“Lend Me a Soprano,” in its final week at Manoa Valley Theatre,
is high comedy at its best. The show is like an active volcano, full of volatility, spewing mistaken identities, flowing with emotional tension, and constant choreographic jostling in an exquisite suite.
In Act Two, there’s finally an eruption of movement – vigorous and frantic chases and escapes amid non-stop door-slamming.
The show’s creator, Ken Ludwig, is known for “Lend Me a Tenor,” so “Soprano” is the female version of crisis within the Cleveland Grand Opera Company.
The MVT director, Rob Duval, orchestrates the lively, symbolic lava flow with crisp, quick, explosive and gushing movement, resulting in riotous laughter and thunderous applause. And Duval also selected a versatile and splendid cast of eight.
In this version, a diva, Elena Firenzi (Barrie Kealoha, as grand as they come and bold as a bull), is tardy for a benefit performance of Georges Bizet’s “Carmen.”
The general manager of the opera company, Mrs. Wylie (Shannon Winpenny, forthright and formidable and eternally funny), is in a tizzy with the no-show of her star soprano. What to do? The show must go on.
Her assistant, Jo (Jasmine Haley Anderson, mousey but bold and aspirational) comes up with a solution: she is willing to step in and impersonate Elena, and what the heck, she’s conveniently a budding soprano anyway.
Thus, Mrs. Wiley and Jo are in cahoots, to keep the secret theirs, until Elena and her husband Pasquale (Eriq James, who spends most of his time perusing LIFE magazine) finally arrive. The diva has a squabble with the hubby, who runs off with his suitcase and leaves a note to his wife, who ODs on pills and lands dead silent on the bed.
While Jo preps to become the guest warbler, she’s a bit spooked that Elena is silent and still and sleeping, then checks and assumes she’s expired.
So, opportunity looms, and Jo dons Elena’s costume; certainly, she blooms when she’s ready for the spotlight; Mrs. Wiley is alarmed but desparately needs to pull off this operatic con job.
In the interim, Leo (Adam Kalma, tall, lean, handsome and also a fame-hungry baritone) arrives, along with Jerry (Michael Linnett, Mrs. Wiley’s son), to close in on the faux soprano. Julia (Holly Holowach, a cheerful opera buff) appears in glittering silver and black outfit with a silver headpiece resembling the Chrysler Building, as a character wise cracks. And even the room service bellhop (Madison Cuartas, an eager beaver, who’s celebrity-struck) has her run of ins and outs.
And something to ponder: is this the only play where all the gents drop trousers, in hopes of a sexual encounter?
This is truly a unified ensemble, supported by a tech team that delivers. Set designer R. Andrew Doan has created an exquisite set with five doors that star in the Act Two run-and-slam-athon (seven, if you count the central double door and the twin doors of a closet). There are doors for a kitchen, the bedroom, the bathroom and a second in/out bedroom door. Kudos should go, too, to scenic artist Willie Sabel and props designer Jax Pitts, for embellishing windows, a traditional settee and a medium-sized circular one, plus a fireplace, with floral and wall lamps and a comfy-looking bed with an ample coverlet.
Costume designer Amber Lehua Baker’s gowns (especially Mrs. Wylie’s) and two other gowns (one for the faux Elena, one for the real one), and the tuxes for gents? Fashionable stuff.
Hair and makeup designer Lisa Ponce de Leon’s hair styles for Mrs. Wylie, Elena and Julia are awesome; looks good enough for a formal night out.
Lighting design by Chris Gouveia and sound design by Sarah Velasco validate the subtle sense of mood and style of the show.
Loved, too, the animated replay of scene highlights – crazy chases involving one and all — before the final curtain. Yes, a well-deserved standing ovation!
A footnote: Wish MVT would restore the customary playbill, with mini-bios and pics of the performers and the backstage creative team; the current two-fold sheet, with one half-sheet insert with promo and ads, is insufficient. It may be a budgeting issue, but actors and audience alike savor and favor a traditional page-turning playbill. After all, it’s respectful homage to the players and the patrons to receive a traditional playbill, too. Costs still remain, but the pandemic is over. Please? For the 2025-26 season, perhaps? …
And that’s Show Biz…
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‘Lend Me a Soprano’
What: A madcap comedy by Ken Ludwig, about a soprano diva who is late for a gig, triggering mayhem and madness with lots of door-slamming
Where: Manoa Valley Theatre
When: Final performances at 7:30 p.m. Friday (Sept. 27) and Saturday (Sept. 28) and 3 p.m. Sunday (Sept. 29).
Tickets: $48 for adults, $38 for those 25 and younger, $43 for military and senior citizens, at (808-988-6131) or www.manoavalleytheatre.com