Ken Ludwig’s 1986 farce, Lend Me a Tenor, through July 31, 2011, at Concannon Vineyard, is the refreshing dessert to this summer’s Livermore Shakespeare Festival’s heavy entrée, Macbeth. Like most desserts, Ludwig’s ingredients sit proudly on the plate, exposed for all to see.
For example, we learn almost immediately that nebishy Max (Stephen Muterspaugh), who grovels as a gopher for the circa-1934 Cleveland Grand Opera Company and is in love with his employer’s daughter, Maggie (Casi Maggio), aspires to be an opera singer himself. As played by Muterspaugh, it would be easier for us to imagine Pavarotti as a Kentucky Derby jockey. Nor can we picture how milquetoast Max will fulfill the task assigned to him by his blustery boss, Henry Saunders (Jesse Caldwell). Max’s mission? To keep Il Stupendo, as the great tenor Tito Merelli (Miles Gaston Villanueva) is known to his legions of fans, from drinking and womanizing his way through the scant 24 or so hours he will be in Cleveland for a one-night fundraising performance of Verdi’s Otello.
When Merelli finally arrives with his terrifying Italian bombshell of a wife, Maria (Molly Kruse), and announces that he doesn’t need a rehearsal or even to try on his costume because he has brought his own (indeed, that he always travels with two), well, what else do you need to know? He will get drunk, his bed will crawl with women and there’s only one other person on the stage who aspires to get into his costume, if not his pants.
Jesse Caldwell and Stephen Muterspaugh as Saunders and Max
Still, despite its premeditated predictability, Tenor is a great deal of fun, and the fast-paced direction by Leslie Martinson helps the cast of Livermore Shakes sell their characters so well, we forget they’re cartoons. We care about these goof balls, we want Max and Maggie to get together, we even want Tito and Maria to find peace, or at least the Italian version of détente.
