May 1–17, 2008
Polk Theater, TPAC

Review
May 12, 2008

Underpants is a Fabulous Farce

by Chad Young, Managing Editor, Nashville Parent Magazine

Picture it: Dusseldorf, Germany, 1910. A young woman, married to a bombastic husband working as a government clerk, attends a parade to see the king. As he nears, she stands on the tips of her toes to catch a better glimpse when suddenly the unthinkable happens—her underpants fall to her ankles. Although she quickly retrieves them, it’s too late. She’s the scandalous talk of the town much to her husband’s chagrin.

Therein lays the backdrop of Tennessee Repertory Theatre’s The Underpants. This highly hysterical farce is the perfect way to end the Rep’s 2007–2008 season. It’s not a show to take your children to, unless they are 16 or older, but it is a wonderful date night outing with your significant other!

Based on Die Hosen, a 1911 comedy written by German playwright Carl Stermheim, the current adaptation by Steve Martin (yes, THAT Steve Martin!) boasts quick-wit dialogue, double entrendres and side-splitting humor.

Veteran stage, TV and film star Lane Davies directs The Underpants, and the audience truly experiences his perfect, magical touch. This is a Broadway-caliber production from start to finish, and the top-shelf cast seamlessly work together to create an amazing performance with much aplomb.

The show features some oddball characters that delightfully fill the stage with passion and hijinks. Rep favorite Marin Miller plays the leading role, Louise Maske, who suffers the unfortunate incident at the parade. This is her most successful role to date. She plays her character with a convincingly coy, yet calculating, fervor at the idea of committing adultery with an energetic suitor who waxes poetic in her presence. Further, she masterfully commands the audience’s sympathy as she basks in her new-found fame in contrast to her mundane first year of marriage that is void of passionate spark.

Marc Silver makes his triumphant Tennessee Rep debut as Theo Maske, Louise’s husband, and the delivery of his staunch character is a real comedic backbone to the production.

Patrick Waller shines like never before playing the role of Frank Versati, the purple-clad poet who finds his muse in the young, underpants-derailing Louise. Waller’s physical comedy effervesces on stage along with the funny, dramatic flair he injects into his character’s dialogue. Likewise, Bobby Wyckoff (Benjamin Cohen) and Sam Whited (Klinglehoff) deliver on-the-mark performances. And while it’s only a little more than a cameo appearance, it’s a real treat to see Davies take the stage.

Supporting actress Martha Wilkinson is hilarious as Gertrude Deuter, the tawdry tenant living in the Maske’s home who encourages Louise to take a lover so she can live vicariously through her. Wilkinson is a skilled talent who never misses a beat.

Scenic designer Gary C. Hoff outdoes himself with the elaborate stage set, which features intricate detail appropriately capturing the period and setting. Michael Barnett’s lighting skill is right on target. Not too much or too little. It’s just right for enhancing the set’s mood throughout the show.

The Underpants ends the Rep’s current season on a definite high note. Do yourself a favor and escape into 90 minutes of constant laughter you won’t soon forget.

 

Review
May 8, 2008

Nifty Knickers
The Rep’s take on Steve Martin play combines flash and finesse

by Martin Brady for Nashville Scene

Tennessee Repertory Theatre’s current mounting of The Underpants, Steve Martin’s adaptation of German playwright Carl Sternheim’s 1910 farce, shows just how far production values can go in goosing the entertainment factor. The play was first mounted here in 2006 by Actors Bridge Ensemble, a quaintly inspired production that hit all the marks and did Martin justice. The Rep does equally well with the text—but with the advantages of the broad-canvas Polk Theater proscenium and a serious budget for sets and costumes, the company brings a highly professional sheen to the endeavor, the likes of which we rarely see locally.

The Underpants follows the events that transpire after a young woman unexpectedly drops her panties during the king’s
procession. Instant admirers start to visit her in search of a rented room, and our heroine, married to an uptight and very regimented government clerk, toys with the possibility of an affair. Martin’s thin plot introduces six cartoonish characters whose comedic eccentricities combine with the playwright’s tongue-in-cheek banter, double entendres and sly social satire over the course of 90 or so minutes, delivered in one long act.

Gary Hoff’s set is a minor masterwork: a colorful turn-of-the-20th-century Dusseldorf home, featuring rich-looking woods and canny decorative touches. Trish Clark’s costumes are also period-conscious, with fitting attention to romance and German stereotypes. Michael Barnett’s lighting design elicits a candy-coated visual sense that is very apropos to the loopy tale.

Director Lane Davies smartly exploits the wide playing area, and there’s as much interplay within the scenes as there is during the many entrances and exits that typify traditional farce. His thoughtful blocking enables his actors to score consistent laughs with their droll repartee.

The fine cast is headed up by Marin Miller as hausfrau Louise Maske, surprised by her unwanted notoriety but more than willing to investigate the sexual possibilities suddenly before her. Miller is delightfully wry, nicely balancing naïveté with naughtiness. Her boorish hubby, Theo, is played by Marc Silver, a California colleague of director Davies in his Rep debut. His is a literate, energetic turn, though not as dark as Matthew Carlton’s portrayal two years ago. In so doing, Silver definitely provides an interesting take on the play’s most controversial role.

Patrick Waller is a charmer as the poet Versati, declaring his passion for Louise with great flourish, then becoming more absorbed in his need to versify. Bobby Wyckoff is the barber Cohen, a subtle caricature who must avoid dropping clues about his Jewishness within earshot of the overbearing, not-so-veiled anti-Semite Theo. Samuel Whited maximizes his briefer moments as the dour prude Klinglehoff, then brings down the house with an incongruously salacious exclamation.

As the nosy neighbor Gertrude, Martha Wilkinson makes yet another joyous stage appearance, mixing well-defined movement with brassy declarations and reveling in her character’s vicarious pleasure at Louise’s newfound popularity. Davies makes a humorous grandstanding cameo as the king himself at play’s end.

A musical underscore effectively blends polkas with some clichéd classical strains. (Only nitpickers will care that “The Pennsylvania Polka” wasn’t published until 1942, some 30 years after the play’s setting.)

Driven by its directorial verve and wonderful technical virtues, The Rep’s Underpants is replendent, consistently entertaining theater.