'Romance/Romance' in need of refreshing

By Joseph T. Rozmiarek
Advertiser Drama Critic

•	'Romance/Romance' 8 p.m. Thursdays-Saturdays, 4 p.m. Sundays through April 6 Diamond Head Theatre $40-$10 733-0274

An essentially two-character show with book and lyrics by Barry Harman and music by Keith Herrmann, the performance consists of two separate one-acts that are connected by a central theme and the same performers. It played nearly a year on Broadway in 1988 and won some award nominations, but seems destined to remain a "little musical" whose songs are pleasant but not remembered.

Act 1 takes place in 19th-century Vienna, where a jaded businessman and a bored courtesan adopt impoverished identities to spice up their love lives. Of course, they fall for each other in a plot that is "pure operetta." But will love survive when they tire of their play-acting?

Act 2 has a contemporary setting as two couples share a vacation house in the Hamptons. The plot questions whether husband A and wife B will consummate a long-dormant attraction while proclaiming to love their own spouses.

Despite some good vocals and a lot of creative staging, the evening has a couple of distinct problems that keep it from captivating.

First, the two halves of the show call up comparisons to earlier works. Act 1 suggests "A Little Night Music" and "Gigi." Act 2 is a contemporary twist on Noel Coward's "Private Lives." Crunching them together into a single bill doesn't make them appreciably new or different.

Secondly, we simply don't care about the central couples.

The Viennese lovers are so blunted by their own boredom that they are no longer able to live within their own lives and must comment on themselves like objective observers. When they drop their assumed identities and immediately begin to speculate on the shelf life of a truthful relationship, they project no sense of loss. And if they can't care, why should an audience?

Without the costuming and historical distance of Act 1, the repeat dilemma in Act 2 is even less compelling. The issue is reduced to an all-night, bare-feet-on-the-sofa, sophomoric game of truth-telling while spouses sleep in another room. Does anybody care? Grow up, please.

Despite content problems, the DHT production has a fresh and frothy look, at least in the first act. Patrick Kelly's revolving set pieces alternately reveal a faux marble inner proscenium and a pair of contrasting boudoirs. Sukey Dickinson's costumes are visually delicious.

John Rampage directs the evening, and while some moments genuinely sparkle, others fail from trying too hard.

Isabelle Decauwert is at her best during the stylized first act, hitting the right attitudes, maintaining a brittle and elevated tone, and supporting the lyrics with lovely melody and good feeling. Her best moment in the second act is a hard-hitting, punched-up solo of anger and irony called "How Did I End Up Here?"

Laurence Paxton's first act plays as a robotic sequence of postures and behaviors collectively labeled "period" that don't easily connect with his own character, let alone anybody else's. In the second act, he simply romps like a kid on a couch.

There are two additional supporting roles in the show that make ghostly appearances as minor characters in Act 1 and as remembered spouses in Act 2. Gary Masuoka and Sherry Chock Wong attack them with energy and determined smiles.

While romance can be alluring and unattainable, the underlying message in this production is that it might be an occasional treat but never a part of a steady diet.