THE VIRGINIAN-PILOT
Copyright (c) 1996, Landmark Communications, Inc.
DATE: Wednesday, March 27, 1996 TAG: 9603270025
SECTION: DAILY BREAK PAGE: E2 EDITION: FINAL
TYPE: Theater review
SOURCE: BY MONTAGUE GAMMON III, SPECIAL TO THE DAILY BREAK
LENGTH: Medium: 59 lines
WHILE THERE IS nothing new under the stage lights of ``Mixed Emotions,'' the very familiarity of its plot and of its two main characters make watching this play a comfortable, reassuring experience.
The production at the Way Off Broadway Cafe boasts good performances, with one by Joan DiGirolama that is better than good by any standard.
Widower Herman Lewis proposes to widow Christine Millman on the eve of her planned departure from New York City to Florida. He is 64 years old; she is 61.
His wife has been dead about three years, her husband for one year and one day. The couples had been best friends for some 30 years.
Christine is a casual Catholic; Herman is an agnostic Jew. She relishes memories of visiting the Louvre; he pronounces the name of a restaurant called ``Raison d'Etre'' as ``Raisinette.'' And so forth.
In other words, they were made for each other in scriptwriter's heaven.
Author Richard Baer shows some skill by suggesting ways, other than the obvious, that this play could end. Those suggestions never include an image of Herman standing, arms empty, in Christine's vacant apartment.
This is a romantic comedy, the flip side to ``The Cemetery Club'' with a lot more jokes and a little more emphasis on sex.
The playwright set out to earn for his work the description that Christine and Herman repeatedly give to her husband. That refrain is ``warm and sweet,'' and Baer succeeded, largely by his loyalty to the tried and true.
The real charm in this production comes from the easy, natural acting that fleshes out the words.
In particular, DiGirolamo in her best moments gives Christine a rounded, engaging humanity, a sense of humor and of almost maternal warmth.
This performance marks something of a milestone for her. Not too many years ago, she was a conspicuously hard-working newcomer to local amateur stages. She then learned to use a repertoire of rubber-faced expressions and well-timed double takes to good comic effect.
Those comic talents remain undiminished, and add much to this show, but she has progressed far beyond being simply a comedienne. Under direction by Tom Harris, she shows that she can be a character actress of real worth.
The moments of carefully crafted, but apparently artless, interplay DiGirolamo shares with Wally Doyle remove any sting from the formulas their dialogue often follows.
Veteran Doyle turns in a smooth, friendly performance as Herman, though he seems more refined and less blunt than the character describes himself. Besides his ability to find himself at home in almost any character, Doyle's particular strength is the turn he can give an ironic phrase or self-deprecating remark, coupled with a sincere foundation on which he can base his more serious moments.
Director Harris and Greg Silva make appearances as the moving men who are packing Christine's belongings while Herman is wooing her. Both are just fine, being believable with an emphasis on understatement. by CNB