Cammann.

The tailor Frank is played by Sam Robers, a senior BFA Musical Theatre major. His understudy is Jackson Tubis.

It was a delight to see the Assistant Music Director Jackson Tubis interact with the actors at the end of the play, after playing piano with the strings in the onstage orchestra that he conducted, and even serve as the dance partner for Lorenzo for a short dance sequence. The orchestra, composed primarily of current music students and alumni, included two violins, on viola and a cello.

The lighting design by Daisy Long is striking at times and shines well on the set designed by Clifton Chadwick. It featured shiny silver floors and clear plastic chairs While awaiting their entrances, the five actors sit upon wooden boxes separated by pandemic-inspired hanging plastic sheeting. Contemporary costumes designed by Joni Johns Lerner fit the piece nicely.

While the performers were unmasked, everyone in the audience was asked to keep their mask on at all times while inside the theatre. “Melancholy Play” continues Nov. 5 and 6 at 8:00pm and Nov. 6 and 7 at 2:00pm at the VPAC on the West Side Campus. It is 90 minutes long with no intermission.

Nancy Sasso Janis has been writing theatre reviews since 2012 as a way to support local theatre venues. She posts reviews of well over 100 productions each year. In 2016, she became a member of the Connecticut Critics Circle. She continues to contribute theatre news, previews, and audition notices to local Patch sites. Reviews of all levels of theatrical productions are posted on Naugatuck Patch and the Patch sites closest to the venue. She recently became a contributor to the Waterbury Republican-American newspaper. Her weekly column and theatre reviews appear in the Thursday Weekend section of the paper.

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