December 16-22, 2004

theater

Perfect "Stranger"

Don't be ridiculous: Davis Duffield (left, as Aucassin) lets Bronson Pinchot (as Valere) in on his plan to get the girl in the Prince's Chasing Nicolette.

by David Anthony Fox

Note to Nigella Lawson: It is possible to make a souffle with the most seemingly incompatible ingredients. Well, it works at the Prince Music Theater, anyway. Take Chasing Nicolette—a saucy, delightful new musical whose recipe might go something like this: Start with a base of Moliére (verse, farcical energy, servants smarter than their masters, piety parodied). Add a smidgeon of Ivanhoe (Middle Ages, chivalry, damsel with sex appeal) and a touch of Guess Who's Coming To Dinner (wait till the folks meet the black daughter-in-law!). Stir in a little old-fashioned vaudeville comedy. Voila: a frothy confection suitable for your most discerning guests.

Enough already with the food metaphors. (I can't keep it up, anyway.) Here's a quick plot summary. In medieval Provence, Prince Aucassin has fallen in love with beautiful Nicolette. Problem one: She's the wrong kind of, shall we say, Provencal for his father's taste. (Nicolette is a Moor.) Problem two: A world away in Carthage, she's betrothed to Nemur, an adopted Muslim Prince.

Let the games—er, wars—begin.

Nicolette, by composer David Friedman and librettist Peter Kellogg, might be modeled on A Funny Thing Happened On The Way To The Forum. Here again is a classical (well, classic, anyway) story told with a sassy urban twist and presided over by Valere, a clever servant (Bronson Pinchot, who's worked on and off in theater since his Perfect Strangers days). That some of Nicolette's music and lyrics come close to Sondheimian wit is about the highest compliment I can bestow in this context.

Friedman is a master writer of wistful pop ballads, and I was leery of how that skill would adapt to theater. In fact, the comic material is some of the show's best.

Try "You Have To Lie," Valere's credo, or "Romance," an examination of the link between music and sex as passed down through the ages. (Of course, Kellogg's funny lyrics play a huge role.) Oddly, it's the big pop ballads that disappoint—no great love song for Nicolette and Aucassin, for example, though there's a lovely chorale called "Stranger and Stranger."

Anyway, it's all tremendous fun—more so because the Prince forces are top-notch, starting with Ethan McSweeny's steeplechase-paced direction. Among the excellent ensemble, it's Pinchot who shines brightest (and whose mastery of verse is absolute, reminding us that before Balki he was a product of the Yale Drama School). Special kudos also to Mary Martello as the twisted Nun, a Mother Superior figure (a sly wink here at The Sound Of Music), and Rebecca Bellingham (Gwendolyn), who demonstrates the coloratura soprano of a Beverly Sills and the comic timing of a Lucille Ball.

Other theater reviews: Always A Lady, The Clean House, A Year With Frog And Toad

—Respond to this article in our Forums—click to jump there