'Lend Me a Tenor' Hit Playhouse 22 Stage

“It is September 17, 1934, a big night for the Cleveland Grand Opera,” Mike Fabian explains. “World-famous tenor Tito Merelli is to perform Otello. But Tito shows up late, then accidentally takes a double dose of barbiturates and passes out. Saunders, the harried Opera Impresario, assumes Tito dead and convinces his hapless assistant, Max, to go on as Otello. The plan is working until Tito revives and dons another Otello costume.” 

It sounds like a pitch for a VH1 reality show or a Farrely Brothers “Three Stooges” sequel, but this is the plot of Lend me a Tenor, the final production of , which opened last Friday.

There’s more to the story, of course, as a sequence of mistaken identities abound while several women attempt to seduce Merelli without realizing there are actually two operatic Otellos occupying the theater.

 “It’s an audience-pleaser,” said Fabian, the production’s director. “Like a 1930s Marx brothers movie, it’s full of great plot twists and funny situations.  The characters are all well-drawn and there are no bit parts, so it’s also a good experience for actors.

“And it’s well-known but not overdone.”

Lend Me a Tenor is Fabian’s first directorial effort at Playhouse 22, but he is no stranger to helming stage productions. He directed high school theater in his native New Orleans as well as Los Angeles and New Jersey, community productions in New Orleans and upstate New York, and professionally at the Mississippi Repertory Company.

One of the challenges of directing on Playhouse 22’s is its unusually large space. But Fabian feels the size of the stage allows him to do the play properly.

“Because of the set requirements of this play, you have to have a wide stage to do it justice,” Fabian said. “The set consists of two rooms next to each other, and each ‘room’ has to accommodate all eight characters at some point during the action.  We use every square inch of the set as well as the apron during the action of the show.”

Every director deals with surprises during the rehearsal process, but Fabian says his has largely been of the positive variety. “I was happily surprised by the dedication of the cast, who almost never missed a scheduled rehearsal and came prepared to work hard every night.”

He was also surprised, an ultimately pleased, by the direction and style of certain visual elements of the production took. “Before I began, I assumed we would go with an Art Deco feel to the set,” he said. “But after researching the early 1930s, I discovered that most of the ‘contemporary’ sets of the day, in theater and movies, had a more traditional, elegant feel, so we went in that direction.”

Fabian says this level of authenticity permeates his concept for the play.  “I’ve chosen to stage it as a period piece, so the characters, the acting style, and the set and costume design are all based in 1930s theater,” he said. “The props are amazingly authentic. The phone book cover is a facsimile of the 1934 Cleveland phone book, the magazine Maria reads is a facsimile of the September, 1934 Vogue.  Even the Phenobarbitol bottles and labels are authentic to 1934. 

“And in keeping with the comic acting style of the day, I should give you a warning:  there will be some mugging.”

Lend Me a Tenor was written by Ken Ludwig, and the cast of this production includes Stephen D. Belfatti, Anthony Rossi, Jennifer Nasta Zefutie, Patrick Andrae, Teresa Von den Steinen, Elena Marie Chalcraft, Jen Hanselman, and Mark Kalet.

Playhouse 22’s production runs through June 24 at , located at 721 Cranbury Road. Performances are Fridays and Saturdays at 8 p.m. and Sunday at 3 p.m. Tickets are $20 for adults and $18 for seniors and students. For reservations visit www.playhouse22.org or call 732-254-3939.