After seeing actor Marco Barricelli play an extremely machismo Petruchio in South Coast Repertory’s “Taming of the Shrew” and numerous roles at the Oregon Shakespeare Festival, the theater buff sighed over his signature bravado and virility, his classical chops, his good looks, his luscious baritone and his crisp diction. On each occasion, she wished he would come in San Diego.
That day has come. Barricelli “” all 6′ 2″ of him ” plays Loveless in Amy Freed’s “Restoration Comedy,” a comedic spoof of bawdy and romantic Restoration period plays. Freed did the same sort of thing with Shakespeare in her immensely popular off-Broadway and regional hit, “The Beard of Avon.”
Though married to Amanda (Caralyn Kozlowski), Loveless has been on a 10-year spree of marital infidelity. Their friend Worthy (Peter Frechette) conspires to reunite the couple, and complications ensue.
Early in the rehearsal process, the Village News spoke with Barricelli about “Restoration Comedy.”
“It’s always weird to talk about these things,” he said, “because we’re only two weeks in. It’s a great cast of wonderful actors, and [director] John Rando, whom I’ve not worked with before, is extraordinary. I couldn’t be happier.”
Barricelli described Rando, who copped a 2002 Tony Award for his staging of the musical “Urinetown,” as buoyant in rehearsals and possessed of a great intellect and a terrific sense of humor.
“It’s a wonderful romp with some important things to say about the nature of marriage and fidelity,” Barricelli said. “Though it has to do with the Restoration period, it is full of various anachronisms that are really fun. Once we get it on its feet and into our bodies and mouths, the task is going to be just to enjoy the hell out it, and the audience will go along for the ride.”
A graduate of The Juilliard School, Barricelli is a veteran of eight seasons at the Oregon Shakespeare Festival, where last year he received rave reviews for the title role of “Cyrano de Bergerac.” He was an associate artist at American Conservatory Theatre (ACT) for nearly a decade before moving back to New York in 2005. When he departed ACT, artistic director Carey Perloff told The San Francisco Chronicle: “He’s like my Stradivarius.”
There were several factors that weighed in Barricelli’s decision to become a New Yorker again. First, but not necessarily primary, his girlfriend went to New Haven to become literary manager at the Long Wharf Theatre.
“We’re still very much together,” he said, “and that’s great, but there were other reasons. It was time for me to leave ACT.”
He wants to direct and ultimately to run a theater.
“I needed to be in a marketplace with the possibility to make some adult money,” he said.
He enjoyed playing Tony Vaporelli on the TV series “The Book of Daniel.” He’s done the classical roles, and he’s learning “other stuff,” though there are still several parts he longs to play; for instance, Henry II in “The Lion in Winter” and the title roles in Shakespeare’s “Macbeth” and “Coriolanus.”
“I’m not interested in doing plays just for the sake of doing them,” he said. “It has to be the right director and the right circumstances. I want to know who’s going to be involved and how we’re going to realize this thing together.”
When he graduated Juilliard, Barricelli’s mother took him to the Old Globe to see Ellis Rabb as Prospero in Jack O’Brien’s 1982 production of Shakespeare’s “The Tempest.”
“Someday I’m going to work at this theater,” he thought, and then the years went by and it didn’t happen. He thought “Well, that was just a pipe dream,” and then he got the call from the playwright and the Globe’s resident artistic director, Jerry Patch.
Marco Barricelli and the Old Globe are obviously meant to be.
“Restoration Comedy” plays through April 8 in the Old Globe Theatre. Tickets ($39-$62) are available by visiting www.theoldglobe.com or calling (619) 23-GLOBE.