‘Picasso’ a lively balance Penobscot Theatre performance marks new director’s debut

If you weren’t in Paris in 1904, then you missed one of the richest artistic and cultural moments of the 20th century. Chances are, you did miss it. I did, by more than 50 years. But the Penobscot Theatre Company brings back the turn-of-the-century spirit with “Picasso at the Lapin Agile” playing through Oct. 2 at the Bangor Opera House.

Written by comedian Steve Martin, who majored in philosophy and theater in college, the play was first produced in 1993 in Chicago and moved on to New York City, where it won Outer Critics Circle Awards for best off-Broadway play and best playwright. Although the play has been kicking around local theaters for several years, this is the first time Bangor’s home theater has taken on the heady, humorous work. The production also marks the debut of PTC’s new producing artistic director Scott R.C. Levy. As one of his first moves in office, Levy plugged in the Martin work to replace a Neil Simon comedy. It was a good switch.

Martin’s play is funny, smart and surreal. It takes place a few years before Picasso painted one of the most important works in the development of modern art, “Les Demoiselles d’Avignon,” of five prostitutes depicted in the style of African masks. Much of the action in the play builds to the moment of Picasso’s inspiration for the painting.

Despite the title of the play, Picasso is perhaps one of Martin’s least interesting characters. In fact, it is another 20th century giant – Albert Einstein – who gives the action its spark and, if you’ll excuse the pun, energy. The premise of the play is a made-up meeting between Picasso and Einstein at a Paris bar, imagined with true Parisian flavor – a vaulted ceiling and high-hung art work – by set designer Lex Liang. His costume design, especially for the women, is not as bewitching.

In Martin’s intriguing world, each of the men holds a chunk of destiny in his hand: Picasso in art and Einstein in science. They sense they are on the verge of something, though neither knows exactly what. When one of Picasso’s young lovers presents Einstein with a sketch the artist did of her, the young scientist summarizes the play’s symbolic core: “I never thought the 20th century would be handed to me so casually.” The 20th century is about to take off, and, speculate though they do, no one really knows what lies ahead.

If it sounds overly intellectual, it is. But it also is not. It’s vintage Martin: absurd and bright with a sliding scale between heady and silly. Gabriel Sigal, as Einstein, navigates that range with particular skill. His performance is nuanced when necessary, big when required, wacky as needed. And he does all three with equal ease, elasticity and believability. Like Einstein was in his time, Sigal is the star of this show.

Phil Price is completely convincing as Gaston, an aging regular at the bar and the play’s virtual Greek chorus. Gaston makes frequent exits to the men’s room, and Price’s portrayal of the routine becomes more and more funny in the course of the evening. Unfortunately, it’s nearly impossible to hear all of Price’s words but he’s not alone in this. Except for Sigal and Allen Adams, who plays a loudmouth wannabe celebrity, the cast is hard to hear. It may be the acoustics in the old hall or the cast adjusting to the frequent laughter. In the end, however, an audience expects to hear all the words – especially in a play that takes much of its humor from clever turns-of-phrase.

Each of the cast members – Adam Kuykendall, Amy Jane Mooney, Kae Cooney, Jim Pendergist, Matt Mullin as Picasso and Paul Rhyand as an iconic visitor from the future – has moments of utter hilarity. While they work well as an ensemble and the pacing of the show is often excellent, Levy has chosen a vaudevillian style for much of the action, which sometimes translates into mugging. Tempting, of course, when the playwright himself is a stand-up comic of extraordinary wit and physicality. But the script’s many one-liners eventually wear out in overemphasis.

Levy makes a few other choices that aren’t quite clear: distracting lighting and clunky blocking such as Mooney’s many trips up and down a spiral staircase. Yet there’s much to like about this show – right down to the return of the regal stage curtain. When it opened Friday to reveal Liang’s sophisticated set, the scene won a roaring and deserved applause. Like Martin’s theme of a new beginning, a new curtain has opened in the theater’s history, too.

Penobscot Theatre Company will present “Picasso at the Lapin Agile” through Oct. 2 at the Bangor Opera House. For tickets and information, call 942-3333 or visit www.penobscottheatre.org. Alicia Anstead can be reached at 990-8266 and aanstead@bangordailynews.net.