Playhouse does stellar job in ‘April’

By Milan Paurich

The Tuscan countryside’s “wisteria and sunshine” is a far cry from dank, dreary and damp Northeast Ohio. That alone makes “Enchanted April,” the blithely charming romantic comedy that opened Friday night at the Youngstown Playhouse, a welcome respite from our seasonal maladies.

Yet, this stellar production of Matthew Barber’s frothy trifle of a play — adapted from Elizabeth Von Arnim’s Jane Austen Lite 1921 novel of the same name — has more to offer than fantasy wish-fulfillment.

Directed by David El’Hatton, the Playhouse’s “Enchanted April” does so many things right — spot-on casting; Jim Lybarger’s sumptuous scenic design, which magically transports you into a cozily rustic Italian villa; breezy, insouciant pacing that never lulls for a minute — that it’s tempting to overpraise what is essentially a minor divertissement.

Certainly no one will ever confuse Barber’s romp with great drama — just as no one will ever mistake Von Arnim’s book or the Oscar-nominated 1991 movie adaptation for profound or even memorable literature and cinema. (This ain’t “A Room With a View,” folks.)

Fortunately, El’Hatton manages to find the sweet spot that elevates his dime store material into a remarkably pleasant and pleasurable evening for fans of community theater.

The play’s first act is set in bleak, rainy suburban London. Hampstead Housewives Lotty Wilton (Brandy Johanntges) and Rose Arnott (Molly Galano) lead lives of quiet desperation as subservient appendages to their overbearing husbands (El’Hatton and Terry Shears). When Lotty spots a newspaper advertisement offering the rental of a Tuscan villa, a light bulb goes off in her head.

On a whim, she invites Rose — who’s only a passing acquaintance at this point — to share the house for the month of April. Still nursing the wounds of a recent tragedy, Rose needs all the encouragement that bubbly Lotty can muster.

After breaking the news to their apoplectic menfolk, Lotty and Rose must now find two suitable housemates to help defray the cost of their holiday. High-society fashion plate Lady Caroline Bramble (Candy DiLullo) and haughty, aristocratic Mrs. Graves (Terri Wilkes) soon round out the guest list.

Act Two is suitably awash in brilliant, glorious sunshine (kudos to lighting designer John Pecano) and mostly dispenses with interior psychology to concentrate on drawing room farce. By the time Lotty and Rose finally invite their husbands for a visit, the stage is set for a series of surprisingly lusty reconciliations.

Lady Caroline, meanwhile, is gradually warming up to the discreet romantic overtures of their landlord, fledgling British artist Anthony Wilding (Steven Shurtleff). Even fuddy-duddy Mrs. Graves experiences a metamorphosis of sorts thanks to the ministrations of long-suffering housekeeper Costanza (a riotous, scene-stealing Stephanie Holt).

Much of the credit for making “Enchanted April” soar is its engaging cast.

Although Johanntges and Wilkes come on a bit strong in the first act, somewhat overselling their characters’ effervescence and snobbishness respectively, both actresses lighten up in the play’s second half and become fine company.

Galano superbly etches the shellshocked, emotionally fragile Rose’s transformation into a raging sensualist; Playhouse regular Shears does some of his subtlest work to date; the glamorous DiLullo makes the most of the show’s most underwitten part; and Shurtleff is immensely winning in his auspicious Playhouse debut.

My favorite performances, however, were the most surprising ones. The brilliant Holt is virtually unrecognizable as excitable, hunchbacked crone Costanza.

Remember Cloris Leachman’s Frau Blucher in Mel Brooks’ “Young Frankenstein”? Holt’s Costanza could be Blucher’s slightly less sinister — but no less funny — Italian twin. She turns what might have been a throwaway part into the evening’s indisputable comic highlight.

And the equally chameleonic El’Hatton virtually disappears into the role of Lotty’s pompous windbag of a husband. El’Hatton deliciously mines his preening peacock of a character for big laughs, then probes deeper to find the essential humanity of a man desperately afraid of losing his soulmate. It’s another magnificent, indelible portrayal by the tri-state area’s finest working actor.

“Enchanted April” might not bring Tuscany’s sunny climate to the oppressively gloomy Mahoning Valley, but it certainly makes the wait for spring to finally arrive a lot more bearable.