{"id":243790,"date":"2010-08-20T00:00:00","date_gmt":"2010-08-20T07:00:00","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/sdnews.com\/romance-features-real-life-couple\/"},"modified":"2010-08-20T00:00:00","modified_gmt":"2010-08-20T07:00:00","slug":"romance-features-real-life-couple","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/test.sdnews.com\/es\/romance-features-real-life-couple\/","title":{"rendered":"\u2018Romance\u2019 features real-life couple"},"content":{"rendered":"

Por Patricia Morris Buckley
\nCr\u00edtico de Teatro SDUN
\n<\/strong>
\n

\"\u2018Romance\u2019<\/a>
Marion Ross (left) as Carol Reynolds, Patricia Conolly (center) as Rose Tagliatelle and Paul Michael as Ralph Bellini in the West Coast premiere of \u201cThe Last Romance\u201d by Tony Award winner Joe DiPietro. (Courtesy Craig Schwartz)<\/figcaption><\/figure>It\u2019s a rare opportunity to see a play performed by the actors it was written for. But that\u2019s the treat that audiences get with the Old Globe\u2019s \u201cThe Last Romance.\u201d<\/p>\n

The play stars Marion Ross, best known as Mrs. C in TV\u2019s \u201cHappy Days,\u201d and her longtime partner, Broadway actor Paul Michael. This isn\u2019t the first time they\u2019ve appeared on the Globe stage in a Joe DiPietro play. They acted in \u201cOver the River and Through the Woods\u201d in 2000 at the Globe and at other theaters around the country. <\/p>\n

At their urging, DiPietro wrote \u201cThe Last Romance\u201d just for them. The show premiered originally in Kansas, but gets a new staging here in a deftly directed production by Richard Seer. <\/p>\n

\u201cThe Last Romance\u201d tells the story of Ralph, an 80-year-old widower who one day takes a walk to a different New Jersey park, a dog park, and falls for a beautiful woman named Carol. He starts to romance her, telling her of his love of opera, pretending that he too has a dog. His sister, who keeps house for him, is suspicious and cold to her brother finding someone else. Yet just as the romance is set to take flight, it\u2019s not his sister but reality that brings it back to ground.<\/p>\n

What makes the show work isn\u2019t just the wonderful performances, but the rock solid script by Di Pietro, who just won a Tony Award for \u201cMemphis.\u201d It\u2019s really funny. Funnier than most TV sitcoms. The laughs are hardier and more born of character than what TV audiences are used to\u2014and nary an old age joke in sight. Using the metaphor of opera (Ralph once had the chance to be in an opera at the Met), the playwright points out that falling in love is easy, while being in a romance is rarely romantic at all.<\/p>\n

\u201cThe thing about opera, see, is all the lovers want to do is be in love,\u201d Ralph tells Carol. \u201cBut it ain’t ever that simple. Something always gets in the way.\u201d<\/p>\n

Ross is just what you\u2019d expect from watching her for decades\u2014sweet, funny and ultimately able to touch our hearts in a delicate and graceful way. But this show belongs to Michael. It starts with the character. Ralph is funny, a little bit crazy and ever the showman. He\u2019s someone you\u2019d probably try not to get in a conversation with at a park, but once you get to know him, he\u2019d be at every party you\u2019d throw.<\/p>\n

The role could easily be cartoonish, but Michael is able to give Ralph so much humanity and boisterous charm that he feels real. His rumble-deep voice, overactive eyebrows and tired slumped shoulders say more about Ralph\u2019s real background than all his witty quips ever could.<\/p>\n

DiPietro adds a nice theatrical device in the part of the Young Man, who is Ralph as a young man. Joshua Jeremiah has no lines, but just sings opera tunes so beautifully, we can\u2019t help be brokenhearted that Ralph never achieved his operatic dreams. The role of Rose, Ralph\u2019s sister, isn\u2019t as well written and Patricia Conolly is never able to give us more than just a nagging, two-dimensional old woman clinging to her brother a bit too tightly.<\/p>\n

Alexander Dodge\u2019s set is filled with autumn leaves, a park bench and a ground painted with opera scores\u2014and it captures the spirit of the play perfectly. Bravo also to Charlotte Devaux\u2019s costumes, which are pitch perfect as well. <\/p>\n

\u201cThe Last Romance\u201d is satisfying theatre with exceptional actors in the leads and a highly polished production. It\u2019s the kind of show you wish would last forever.<\/p>\n

\u201cThe Last Romance\u201d
\nThrough Sept. 12
\nSheryl and Harvey White Theatre, Old Globe
\nTickets: $29-$62
\n23-GLOBE<\/strong>
\nTheOldGlobe.org<\/a><\/p>","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

By Patricia Morris Buckley SDUN Theatre Critic It\u2019s a rare opportunity to see a play performed by the actors it was written for. But that\u2019s the treat that audiences get with the Old Globe\u2019s \u201cThe Last Romance.\u201d The play stars Marion Ross, best known as Mrs. C in TV\u2019s \u201cHappy Days,\u201d and her longtime partner, […]<\/p>","protected":false},"author":1295,"featured_media":243791,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_seopress_robots_primary_cat":"11555","_seopress_titles_title":"\u2018Romance\u2019 features real-life couple","_seopress_titles_desc":"","_seopress_robots_index":"","jnews-multi-image_gallery":[],"jnews_single_post":[],"jnews_primary_category":[],"jnews_social_meta":[],"jnews_override_counter":[],"footnotes":""},"categories":[11549,11551,11555],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-243790","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-arts-entertainment","category-news","category-uptown-news"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/test.sdnews.com\/es\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/243790","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/test.sdnews.com\/es\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/test.sdnews.com\/es\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/test.sdnews.com\/es\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1295"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/test.sdnews.com\/es\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=243790"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/test.sdnews.com\/es\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/243790\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/test.sdnews.com\/es\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/243791"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/test.sdnews.com\/es\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=243790"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/test.sdnews.com\/es\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=243790"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/test.sdnews.com\/es\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=243790"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}