‘Living On Love’ is old-school comic delight

LA DIVA & HER GHOSTWRITER: Renée Fleming & Jerry O’Connell in ‘Living On Love.’ Photo: Joan Marcus

LIVING ON LOVE
Written by Joe DiPietro
Based on the play Peccadillo by Garson Kanin
Directed by Kathleen Marshall
Longacre Theatre
220 West 48th Street
(212-239-6200), www.LivingOnLoveBroadway.com

By David NouNou

As comedies are very rare on Broadway these days, one has to be grateful for Living On Love, a play that has been rebooted by Joe DiPietro and has the feel of comedies of the 1950s. A lot of those comedies had a paper-thin plotline; not very taxing on the stars that portrayed those characters. The trials and tribulations were set up, but they all sorted themselves out in the end. Their objective was to please an audience. They were usually written for married celebrity couples like Rex Harrison and his then-wife Lili Palmer, and the show would have a large advance due to the marquee star power and usually lasted between six to nine months, or the entire season if lucky. This way, the actors could display their grand living albeit via the stage, the customers were happy seeing stars playing themselves or facsimiles, though some critics may have groused over the skimpy storyline. But best of all, the producers recouped their money and everybody went home happy.

Peccadillo by Garson Kanin (on which this show is based) is such a play. Mr. Kanin wrote it in 1985 but the setting and time is New York City in 1957. The characters in Peccadillo would have been the kind of people he came in contact with; after all, he did work in the theater. He was married to Ruth Gordon and they were best friends with Katherine Hepburn and Spencer Tracy.

In Living On Love, Vito De Angelis, a conductor, known to his nearest and dearest as Maestro (Douglas Sills), a cross between Leonard Bernstein and Steve Martin, is married to La Diva, Raquel De Angelis (Renée Fleming) for over 30 years. Their egos precede them wherever they go. They have both fallen on hard times, meaning they are getting older and their demand is less, so now they are in the process of writing their biographies and have been assigned ghostwriters to assist them. Maestro has a spunky junior editor, Iris Peabody (Anna Chlumsky). La Diva has the fawning writer Robert Sampson (Jerry O’Connell). And the best thing any household can have is a pair of harmonious butlers who have been serving the Maestro and La Diva for over 30 years: Bruce (Blake Hammond) and Eric (Scott Robertson). Needless to say, in the quest to see who finishes the book first, flirtatious goings on take place, with a lot of preening and boasting taking place.

Renée Fleming not only entices her protégé writer, Robert, but the audience as well, with her trilling of various arias from the operas she’s appeared in and what a voice. Ms. Fleming, a multiple Grammy Award winner, is making her Broadway debut. She has the diva down pat, but her inner actress for Broadway has to find its center. Douglas Sills, with a heavy Italian accent as the Maestro, is hysterical with himself as the center of the universe. He knows how to squeeze every line and leer for all it’s worth.

Jerry O’Connell, as the spineless ghostwriter, has the perfect bumbling and cuteness to make Robert believable. Anna Chlumsky, with her perky self-doubt, is the perfect foil to give Mr. O’Connell the spine he has been lacking. Together they would be the adorable younger couple. As the two butlers, Blake Hammond and Scott Robertson are synchronistic perfection; second bananas that steal the show.

Kathleen Marshall’s direction keeps things moving at a fast pace, which keeps the audience alert when the script lags. Living On Love is a nugget from yesteryear; you don’t go to peel off its veneer, you go to enjoy it, have a few laughs and go home relishing Ms. Fleming’s voice and presence, Mr. Sills’ eccentric, over-the-top behavior of a narcissist, Mr. Hammond & Mr. Robertson’s synchronicity, as well as enjoy Mr. O’Connell and Ms. Chlumsky finding their way through the mayhem. All in all, an enjoyable, harmless old-fashioned comedy whose purpose is to be entertaining and diverting for a couple of hours.

THE MAESTRO & LA DIVA: Douglas Sills & Renée Fleming in ‘Living On Love.’ Photo: Joan Marcus

MADCAP MOMENT: (left to right) Renée Fleming, Jerry O’Connell & Douglas Sills in ‘Living On Love.’ Photo: Joan Marcus

Edited by Scott Harrah
Published April 24, 2015
Reviewed at press performance on April 23, 2015