Desert Rose musical suffers for adding extra ‘I Do’s’
Tom Jones (book and lyrics) and Harvey Schmidt (music) are the writing team behind “The Fantasticks,” one of the most successful musicals of all time. Their 1967 musical “I Do, I Do” also earned them a Tony nomination and was a hit on Broadway. It’s seldom revived today, although with just two actors and a single set, the play has a low production cost that can make it attractive to cost-conscious regional theaters.
It is currently being produced by Desert Rose Playhouse, directed by artistic director Michael Montroy, who has augmented the show with two additional actors to play the couple in their later years (and two additional “I Do’s” in the title).
The play follows a married couple over 50 years, from their first virginal night in bed after the wedding to their sliding under the covers of the same huge four-poster bed many years later in the twilight of their life. Between the one and the other we see all the ups and downs of 50 years of marriage.
There is barely a plot, and it’s a very long show, at nearly three hours, but performers Bryan Durden and Evelyn Coffing have such great chemistry and are so good as young Michael and young Agnes that the first act is fairly riveting, especially as pianist Ben Jacobsen and violinist Natasha Coffing, ensconced in the upstage corner, deliver Schmidt’s music with gorgeous artistry.
As Michael, Durden reminded me of a young Richard Dreyfus, charismatic and funny but pompous and perhaps more in love with himself than his pretty wife. Coffing has great range; her vulnerability and emotional honesty in dramatic moments and comical facility in lighter moments were spot-on. When she learns of her husband’s infidelity, all the gradations of shock and pain subtly register on her sensitive face, and when she tells him he chews in his sleep during the duet “Nobody’s Perfect,” she not only deflates her husband’s oversized ego but has the audience in stitches as well.
Both actors possess estimable improvisational ability and directly engage the audience with great effect. Coffing is probably the better vocalist of the two, but that is no surprise, as she comes from a musical family (her sister Natasha is one of the two talented musicians accompanying the actors throughout the show).
Montroy has cast Evelyn’s parents, Mark and Carol Coffing, as older Michael and Agnes. This is an interesting idea, but it flopped in execution. For one thing, Mrs. Coffing has never acted before and did not have the chops to propel the show where it needed to go after the intermission; the couple were simply unable to build on the momentum generated by the younger actors.
The director writes in his program note, “This production has found more reality than any other presentation of this show has ever found.” Perhaps that’s true, but reality that is not theatrically charged serves no dramatic purpose.
Karen Byers’ costumes help place the show in the period before World War I. The haphazard lighting changes were a distraction, but hopefully that problem was solved after opening night.
“I Do! I Do! I Do! I Do!” is playing through July 7 at Desert Rose Playhouse, 6921 Montgomery NE Albuquerque. Go to desertroseplayhouse. net or call 563-0316 for reservations.