by Audrey Liebross

Desert Theatreworks (DTW) has done it again — presented a must-see farce. The company’s production of Ken Ludwig’s Lend Me a Tenor is full of great staging and brilliant acting by DTW veterans and newcomers alike. I barely stopped guffawing the entire time.

The title is a word play on an expression that we don’t hear much today, “Lend me a tenner,” as in a ten-dollar bill. Despite the subject and the presence of incidental classical music, Lend Me a Tenor is not a musical, although a musical version now exists. (There is also a new, gender-switched version, Lend Me a Soprano). Neither was the play’s opera originally Pagliacci, as it is now. In the original version, which first opened on Broadway in 1989 after a London run, and was revived on Broadway in 2010, the play centered around a performance of Otello. A rewrite in 2019 substituted Pagliacci, because the stage makeup in Otello would require white actors playing the performer and the divo to appear in blackface or heavy beards. The rewrite avoids controversies over blackface and over white performers as Black opera characters.

The story in Lend Me a Tenor concerns an opera star in 1934 named Tito Merelli (Doug Arbulu) who accidentally ingests a double dose of tranquilizers and is too drugged to wake up in time to perform that night in a special Cleveland performance of Pagliacci. Fortunately, Max, an aspiring singer (Andrew Perkins), might be able to pass for the star if he dons the clown makeup featured in the opera and the clown costume that Tito travels with. Being a farce, there are mistaken identities galore, as well as ridiculous plot twists — a student replaces a star of Caruso’s caliber, and no one notices. Women keep trying to seduce the divo, but don’t notice who is Tito and who is Max because both are in costume and makeup; Max is several inches taller than Tito, but only one character notices his height has changed, and he shrugs it off. A note saying that someone is leaving gets misconstrued as a suicide note. This kind of goofiness is only possible in the world of farce.

To me, one of the best features of farce is the opportunity to create physical comedy. DTW’s artistic director, Lance Phillips, is a proponent of “movement theatre,” non-musical choreography. Lance is therefore the perfect artistic director to present a farce. He and director Kam Sisco are to be congratulated on the hilarity they manufacture for their characters in the zany choreography — motion that is every bit as funny as Ken Ludwig’s lines. 

This ensemble cast works together seamlessly; there is not a weak link in the bunch. Several of the roles are relatively straight. Those performers garner laughs, but their job is to set up crazy situations for the other characters. DTW veterans Adriana Reyes and Shirley LeMaster play the pompous opera manager’s excitement-seeking daughter and the opera board’s poo-bah, who is used to getting her way and who is not too old to look for love. DTW newcomer Angela Landis plays the company’s diva, who is also looking for love but who might have a better chance than the board chair because she is younger and better endowed. The pompous opera manager (Eddie Stephens) seems like he is normal … for the first few minutes of the play.

Most of the actors, because their characters are anything but normal, get a major workout during the performance while they wrestle with each other or race back and forth between closet and bathroom; there are hilarious physical scenes between Max and Tito, between Max and the opera manager, between Tito and his wife (rubber-faced Renee Poignard, whom I think looks something like Lucille Ball), and solo by a love-crazed bellhop (Larry Martin, a real-life dentist). The bellhop deserves special mention because the character was written as an opera lover who is dying to meet his idol, Tito Merelli. However, Larry Martin and director Kam Sisco play the bellhop as less an opera lover and more as someone with a crush on Merelli, leading to all sorts of hilarity. Then, there is Tito Merelli, himself, a hypochondriac who may or may not be cheating on his wife with the women who throw themselves at him and who can’t quite understand why these Americans seem so unusual. The fact that Tito and his impersonator don’t look much alike even in makeup adds to the silliness.

The set decoration (by Lance Phillips) somewhat blurs the period in which the story takes place, since the furniture is not fully art deco. But the action occurs in a Cleveland hotel room, a city that would not likely have the “moderne” hotel furnishings that New York might. (In fact, playwright Ludwig supplies a nasty Cleveland joke about how if Tito wouldn’t wear a costume piece in New York, he certainly wouldn’t do it in Cleveland). Tess Phillips deserves special mention for the makeup and wigs, which very much evoke the 1930’s period — marcelled hair and thinly plucked, rounded eyebrows that scream Jean Harlow and Carol Lombard. I also like the clown makeup that Tito and Max don during the play. It is lightly applied, which makes it less likely that the two men will be confused for each other, but it is heavy enough that it rubs off on other objects. The latter leads to several laughs.

