By Charlotte K. Jarmy
Theater review
Andrew Lloyd Webber’s “Aspects of Love” opened as a Palo Alto Players production filling Lucie Stern Theater with fine singing and an improbable plot.
The play is true to its title, but is hampered by a melodramatic plot told in operetta style.
Webber’s songs were sung with impressive skill by Alison Bloomfield as Rose, the beautiful actress; Joe Hudelson, the young English soldier; Alex Dillingham; Dan Adamson, the wealthy Uncle George; and Sara Betts, the Italian sculptress Giulietta. The dominant theme is repeated in the poignant song “Love Changes Everything.” The story, based on the novel by David Garnett, explores every kind of love, entangling the lovers in pain and sadness.
The plot summary sounds like a typical French farce: Alex and Rose fall in love, but Rose has an affair and eventually marries George, who continues to care about Giulietta as she segues easily into a menage á trois arrangement, passionately kissing both George and Rose. However, 14 years later another character enters the mix. Oddly, neither Rose nor Alex shows any signs of aging. Lovely Jenny, Rose and George’s daughter, played by Morgan Mallory and Alexandra Kaprielian at different ages, falls in love with Alex and sings of her feelings in a strong, sweet voice.
Melodrama infuses the entire play with overdrawn emotions: anger, jealousy, passion and regret. The acting takes on the same colors, depending on the emotion expressed. The two characters who come across as more than stock personalities are Adamson and Kaparielian, who show depth of feeling that we can respond to. Adamson’s voice is warm and tender when he sings about his daughter Jenny in “The First Man You Remember.”
A complex set caused some opening night problems with a scrim curtain reluctant to rise as needed and some set parts that gave helpers a bumpy exit. We can assume these problems will be corrected.
The orchestra, conducted by Matthew Stenquist-Mattei, performed with credible skill. Director Mike Ward kept the focus on the main players, but the ensemble needed tighter organization. One strange scene depicts a funeral that turns into a wild tango involving the entire ensemble.
“Aspects of Love” runs through Sunday. For tickets, call 329-0891.
