The Rose Tattoo
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Cititour.com Review
Every rose has its thorns, but Trip Cullman’s mostly misguided production of Tennessee Williams’ 1951 Tony-winning play “The Rose Tattoo,” now at the Roundabout’s American Airlines Theatre, metaphorically pricks our fingers at almost every opportunity. Like a Band-Aid, however, the hard-working Marisa Tomei acts up a Gulf Coast storm to try to staunch the bleeding.
Although a bit too svelte and refined for the supposedly plump Sicilian-born widow, the “Baronessa” Serafina Delle Rose, the Oscar-winning star uses her considerable comedic and dramatic skills to consistently distract us, delight us and even move us. What she can’t do single-handedly, though, is save us completely from Cullman’s deeply questionable directorial choices.
Indeed, Williams’ aficionados (and perhaps neophytes as well) will sense trouble the minute they see Mark Wendland’s ridiculously busy and strangely abstract set – which, among other things, gives little sense of the play’s time period (1950 to be precise). It also ultimately proves to be just one of the many things onstage that contradicts Williams’ actual text. (As we soon learn, there is no goat nor parrot, and the dozens of plastic flamingos serve no purpose!)
While we instinctively realize first impressions can be deceiving, our hopes that things will right themselves get dashed time and again. Some of the missteps are small, such as why Serafina’s teenaged daughter Rosa (a too-mature Ella Rubin) uses a thicker Southern accent than anyone onstage -- even her sweet-natured local suitor Jack Hunter (an impressive and impressively built Burke Swanson). Others are, unfortunately, larger and more damaging.
To me, the most vital ones arise during the second act, which focuses on the play’s eventual and unlikely romance between Serafina and her younger suitor, Alvaro Mangiacavallo (Emun Elliott). He’s a coarse but good-natured Sicilian truck driver whom Serafina quickly notes has a great body attached to “the face of a clown.” While the character almost instantly earns our sympathy by rightly wearing his heart on his sleeve (as well as on his well-defined chest), the word “clown” best describes the Scottish actor’s slapstick performance rather than his pleasing visage. Yes, the play is a comedy, but it’s not a farce.
On the plus side, Cullman smartly emphasizes the importance of Serafina’s old-world ways and deep-natured spirituality, which not only provide much of the play’s conflict, but shows us just how much of a proverbial fish out of water Serafina is in post-war America (especially in the deep South). But even here, there’s a major miscalculation: We must feel that Serafina really believes her disfigured neighbor is truly a witch – aka The Strega – but since the part (embodied by Constance Schulman dressed as a Halloween pirate) barely registers, we never understand why Serafina is so disturbed by her presence.
Admittedly, there is some other good acting work on this stage (notably the scene-stealing Tina Benko as the sultry Estelle, a very funny Portia as a dissatisfied client of Serafina’s and Carolyn Mignini as the wise old woman Assunta), but it’s all in service to an essentially lost cause. Luckily for us, though, a disappointing production of any play – even a Williams classic -- can be erased (from the memory, at least) far more easily than any tattoo.
By Brian Scott Lipton
Visit the Site
https://www.roundabouttheatre.org/get-tickets/2019-2020-season/the-rose-tattoo/
Cast
Cassie Beck, Alexander Bello,Tina Benko, Andréa Burns, Susan Cella, Emun Elliott, Paige Gilbert, Greg Hildreth, Isabella Iannelli, Jacob Michael Laval, Ellyn Marie Marsh, Carolyn Mignini, Portia, Ella Rubin, Jennifer Sánchez, Constance Shulman, Burke Swanson, Marisa Tomei, Florrie Bagel, Katerina McCrimmon, Michelangelo Milano
Open/Close Dates
Opening 10/15/2019
Closing 12/8/2019
Theatre Info
American Airlines Theatre
227 West 42nd Street
New York, NY 10036
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