Lance Phillips’ costumes are clever and the clown outfits are suitably ridiculous. My only nitpick on the costumes is a missed opportunity for a laugh: Because the two identical costumes are both supposed to be Tito’s personal property, assembled at his expense, they should both fit Tito, but not Max. As a result, when Max, who is taller, dons the second costume, his socks and forearms should show, and make him look even sillier.

The lighting design, by Adriana Reyes (who also designed the excellent sound and serves as company manager), is important to following the play because so much that is important to the story is going on at once. The set is divided into a hotel suite’s living room on stage left and a bedroom on stage right. When the important action is on one side or another, the lighting usually dims on the other side, signaling the audience where to look. At one point, however, both rooms were lit. I looked at the action in the bedroom and heard a gasp from audience members. I realized that they were looking at the living room where Max was placing Tito’s pills into a glass mixed with wine to ensure that he calmed down — the accidental second set of pills that conked him out like a zombie. Despite this apparent lighting glitch, most of the time, the lighting was very helpful to understanding the story. The sound was also fabulous, for example, telephone conversations amplified so the audience could hear and radio broadcasts of Tito’s singing. The whole technical crew — not just those I have mentioned — did fabulous jobs.

The rest of the technical crew and creative staff consists of Ron Phillips (producer), Cecelia De La Torre (stage manager and props), James Rodriguez (house manager), Andrew Abril (light board operator), Miguel Arballo (sound engineer), Marcela Pierce (dialect coach), and Tara Howard (photography).

Lend Me a Tenor will run through Sunday, October 29, 2023, with performances Fridays through Sundays. Performances begin at 7:30 p.m. except for those on Sundays, which take place at 2:00 p.m. Check the ticket purchase information at www.dtworks.org for prices or call (760) 980-1455. All performances take place at the Indio Performing Arts Center, 45175 Fargo Street, Indio, CA 92201. In partnership with C4 Communication, DTW will have ASL Interpreters at the Saturday, October 28th  performance.

Photos by: Tara Howard www.tarahowardphotography.com

The rest of the 2023-24 season consists of:

Kinky Boots (Nov. 3 — Nov. 26, 2023) Based on true events, the hit musical KINKY BOOTS tells the story of two people with nothing in common – or so they think. Charlie is a factory owner struggling to save his business. Lola is a fabulous entertainer with a wildly exciting idea. This unexpected pair creates a line of sturdy stilettos unlike any the world has ever seen!

Christmas With The Crawfords (November 17th - December 30th) puts the “fun” back in dysfunctional, in a must-see, R-rated holiday extravaganza. The venue for CHRISTMAS WITH THE CRAWFORDS is the Margaritaville Resort, 1600 N Indian Canyon Drive, in Palm Springs.

A Christmas Story (Dec. 1-Dec. 21, 2023) Based on the classic 1983 holiday movie, A CHRISTMAS STORY follows nine-year-old Ralphie Parker, a daydreamer from Indiana who spends his days counting down to the most exciting day in any kid’s life: Christmas. All he wants is an official Red Ryder Carbine-Action 200-shot Range Model Air Rifle, but as his parents and teachers warn him, “You’ll shoot your eye out!” Perfect for the whole family.

Gilligan's Island - The Musical (Jan. 5-28, 2024) “Just sit right back and you’ll hear a tale…” America’s most iconic sit-com from the 1960’s comes to the stage reincarnated as a fun family musical. Written by the original TV show’s creator, Sherwood Schwartz, all the show’s beloved characters seem to have leaped straight from the TV screen to the big stage, bringing their hilarious adventures along with them. Will they finally make it off the island?

Neil Simon's Plaza Suite (Feb. 2-25, 2024) You simply cannot miss the DTW annual production by legendary playwright and four-time Tony winner Neil Simon. Two actors play three different couples in one famous hotel room and the comedy ensues… 

Beautiful: The Carole King Musical (March 1-24, 2024) For six years, BEAUTIFUL, the Tony and Grammy Award-winning Carole King musical, thrilled Broadway audiences with the inspiring true story of Carol King’s remarkable journey from teenage songwriter to the Rock & Roll Hall of Fame. Featuring over two dozen pop classics, including “You’ve Got a Friend,” “One Fine Day,” “Up on the Roof,” “You’ve Lost That Lovin’ Feeling,” “Will You Love Me Tomorrow,” and Natural Woman,” this international phenomenon is filled with the songs you remember.

Harper Lee's To Kill A Mockingbird (April 12-28, 2024) Adapted from the Pulitzer Prize-winning novel by Harper Lee, the play tells the well-known story from the book and motion picture.